Building Muscle On a Tight Time Budget

Lack of time is one of the most common excuses for not training. The good news is that it takes very little time to actually perform a workout that can deliver results. Many people have used single set training systems to build incredible physiques and fitness, and the research supports the power of these short duration training sessions to deliver results. A single hard set will deliver a considerable stimulus to the working muscles. Done across your basic calisthenics ( push, pull, and leg movement), you can stimulate most of your bodies musculature in an incredible short time. More sets reliably increase gains and my personal preference is to do 2-4 sets per movements, but additional sets bring diminishing returns but linear increases in time, and potentially exponentially more fatigue. If you are on a tight time budget, in need of some additional recovery, or just beat up from years of training, knock out a single hard set of pushes, pulls, and legs each training day and you will have an excuse-free approach to training that will still deliver surprisingly good results as long as you stay consistent with it for the longterm.

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[tomasjablonskis]

Algorithm has caught him! He's going to the moon boys!

[mikeherring]

Thanks for this video. I have been doing one set of push, pull, and squat a day (to failure), five days per week. I can stay consistent and I rarely miss a session. At 61 years old I find doing this format effective and something I see myself doing forever. Keep the great content coming.

[dougmcardell]

Thanks dude, many times I’ve canceled my workout if I didn’t have my allotted time. Now I realize I can just do one or two hard sets and get back after again the next day and still build muscle.

[divine]

I've been doing 2 sets to failure per day 6 days a week and I've never been this consistent with my workout before, and the strength and size gains are insane

[justaguy]

This is actually opens a new door for me to keep my mind, body and spirit healthy. Over the year counting sets and sets pays off very well but as a results i neglected some part of my life that are actually much more valuable for me. My job is already exhaust my body in the day and sometimes i cant be consistent because of it.

I feel so shit when i cant do my usual 1-2 hour workout routine and when i try to push it into my time, i feel demotivated and it started turning into a chores. After feeling depressed i either stop doing it or doing it poorly. I hate it and i just can't lie to myself anymore. Just wanted a peaceful life, healthier mind, while still keeping my body in shape man. Thanks so much!

[macleangrissle]

I rarely ever drop YouTube comments, but I really want to thank you for your calm, clear, concise and common-sense approach of conveying information. In my opinion, this fills a gaping hole in our otherwise oversaturated and somewhat exhausting social media world of sports and fitness.

Personally, I actively try to regard fitness as a life-long commitment and an investment in both my physical and also mental health. Of course, I also don't want to look like shit after years of sitting around in front of screens too much. So for me, it all has to be applicable, sustainable and also fun, as much as possible.

After half-heartedly working out on and off over the past 10 to 15 years (I'm 35), I managed to make really decent progress over the course of the pandemic. Lost a bunch of weight through calorie-tracking, suddenly saw my abs for the first time since maybe 2004, managed my first real pull-up and worked up to sets of 10 and so on. Experimented with a lot of different workout structures and exercises. It all worked quite well. Very cool.

Then, due to a quite exhausting move to a new apartment and a sudden family health scare (my 10-year-old son got diagnosed with Diabetes Type 1 and we spent a couple of weeks at the hospital) I completely fell out of my routine. Not a single real workout for weeks or months even since around October; went back to some emotional eating and put on a few kilos; felt completely burnt out regarding my workouts. Looking at all the unused equipment only made me feel sad and numb instead of inspired. And I also felt like I needed something new, or different, and simpler, less elaborate just for the sake of it.

That's when I stumbled across your videos a few days ago which strongly resonated with me and so far, they really helped me to get back into some kind of groove, and to feel a little sense of purpose again. I've had a solid two weeks of meaningful workouts, always keeping it simple and focusing on basic compounds that I enjoy. Hoping it'll last again.

So yeah, sorry for the lengthy sob story and again, thanks for all the content you've been putting out there so far! I hope even more people are going to notice this channel and I wish you all the best.

[blueyedream]

Honestly great stuff. As a new father who's time is limited, I've found even 15min a day workouts to help immensely. It all adds up and 2 years later, I'm still the only dad I know without any excuses as to why my fitness level has decreased and I'm definitely the only dad playing on the monkey bars with my toddler.

[MinusTheGym]

Love this, Kyle! Your videos are so concise and to the point. And I totally agree with 1 set being the minimum effective dose. You kinda blow your wad on that first set if you do it right, and all the subsequent sets won't match or beat it in terms of performance, so it's a lot of time spent with diminishing returns when you tack on the volume. I'm curious what your thoughts would be on the Mindful Mover approach. Hopefully we can chat about it soon.

[JFreez]

Gonna be honest I binged like all of your videos this past week and subscribed. Just finished my workout and before I was doing all these sets of weird weighted calisthenics and today I just did push-ups with perfect form like you do in your videos and my lord I haven’t felt this much of a pump in a while. My back muscles are even lit up just from push-ups. Amazing what proper form and control will do. Thanks man!

[GreenhamGuitar]

Agree! I would remind myself... "Don't commit to a programme you can't do forever." Still, I'd get ahead of myself, adding additional sets and eventually burn myself out or dread my routine! Now I strictly do 2 sets to failure every single day of a couple of basic push and pull movements, so that's 14 weekly sets per movement. The sheer consistency has lead to results I'm really happy with.

[Officialcbr]

This is the biggest eye opener for me of the year. I recently switched up training to three days a week for the gym/work/ life balance lifting very heavy in the 5-7 rep range and I love that. But THIS….. I know this can work !!!

[brandonpenland]

I used to do all kinds of splits and programs that required you to do 10+ sets for push, pull, and leg movements in a single session and it’s always been hard to commit too and sometimes I didn’t even see progress because I would end up to sore and have to go huge periods of time without working out. This has been huge for me. Training should be simple, especially for the majority of people, and the fitness industry really convinces us that working out is supposed to be complicated. You have changed the way I train so I thank you!

[SDAup]

Just started my first full time 40hrs a week job and haven’t worked out in 14 days because I feel like I have no time/energy.. will definitely be trying this routine 🙏🙏

[scottsilva]

Today's video is why I'm here!!!

That has happened to me so many times before, when I don't have time, I am very liable to postpone till the next day and this can potentially throw my workout schedule all off. I have been doing just this what is being recommended here, one hard set of pull, push, squat, (a very unintimidating amount of dedicated training time), then, if more time makes itself available, at the very least, I can do a bunch of GTG sets on top of the base practice of 1 set of pull, push & squat.

[NextLevelFitness]

I love that your content is short and sweet, to the point!

[stevetrevino]

With age comes wisdom. I pace myself carefully. I learned this along time ago. The recovery time comment was spot on. I'm just glad to hear it coming from an expert. Thanks for all the good content and information.

[allikitos]

Subbed!
Down to earth exercise content for the average person with realistic schedule who's willing to grow.

[bluenequ]

Thank you. You are my go to guy for anything related to fitness, your videos are short-concise-easy to understand-compact and for free. Information you are giving is so valuable, i am thankful. I am actually doing training with resistance bands, and maintaining calorie deficit. First i started doing it 3 x week and then now i do it 7 x week, i don't feel fatigued and its something i can do. İt gives me a habit and sets me in the right direction. So i like to do what i can do.

[turo]

Great gems as always. I don't understand why you don't have like half a million followers on YT!👍

[Pimpjit]

This is so incredibly helpful. Like many guys my age, I spent hours in the gym back in the day. Now with kids and so on, i FEEL like a 30min workout is pointless. Thanks for completely busting that myth!! Perfect timing too. Found some old pics of myself and it game me the motivation to start working out again the past few weeks!