How to Get Better Results by Training Less: Build Muscle Without Overtraining

Training harder and doing more exercises does not automatically help you build more muscle and in fact, overtraining may actually be keeping you from seeing results. In this episode, I break down how to train effectively for muscle growth, including progressive overload, workout intensity, training volume, exercise selection, rest periods, and proper form. You’ll learn the signs that you may be doing too much, why muscle recovery is essential, and what your body needs outside the gym to become stronger and more defined. This is your guide to building muscle without exhausting yourself, wasting hours in the gym, or constantly feeling sore.

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So you've been told that the more you work out, the more you train, the harder you train, the more cardio you do, the more just everything that you do, the better results you're gonna get, the faster results you're gonna get. And we're gonna bust that myth entirely in this episode. Welcome back to the Embodiment Lab. My name is Addy, and today we are talking about how to train less, but get more results. Get leaner, faster, and build more muscle. And I'm gonna preface this episode right off the bat by saying that this is not the episode. If you are looking for the easy way out, if you are hearing, oh, cool, I can train less, I can put in less effort and get more results and not have to work hard for it. No, this is not for you. You are still going to have to work hard. But I'm gonna break down why overtraining and working out excessively is actually more harmful in the long run than what you might think. And this is also coming from somebody who used to over-train, used to beat the shit out of my body, used to be active eight hours a day in a dance studio and working out alongside that. And my body literally did not get any results from training any harder. And in fact, it just was the fastest route to burning me out. And we're gonna dive into all of the things today. So the first thing we're gonna dive into is obviously that more training does not automatically mean you're gonna get more results. I have had clients in the past who have trained twice a week and built significant muscle. I've had clients train three times a week and built significant muscle. And when I have clients come into my program, Embody You, I am typically programming them for four days a week, which is, in my opinion, the sweet spot. But I would say the most workouts that I will program for a client, and this is like an advanced client, we've been working together for several years. Maybe they have a history of training as an athlete, something like that. That is the one-off case that I will program in five days a week. But I like to typically program in two rest days minimum because rest is actually when your muscle is building, right? It's when it's recovering, is when your muscle is actually building. And if you are in the gym six or seven days out of the week and you are beating the shit out of your body and not actually giving your body a chance to recover, then it's no wonder that you're not building any more muscle, right? And it's confusing in your head because you're thinking, you know, I'm working so hard. What else do I possibly need to do in order to get a result? And the truth is your body is so overstimulated and overworked that it is burnt out and it's underfueled because you're you're not giving your body a chance to actually recover, right? So that's the sweet spot, is anywhere between two and four days in the gym. That is what is really, really effective and useful for building muscle. Now, what do you do when you're in the gym? I'll tell you right now, it's not cardio. Cardio does not build muscle. In fact, if you are doing too much cardio, then you are expending more energy, which means that you are burning through the food doing cardio and you're not actually able to utilize that food to build muscle. That and the fact that muscle is very expensive tissue in your body. And so if you are spending a lot of your time doing cardio, you're and not fueling your body adequately, then your body is going to start to break down muscle to have energy because it's expensive tissue to maintain, right? And so that's where it's going to go first. So cardio is not something that we use for fat loss. It's not something that we use for building muscle. Cardio is a great thing to supplement, to enhance the results of a deficit. It's great for heart health, it's great for endurance, it's great for stamina. But outside of that, I don't use cardio to burn fat or build muscle. It's just not the primary thing that we're going to use here. Okay, so we're in the gym, let's say four days a week for about an hour at a time. Honestly, like 30 to 30 minutes to an hour is the sweet spot for how long you want to be in the gym. Anything more than that, and it's honestly overkill. But how do you make sure that you get the most bang for your buck for your workout? And the first thing is gonna be stop measuring your workout by how exhausted it makes you. Stop measuring your workout based on how sore it makes you. Because when you're going into your workout with that approach to burn or to sweat or to feel absolutely wiped, that's gonna put you in a position to think, okay, how much shit can I do? And that is not an effective approach to being able to put on muscle. Less is more here, right? That is really truly the best piece of advice that I could give you. And by less, I mean just less shit. I don't mean less effort. So my favorite thing is going into the gym with four exercises in mind. And these aren't like, let's say for glutes, these aren't I'm going in and doing abductions and kickbacks and hamstring curls and glute-dominant back extensions, doing these like accessory movements. No, they're a really good mix of compound exercises that are utilizing multiple muscle groups at once with a little bit of accessory work just to enhance and really isolate the muscle that you are working. But going in with a plan of doing four to five exercises max and making sure that you're performing those exercises to the best of your ability with the most amount of effort that you can, that is how you're gonna get the most out of your workout. Also making sure that you are doing three really good sets, not including your warmup, where you are utilizing a rep range to your advantage. So a mistake that I see a lot of women making is they'll go in and they'll lift lightweights for like 15 to 20 reps, they'll do a shit ton of reps at not a challenging weight at all. And they'll feel a burn, they think that they're being productive, they think that they're doing something, but they're not. You want to pick a challenging weight that is challenging to reach 8 to 12 reps. And the way that I like to use this rep range is if say you are doing a squat and you're holding like a 35 dumbbell, a 35 pound dumbbell, and you are able to hit eight reps and you feel good. Cool, let's do 10. That feel good? Great. Let's do 12. As soon as you can do 12 reps at a specific weight, it is time to increase the weight and go down in reps. So say you're doing that 35-pound dumbbell and you can do 12 reps. So you're like, cool, let's increase this bad boy to a 40. Now, your next set, you say, okay, can I make it to eight? You make it to eight, and you're like, oh shit, okay, that was pretty good. Let's add two more reps. You make it to 10. Can you keep going? Great. Let's do 12. You hit 12, up that weight again. And you do this until you can find a weight that is challenging to complete eight to 10 reps. And you do that over and over and over again. And that is how you progressive overload. Another mistake that I see women making is that they get comfy with their three sets of 10. And that's kind of just all of they do when listen, there was a trend going around a couple years ago where there were people on the internet saying, if you're doing three sets of 10 reps, you're not building muscle. And I think that's a little bit bullshit. But I also agree with the fact that if you are not genuinely challenging yourself and you're doing the same weight for 10 reps, three sets every single week, then yeah, your three sets of 10 reps is not good. But if that is a challenging 10 reps, then that's great. If I notice myself getting a little too comfy with my 10 reps, I always throw in an extra two and just see how long I can keep going at that at that weight. And usually I'll end up doing about 15 reps. And that's when I'm like, okay, Addy, come on, increase the weight. Because if you're able to do 12 to 15 reps at a certain weight, like increase the freaking weight. Okay, increase it. And if you're doing that for every exercise, all four exercises, and you're taking a decent rest in between each set so that your body can fully recover and you can go just as hard with the next set as you did with your last set, then you will have an extremely effective workout that you can get done in 45 minutes to an hour and call it a freaking day. Like you do not need to be in the gym for two hours doing a bunch of crap. Like the amount of people that I see programming in seven to eight exercises, I'm like, what are you doing? And honestly, I used to be this girl. I used to think, okay, yeah, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna get a fat booty and it's gonna be great. And then when I didn't, and when I ended up dreading the gym and hating my life while I was in there, yeah, that didn't serve me very well. I was exhausted with a flat ass. So if you play that game every single time of can I hit 12 reps? Great, increase it. Then that is how you will know that you are actually getting stronger, you're actually building muscle, and you're actually improving every single time and you're actually doing an effective workout rather than just a bunch of junk volume. So there's a lot of different things that contribute to an effective workout. One, the number of exercises that you're doing, two, how you are executing those exercises. Three, the control that you have over the muscle that you're using. So you're not just using momentum, but you're actually intentionally deciding to move the weight using your muscle. I forgot what number I'm on. Three, four, we'll go with four. The tempo. So making sure you're actually spending time under tension to create the tension that you need in order to build the muscle. If you are just speeding through reps, you are wasting your time. Stop doing that shit. Five, the amount of rest that you are taking in between sets. I've seen this so many times where people will basically turn their strength training workouts into like strength training cardio because they take 30 seconds of rest in between every set. And you shouldn't need just 30 seconds of rest. You should need a full like minute and a half, two minutes to rest. Because if you can immediately go into your next set, your last set was not hard enough. And you need to either increase the weight, slow it down, create more intensity. You need to do something different because that was too easy for you. Six, rest days, making sure you're giving your body time away from the gym because spending more time in the gym is not benefiting you after a certain point. Seven, making sure you're eating enough protein so that you have the tools to actually build that muscle. Eight, making sure you have enough carbs in your body so that your muscles have fuel to actually train harder, weaker muscles are usually lower in carbs. You want to get strong, you want to actually see muscle, eat your freaking carbs. Also, carbs make your muscles look fuller. So if you want to have a fat, juicy ass, you need to eat carbs the day before you lift for legs, lower body, glutes, whatever, you need to eat carbs day before and day off. Honestly, every single day of the week, eat your freaking carbs because they'll pull more water into your muscles, which makes them look fuller and you get a better pump. And who doesn't love a better pump? Nine total calories actually match what your body needs, meaning we are not under-eating, we are not starving, we are eating at least at maintenance. At least you don't need to be in a surplus to build a crazy amount of muscle unless you are super advanced and you've been doing this for a while and you your main goal is to literally build mass. If you are somebody who is a little bit newer to the gym, if you have a little bit of body fat that you want to lose, you want to lean out a little bit, maintenance is good enough. A surplus is for someone who is at maintenance, has been training for many, many years, and you're wanting to add a significant amount of muscle and your body isn't responding anymore at maintenance. That is when you go into a surplus. So if you are somebody who is a little bit afraid of gaining fat and gaining weight as you build muscle, literally don't. Don't be afraid of that because you will not gain a whole bunch of weight at maintenance. You are maintaining. Maintaining, which means that you are not going anywhere. You're staying put. But maintenance gives your body enough fuel to be able to build muscle. And that's also where body recomp happens, which we love to see body recomp happen. So, number nine, eat enough calories for your body because if you are under-eating, you will not lose fat or build muscle, and you'll be in this really rough spot where your body is just not changing and you feel like absolute garbage. Don't do that. And 10, you need consistency. Cliche, I know, but this is really one of the most important things, if not the most important thing. If you are not continuing to show up to the gym and doing your workouts every week, and you're not continuing to implement progressive overload and all nine of the other things that I said, then do not expect to build muscle. Do not expect your body to change. You need to be consistent. And you need to be consistent for minimum six months to a year. This is not a quick, like, six-week fix. This is something that needs to be a part of your normal life forever because it's just that good for you. And when you can zoom out and get lost in the process and fall in love with the process, it becomes a hell of a lot more enjoyable than just trying to force a result in six weeks because your body doesn't respond in six weeks the way that you want it to. It responds over time. And so develop enjoyment for going to the gym, develop enjoyment for moving your body, romanticize it, make it something that's fun, make it it's something that is enjoyable. And this is exactly why I preach training less, because if you honestly like think about it, you cannot maintain going 110, 150%, doing a shit ton of cardio, doing eight exercises per workout, seven days in the gym. Like you can't maintain that and live a happy lifestyle. When you are in the gym for four days out of the week, doing four to five exercises, implementing decent rest, fueling your body, feeling good, you can maintain that for the rest of your life. That's what I do. I happily maintain a routine that fits effortlessly into my life, feels so good to maintain and gives me so much joy and so much life. So why not make it fun? Because it's so fun. It doesn't have to be miserable. And I say that, and I don't mean that you will not feel challenged. You're gonna have to do hard things, but hard things can be fun, even on the days where the gym is the last place you want to be, right? You can do hard things. And honestly, this is exactly why I created Embody You. Embody You is my six-month one-on-one coaching program for women who are already putting in the effort, but don't feel like their body is actually reflecting the effort that they're putting in. You might be training five or six days a week. You might be doing cardio, you might be trying to eat clean, you might be pushing yourself to do more and more, but you're not seeing the muscle definition that you want, and you're not seeing the leanness that you want. And body you is my program where we stop throwing more effort at the problem and we redirect you with a strategy that actually makes your effort more intentional and actually pay off. So if you listen to this episode and realized that doing more is not the answer and it's actually backfiring, but you don't actually know what your version of training smarter and strategically for your goals actually looks like. DM me the word embody, that's E-M-B-O-D-Y on Instagram, and we'll talk about where you're currently stuck, what's been holding you back, what you've been doing, and whether or not embody you is the right next step for you. So let's get you in this program. But that is it for today's episode. Let me know if you enjoyed it over on Instagram, and I will chat with you in the next one. Bye.