You Don’t Need More Sets

How I hit all-time strength records at 64 while training less than ever.

If you’re over 40 and you’ve either stopped lifting because you can’t train the way you used to, or you’re still grinding through 90-minute sessions and wondering why your joints ache and your strength is going backward, there’s a protocol you should know about.

It takes less than 45 minutes. You do it three days a week. One working set per exercise, full body, every session. And it may be the single most effective way for an older man to build real strength without destroying himself in the process.

Where It Came From

It’s called High Intensity Training, and it goes back to 1973.

Arthur Jones, the inventor of Nautilus machines, ran what became known as the Colorado Experiment at Colorado State University. The premise was simple and controversial: brief, brutally intense workouts taken to muscular failure would produce better results than the long, high-volume sessions every gym in America was built around. The results were disputed, but the core principle has held up for over fifty years and it sparked my curiosity.

The concept is that you don’t need more sets, you need harder sets.

How It Works