ExRx.net

I've been doing the 3 day split pull/push/legs routine from this site (5 days a week) for a few months.

I've been doing one set per exercise, with no warmup. I tried doing warmups at 50% weight, but found that it negatively affected my strength on working sets. This is my first real attempt at trying to gain muscle specifically. I've made some huge gains percentage-wise, which have been (predictably) slowing down as of late. I think I'm doing the right lifts, nearly all compound exercises and isolated only for auxiliary exercises.

The thing is, going by that template, I just barely feel like I work out at all. I spend about 25 minutes in the gym on pull day, and like 20 minutes on push and legs days, which just doesn't sound right to me. Everyone else seems to claim they spend about an hour in the gym per day. I'm just in and out in no time and then I go home with plenty of energy left.

What I've been doing has been working pretty well so far, I'm a lot stronger and visibly larger than I was. Is this just because I'm a beginner, or am I actually doing something that's going to be viable long-term? What should I change to increase intensity other than merely adding sets?

25 minutes, 5 times a week is all it really takes. You could spend twice the time but it doesn't translate to twice the benefit. To increase intensity without adding sets, try changing the reps, and therefore the weight. You didn't say how many you're doing now.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

There are several things you could do to increase the intensity:

Use a faster tempo
Use less rest between exercises
Increase the loading faster
(Get ready for this one--in might be hard to accept for someone who has sipped the one-set Kool Aid) Do more than one set of each lift

The research sited in support of one-set programs used raw beginners (as I recall). The reasonable conclusion is that, for a beginner, each subsequent set provides less additional benefit. The longer you lift, the smaller that decrement will become.

I agree that you can have an effective program lifting 25 minutes 5 times per week, but I think you could also benefit from going a bit longer. We had a thread recently about the "One-Hour 'Rule'", and I'm one who thinks that living by it is basically a good idea, but I don't, just because I enjoy lifting, and I like my time in the weight room.

Is the deadlift in your program somewhere? If you DL and leave feeling like you haven't worked intensively, you're doing something wrong.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

stuward: I've been doing 8-10 reps normally, sometimes 5-7 when I move up in weight.

Jungledoc: I would have no problem doing another set per exercise if it's more effective. I'm planning on continuing with one set until I hit a wall and stop making gains, at which point I'll work more sets in. The scientific data on that question is pretty confusing, so I'm just going to keep doing what works until it stops working, and I wouldn't be surprised either way.

I was actually going to start doing deadlifts next week. I had been concerned that my lower back was too weak but I've been doing seated cable rows and I'm sure I can handle it now.

Anyway, I'll try some of the stuff you suggested. I guess this isn't really a problem yet but it just seems odd, I used to train for boxing years ago and I would always be completely exhausted at the end of the day.

I also tried the one set system when I first started lifting, and it worked well for me probably because I had never lifted before. Overall it worked for me for about 2-3 months (i'd have to go back and look it up) before it stopped working: I could no longer add weight and get in 8 reps or work up to 8 reps.

For what it's worth, I was doing the 2-day split from this site.

Regarding warm-ups, they also did nothing for me until I moved to doing multiple sets, then warm-ups became a requirement. Go figure, things change as you get stronger.

Disclaimer: this is pure opinion. If you really want to feel like you worked out, consider a program like Stronglifts (stronglifts.com). It is a 5x5 program (5 sets of 5 reps) and is a great foundation for wonderful fun more advanced programs that follow. At least two active posters here have gone through it, and most of the experts here are familiar with it, so you can get plenty of advice from others if you go that route.

Well, if what you are doing is effective in moving you toward your goals, why change at all? Does it really matter how you feel at the end of your workout? FWIW, I don't think you should feel completely exhausted after every workout. Once in a while is good, but it sure doesn't have to be every time. You should feel like you gave a good effort.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

Your strategy about not increasing sets until you need to sounds like a good plan. If you go 5 times a week, you should be in there for no more than 30 minutes. That is plenty.