THE BENEFITS OF MINIMALIST TRAINING
Getting stronger, more aesthetic and improving your performance doesn’t have to come from slogging it out day in day out.
In fact, high volume “muscle magazine” training can actually be detrimental to your goals and a minimalist style of training can be extremely beneficial.
Firstly, you have more time to recover.
Contrary to popular belief, progress isn’t actually made in the gym; it’s made in your recovery periods.
When you workout you break down and tear muscle fibres so that your body has a reason to build them stronger. You then need adequate calories, sleep and rest in order for your body to adapt.
Training is the stimulus where as rest is the time for growth. If you don’t have enough rest then your body won’t have enough time to adapt to these new stimuli and you’ll end up spinning your wheels wondering why you’re not getting any further.
There’s no point in hammering your muscles as hard as you can if you don’t give them the write building blocks to grow bigger and stronger.
It’s not just your body that needs to rest, either.
Your mind makes up a large component of lifting, most likely more than you think. If your head isn’t in it then the lift simply isn’t going to happen. Being overly stressed from your workouts can knock on to the next one and become severely detrimental.
If you are training for sport you have energy left to work on the technical aspects of your sport too remember weight training is just general preparation for sports.
So why would you do more than is necessary in the weight room if it takes away from sports practice?
Learn to use the “minimum effective dose” nothing more.
Another main benefit of minimalist training is that your life no longer has to revolve around the gym.
No missing out on social events each week because you need to get in a workout. Instead, your gym time can revolve around you.
When you’re working out 5 or 6 days a week 60-90 minutes, it can be hard to shift a workout to make plans.
Yet, with training 2 or 3 days a week you can simply push it back a day. No harm done, you’ve just had a little extra rest which most likely mean you’ll become back more refreshed and even stronger than you would have done.
Taking a minimalistic approach to your training isn’t ‘lazy’ or ‘slacking off.’
It’s actually smart, clever, and extremely effective for most members of the average population.
Chances are if you’re looking to build some muscle, lose a little fat and just become healthier, 3-4 workouts a week focusing on strengthening compound movements with strategic assistance exercises to bring up lagging muscles is the best approach to your health and fitness.