Training — Frequent Questions
What time during the day should I work out?
Any time. What matters is they get done. Don't do 3 in a row regularly, but catching up is fine.
Why no cardio?
Cardio for health is great, add it if you like. But not instead of lifting 3 days a week and not instead of the eating methods. The best cardio is playing (kids, sports, etc).
Why is the work set rep range so high?
The range for building muscle is actually huge, 5-30 reps. 10-25 is right inside that. Higher reps keep your form strict, need less warmups, and offer smaller increments of personal bests. Going from 16 to 17 reps is way more achievable than 6 to 7 with heavier weight.
Why single leg work for quads?
Balance your body, great range of motion so you don't need to stretch, half the weight to build muscle so faster warmups and less injury risk. They give you some cardio while you do them.
Why the ATG split squats and sissy squats?
They give an unbeatable stretch, which replaces the need to static stretch. They remove huge progress-killing imbalances, and make your knees extremely durable. You need less warmup sets to hit them and less load to challenge your muscles. And they build damn good legs.
Why no squats or barbell deadlifts?
They require a ton of practice, coaching, warmup, sleep, everything. You do not want to take these to 10-25 rep max every workout. Do you want to be a strong squatter or do you want a kickass physique in minimal weekly time without getting hurt? Choose wisely.
Why just one set? Don't I need more?
If your technique is good and you give it your all, one set gives progress for a long time. The magic is that every week, your body does something that it's never objectively done before. That demands the body change. More sets makes it harder to tell if you're improving. Will this eventually plateau you? Possibly, but it'll happen well past the point where you're in the best shape of your life.
I heard that HIT training "doesn't work"
Science indicates that the absolute optimal way to train is with many sets per bodypart, multiple times weekly. But exactly how much better it is can't reliably be measured. The benefit you might get from that optimization costs you double or triple the time spent in the gym. It's harder to track progress on, and overuse injuries can potentially arise. This is a huge risk to consistency. But the biggest reason? It violates target three: absolute minimum life sacrifice.
What if I can't do my normal exercises?
Pick whatever you have access to that fits the body part categories. You won't set PRs but you can still train to failure. Hotel gyms, day passes, suspension strap at an Airbnb. It's all good.