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One piece of misinformation that has been around for a long time is the idea that strength training workouts need to be…LONG! And I mean HOURS long…

I fell for this myself in my younger days. I mean, if 1 hour of intense workout exercises is good, well, 2 hours is even better, right? And the big one: if 3 workouts per week is enough for Steve Reeves and his ilk, well why not be like Arnold and Zane, and workout 6 days per week, sometimes twice per day!

This is all sad, and ridiculous, really. Especially for average people, who don’t want to win bodybuilding contests, but just want to be strong and healthy for a lifetime! I remember reading about Jean Claude von Damme, and how he worked out 6 hours per DAY!! What a joke, really…

I’m here to give you a liberating philosophy of strength training:

You can reach your ultimate potential, and train for your whole life long, by training for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to three times per week! Really. I now train my lower body one day for about that long, and my upper body for the same time frame. I train, skip a day, and then train again. My weights and gymnastic rings are all set up in my basement, and I just walk downstairs, and start working…

Very convenient, quickly done, and very productive! Today, for instance, I took off two days between workouts, since leg training sometimes is more draining than upper body. No matter; I just try to feel how I am recovering, and judge accordingly.

It really is surprising to learn that, when you workout really intensely, a short duration is really all you need, and really all your body can stand! An intense stimulation of the targeted musculature must necessarily be brief, and is all that you really need or want.

Just as you don’t need a ton of food to grow and recover, you don’t need a TON of exercise to stimulate gains! Just make sure that the food you do eat is mainly protein, meat, eggs, cheese and seafood, and you will be very strong and healthy…Supplements are good too, so take vitamin D, magnesium and potassium, vitamin C and you will have all you need to grow, thrive, and be super healthy and strong!!

That is really all there is to it! It’s really not that complicated, my friends.

My only qualification is that I also work out every morning, first thing, for about an hour…

But that is my joy and pleasure- working out in front of the television, mainly with stretching and virtual resistance exercises, that feel amazing and make you like a cat, twisting and stretching to make you supple, and feel like you are a free creature of the jungle! You learn to use the muscles you build strength training like a feline, feeling alive in your body, injury free and vital!

To me, that is the ultimate, lifelong goal of physical culture.

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