How I consistently gained muscle and strength as a busy parent with a 9-5 job (more like 7-7 with commuting) without giving up much of my precious time.

THREAD
So these pictures were taken when I was working 5 days a week and had a very young son.

You can still make progress, but you've got to be smart about it

Read on to find out what I did.
1. FIND A TRAINING FREQUENCY THAT WORKS FOR YOU.

Spending 90 minutes in the gym 4 times a week probably isn't going to happen.

With dad duties and work pressures, my usual routine was totally obliterated....
I realised the best way for me to CONSISTENTLY get a workout in, was to go to the gym during my lunch break.

10 minute walk to the gym, 10 minutes back, time for getting changed, showered & also eating meant I had 25-30 minutes to train BUT I could do it 5x a week.
2. TRAIN INTELLIGENTLY TO GET MAXIMUM RESULTS IN THE MINIMUM TIME

I ruthlessly cut from my routine.

Everything except the essentials had to go.

I ended up doing 2 compound exercises per session, for 2 or 3 work sets each.

That was it, session done. Run back to work!
I had to get clever about this to get the most out of each session.

Exercise selection was key, and for the first time ever, which exercises came after others was vitally important 👇
For example, I could cut set up and re-racking time if I put romanian deadlifts and barbell rows together on the same day.

After my 3 sets of RDLs, I could take a couple of plates off, and do my barbell rows. No time wasted moving stations, fighting for a barbell, or setting up
I avoided popular equipment (busy central London gym)

It was hard to get a bench & someone would always be "using" 6 pairs of dumbbells, including the ones I wanted.

I couldn't afford to waste time.
Instead of dumbbell rows, I did T-bar rows on the unpopular landmine Station (their loss, this is great!)

I also used it for shoulders (landmine press, another great one). This also saved me time setting up, re-racking etc.
3. CUT VOLUME, INCREASE INTENSITY.

The main thing that will extend your gym sessions is lots of exercises and lots of sets.

I had no time for that.

I did 5 or 6 work sets in my whole session.
I started with the heaviest set, the reduced the weight by 10% for each subsequent set.

Each set was taken close to failure so I was getting the best possible workout done in the time.

Set 1: 4-6 reps
Set 2: 6-8 reps
Set 3: 8-10 reps

This is called Reverse Pyramid Training.
I could go into more detail on this and I probably will at some point, but I don't want to digress.

You don't need to do what I did.

Perhaps what will works for you is just 2 sessions per week, where you end up getting the same amount done as I did with 5

That will work too.
Training like this, I was able to progress from session to session, first adding reps to some or all of the sets.

Once I was hitting the top end of the rep range, I went up in weight.

I was able to put on muscle and gain strength, despite having the worst sleep in the world.
Don't do nothing because you think you need to do everything.

This shifted my belief as to what was truly necessary.

You probably think you need way more than you actually do.
I'm now a dad to two (one 2 year old, one 3 month old), and I'm sticking to these principles with home workouts.

With me trying to grow my business, my own training often gets pushed to the bottom of the list

These principles still work.
Of course you need to be eating properly to gain muscle, lose fat - whatever your goal is - but I talk about that all the time, no need to repeat it here.
I'm helping several people with this at the moment.

Everyone is always surprised that I'm not programming them 90 minute workouts with 5 sets of Lateral raises and biceps curls.

Let's drop that inefficient rubbish!
If you want to learn more, check out the book I wrote on the principles of building muscle, which has a section on efficient workouts and some example routines 👇

Learn.nothingbarredfitness.com/simplybuildmus…
And get on my email list.

Select one of the free resources here and you'll be added 👇

nothingbarredfitness.com/start-your-jou…
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More from @Rob_NBF

5 Mar
How I'm working out my whole body at home with 3 pieces of equipment and 20 minute workouts.

THREAD (some example programs below) 👇
With gyms being closed, I've had to build myself a plan that made the best use of the small amount of equipment I had.

If I had a big house with a garage, I'd kit myself out a full gym with rack, barbell, bench etc.

I have none of that, so I have to get creative.
I have pullup handles (you can use a bar), some dumbbells (you can just use ONE) and some gymnastics rings which you use by hanging from your pullup bar or handles.

I'm doing an Upper/Lower program, but you could definitely make it full body (I'll give examples for both).
Read 24 tweets
12 Feb
Reasons You Can't Build Muscle (aside from the usual obvious calories, protein, progressive overload, sleep etc.)

(THREAD)
1. Your Ego

You lift too heavy, all the time.

This means you don't actually activate muscles properly because you use momentum and leverage to move weights.

You don't take your joints through a FULL range of motion.

You get injured & have to take weeks off.

Lower the weight.
2. You do too many 1 rep maxes

Linked to ego again, lifting at 100% intensity all the time will REALLY take it out of you.

You need to build up to some volume and not fry your nervous system.

You need to recover before your next session.

Frequent 1RMs don't help you.
Read 11 tweets
11 Feb
You can never quantify the potential downstream benefits of starting something new and scary.
I started this twitter account a little over 2 years ago. That felt scary.

"What if people I know find me and think it's stupid."

THAT all came from starting going to the gym a little over 6 years ago. That was scary too.

"But I don't know how to lift weights"
That all came from starting a new job in an unfamiliar field, for a small "boring" company who gave free gym memberships to their staff.

That was scary too. "What if I don't like the new job."

Key takeaway: Get out of your comfort zone. If it doesn't go well, it doesn't matter.
Read 4 tweets
5 Feb
I've made lots of mistakes since I started lifting. I had no clue what I was doing at first.

Which ones have you made?
Not tracking my lifts
Lifting with bad form
Lifting too heavy
Ignoring higher rep ranges
Sacrificing form for the sake of "progress"
Ignoring injuries
Not following a proper program
Doing cardio before lifting
Too much isolation work
No deloads
Not taking time off when needed
Refusing to stop doing an exercise that was causing me an injury
Not focusing on a mind-muscle connection
Following an unbalanced routine
Completely shunning certain equipment
Cheating reps
Ignoring mobility issues
Read 4 tweets
31 Dec 20
Do you need a plan to lose fat?

Look no further than this thread!

Follow these instructions and you can't fail to lose fat in 2021!

(no gimmicks or fad diets)

👇 👇 👇
Most people are probably aware that calories govern weight loss and gain.

Calories are simply a unit to measure energy, much like lbs/kgs are units to measure mass and miles measure distance.

"calories don't matter" is like saying "miles don't matter"
Your body has a certain amount of energy it needs to maintain its weight.

This is largely governed by how heavy you are and how active you are.

Having more mass means you require more energy to maintain it. All movement also requires energy.
Read 22 tweets
30 Nov 20
20 pieces of advice from the last decade of fitness and self improvement (THREAD) 👇
Never underestimate the power of writing down what the future version of you looks like.

Save it on your desktop.

Set it as your phone background.

Print it out on a little card and keep it in your wallet.
Always have MEASURABLE goals.

Write these down too.

- What is the measurable point at which you'll have reached the goal?
- Set a realistic date by which it will be achieved.
- How much progress do you need to see each week in order to be on track for the goal?
Read 22 tweets

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