Big muscles in 20 minutes of training a day? Don't believe it? Then try the workout inside the article by author Ch. Thibaudeau. Ideal for people with a lack of time.

If you know what you're doing, you can build muscle in just 20 minutes of training a day. Twenty minutes of well-planned, focused training per day will lead to a noticeable improvement in your appearance and training capacity.
This program only requires a large axis and ideally a bench. You practice only three basic exercises. They are divided into two training days and you will move back and forth between them during the week.

If you have access to a big axis and can sacrifice 20 minutes a day, I can make you bigger and stronger. I have many clients with inhuman hours, but they all train 4 to 7 times a week and noticeably improve. I'm sick of people making excuses not to train. I couldn't care less if someone doesn't have a relationship with weights. Everyone enjoys what they do. But it bothers me when people complain that they can't train because they don't have time or are too tired. If you really want to do it, stop making excuses, and find the time to train.

In fact, you don't even need that much time for it. If you know what you're doing, you can build muscle and strength in as little as 20 minutes a day (or even less). Twenty minutes of well-planned, focused training a day will lead to a noticeable improvement in your appearance and training capacity. Tell me you don't have twenty minutes to train. I'll give you a very simple program that will make you stronger and more muscular if you give it your all.

Program

The plan is very simple. It only requires a large axle and ideally a bench. We're going to use only basic exercises. These are split into two training days and you will move back and forth between them during the week.

The exercises are:

1.Deadlift
2.Military Press
3. Bench Press
4.Big Axis Row (torso parallel to the floor)

The pairing is as follows:

Workout A
A.Deadlift
B.Military press

Training B
A.Bench press
B.Rowing

It is essential that you know your max on these exercises. I don't mean an ugly maximum, but the maximum weight you can handle with decent technique. We will use this maximum to calculate the weights for the first week. After that we will adjust the loads according to your results.

After your warm-up (2-3 warm-up sets max), do a total of 4 sets of each exercise:

Series 1:5 reps with 80% max
Series2: 1 rep with 90% max
Series3: 1 rep with 92% max
Series4: Max reps with 60%. It should be a number between 15 and 20.

The bottom line is knowing how to work with the load workout by workout. Determining the weight in the next workout is the result of the fourth series. It's simple: when you get to 20 reps in the fourth set, you add weight in the next workout. Until you get to 20, the weight stays the same.

For example, let's say your workout looks like this:

5x 110 kilos
1x 120 kilos
1x 125 kilos
17 x 80 kilos

You would leave 110, 120, 125 and 80 kilos as your working weight for the next workout. When you can do 20 reps in the last set, you would add weight as follows:

Deadlift:5 kilos for the first 3 sets, 10 kilos for the fourth
Military Press: 2.5 kilos for the first 3 sets, 5 kilos for the fourth
Bench Press: 2.5 kilos for the first 3 sets, 5 kilos for the fourth
Rowing: 2.5 kilos for the first 3 sets, 5 kilos for the fourth

If your bench press looks like this:

5x 110 kilo
1x 120 kilo
1x 125 kilo
20 x 80 kilo

In your next bench press workout the weight will look like this:

5x 112.5 kilo
1x 122.5 kilo
1x 127.5 kilo
Maximum reps x 85 kilo

Frequency is key

In my experience, training frequency is much more important than volume. This is especially true if you are using very low volume training. A lot of people ask if they can change exercises every workout. For example, instead of doing Workout A (deadlift/military press) three times a week, they ask if they can do it just once a week and use other exercises like squats, bench press on the positive bench, or biceps raises in that other workout. No, you can't! The program simply wouldn't work if you used a different variation of exercises in each workout. In order for the body to adapt, and add muscle, you have to gradually overload one type of movement.

It's simple:

Days 1, 3, and 5
Deadlift
Military Press

Days 2, 4, and 6
Bench Press
Rowing

Don't make up nonsense. Work hard, add weight in these four exercises, and you will grow.

How does it work?

This program looks deceptively simple, but give it a chance for a month, and you'll be shocked. If you work hard, you'll get everything you need to grow. Sets with 80-92% of your max will activate your nervous system, and your muscles will get thicker and look harder from them. You'll also get stronger from those sets. A set of 5 reps will add volume, and a set of 20 will stimulate it further.

The cool thing is that those workouts aren't too hard, and you could easily do them more often (for example, Workout A in the morning and Workout B in the afternoon every day), and you would grow great and not be unnecessarily tired.

Possible modifications

I don't usually like to stray from my systems, but there are several ways to modify this program in different situations:

1. You have time for a longer workout, but you don't get to the gym that often.

Let's say you have 40-60 minutes to train, but you can only make it to the gym three days a week. Remember, frequency is crucial in this program. If you can only make it to the gym three times a week - you want to do each exercise frequently. In this case, you should practice all four exercises in each workout. This is the best order in which to practice them:

1.Bench Press
2.Deadlift
3.Military Press
4.Rowing

2. You want to train twice a day.

I personally like to have several short workouts throughout the day. If you can afford it, I think you will get the best results. If this is how you want to train, do workout A in the morning and workout B in the afternoon.

3. You also want to sculpt.

I suggest adding the Tabata kettlebell swings exercise at the end of your workout (see video below). Simply do as many reps as you can in 20 seconds, take a 10 second break and start the next round at 20 seconds. Do this continuously for 4 minutes. Most men will be fine with a kettlebell weighing 20 or 24 pounds, most women will be fine with a 16 pound kettlebell.

Source: www.t-nation.com
Author: Christian Thibaudeau
Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř (Cha Cha)
Original Article Title: 20-Minute Muscle Builder