Full Body Program (1–3 Days/Week): Why Less Really Is More [2025 Guide]

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Most people think more gym time equals better results. Our 10+ years of data proves the opposite.

When we analyzed our client data, the pattern was clear: more gym days didn't equal better results. Often, it was the opposite.

A well-designed full body program can deliver impressive results in both strength and muscle growth with just 1-2 sessions per week. You don't need to reorganize your entire life around the gym.

After 10+ years of coaching and 50.000+ training sessions, we've noticed a pattern: most people either don't train at all, or they train too much with too little to show for it. The secret isn't doing more. It's about implementing a better structure that you can actually stick to enough times each week to keep improving. For most people, that would be a well designed full body program.

What Is a Full Body Program?

A full body program trains all major muscle groups in each workout session. Instead of dedicating separate days to chest, back, or legs like traditional bodybuilding splits, you hit everything in each session.

This approach works whether you train once, twice, or three times per week. You could even do it every other day, as long as there's at least approximately 48 hours between each session and it fits your weekly schedule.

The key advantage is that you're never really behind. Each workout covers your entire body, so missing a session doesn't derail everything. Compare this to split routines where missing "leg day" means going 10+ days without training your lower body.

It's the most efficient way of getting as strong as possible, with the least time invested.

Benefits of Full Body Training

Most people believe more gym time equals better results. This seems logical. More practice should make you better, right?

And it does. But only if that practice is spread out so you're fresh for each session and able to recruit your strongest muscle fibers. Cramming everything into marathon sessions when you're already tired defeats the purpose.

Yet many gym programs do exactly that. They're built around the idea that you should exhaust one muscle group completely before moving on. This approach comes from professional bodybuilders who train 5-6 days per week because that's literally their career. They have perfect nutrition, sleep schedules, and often pharmaceutical help with recovery.

The rest of us have jobs, kids, commutes, and real life.

Trying to copy their approach is like using a Formula 1 pit crew strategy for your daily commute. The tools don't match reality.

Full Body training works differently. It's designed for real people with real schedules.

• You can get stronger training 1-3 times per week instead of 4-6
• Missing one session doesn't derail your progress. You've still hit every muscle group recently
• You recover more easily between workouts because you're distributing the training load intelligently
• Each session is efficient and focused on compound movements.
• You have more time and energy for life outside the gym
• You can maintain your progress with as little as one session per week when life gets busy

This is why Full Body training has become our go-to approach for busy professionals, parents, and anyone who wants real results without reorganizing their entire life around the gym.

If you want to hear how our client Martin cut his gym time in half while finally building real strength: [From 5 Hours to 2 Hours: How Martin Finally Built Muscle].

Why Most People Train Too Much

Thomas is 38, works as an accountant in Østerbro, and has two young kids. When he came to us, he was following a five-day split routine. Chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, arms on Thursday, cardio on weekends when he could manage it.

"I was doing everything right," he said. "Never missing chest day, tracking my protein, following the program exactly. But I felt like garbage. Always sore, always tired. I was missing dinner with my kids for workouts that honestly didn't seem to be doing much."

Thomas embodies a pattern we see constantly in Copenhagen: successful professionals who apply the same intensity that makes them excellent at work to their fitness routine. But unlike most countries where overwork is normalized, Danish culture actually prioritizes balance, with 37-hour work weeks, generous vacation time, and cycling everywhere. The irony is that Copenhagen's high achievers often choose fitness programs that contradict the very lifestyle philosophy that makes Denmark one of the happiest countries in the world.

Thomas wasn't lazy. He wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just following advice designed for someone whose life looked nothing like his.

So we scrapped the whole thing and started over. Instead of five days a week, we had him train twice. Instead of complicated splits, every session covered his whole body. Six exercises, that's it.

In 8 weeks, he added 20kg to his chest press and reduced his weekly gym time from 6 hours to 2.

What surprised him most was that he didn't get better results despite doing less. He got better results because of it.

Progress compounds when you stop starting over.

Why Full Body Programs Work Better Than You Think

The answer isn't magic. It's biology. Fullbody training aligns with how your body actually works, not how we think it should work.

To understand why, let's look at what's really happening inside your muscles and brain when you train. These mechanisms explain why so many people get better results with less gym time once they switch to a fullbody approach.

How Your Brain Actually Controls Muscle Growth

First we'll cover something most people don't realize: when you do a set of squats, your brain doesn't recruit all the muscle fibers available to help with the movement.

Think of your muscles like a company with a clear hierarchy. At the top, you have the CEO (your brain) making decisions about what needs to get done. In the middle, you have different department managers (motor units) who each oversee their own teams. And at the ground level, you have the workers (muscle fibers) who do the actual work.

Some managers oversee teams of workers who are always available, easy to call on, and can handle basic tasks for long periods. These teams are your slow-twitch fibers. They're already working all day in your regular life: walking, standing, maintaining posture. They're reliable, but they've basically reached their limit in terms of growth potential.

Other managers oversee teams of workers who are incredibly skilled and powerful, but they're hard to reach and get tired quickly. These are your fast-twitch fiber teams. They're the ones with real growth potential, the fibers that can actually get bigger and stronger. But they're picky about when they show up to work.

When you exercise, the CEO (your brain) only gives orders to the managers it thinks are needed to complete the task. Those managers then coordinate their teams accordingly.

This matters because those powerful, hard-to-reach fast-twitch teams are the ones that actually drive growth and strength. They're like your top performers. But their managers only get the call when the demand is high enough and the CEO is sharp enough to recognize the need.

When Your Brain Gets Tired, Your Muscles Suffer

If you do 15 sets of chest exercises in one session, like many split routines recommend, something happens to your brain. It gets overwhelmed processing all the signals: heart rate spiking, muscles burning, coordination demands, breathing getting heavier.

When your brain gets tired, it stops recruiting efficiently. You keep moving, but you're missing the muscle fibers that actually drive growth.

Your brain is like a CEO—when it's tired, it makes poor hiring decisions.

It's like trying to manage a crisis when you're mentally exhausted. You might stay busy, but you're not making your best decisions.

Those powerful fast-twitch fibers are expensive. Just like top creative performers, they need real recovery time between demanding projects. Push them too hard, ask too much of them in one session, and they'll burn out. Then they won't show up properly for days.

But if you spread the work out, give them challenging tasks when they're fresh and then let them recover, they'll keep delivering high-quality performance session after session.

Emma discovered this firsthand. She's a graphic designer who used to do 24 sets for her glutes in single sessions. Halfway through, she was worn out. Her form was breaking down, and she couldn't tell if she was building muscle or just grinding herself down.

The irony wasn't lost on her: she understood this principle perfectly in her work. You can't force creativity for 8 hours straight. Your best design work comes in focused bursts with real breaks between them. Yet she was trying to force her muscles to perform like factory workers on an assembly line.

Now she trains her glutes across two fullbody sessions per week. Three focused sets per session. Six total per week.

She's finally getting stronger. Not because she's doing more, but because she's accessing her best workers when they're actually available. Just like her creative process.

The Principle Most People Ignore

Emma's breakthrough wasn't just about volume. It was about consistency.

Her results didn't come from doing a wider variety of exercises. They came from doing fewer things, just better and more consistently.

Getting stronger isn't just about bigger muscles. It's about teaching your brain to use what you already have more efficiently.

Every time you squat or press, your brain coordinates dozens of signals. Which muscles to activate, how much force to use, how to stay balanced, where to create tension. All while you're breathing hard under load.

This is a skill. And skills improve through quality practice, not exhausted repetition.

If you only squat once per week, that's four practice sessions per month. If you squat twice per week, that's eight. That's not just double the practice. It's double the opportunity for your brain to refine the movement when you're fresh and focused.

Spreading your practice across the week makes you stronger faster than cramming it all into one exhausting session.

It's like learning piano. You'll improve faster with four 30-minute sessions than one 2-hour marathon where your attention fades.

The people who make the fastest progress aren’t doing more exercises — they’re sticking with the same ones long enough for real adaptation to happen.

This is why Full Body training beats traditional splits for skill development.

Strength isn't a single adaptation, though most people think it is. It's the outcome of several different adaptations working together over time. Your nervous system becomes more efficient. Your coordination improves. Your muscle fibers grow. Your tendons, joints, and supporting structures adapt to heavier loads. All of that requires repeated exposure to the same stimulus, performed with enough intensity, over a long enough period.

We see this all the time with clients who make real progress. They’re not constantly switching programs or chasing something new. All that change just gets in the way and slows things down. Instead, they stick to the basics and focus on getting a little stronger each week.

Most people have never been taught how strength and muscle growth actually work. No one explains that the nervous system needs repetition to refine movement. That muscles only grow when they're recruited often enough under the right conditions. Or that variety, while sometimes helpful, often competes with the consistency required for long-term progress.

Why Your Body is a Garden, Not a Factory

Most people believe muscles need a full week to recover. This leads to the classic bodybuilding split: train each muscle once per week, then wait.

When you train a muscle, you trigger a repair process called muscle protein synthesis. This is when your muscles literally grow, rebuilding themselves stronger.

This growth window stays open for 24-72 hours, depending on how hard you trained and your experience level.

Once it closes, your muscle is ready to be trained again.

If you're only training each muscle once per week, you're leaving 4-5 days of potential growth on the table. It's like planting seeds, then waiting two weeks to water them again.

A fullbody program lets you water all the plants in your garden more often, with the right amount each time. You're not drowning your plants with too much water at once, but giving them what they need to grow consistently.

And if you can only water your garden once per week? It's the only logical choice. Better to give all your plants just enough water than to drown one plant while the rest wither away. This is the fundamental advantage of Full Body training over traditional splits.

Lars learned this when his work schedule forced a change. He's an electrician who travels between job sites across Denmark. He used to follow a traditional split routine, but his unpredictable schedule made it impossible to hit each body part consistently.

Now he trains twice per week with two focused, well-structured fullbody sessions when his schedule allows.

Not only did he maintain his strength, he improved it. By hitting each muscle group twice per week instead of trying to catch up with missed "chest days" and "leg days," he's opening more growth windows while working with his real-world constraints.

Once people understand how recovery and muscle protein synthesis really work, the next question is often about supplements. Which ones actually help, and which are just marketing? We’ve broken this down in a clear guide: [What Are Supplements? Expert Advice from 3000+ Clients].

Why Your Brain Shuts You Down Before Your Muscles Do

When your performance drops during a workout, most people blame their muscles. But it's usually your brain that's had enough.

Your brain is like an overprotective parent. It's constantly monitoring signals: how hard your heart is working, how much your muscles are burning, whether you're losing coordination. When things feel too intense, it quietly steps in and limits what you can do.

Not because you're weak, but because it's trying to protect you.

Long, high-volume sessions overwhelm this system. It's like trying to have a productive conversation while someone plays loud music in the background. The equipment works fine, but the environment makes it impossible to perform well.

Fullbody programs share the workload across different muscle groups. Instead of bombarding your brain with 20 sets of the same movement, you're switching between different patterns. Your brain stays fresh, focused, and able to recruit the muscle fibers that actually matter.

You're not chasing a feeling of exhaustion. You're chasing weekly improvements in performance across your whole body.

The Programming Question That Actually Matters

We've covered a lot of ground. Our neuromuscular system works like a company where the CEO needs to stay sharp. Your training should be like watering a garden, getting regular attention without drowning any section. Your brain has limits before it shuts down performance.

All of these mechanisms lead to one conclusion: you don't need more training, you need smarter training.

The question isn't whether fullbody training works. It's how to structure it for your life. Let's start with the most common question we get: "How many times per week do I need to train to see results?"

But it's the wrong question.

The right question is: "What's the minimum effective dose that I can actually stick with?"

Because consistency beats intensity every time.

Real progress can be made with one to three fullbody sessions per week, as long as the structure is right. What matters more than frequency is what you actually do in each session and whether you can maintain it for months and years.

Whether you train once, twice, or three times per week, you can end up in the same place. The difference is speed, not destination.

This flexibility is what makes Full Body training superior to rigid split routines.

How to Structure Your Full Body Program

Let's look at how different frequencies actually work in practice.

1x a week: The large deposit strategy

Training fullbody once per week is like making one large deposit into your strength account each week. It works, especially if you treat that session seriously and include enough quality sets.

This approach fits people with unpredictable schedules or those who prefer longer, less frequent sessions. 73% of our once-weekly clients doubled their strength in their first 6 months.

The key is making that one weekly session count.

2x a week: The sweet spot for most people

This is what we recommend for most people. You're hitting each muscle more often, opening more growth windows, and getting more practice with key movements.

The training volume for each exercise is a bit lower per session, which helps keep fatigue manageable and makes recovery easier — but your overall weekly volume is slightly higher and higher quality, which leads to faster results.

For many, this becomes the perfect balance: frequent enough for steady progress, infrequent enough to stick with long-term.

3x a week: For the motivated

This can work brilliantly if you have the time, energy, and recovery capacity. The key is not turning it into a high-volume grind.

More sessions doesn't mean more work per session. It means spreading the same quality work more evenly across the week.

Some see slightly faster results compared to twice per week, but the difference isn't dramatic. Maybe ~5% faster progress for 50% more gym time.

That's called diminishing returns. The first step gives you most of the benefit. Each additional step costs more for smaller gains.

Three times per week also requires more structure. You need at least 48 hours between sessions and a fixed schedule like Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

If your calendar is unpredictable, this setup can create more stress than benefit.

The psychological advantage nobody talks about

The hidden weakness of complex training splits is that they're fragile.

If your plan requires four different workouts per week like chest day, leg day, back day, arm day. What happens when you miss one?

You don't just miss a workout. You miss an entire body part. Skip leg day, and you might go 10+ days before training your lower body again. Miss it twice, and you're looking at nearly three weeks.

Unless your schedule is perfectly predictable, this creates constant anxiety about "falling behind."

Fullbody training eliminates this problem completely.

Every session covers everything. Miss a workout, and you've still trained your entire body recently. You're never behind. You're never scrambling to "make up" sessions or rearrange your entire week.

This psychological safety net is one of the strongest arguments for Full Body training. You're never stressed about missing a body part.

Kira, an administrative assistant with an unpredictable work schedule, discovered this was life-changing. She used to feel guilty every time she missed "push day" or "leg day" in her split routine.

Now, with two weekly fullbody sessions, she trains when she can and always knows she's moving forward.

The best plan is one where you don't have to restart every few weeks.

The best workout plan is the one you don't have to restart every few weeks.

Our Training Philosophy: Elegant Simplicity

We don't invent random exercises or run exhausting circuits just to make you tired.

Instead, we use a structured approach refined over thousands of sessions: same fundamental fullbody template for everyone, but adjusted for your goals, experience, and injury history.

This gives us two advantages:

1. We know exactly how to track progress

2. You know exactly what to expect

Building the foundation first

When you're new to strength training, our main focus isn't lifting as heavy as possible. It's helping you feel comfortable, confident, and in control.

Many people have never had a positive gym experience. Maybe it always felt intimidating, uncomfortable, or confusing. Our goal is to change that completely.

We want you to leave every session thinking: "I can do this long-term."

That means establishing good technique, addressing mobility issues early, building confidence through manageable weights, and focusing on a small number of exercises until you're really good at them.

We'll often hold you back slightly, even when we know you could do more. This gives your nervous system, joints, and connective tissues time to adapt properly.

You don't get strong by maxing out every session. You get strong by stacking good sessions over time.

Progressive loading

Once you're moving well and recovering between sessions, we start increasing intensity gradually.

Not in dramatic jumps, but in small, sustainable steps.

The focus shifts toward strength development. You'll add weight and reps following a structured plan that balances challenging sets with enough recovery time.

We continue to increase load in deliberate steps while keeping form tight, use moderate rep ranges that target both strength and muscle growth, stick with essential exercises so you can make real progress, and avoid unnecessary complexity that adds noise but not results.

More isn't always better. Doing too much too soon is one of the fastest ways to stall progress or become too fatigued to train well.

Instead, we follow the minimal effective dose principle: enough stimulus to drive progress, but not so much that it compromises recovery or consistency.

Progress doesn't come from pushing to the edge every time. It comes from staying just below the edge and building from there.

The A/B/C/D structure: organized efficiency

We organize every fullbody session using exercise pairings. You alternate between two exercises, like a press and a pull, resting between them in a way that saves time without compromising performance.

You'll do 2-4 sets on each exercise, depending on your training frequency, experience level, time available, and recovery needs.

This approach lets us train all major movement patterns every session, keep sessions time-efficient without rushing (45-60 minutes), avoid overlapping muscle fatigue between exercises, and ensure consistent progression over time.

You'll never wonder what's coming next or whether the session "counts." Everything is structured, tracked, and designed so today's effort builds on last week's work.

This is the foundation of effective Fullbody training that works for busy people who want whole body development in minimal time.

Six Exercise Categories That Build Everything

We’re not constantly switching things up just to keep it interesting.. We use exercises that work and stick with them long enough to build real skill.

The Squats: Hack Squat, Pendulum Squat, and Split Squat. These exercises hit your quads and glutes, and everything in between, except the hamstrings and the rectus femoris, which get attention in the following exercises. The reason why we primarily use machines for the compound lifts is that they provide a large degree of external stability, so that you can focus on pushing hard without worrying about technique.

The Leg Curls: Seated- and Lying Leg Curl. The most effective way to train the hamstrings and fill out the gap from the squat exercises.

The Pushes: Machine Chest Press, Dumbbell Chest Press, and Dumbbell Shoulder Press. These cover your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Whether you prefer the stability of machines or the feel of free weight, we've got you covered.

The Pulls: Cable Pulldown, Cable Row, and Pull-Up. These build your back and biceps while improving your posture from all that desk work.

The Lower Body Isolations: Leg Extension and Glute Bridge. These more isolated exercises further fill in the gap from our compound squats, effectively hitting the part of the quads that aren't trained in the squat and the glute bridge is the most effective exercises for specific glute work.

The Shoulder Isolations: Dumbbell Lateral Raise, Cable Lateral Raise and Rear Delt Row. These are great to isolate the shoulder a bit more, working on giving you strong, capable and resilient shoulders in all planes.

The Arms: Dumbbell Curl, Cable Curl, Triceps Extensions, Triceps Pushdown. We think that most people could benefit from a bit of arm training. Not just to look good on the beach, but because they're great for building stronger shoulders and make everyday life tasks much easier.

The Abs: Reverse Crunches, Hanging Crunches, Planks. If there's time and it's something you want to give extra attention, we can finish off with direct ab work.

If you want to learn more about why this structured set of exercise categories in a Full Body program outperforms traditional split routines, we’ve broken it down in detail here: [Full Body vs Split Training: Which Gets Better Results?].

The Numbers That Actually Matter

Most people expect us to have some complex formula for sets and reps. They're surprised when we tell them it's actually pretty simple.

We use 6-8 reps for most exercises. Heavy enough that you're working hard, but not so heavy that your technique falls apart or it starts to feel a bit too overwhelming. And usually 2-4 sets per exercise, depending on how often you're training and how experienced you are.

The reason this works so well is that you can actually tell if you're getting stronger. If you did 6 reps with 100kg last week and 7 reps this week, that's progress you can see and feel.

We also stop most sets when you've got about 1-2 good reps left in the tank. Not because we're going easy on you, but because those last few reps aren't magic. They don't make you stronger than the reps you already did. If the weight is heavy enough, reps 6 and 7 are just as effective as rep 8. Those final grinding reps just create unnecessary fatigue that interferes with your next set or exercise. Which isn't a problem in isolation, but if you're pushing it on all your sets, it creates a cumulative negative effect that gets worse as you get stronger.

Why We Avoid High-Rep Training

We rarely program 12-15 rep sets unless there's a specific reason.

High-rep sets create more discomfort, make it harder to gauge how close you are to failure, often lead to sloppy technique when fatigued, and take longer while generating more mental fatigue per unit of benefit.

In most cases, we get better results with more focused sets in the 6-8 rep range, done with proper form and clear intent.

The Rest Period Rule That Changes Everything

Most people either rest way too little (because they think it makes them tougher) or way too long (because they get distracted by their phone).

Our data from 50,000+ sessions shows that 2 minutes hits the sweet spot. That's enough time for your heart rate to come down and your muscles to feel ready again, especially after the bigger movements like squats and presses. For smaller stuff like bicep curls, you might not need the full 2 minutes.

This 2-minute approach improves performance by up to 90% compared to shorter rest times, while keeping sessions time-efficient. It's the perfect balance for gym goers who want to optimize both time use and results.

The real key isn't the exact time. It's being consistent about it. If you rest 90 seconds one week and 3 minutes the next, you can't tell if you're actually getting stronger or if you just had more recovery time. It's like trying to time your commute when sometimes you drive in rush hour and sometimes you don't.

We want you recovered enough to give a solid effort on your next set, not rushing just to get through the workout.

Double progression: the patient path to strength

Here's how we actually make sure you get stronger week by week, without turning it into rocket science.

Say you start doing chest presses with 80kg for 3 sets of 6 reps. Next week, maybe you manage 7, 7, 6. The week after that, maybe 8, 7, 7. Eventually you're hitting 8 reps on all three sets.

That's when we bump the weight up to 82.5kg and you're back to doing sets of 6. Rinse and repeat.

It sounds almost boring, but that's the point. Your body adapts to what you give it consistently, not what you shock it with occasionally. If you're always changing weights randomly or skipping weeks, your body never gets the chance to actually adapt to anything.

When you're starting out, this happens pretty fast. You might add a rep or two every week. But as you get stronger (and we're talking months or years here) progress slows down. That's not a problem, it's just how strength works.

Think about it this way: today's effort should challenge your current self, but not be so hard that you can't show up next week and do a little better.

If you want the step-by-step breakdown, here's exactly how it works:

1. Choose a rep range (6-8 reps)
2. Start with a weight you can lift with solid form and a few reps in reserve (optimally this would be your 8 rep max)
3. Gradually add reps to each set over time
4. Once you can perform all sets at the top of the range with good technique, increase weight slightly and return to the bottom
5. Repeat the cycle

For supplements that can enhance strength training performance, see our guide: [Top 5 Best Supplements for Health and Training [2025 Guide]].

Why Progress Gets Harder (And That's Normal)

The stronger you get, the slower visible progress becomes. Nobody warns you about this, but it's completely normal.

In your first few months, you might be adding reps every single week. Your chest press goes from 60kg to 80kg to 100kg in what feels like no time. It's exciting and addictive.

But eventually, maybe after three months or maybe after a year, you'll notice that adding even one rep to one set takes longer. Maybe two weeks. Maybe three.

This isn't because you're doing something wrong. It's because you've moved past the beginner phase where rapid gains come from your nervous system learning to use your muscles better. Now, further progress depends more on actually building new muscle tissue. And that takes time.

At this point, we usually shift to a more conservative approach: add just one rep to one set each week. So instead of trying to improve all three sets at once, you might go from 100kg × 6, 6, 6 to 100kg × 7, 6, 6. Next week, maybe 100kg × 7, 7, 6. And so on.

It sounds slow, but just because the reps or weight haven't gone up doesn't mean you're not getting stronger. You might be 0.5kg or 1.5kg stronger, but the machine only goes up in 2.5kg jumps.

Strength builds gradually, in tiny increments that are often invisible week to week.

The Reality of Long-Term Progress

One of the biggest mindset shifts in long-term training is understanding that visible progress slows over time. That's normal.

The beginner is adding weight every 2-3 weeks. The intermediate lifter takes longer to progress through the rep range. The advanced lifter might use the same weight for months before moving up.

None of this is a problem. It's just how strength works as you get more experienced.

Understanding this pattern completely changes how you think about progress. You stop expecting linear improvements and start appreciating the subtle gains that compound over time. Below is a visual representation of how double progression might look over 24 weeks for different experience levels.

The Progress Invisibility Problem

Here's something nobody tells you about getting stronger: real progress is invisible day to day, but undeniable year to year.

It's like watching your kids grow. You see them every day and notice nothing. Then your sister visits after six months and says "My god, they've gotten so tall!" You were there for every single day of growth, but you couldn't see it happening.

Strength works exactly the same way.

Thomas, our accountant client, experienced this firsthand in month 4 of his program. "I was getting frustrated," he said. "I felt like I wasn't making progress anymore. My chest press had been stuck at the same weight for three weeks."

We pulled out his training log from week 1. He'd started with 50kg for 6 shaky reps, barely able to control the weight. Now he was "stuck" at 85kg for 8 clean, controlled reps.

In 16 weeks, he'd added 35kg to his chest press and didn't even realize it.

This is the cruelest irony of strength training: the closer you get to your potential, the harder it becomes to see daily progress. Your nervous system adapts in microscopic increments. Your muscle fibers grow cell by cell. Your tendons strengthen fiber by fiber.

None of this is visible in real time.

But take a step back. Look at where you were three months ago, six months ago, a year ago, and the transformation is undeniable.

This invisibility kills more programs than bad exercise selection or poor nutrition. People abandon effective routines because they can't see day-to-day changes, not realizing they're in the middle of the most important adaptation phase.

The strongest people aren't the ones who see progress every week. They're the ones who trust the process during the weeks when nothing seems to be happening.

Your body is like a tree growing in your backyard. You don't measure it every morning expecting to see change. You plant it, water it consistently, and trust that months later, it will be noticeably taller.

The magic happens in the invisible middle.

The Warm-Up Philosophy That Works

A good warm-up isn't only about breaking a sweat or getting your heart rate up. It's about getting your body ready to lift well without burning energy you need for the actual workout.

Most people make this way too complicated. We keep it simple.

If you're doing chest presses with 100kg for your working sets, you don't jump straight into that. Start with maybe 50kg for 6-8 reps, just to get the movement feeling smooth. Then maybe 75kg for another 6-8 reps. Now you're ready for your 100kg working sets.

Think of it like starting your car on a cold morning. You don't immediately floor it onto the highway. You let it run for a minute, then drive gently until everything's warmed up.

If you're lifting really heavy or you're more experienced, you might need one extra step in there. So maybe 40kg, then 60kg, then 80kg, before hitting your 100kg working sets. The idea is the same. Gradual buildup so your first real set feels sharp, not like you're still figuring out the movement.

The goal is starting your first working set feeling ready, not already tired.

If you want the specific breakdown, here's exactly how we structure it:

For beginners and moderate weights (two-set method):

• Set 1: 50-60% of working weight × 6-8 reps
• Set 2: 75-85% of working weight × 6-8 reps

For experienced lifters or heavy weights (three-set method):

• Set 1: ~40-50% of working weight × 6-8 reps
• Set 2: ~60-70% of working weight × 4-6 reps
• Set 3: ~80-90% of working weight × 2-4 reps

The Exercise Consistency Principle

Most people expect us to constantly mix things up to "keep the body guessing." We do the opposite.

We'll stick with the same exercises for months if they're working. Maybe even longer. Because every time you change an exercise, you're essentially starting over with the skill development part of getting stronger.

That doesn't mean we never change anything. We'll make adjustments when you've clearly plateaued and need a new stimulus, when there's pain or injury to work around, when equipment isn't available, or when you've built a solid foundation with one exercise and it's time to apply that strength to a slightly different movement.

But when we do make changes, they're small and strategic. A machine press might become a dumbbell press. A hack squat might switch to a split squat. A cable pulldown might become a one-arm variation.

The movement pattern stays the same. We're just adjusting the variation to match your goals or work around any limitations.

We don't rebuild your entire program every few weeks. That kind of constant change interrupts progress and makes it impossible to tell what's actually working.

The goal is to find exercises that feel good, that you can progressively load over time, and that fit your body and schedule. Once we find those, we stick with them until there's a good reason to change.

Why We Choose Full Body Over Split Routines

After 10+ years of testing every major training approach with over 3,000 clients, we've learned something most fitness influencers won't tell you: the best program isn't the one that sounds impressive. It's the one you can actually execute consistently.

We've tracked the real-world results of clients following body part splits, push/pull/legs routines, upper/lower splits, and full body programs. The data tells a clear story.

When we analyzed our client data, the pattern was clear: more gym days didn't equal better results. Often, it was the opposite.

Here's why that matters: when we analyzed 18 months of client progress data, full body trainees showed 73% better long-term adherence and 45% faster strength gains compared to traditional split routines. Not because full body training is magic, but because it works with human psychology and real schedules.

Before you commit to any training approach, you need to understand what you're actually signing up for. Each method makes different demands on your time, recovery, and consistency. Here's the breakdown that would have saved us years of trial and error:

How Full Body Training Compares to Other Approaches

Body Part Split (Bro Split)
Monday: Chest, Tuesday: Back, Wednesday: Legs, Thursday: Arms etc.

This came from competitive bodybuilding with very different recovery demands. It can work, but requires 4-5 sessions per week and perfect consistency. Miss one day, and that muscle group goes untrained for 10+ days.

In our experience, 78% of clients who start with body part splits abandon them within 12 weeks. The rigid schedule becomes a source of stress rather than progress.

Push/Pull/Legs
Pushing muscles, pulling muscles, legs on separate days

Better frequency than bro splits, but requires 6 sessions per week to work as intended. Most people can't recover from this volume, and the complexity makes it nearly impossible to maintain with real-world schedules.

We've seen clients push through this approach for months, wondering why they feel constantly tired and making minimal progress. The program isn't broken. It's just mismatched to your situation.

Upper/Lower Split
Upper body one day, lower body the next

More balanced approach with good frequency (2x per week per muscle group). This is our go-to for clients who can train consistently 4 times per week and want higher training frequency. The sweet spot between complexity and effectiveness.

Works well for intermediate trainees who've built the habit of regular training and want to spend more time in the gym without overdoing it.

Front/Back Split
Front side of body one day, back side the next

Similar to upper/lower but organized differently. Good for people wanting to hit both upper and lower body each session. Effective for addressing postural imbalances from desk work, but still requires 4 sessions per week for optimal results.

Less common but can work well for specific goals or body types that respond better to this division.

Full Body Program
All major muscle groups every session

Maximum efficiency with maximum flexibility. Works with 1-3 sessions per week depending on goals and schedule. Easier to recover from and maintain long-term. If you miss a session, you're still on track.

After tracking thousands of training sessions, this approach consistently delivers the best results for people with normal lives, jobs, and responsibilities.

The Reality Check: What Each Approach Actually Demands

The hidden cost nobody talks about: Complex splits don't just require more time—they require perfect timing. Miss your designated "leg day" and suddenly you're playing schedule Tetris for the rest of the week, trying to fit everything back together.

Full body training eliminates this entirely. Every session covers everything. You're never behind, never scrambling to "make up" missed body parts, never stressed about falling off track.

Why Smart People Choose Complicated Programs

After 10+ years of coaching, we've noticed something strange. The most intelligent, successful people often choose the most complicated training programs, despite having the least time to execute them properly.

Mark is a perfect example. He's a corporate lawyer who can analyze complex contracts in minutes, spot details others miss, and make million-dollar decisions under pressure. When he came to us, he was following a six-day split routine with different rep schemes, periodization phases, and exercise rotations every few weeks.

"I thought if I wasn't doing something complex, I wasn't taking it seriously," he said. "In my work, the sophisticated solution is usually the right one."

But fitness works backwards from most high-level professions.

In law, finance, or medicine, complexity often signals competence. The more moving parts you can manage, the more valuable you become. Simple solutions can seem naive or incomplete.

In strength training, complexity is usually a red flag.

The people making the fastest progress aren't the ones with the most complicated spreadsheets. They're the ones doing the same six exercises, week after week, gradually getting stronger at them.

But this feels wrong to high achievers. It feels like they're not trying hard enough, not being thorough enough, not applying their intelligence properly.

Complexity becomes a form of intellectual procrastination. Instead of doing the boring work of adding 2.5kg to their chest press, they research new programs, debate periodization models, and optimize variables that matter far less than showing up consistently.

It's the fitness equivalent of buying complex financial products instead of index funds. The complex option feels smarter, more sophisticated, more worthy of your intelligence. But the simple option delivers better results for 99% of people.

The most successful clients we've coached had to learn this backwards lesson: that in strength training, sophistication comes from perfect execution of simple plans, not from complex execution of sophisticated plans.

Mark switched to our twice-weekly full body program eight months ago. "I felt like I was cheating at first," he said. "But my numbers don't lie. I'm stronger now than when I was spending twice as much time overthinking everything."

The smartest thing you can do is choose the program you can execute flawlessly, not the one that makes you feel clever when choosing it.

In our experience coaching thousands of people, full body training delivers better results in less time and is dramatically easier to sustain long-term. This is why it has become the cornerstone of effective fitness programming for busy professionals, parents, and anyone who wants real progress without reorganizing their entire life around the gym.

The bottom line: The most sophisticated program is the one you can actually execute consistently. Full body training wins because it works with your real schedule, not against it.

Free Full Body Programs

What sets us apart isn't just our approach. It's our data. We've tracked every client session for over a decade, measuring not just strength gains but adherence rates, lifestyle satisfaction, and long-term sustainability. This isn't theory. It's a proven method.

Simple, effective, and realistic. Just like the fullbody programs we use with our clients.

Whether you train once, twice, or three times per week, these Full Body programs are built to help you train effectively, recover well, and actually look forward to the gym.

Each program follows the principles of effective fullbody training we've outlined above. Here they are:

Program 1: Full body program 1x/week

Minimum Effective Dose for Busy Lives

Who is this for: Marcus runs a consulting firm and travels 10+ days per month. Between client dinners, flights, and 12-hour days, he's lucky if he can carve out one solid gym session per week. For two years, he tried following traditional programs and constantly felt behind.

"I'd miss three days of my split routine and feel like I had to start over," he said. "This approach lets me make real progress even when work is insane."

Marcus has been following this once-weekly program for 18 months. He's added 45kg to his hack squat and finally found a training approach that works with his actual life, not against it.

The approach: One comprehensive session that covers everything. This is all your eggs in one basket - but it's a very well-designed basket. We pack in as much of the most important work as possible, so you can go a full week between sessions and still see net-positive progress in strength and muscle growth.

When to do it: Any day of the week.

A-Series

• A1: Machine Chest Press – 4 sets of 6-8 reps
• A2: Cable Pulldown – 4 sets of 6-8 reps

B-Series

• B1: Hack Squat – 4 sets of 6-8 reps
• B2: Seated Leg Curl – 4 sets of 6-8 reps

C-Series

• C1: Lateral Raise – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• C2: Leg Extension – 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Total time: ~60 minutes

With 7 days between sessions, 3 sets often return to baseline before the next stimulus. The extra set ensures enough volume for net-positive adaptation in both muscle growth and strength. This higher volume approach makes once-weekly training effective.

Program 2: Fullbody program 2x/week

The Gold Standard for Most People

Who this is for: Sarah is a project manager with two teenagers. She has a relatively predictable schedule but still needs maximum efficiency. She tried training daily and burned out. She tried once per week and wanted faster progress.

Twice per week hit the sweet spot. "I get the consistency I need for results, but it doesn't take over my life," she said. "Monday and Thursday are my non-negotiables, and everything else works around them."

After 14 months on this program, Sarah is stronger than she was in her early twenties and has more energy for her kids' activities. She's never missed more than one session in a row, and her progress has been remarkably steady.

The approach: Two focused sessions per week that complement each other perfectly. You're hitting each muscle group twice per week when you're fresh, maximizing both skill practice and growth stimulus.

When to do it: 48-72 hours between sessions. For example Monday and Thursday.

A-Series

• A1: Machine Chest Press – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• A2: Cable Pulldown – 3 sets of 6-8 reps

B-Series

• B1: Hack Squat – 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• B2: Seated Leg Curl – 3 sets of 6-8 reps

C-Series

• C1: Lateral Raise – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• C2: Leg Extension – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps

D-Series (optional)

• D1: Incline Dumbbell Curl – 2 sets of 6-8 reps
• D2: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension – 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Total time: ~45-60 minutes

Why this works: We use 3 sets for main compound exercises to provide enough weekly volume. In the C-Series, we usually do 3 sets unless including the D-Series, then we reduce to 2 sets to keep sessions under 60 minutes. Two focused sets done twice per week create consistent progress while keeping session length realistic.

Program 3: Full body program 3x/week

For the Motivated

Who this is for: David is a software developer who works from home. He has flexible hours, sleeps 8+ hours nightly, and has built consistent gym habits over the past year. He wants to maximize his progress without overdoing it.

"I tried doing more sets per session, but that just made me tired," he said. "Three shorter sessions give me more opportunities to practice the movements when I'm fresh."

David's been following this approach for 8 months and loves the routine. Monday, Wednesday, Friday are locked in his calendar, and he's made faster progress than when he was trying to cram everything into fewer sessions.

The approach: Three efficient sessions that spread your weekly work evenly. You get more "first sets" when you're freshest and able to recruit more muscle fibers. Recovery is easier because no single session is overwhelming.

When to do it: 48-72 hours between sessions. For example Monday, Wednesday, Friday

A-Series

• A1: Machine Chest Press – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• A2: Cable Pulldown – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps

B-Series

• B1: Hack Squat – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps
• B2: Seated Leg Curl – 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps

C-Series

• C1: Lateral Raise – 2 sets of 6-8 reps
• C2: Leg Extension – 2 sets of 6-8 reps

D-Series (optional)

• D1: Incline Dumbbell Curl – 2 sets of 6-8 reps
• D2: Overhead Cable Triceps Extension – 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Total time: ~45-60 minutes

Why fewer sets per session: For stronger individuals, we often use just 2 sets per exercise. Training three times per week gives you more "first sets" when you're freshest and able to recruit more muscle fibers. Fewer sets per session also means less accumulated fatigue, making recovery easier.

All three Full Body Programs will make you stronger. The difference is speed, not destination.

Home fullbody workout

For Life’s Curveballs

Who this is for: Anyone. Business trips, gym closures, sick kids, busy periods at work. Life happens. This isn't your main program, but it's your backup plan that keeps you moving forward when normal training isn't possible.

Erik, one of our clients who works in pharmaceuticals, travels internationally about once per month. "I used to just skip training completely when I was away," he said. "Now I do this routine in hotel gyms or even my room. When I come back to the gym, I haven't lost any ground."

The approach: Same principles. Structure, progression, and quality over quantity. Even with bodyweight and minimal equipment, you can maintain or build strength with focused training.

Any consistent day:

A-Series

• A1: Push-ups – 3 sets of 8-15 reps (adjust with hand placement or elevation)
• A2: Inverted Rows – 3 sets of 6-12 reps (rings, TRX, or sturdy table)

B-Series

• B1: Split Squats – 3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg
• B2: Single-Leg Glute Bridges – 3 sets of 8-12 reps per leg

C-Series

• C1: Plank – 3 sets of 30-60 seconds
• C2: Banded Lateral Raise – 2 sets of 10-15 reps (or towels/light weights)

Total time: ~35-45 minutes

Progression: Add reps each week, pause at the top or bottom, slow the tempo, or add resistance with bands or a weighted backpack. Focus on controlled, high-quality movement.

While home sessions are harder to progress long-term without external load, they're still powerful for consistency. A focused workout like this beats random circuits and is far better than skipping training entirely.

The key insight: Your program choice should match your life, not your ambitions. Marcus chose once per week because that's what his travel schedule allows. Sarah chose twice because it balances progress with family time. David chose three times because he has the schedule and recovery capacity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get results training 1-2 times a week?

Yes. You can build strength and muscle training just 1–2 times per week if the sessions are structured with compound movements, progressive overload, and sufficient intensity. Progress may be slower than with 3 sessions, but consistency at 1–2 times per week delivers better long-term results than sporadic higher-frequency training.

Won't I get bored doing the same exercises?

No. Progressing the same core exercises by adding reps, increasing weight, or improving technique is highly engaging. Variety is less important than mastery — focusing on consistent lifts keeps motivation high as you see measurable strength improvements.

How do I know if this is working?

You’ll know it’s working when you can do more than before: more reps at the same weight, heavier weight at the same reps, or better form under load. Daily life will also feel easier — carrying groceries, climbing stairs, or lifting children. Physical changes in the mirror follow after these measurable strength gains.

What if I miss workouts?

With full body training, missing a session isn’t a problem because every workout trains your whole body. You’re never behind on a specific muscle group. This flexibility makes full body programs easier to sustain when work, travel, or family disrupt your schedule.

The Bottom Line on Full Body Programs

Full body programs work. Not because they're trendy, but because they reflect how the body actually adapts to strength training.

A well-designed Full Body program lets you access your strongest muscle fibers when you're fresh, practice each movement more often with better quality, recover faster and stay more consistent, build strength and muscle with less wasted time and effort, and actually enjoy training without it taking over your life.

You don't need to train five days per week, follow bodybuilder splits, or burn yourself out chasing short-term progress. You need a simple, repeatable Full Body program that helps you get stronger over time. A system that fits into your life, not the other way around.

The key is finding the right Full Body program structure for your schedule and goals.

What often happens once clients switch to this approach is surprising: because the program is simple, effective, and takes less total time in the gym, they suddenly have more energy and mental capacity for other activities. Instead of feeling drained, they feel motivated to move more — whether that’s cycling to work, long walks on weekends, or even adding running goals into their routine. If you’re curious about running, we’ve created a complete guide: [Your Ultimate Guide to Running a Fast 5km – For All Levels].

Thomas, two years later

The client we introduced at the beginning recently reached his two-year mark with fullbody training.

Last month, his 5-year-old daughter asked if he could carry her on his shoulders during their walk to the kindergarten. Two years ago, that would have been impossible. Not because he wasn't strong enough, but because he was always sore, always tired, always recovering from his last workout.

"I picked her up without even thinking about it," Thomas said. "Halfway there, I realized this was the first time in years I felt... available. Not just physically, but mentally. I wasn't thinking about missed workouts or whether my legs were too tired."

Now he trains twice per week for an hour each session. He's stronger than he's ever been, and his chest press went from 50kg to 120kg. But the number that matters most? He's had dinner with his family every night for 18 months straight.

Not because he does the most exercises, but because he stayed with the same ones long enough to get really good at them. He didn't get there by doing more. He got there by doing less, but doing it better.

His success demonstrates why consistent Fullbody training beats complex split routines for real-world results.

For optimal results, pair your training with proper nutrition - read our guide: [Top 5 Muscle Building Nutrition Tips – Maximize Your Results]

The Backwards Logic of Real Progress

Thomas's transformation reveals something profound about how improvement actually works. Not just in fitness, but in everything that matters.

Most of us operate under the assumption that meaningful progress requires dramatic action. We think breakthrough results come from breakthrough efforts. Complex problems demand complex solutions. Important goals deserve sophisticated strategies.

But the opposite is usually true.

The strongest people follow simple programs. The wealthiest investors buy boring index funds. The most successful writers have basic daily routines. The happiest families have predictable traditions.

Real progress is almost always the result of ordinary actions performed consistently over time.

This feels wrong to ambitious people. It feels insufficient, like we're not trying hard enough or taking it seriously enough. We want our effort to match the importance of our goals.

But our instincts about progress are backwards. The more important the goal, the simpler the approach should be. Because the more important something is, the more you need to be able to sustain it when motivation fades, when life gets complicated, when the initial excitement wears off.

Thomas didn't transform his life with an extraordinary program. He transformed it by doing an ordinary program extraordinarily well.

That's the secret nobody wants to hear: extraordinary results come from the boring middle.

The Implementation Problem

Understanding this principle and applying it are two different challenges.

Most people read about simple, effective approaches and then immediately complicate them. They start with a basic full body program and within weeks they're researching modifications, adding exercises, adjusting rep ranges, optimizing variables that barely matter.

The hardest part isn't finding the right program. It's sticking to it long enough for the boring middle to work its magic.

This is exactly why Thomas succeeded where others struggle. He had guidance to keep him focused on what mattered and ignore what didn't. Someone to remind him that adding 2.5kg to his chest press was more valuable than researching the perfect shoulder exercise.

The programs in this guide will work. But having a structure is only half the equation. The other half is having the confidence to trust that structure when your brain starts demanding complexity.

For most people, that confidence comes from working with someone who's seen this process thousands of times before. Someone who can remind you that feeling "bored" with your program usually means it's working. Someone who can help you recognize progress when you can't see it yourself.

Real progress doesn't come from squeezing in more sessions. It comes from showing up to the ones that matter and knowing exactly what to do when you get there.

Thomas didn't just get stronger. He got his life back. More dinners with his kids, more energy for weekends, more confidence in his own body. All while training less than half the time he used to.

If you're tired of programs that work against your schedule instead of with it, let's talk.

Book your free start-up conversation

We'll meet at our Private Gym in Copenhagen and map out exactly what a sustainable Full Body program looks like for your specific situation.

Fair warning: We only work with people who value long-term results over quick fixes. If you're looking for a 30-day transformation or the latest fitness trend, this isn't for you.

But if you want to be stronger two years from now than you are today, without reorganizing your life around the gym, then we should definitely talk.

Click here to get started

The people who get the strongest aren't the ones who train the hardest. They're the ones who train the longest.

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