How to Build by only Training Two Days a Week
by Ian King
The program below is best suited for those who are already familiar with Ian’s work here at T-mag. It’s not because the program is all that advanced, but because the newbie may not recognize all the exercises listed or Ian’s unique method of putting them together. If that’s the case, you may want to read Part I and Part II of our article called “The Ian King Cheat Sheets”.
If you’re not familiar with some of the exercises listed or need a reminder, simply type the name of the movement into the search engine on the left and you’ll soon find a description and probably a picture of the exercise. Most of the abdominal exercises can be found in Ian’s Awesome Abs program. Likewise, many of the relatively obscure leg movements can be found in Parts I and II of Ian’s “12 Weeks of Pain” Program.
Here’s an e-mail I received last week:
Dear Ian,
I find myself in a situation where I can only make it to the gym once every three to four days. I plan on doing full body workouts but have no idea how to set this up in terms of sets, overall volume, and exercises. Can you help me out? What are the concerns here? Can you provide a program? My goal is mainly hypertrophy. Thanks!
– A Busy Guy
I get practically the same letter every week. A devout trainee gets himself into a situation where he has a very limited amount of gym time. Not being able to train four or five days per week, he begins to panic and swears he can see his muscles beginning to catabolize before his very eyes. Well, his muscles aren’t wasting away, of course, and believe it or not, I think this is a great situation to be in!
Reduced frequency will likely reduce the risk of overtraining. In reality, many people should only be going to the gym with this frequency anyway, either because they train with such volume that they would need this reduced training frequency to really recover, or because they have reduced recovery ability (from getting older, getting less sleep, being more stressed out, etc.)
You can do full body workouts, but don’t believe you have to! This is a decision in itself. Sometimes you should, sometimes you shouldn’t. This is because there are some downsides to total-body workouts. Mainly, as these relate to this situation, the muscle groups trained last are always compromised because of residual fatigue. Additionally, if you want to avoid excessive volume, you have to reduce the number of sets per muscle group and some muscles may need more volume within a given workout.
The whole aim of split routines is to give more muscles the opportunity to be prioritized in training. They’re prioritized by being performed earlier in the sequence and by taking up a larger part of the total workout. Remember this: it’s not a given that any or all of your muscles really need multiple weekly exposures. I’m not saying they don’t, mind you, just reminding you to qualify whether they do!
Now, without knowing which of these two options (full body or split) would be best for the individual, I’m going to show you a neat way to get the best of both methods in the same way I go about alternating between all pull/all push workouts and mixed push/pull workouts.
Another consideration I give when reviewing exercise selection in a total-body workout is the number of exercises per muscle group. Less exercises per muscle group allow higher intensity (due to the inverse relationship between volume and intensity), but more exercises per muscle group allow more joint/muscle angles to be overloaded.
Again, in my illustration below I can show you how to get the best of a mix of methods over time. In essence, you’re going to get about two workouts per calendar week which would look something like this:
Day 1: Workout A
Day 2: Off
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Workout B
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Off
Day 7: Off
I’m going to use a six-stage approach in this example, but you could use more or less based on your needs. How long should each stage be? Basically, shorter phases should be adopted by the more advanced lifter (two weeks per stage) and longer phases for the less experienced lifter (four weeks per stage). Just keep in mind that I’d expect you to build in recovery weeks in the six stages below.
Here’s how we’ll schedule this program:
Stage 1: Total Body Workout
Stage 2: Split Routine
Stage 3: Total Body Workout
Stage 4: Split Routine
Stage 5: Total Body Workout
Stage 6: Split Routine
Within the total-body workouts, I’m going to use the two main approaches I mentioned above — more variation in angle overload and less volume per exercise; and less variation in overload and more volume per exercise. Within the split-routine workouts, I’m going to use the two main approaches I mentioned above: separating push/pull and then integrating push/pull.
So here we go, a six-stage workout for those who get to the gym less often!
Loading Parameters
First let’s cover the loading parameters. Generally speaking, I’d expect the loading parameters to run something like the following:
Stage 1
Number of exercises: 12
Number of work sets per exercise: 1
Average number of reps per work set: 12-15
Average speed of movement (tempo): 321
Average rest period between sets: Less than one minute
Stage 2
Number of exercises: 8
Number of work sets per exercise: 1-2
Average number of reps per work set: 10-12
Average speed of movement (tempo): 321
Average rest period between sets: 1-2 minutes
Stage 3
Number of exercises: 10
Number of work sets per exercise: 1
Average number of reps per work set: 8-10
Average speed of movement (tempo): 311
Average rest period between sets: 2-3 minutes
Stage 4
Number of exercises: 6
Number of work sets per exercise: 2
Average number of reps per work set: 6-8
Average speed of movement (tempo): 311
Average rest period between sets: 3-4 minutes
Stage 5
Number of exercises: 4
Number of work sets per exercise: 2-4
Average number of reps per work set: 4-6
Average speed of movement (tempo): 211
Average rest period between sets: 4-5 minutes
Stage 6
Number of exercises: 3
Number of work sets per exercise: 3-6
Average number of reps per work set: 2-4
Average speed of movement (tempo): 211
Average rest period between sets: 5-6 minutes
Exercises
Below is a list of exercises to use in each stage and in each of the twice weekly workouts (A and B). Using stage one below as an example, on “A” day you’ll perform thin tummy variations for the lower abs. A few days later on workout “B”, you’ll perform slow speed curl ups for the upper abs.
STAGE 1
Workout A
Muscle Group: Lower abs
Exercise: Thin tummy variations
Muscle Group: Lateral abs
Exercise: Side raise on ground
Muscle Group: Calves
Exercise: Single leg calf press
Muscle Group: Upper traps
Exercise: Dumbbell shrugs
Muscle Group: Lower back
Exercise: Single leg back extension
Muscle Group: Glutes
Exercise: Single leg lying hip/thigh extension
Muscle Group: Hamstrings
Exercise: Single leg stiff legged deadlift
Muscle Group: Quads
Exercise: Single leg partial range squat
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Wide grip lat pulldown behind neck
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Arnold press
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Prone dumbbell row
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Dumbbell incline bench press
Workout B
Muscle Group: Upper abs
Exercise: Slow speed curl up
Muscle Group: Rotational abs
Exercise: Unanchored Russian twist
Muscle Group: Biceps
Exercise: Zottman single arm curl on preacher bench
Muscle Group: Triceps
Exercise: Dumbbell seated overhead tricep extension
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Prone fly
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Supine fly
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Dumbbell pullover
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Lateral dumbbell raise
Muscle Group: Hamstrings
Exercise: Leg curl
Muscle Group: Quads
Exercise: Leg extension
Muscle Group: Lower back
Exercise: Rounded back good morning (using both legs)
Muscle Group: Glutes
Exercise: Sumo deadlift
STAGE 2
Workout A
Muscle Group: Lower abs
Exercise: Toes to sky
Muscle Group: Lateral abs
Exercise: Side raise on Roman chair
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Wide grip deadlift
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Wide grip stiff leg deadlift
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Wide grip barbell shrugs (with bar held behind the back)
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Seated row
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Wide grip chin-up
Muscle Group: Biceps
Exercise: Reverse grip EZ bar curl
Workout B
Muscle Group: Upper abs
Exercise: Normal speed curl up
Muscle Group: Rotational abs
Exercise: Lateral rotation of legs, lying on back
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Wide grip bench press
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Wide grip, behind the neck shoulder press
Muscle Group: Triceps
Exercise: Lying triceps extension
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: High bar squat, narrow stance
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Dynamic lunge
Muscle Group: Calves
Exercise: Standing calf press (using both legs)
STAGE 3
Workout A
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Bent over row
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Medium grip bench press
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Medium grip chin-up
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Medium grip shoulder press, behind the neck
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Medium grip deadlift
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Front squat
Muscle Group: Lower back
Exercise: Loaded back extension
Muscle Group: Calves
Exercise: Seated raise
Muscle Group: Lower abs
Exercise: Knee up on incline
Muscle Group: Lateral abs
Exercise: Side raises with a twist on Roman chair
Workout B
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Back squat, medium bar, medium stance
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Medium grip stiff leg deadlift
Muscle Group: Glutes/Hamstrings
Exercise: Loaded hip/thigh extension
Muscle Group: Upper traps
Exercise: Medium grip front shrug with bar
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Front shoulder press
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Lat pulldown to front using triangle bar
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Incline bench press
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Underhand seated row
Muscle Group: Upper abs
Exercise: Weighted curl up
Muscle Group: Rotational abs
Exercise: Anchored Russian twist with load
STAGE 4
Workout A
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Medium grip bench press with arch
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Medium grip bent over row
Muscle Group: Calves
Exercise: Seated calf press
Muscle Group: Upper traps
Exercise: Speed shrug from above the knees
Muscle Group: Lower abs
Exercise: Knee up on vertical
Muscle Group: Lateral abs
Exercise: Loaded side raise with twist on Roman chair
Workout B
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Squat, medium bar, medium stance
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Medium grip deadlift
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Medium grip chin-up
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Shoulder press, medium grip, behind neck
Muscle Group: Upper abs
Exercise: Medicine ball sit-up
Muscle Group: Rotational abs
Exercise: Medicine ball leg lateral lowers
STAGE 5
Workout A
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Back squat, low bar, medium stance
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Medium grip bench press
Muscle Group: Horizontal pull
Exercise: Bent over row with underhand grip
Muscle Group: Integrated abs
Exercise: Wrist to knee curl up
Workout B
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Chin up, reverse grip
Muscle Group: Vertical push
Exercise: Shoulder press, medium grip, behind the neck
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Medium grip deadlift
Muscle Group: Integrated abs
Exercise: Knee up on Swiss ball
STAGE 6
Workout A
Muscle Group: Horizontal push
Exercise: Medium grip bench press with arch
Muscle Group: Vertical pull
Exercise: Chin-up, reverse grip
Muscle Group: Integrated abs
Exercise: Full V-sit ups
Workout B
Muscle Group: Anterior lower body
Exercise: Squat, low bar, medium stance
Muscle Group: Posterior lower body
Exercise: Medium grip deadlift
Muscle Group: Integrated abs
Exercise: Push-up hold and variations
Conclusion
Let me make a prediction. You’re going to get the same benefits from this program as the average person who goes to the gym more often. You might even get greater benefits! In fact, because it’s such a fine program, you may surprise yourself with your growth! Don’t believe you can make more progress by spending less time in the gym? Give it a try and find out for yourself.
Note: For more of Ian’s training philosophies, read his books Get Buffed! and How to Write Strength Training Programs available at www.getbuffed.net and KingSports.net.
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First published – King, I., 2002, Big muscles, busy schedules, t-mag.com, 05 July 2002. (Article)