A friend of mine insists that he has to train 2 hours to get a good workout, his goals are to simply gain muscle and look bigger, I have read many articles on T-mag saying diffrent but he refuses to agree and doesnt want to use all the information he could get off T-nation, can some you give me all the main reasons why he should keep it shorter so i can print this and show it to him,
warrior spirit…you dont count
thanks
~Dave
My advice is don’t worry about it.
You’ve told him once and he didn’t buy, his loss. Keep your training and nutrition in check and compare results in a few months.
If he’s serious he will eventually approach you. If he doesn’t then he was never ‘savable’ in the first place. Some people are just stubborn.
tell him hes gay!
While we all here suggest getting out of the gym in an hour, it can be dependent.
On what?
Well, is this guy actually hitting the weights hard like is the usual habit around here. Is it possible that he is just lolly gagging most of his time in the GYM and actually nneds an hour to get a somewhat good work out in/
Other than that to give you a simple little expailation on why not to hit weights hard for more than an hour is that even after an hour your are gettiing your body into a very catabolic state. You should have depleted glycogen stores in the body parts you are working, and you are actually working against yourself. He is losing muscle by tring to build muscle.
This is dependent on the intensity of his training and the individual though.
Tell him to give it a go for a month. Go to the gym. Bust ass for an hour, and go home. Then compare that month to previous month’s. What could a month hurt.
Hope that helps. Still a little early to go more in depth.
Phill
P-dog, that was my first attempt…didnt work but ill give it a second try
If he’s religious about it, there is no way you are going to convince him otherwise. The best thing to do in my opinion is to use the proper guidelines and show him the results. I would think that is about all you can do. Working out for 2 hours is unnecessary. If you have a good split and work different body parts on different days, 45 minutes to 1 hour 5 days a week works for me and for some that might be a little excessive. I guess it depends on your goals…
Good luck.
How about because testosterone levels drop and cortisol levels rise after about an hour of training? As Charles Poliquin said, if you spend more than an hour in the gym, you’re not makng progress–you’re making friends.
Unless he is doing a total bodyworkout everytime he hits the gym for 2 hours, he is wasting time. Even then, he’d have to be spending alot of down time between sets and using nothing but free weights for him to take that long.
I’m not expert enough to give a lot of reasons why it is better. But from everything I have picked up here at T-Mag and a few other good sites, the shorter the break the better for me.
If I am supersetting exercises I only get to “rest” the time it takes me to move from one station, cage, or apparatus to another and start lifting: 60 to 90 seconds max.
If I am concentrating on one movement I take even less time in between sets: 30-60 seconds usually, just enough time to squeeze in the occassional standing calf raises or takre a gulp of H20.
You take that long in the gym and your muscles get cold, you loose your focus and your intensity really takes a drop.
I know a few competitive powerlifters and bodybuilders, they are huge and strong and 'roid free and NONE of them spends 2 hours per workout in the gym.
Plus, unless you have nothing else going on in your life besides lifting and a job, when do you find 2 hours everyday or every other day to workout?
Just my 2 cents.
Sprout
Marathon workouts do nothing but hinder muscle gain. Get in, get out, go eat and rest.
If he’s making friends at the gym and it is a distraction, a simple change of the wardrobe can do wonders. I find that if I wear a skullcap and clearly have my headphones on level 9, people generally leave me alone.
T-Shirts with slogans like “Kill 'em all and let God sort them out.” or “I travel to faraway places, meet unusual people, and kill them.” Fatigues always look fairly menacing or at least make you look anti-social to the point of people leaving you alone. If he looks the part, he can probably scream a bit and sing ditties like from the book “Muscle” before maxing out on deadlifts or squats…
“One, Two, Three, Four; Everynight I pray for war! Five, six, seven, eight; Rape, kill, mutilate!!”
Then again, he could always focus on the weights and work on rep speeds, concentration, and proper form and get out of there in 45 minutes with a better workout than if he’s flapping his lip most of the time.
I generally don’t take the wardrobe approach mostly sticking to sweats, shorts, and sweatshirt pullovers. I never talk to anyone at the gym. I probably seem like an A-hole to everyone considering the crowd that normally “works out” there but I’m there to lift not catch up on the latest gossip. I’ve had people call me “stuck up”. Well, I guess if minding my own business is “stuck up”, so be it.
Like all inequalities in life, maybe hes different and hes a freak.
Thats the Achilles Heel of all research: what works for one (or a sample) might not work for you.
You only know for YOU until you try. Same thing for the other guy. Walk your own path, try your own stuff, and concentrates on what works for you. Results are the only thing that count in the end.
Get some friends that aren’t azzholes.