Less Time Working Out = More Muscle Gained?
Can working out less give you better results?
I’m a busy guy. Who isn’t, right? I have a full time job on a demanding, big budget television series, I create videos and apps in whatever free time I can scrounge up, and most importantly I have a family – a wife and two small kids – that I want to spend time with. In amongst all of that, it’s important to me to stay in good shape.
Finding the time to exercise is tough, though. With my job getting more demanding, and knowing that the time while my kids are small and actually WANT to hang out with me is fleeting, I decided that my 4-5 days at the gym per week had to go down – I simply didn’t have the time to sacrifice. Time is, after all, the most valuable thing that there is.
My logic was that if my workouts had to go down, my efficiency had to go up – rather than isolating one or two muscle groups in a workout, I was going to hit EVERY muscle group. And rather than resting in between each exercise, I’d fit three, four or even five exercises into a superset/circuit before taking a rest.
Even though early on, these workouts were gruelling, I saw considerable gains in my strength and a drop in body fat. As time went on, I started noticing that my circuits were getting easier, so I introduced powerlifting into my routine, and began switching up my circuits, always keeping my intensity up to make the most of my time in the gym. As far as brute strength is concerned, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. Both inside and outside the gym, I regularly have people asking me about my workouts, prompting me to write up this post.
The Workout Hack I Stumbled Upon
As it turns out, there’s a scientific reason that explains why I’m getting in better shape at the age of 38, and it’s been known about for a long time. In my search to make the best use of my time, I accidentally started a form of “German Body Compisition Training”, and only discovered the term in the past few weeks.
German Body Comp training was created by a Romanian exercise scientist who defected to West Germany. He discovered that the lactic acid pathway is better for fat loss than the commonly accepted aerobic pathway. He found that high blood lactic levels decrease blood pH levels, which in turn sends a message to the brain to accelerate its production of growth hormone. Higher growth hormone counts increase fat loss. This kind of training, characterized by short rest intervals, multi-joint exercises and longer set duration increases growth hormone production: more fat gets burned, and more muscle gets built.
So it turns out that my new workout has me increasing my HGH production naturally, without slamming expensive supplements or having to stick a needle in my ass. It also means that by completing more intense workouts, I can go to the gym less frequently, and still see some solid results.
Here’s a good example workout. Again, it’s not exactly what I’ve been up to, but it’s in the ballpark.
At 38, I’m in close to the best shape of my life
Now What?
Since I’m now spending fewer hours at the gym, but seeing better results, I started to wonder if my entire routine needs a tweak.
In learning about my new training method, I came across some information about Intermittent Fasting or Time Restricted Eating. There are loads of resources online about this way of eating, and most talk about the various health benefits, including muscle growth and fat loss.
Anecdotally, there are loads of people, from professional athletes to celebrities to fitness gurus claiming that Intermittent Fasting is the healthiest way to eat food, so I’m going to give it a shot.
Over the next couple of months, I’m going to continue working out like I have been, but I’m going to do the 16/8 fasting routing (16 hours with no food, 8 hours with food) for 5 days a week. I’m going to call it the Fast Five, mostly because I’m a rad dude.
I’ll also try to get in the habit of posting fitness related stuff every Friday, with updates on my fasting routing.
Wish me luck, and let me know if you have any advice or thoughts about the new routine.
