"Simplicity Is The Key To Brilliance"

- Bruce Lee

I was driving up to Diamond Gym on a cold winter evening. It was just past 5 PM and I was sitting in a TON of traffic, literally, moving nowhere. I was stressed out of my mind, up to my ears in work for Grad School, teaching, coaching wrestling and trying to manage it all.

It was the FIRST time in my life I was truly finding it difficult to find the time to train....

As I sat in traffic moving nowhere, my heart sank into my chest and I felt the pain in my stomach. The pain of knowing this was the end of my training time at Diamond Gym. I had been training there since my 18th birthday where my gift was a 3 month membership and I would end up staying there for almost 10 years.

I was dreading the fact that I was gonna have to train at a "normal gym" and leave Diamond Gym behind. My mind began to wander and I had to come up with another plan.... another place..... but I knew nothing could replace Diamond Gym.

Traffic wasn't moving and I inched my way up the highway as I stressed out and felt my heart beat racing from stress. That night I could not even train, time was running out and all I could think about was studying, writing my research paper and missing my workout. My heart was broken, I stopped trying to get through the dead stop traffic, took the nearest exit, turned around and went home, defeated, stressed and depressed.

I went home and mapped out a training routine to fit my insane schedule of teaching, finishing Grad school & coaching Wrestling.

I was heavily influenced by Dorian Yates' style of HIT (High Intensity Training), aka Heavy Duty. I had Dorian's original book and it was a 4 day split and rest after every training day, 2 days off after leg day. 

I remember Mentzer writing about training legs once every 3 weeks, I knew I could make it happen with a minimalist approach and honestly, I had to make it happen. I had NO other options.

I had always responded well to training every other day while others were training 2 - 4 days in a row so I wasn't overly concerned with training less than what the magazines said you should be doing.

My routine was going to be bare bones minimum and looked like this:

Tuesday: Legs

Sunday: Upper Body

My other days were spent working as a teacher, coaching wrestling and studying my ass off for Grad school. 

This was the only way I would be able to make my training work with my busy schedule and to my surprise, it worked very well.

I still got stronger, still got bigger and contrary to what many would assume, my metabolism didn't slow down.

I stayed lean and mean. It was a matter of eating clean, plain and simple.

In addition, being a Physical Education teacher I was very active throughout my day. I never had a moment to sit down.

I would superset anything I could to reduce the time it took to complete each workout. Below is an example of leg day:

1) Bike warm up x 5 Minutes

2A) Leg Extensions 2 x 20

2B) Leg Curls 2 x 20

3) Squats: Work up to a Heavy 5 (405 or 455), then drop set to 315 for MAX reps (12 - 15 reps).

4A) Leg Press or Hack Squat 2 x 10

4B) RDL 2 x 5

Above, The Photos of Dorian that inspired me to cut back my training volume and embrace recovery.

Sample Upper Body Day:

1A) Bench Press: Work up to a Heavy 5, then 2 - 3 drop sets immediately after. i.e. 315 x 5, then drop set: 225 x 10, 135 x 20

1B) Mixed Grip Pull Ups x MAX Each Set (Every other Week, Weighted Chin Ups x 3 - 5 reps each set)

2A) Incline DB or Machine Bench 2 x 8 - 12

2B) Cable or Hammer Row 2 x 8 - 12

3A) Any Free Weight Triceps 2 x 10 - 15

3B) Hammer or BB Curls 2 x 10

I am currently back to hitting minimalist training again, for a few reasons:

- I've been on a very high volume training plan for a while now. Often training 5 days a week. My body will reap the rewards of the added recovery and it's good for the mind to hold back sometimes.

- Like life back in the day, I am in a very hectic, busy time. Life stress is often times tougher on the body than training stress.

- When my volume of training gets very high I tend to lose focus on balancing all my training with mobility and proper recovery. My rest days are getting this attention at home, using various methods to improve health, mobility and recovery.

As you can see, there are Many benefits to minimalist style workouts.

Here's my Top 5  Reasons Why You Should Embrace Minimalist Workouts At Least SOME of the Time:

1) Maximum Recovery - As much as I encourage you to kick ass and take names in training, not enough of you do the right things outside the training to ensure you reap the rewards of hard work. Proper nutrition, ample sleep every night, lifestyle, etc. - these are the game changers to getting you jacked and lean. Sleep and Nutrition are crucial.

2) Laser Like Focus - When you know you're only training 2 or 3 x week you are less likely to allow that workout to slip into becoming a mediocre workout. You know you're gonna focus and treat each and every rep like your last.

Sample Minimalist Training for Busy Men / Busy Dads:

Day 1 - Warm up on your own first

1A) Squats 5 x 5

1B) KB Swings 5 x 5 - 10

1C) Hanging Leg Raise 5 x 5

Day 2 

1A) FARM Bar Bench (5 Second Eccentric) 5 x 5

1B) Weighted Pull Ups 5 x 3 - 5

1C) Band Pull Aparts 5 x 10

These Minimalist workouts are also what I do with my son when he is in season and he gets home late from practice. He still has studying and homework to do so we warm up and do 3 - 5 sets of 5 reps with 2 or 3 exercises. EASY Strength for the WIN.

3) Time Is Of The Essence - As you "get older", your long list of "things to do" never stops growing. Life is hectic. When you know you can train in 30 minutes or less, you're not stressed over the short time commitment, instead, you are excited. 

4) Mental Health - The best benefit to exercising is what it does for your mind. It is the ultimate stress relief. Men tend to feel guilty taking care of themselves. Men and women need to understand that if you don't take care of yourself, you can not show up as your best self for others.

5) Less Mileage / Less Joint Aches and Pains - As much as I love training, sometimes, the best thing you can do is LESS, not more.

With Minimalist style training, you eliminate any and all exercises that are not what are best for you and best at delivering results.

Until the next time, start implementing a minimalist training program and see how you feel. Reply to The STRONG Life Insider and update me.

Till the next time....

Live The Code 365 

--Z--

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