I was just going to stay out of this, but since my name got invoked again, here’s a brief summary:
Yes, a lifter can make reasonable progress training 20-30 minutes per day.
No, it’s probably not optimal for most goals.
(As noted frequently in my log, that’s the amount of time I am comfortable devoting to a hobby, albeit one with physical and mental benefits; as with many things, this is a highly person-specific decision that’s influenced by a number of things such as your work schedule, commute time, family situation, any other personal commitments you may have)
That’s really it.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. What we have observed, as often happens in the wonderful world of the Internet, is a combination of someone shifting the goalposts in order to be RIGHT as well as a slight dash of two people sort of talking past one another.
If you only can devote 20-30 minutes per day to training, I think it’s still well worth doing. I’m able to achieve a reasonable level of strength on that much work. So perhaps one might say it’s not “necessary” to train more than that, if consistent with your goals.
If you have SERIOUS goals beyond “be the strongest guy on your block” - such as competing on a bodybuilding stage or a powerlifter’s platform - then yes, more training will be “necessary” for optimal performance.
Your original post (or, the thread TITLE for that matter) asks if a 1 hour weight lifting workout is “necessary” - the implication presumably being that you only need to work out for 20 minutes (since, you know, you said “a lifting session should last about 20 mins” in the first post.
A whole bunch of people explained to you that one can get a decent workout in 20 minutes, but that most people with significant goals will work out for more than that.
A whole bunch of stupidity ensued, most of it perpetuated by your ignoring or misinterpreting all of those posts, and then you finally landed here:
Which, again, has been asked and answered.
There is no point in further discussion unless your question evolves in a more specific direction, such as:
“I can only work out for a maximum of 20-30 minutes per day. How can I use that time to get the best workout possible?”
Or
“I have specific goals XYZ. I’m trying to attain these goals and struggling to do so in 20-30 minute workouts. Will I need to work out for longer? If so, what are the essentials that I should add above what I am already doing?”
As has been explained eight or more times in the thread above, you can get a good workout in 20-30 minutes. It is not optimal for most goals, but if your life priorities dictate that this is the amount of time you are willing or able to spend in the gym, you certainly can make progress.
Right now you’re pretty clearly arguing something just to argue. So let’s get more constructive. What are your current fitness goals?
What if you forget the time and focus on the work. You’ll do what you need to do to reach your goals.
Of course there are limitations. I get my lifting done under 60 mins. But not because I think its anyway superior to longer workouts. You can do efficient workouts in short time, but there is always a trade off, specially when one starts to be strong.
I mean - if you squat 650lbs you cant even reach the top weight in 20 mins.
I’m not that strong but being a bit older than most of you and squatting reasonable weights, it still takes a while to get up to work sets and get the CNS ready to rock and roll. 20 mins just will not work for a squat workout unless I’m fully warmed up and we are just doing speed work with minimal rest b/t sets.
This reminds me of that anabolic window topic or what ever it was a few months ago that someone read and started theorizing on and started a thread wherein the topic was beaten to death, torn to pieces, masticated into a slurry then forgotten about completely.
The only thing missing is someone throwing around the word “Optimal” way too much.
Right there with ya, Yoge. My suspicion is the OP has unintentionally morphed the bro-rule ‘Don’t lift longer than an hour’ into ‘A workout should last about an hour.’
And as pointed out by several posters above, the notion that ‘actual’ workout time is composed only of those relatively brief intervals spent under tension (which, for someone doing low-rep/heavy weight strength work, may indeed amount to ‘only’ a few minutes of an hour-long session), and that any time not under tension is superfluous to the process, is downright silly. I think most of us would agree that one of the requirements for a workout to qualify as weightlifting (as opposed to conditioning/cardio) is that the exercises performed are anaerobic in their metabolic demands. And as no one can perform anaerobically for 20 minutes nonstop, by its very nature weightlifting requires rest periods.
(I didn’t read through the entire thread, so apologies if my comments are redundant.)
Like last night…I finished my workout in just under an hour. I knew I wasn’t hitting chest/shoulder for another 3-4 days and I have been rehabbing lower body so I am recovering much faster.
I decided to do some direct shoulder work and really destroy the pecs. Spent another 30 minutes plowing through bodybuilding type supersets to activate the shoulder build more muscle mechanism. I want a bigger cradle to support more weight as I get over two plates on the bench.
I needed more than 20-30 min to blast the shoulders. As a build to support the main lift (bench press).
So for my goals of a 3 plate plus bench. I need more than 20-30 min.
I ran BTM as well, it’s a great program. I’d highly recommend it with the caveat that you will have a tough time if any of your TMs are much more than 80%.What kind of results did you get from it? I gained about 6-7 pounds while losing an inch on my waist. I did giant sets for the whole program, similar to the way you did it.
Those look like great results. I actually intend to start BTM or krypteia in May after a vacation. Leaning more towards krypteia because Jim highly recommends it even over BTM. Plus I need something that’s going to work for under an hour timeframe.
It was actually in your thread with your BTM videos. He made mention of using krypteia over BTM due to the results and the time it took to complete a krypteia workout. I’m going to reread what he posted and link it if I can just so I’m not misinterpreting what he said there.