2 Days a Week Total Body Program
High Efficiency Fitness for the Win
2026 is fast approaching, and people will begin charting out some course of action around their health goals.
Become a Coaching Client and Achieve Total Physical and Mental Transformation in 2026
I want to give you practical tools and strategies, starting with resistance training programs.
Some of you may lift a lot, some only a little. I know my audience is a mix of people, from hardcore guys to more casual lifters.
For this series, we are going to start with bare minimum programming, and work our way up.
This is for folks who are strapped for time, have high responsibility lifestyles, and need maximum return from minimum time investment.
Lets imagine the Scenario in which you have only 2 DAYS a week to lift weights
Lets also assume we can devote at least 1 hour to training. That includes showing up to the gym, getting the workout in, and leaving.
How should we use these 2 hours?
If you are limited to only 2 workouts a week, your strategy MUST be Total Body Training
Nothing else makes sense. TBT allows us to train every major muscle group with sufficient intense, sufficient volume and frequency, and make real adaptations (aka GAINS).
This approach was popularized by Arthur Jones of Nautilus fame. Jones was a mad genius, and he was correct in identifying that with sufficient intensity, you could get results from a very low volume of training
If this plan appeals to you, youre probably not concerned about the size of your biceps, whether your rear delts are “3D”, and your upper pecs.
We need to be honest and admit that two workouts a week probably wont get us into “elite” physical condition, but thats not the goal. We are operating off an 80/20 mindset.
If we can get MOST of the health benefits of exercise in 2 hours a week, lets do that.
We are going for overall health and want a high impact salutogenic strategy.
2 hours a week can absolutely deliver.
Training Principles to Follow
Intensity is mandatory-We only have an hour, and we need to hit every muscle. For that reasons, we are going to do ALL our sets to failure. No holding back.
Isolation Pre-exhaust-This might sound counter intuitive, but isolation first approach acts as a warmup to the compound movements and keeps our joints safe.
30-20-10 Method-This is extra important. Our rep ranges are going to be as low as 10 reps, to as high as 30 reps. Why? Because we need to expedite our warmups, avoid injury, and stay safe with our lifting. Were not focused on low reps and one rep maxes, we dont have time to do long warmups.
Big to small-We are going to start with big muscles and then go to small muscles
Circuit Training-Ideally we are going to do all our exercises one after another, no breaks between exercises aside from changing equipment.
Antagonist Supersets: We will pair opposing muscle groups to reduce rest times while maintaining strength output.
Safety-Were not doing power cleans, box jumps, or any kind of explosive movements. We want exercises that are safe with a low learning curve
Structural Balance-We want equal volume to all major muscle groups.
The Sets Strategy: 2-Sets, High Intensity
Because we are doing 18 exercises, you cannot do 4 sets of each. You would be in the gym for 2 hour at least and spiking cortisol more than growing muscles.
18 Exercises!!!-Yes, 18 exercises, That breaks down to one exercise every 3 minutes. If a set lasts 30-45 seconds, and then go to another piece of equipment, you can maintain a fast training pace and complete the whole workout.
I also share an abbreviated version of the workout with only 12 exercises if you are pressed for time and want less equipment switching
Warm-up sets: 1-2 sets of 10 reps as needed
Working Sets: Strictly 1 set per exercise
Intensity: 1-2 reps in reserve (RIR). Push hard, but maintain perfect form.
