How many times have you done way more in a workout than was necessary? Come on, we are all guilty of this. In fact, over the past few weeks I was doing way more the minimum effective dose.
The minimum effective dose is essentially doing the least amount of work to elicit results. For example, research shows that doing 1 set of an exercise (at full intensity) is 75% as effective as doing 3 sets of the same exercise.
There’s a point where you are impeding on progress during a workout by doing more than the minimum effective dose.
Now obviously if you are a power lifter or body builder, there is merit to going beyond the minimum effective dose. However, for the average person looking to lose 20lbs or put on some lean muscle, the minimum effective dose is definitely something to consider.
Focus on the “hot zones” of the body, which include a pushing muscle area, the torso, the lower body and then the back (pulling exercise). This is essentially where you the greatest concentration of muscles mass, and so those are considered the hot zones.
Pushing movement – pushup, lying chest press, overhead press, etc.
Torso – Mountain Climbers, Plank, Cable chops, Stability ball rollout, etc.
Lower Body – Squats, lunges, Lying Hip raises, Total Body Extensions, deadlift, etc.
Pulling Movement – Bent over row, Inverted Row, Lat Pulldown, Band Pulls, Prisoner Squats (if you don’t have any equipment, etc.
You could do an entire workout just hitting these 4 hot zone areas and you would see some incredible results. Let’s be honest, most of us don’t have much time to exercise. Instead of not working out at all or focusing your time on doing 15 sets of a pushing movement, focus on these 4 hot zones instead. You’ll be amazed at how much of a full body workout you can achieve in a short amount of time.
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