Minimalist Training

Yup. I said it. Minimalist training. There it is. Now that it’s out of the way.

I feel like this term generates eye rolls and yawns of boredom and dislike. But whatever. It describes the type of training well, and it is what I have been doing.
To me, minimalist training means both a minimal number of exercises and a minimal number of training days. I first got a taste of this with Brooks Kubik’s Dinosaur Training. It was a 2-day training routine with only a handful of exercises each day. I tried it, but I didn’t stick with it too long- mainly due to the “feeling” that I needed to be doing more and be in the gym more often. At that time in my life, I also had more free time to be in the gym. Next time I did a twice a week program was when I just couldn’t manage the time at work. Although I have to admit, I didn’t really program it correctly or put in the effort.

My most important dose of minimalist training came from Dan John and this article on T-Nation http: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/2_times_a_week_for_twice_the_gains&cr=. I did this for a bit last summer, and while I didn’t follow it to a T, I still hit my best bench press ever. Despite that, I went back to doing other things because they were “cooler” or “sexier” and I thought I needed to be training more than twice a week. Even when training more times a week though, I would usually keep the volume lower. This seemed to work best. Any time I upped the volume to crazy amounts (more is better, right? Wrong.) I would get hurt, and be forced to take time off.

Well, shortly after my last meet, when I had decided I wanted to train differently, life took another turn (in a very positive  way), but this limited my time even more. So I found myself re-examining minimalist training and if it would work for me, and how I would want to set it up.

I am not going to sit here and say that minimalist training is for everyone. I am not going to say that you can’t get better results from going 3, 4, or 5 days a week. But I will say, that if you don’t have time, if your diet isn’t great, if you don’t get a lot of sleep, if you work full time, if you’re not using PEDs, or if you are getting older (which, I am. I didn’t start lifting as a teen like a lot of people did so I didn’t get all the benefits of that, and I’m not getting any younger), then minimalist training may be for you. It allows for better recovery (I have poor recovery to begin with), makes you really think about what you want to focus on (as training sessions are limited), and leaves you with more time to do things with the rest of your life.

Are you a professional athlete? An Olympian? A model? An actor? No? Then you probably don’t need to be in the gym so much. And you probably also aren’t afforded the luxuries that the aforementioned people are (i.e. it is not your primary job to look good or perform the best- you probably have a day job, significant other, family, friends, responsibilities, etc.)

Why train like a professional athlete if you aren’t one? These people have no other jobs. This is their job. They have spent years doing this and have become accustomed to the frequency, intensity, and volume that their workouts demand. You, most likely, have not, and therefor will not achieve optimal results mimicking what an Olympian or your favorite football player does. Also realize that many of these people are genetically gifted. Chances are, you are not. Most of us are not. Do not use the exception to prove the rule. Find out what works, but realize that more is not always better.