{"id":271587,"date":"2025-07-18T08:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T08:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271587\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T08:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T08:40:19","slug":"this-pt-has-trained-hundreds-of-clients-he-reveals-exactly-how-to-change-your-life-with-just-1-of-your-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/271587\/","title":{"rendered":"This PT has trained hundreds of clients \u2013 he reveals exactly how to \u2018change your life\u2019 with just 1% of your week"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fitness world, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The advice below can be viewed as one of a select few exceptions. <\/p>\n

Completing just two time-efficient strength training<\/a> sessions per week \u2013 taking roughly 1 per cent of the 168 hours on offer \u2013 will provide the stimulus most people need to make life-changing improvements to their health<\/a>, fitness and physical capacity.<\/p>\n

This is what experienced certified strength and conditioning coach Danny Matranga<\/a> stresses to clients; and he has helped hundreds of them since he started working on gym<\/a> floors as an 18-year-old. In fact, he adds, less is usually more for those newer to this type of training.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom just two sessions of resistance training a week, you will have better blood sugar, better bone density, better cognition and better motor control,\u201d Matranga says. \u201cPhysically, you\u2019ll have more muscle, probably less body fat, and less pain in your joints. Aesthetically, you\u2019ll probably look way better in your clothes \u2013 you\u2019ll see areas like your arms, thighs, glutes and tummy start to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an amazing return from just a few hours per week; you are going to get the most unbelievable benefits from that first hour of exercise. [But after a point], with each additional hour, we get into what we call diminishing marginal returns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below, he explains why this is the case and shares a sample dumbbell-only workout you can use to build full-body strength \u2013 among a plethora of other benefits. <\/p>\n

Science says beginners shouldn\u2019t train too much<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people look at the fitness industry, they see people in incredible shape working out six or seven days per week and think, \u2018Wow, that must be what I need to do,\u2019\u201d Matranga explains. \u201cBut for somebody who is currently doing nothing, or very little, you\u2019re actually better off working out one to three times per week.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason for this, in his words, is that \u201cyou\u2019re only going to make progress equal to the amount of work you can recover from, and a new exerciser can\u2019t recover from an advanced routine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Strength training provides the stimulus for positive physical adaptations; more muscle, less fat, increased physical capacity, better cognition, improved heart health, the list goes on. But these changes don\u2019t happen during the workouts themselves \u2013 they happen in the time between sessions when you\u2019re recovering. <\/p>\n

Because the strength training stimulus is new to novice exercisers, any amount will act as a jolt to the system, and it doesn\u2019t take much to trigger impressive results. But when you give your body more exercise than it can handle, which for fresh exercisers is usually a fairly low threshold, you will quickly hit a point of \u201cdiminishing marginal returns\u201d. <\/p>\n

In layman\u2019s terms: your body will reach a point where it can no longer positively adapt to the volume of exercise you\u2019re asking of it, leading to limited benefits relative to the extra time you\u2019re putting in. Less really is more, and for newer exercisers, most of the magic lies in the first hour or two of work you do each week.<\/p>\n

Of course, over time, consistent and progressive exercise<\/a> can increase your work capacity \u2013 a term defined to me by endurance swimmer Ross Edgley<\/a> as \u201cyour body\u2019s ability to perform and positively tolerate training at a given intensity or duration\u201d. When you start to spot evidence of this progress, you may want to consider upping your weekly training volume. <\/p>\n

But work capacity takes time to develop, so for time-efficient training, two or three strength sessions per week (alongside some form of regular aerobic activity such as walking<\/a>) offer optimal ROI for those in their first few years of lifting weights. <\/p>\n

\"Consistent<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Consistent and progressive strength training is the key to untold mental and physical benefits, certified strength and conditioning coach Danny Matranga says (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>How much work do you need to do to build a fit and healthy body? Not as much as you think, according to experts<\/a><\/p>\n

How to use this advice to improve your fitness<\/p>\n

If you want to implement this advice, Matranga recommends starting with full-body workouts<\/a> \u2013 sessions that recruit every major muscle group; the chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs and core \u2013 twice per week. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you’re a novice, you can go into the gym and do a pushing exercise and a pulling exercise for your upper body, something like a squat<\/a> for the front of your legs, something like a deadlift<\/a> for the back of your legs, and then you can walk away after four exercises having trained every single muscle in your body,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe average person wants the most results from the least amount of time in the gym, and I respect that \u2013 the gym isn\u2019t everybody’s happy place. If time is of the utmost importance and you want the most gains from the least number of trips to the gym, total body programmes are very effective.\u201d <\/p>\n

The gym isn\u2019t a prerequisite for this plan of action either. Strength training involves using your muscles to overcome an external load, but as long as this load is challenging enough to stimulate the desired adaptations (more on this below), the body won\u2019t mind whether it comes from resistance machines, dumbbells<\/a>, barbells, kettlebells<\/a>, resistance bands or even your own body weight. <\/p>\n

\"Strength<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Strength training will provide positive physical adaptations with any equipment as long as the exercise is sufficiently challenging (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/strong>We\u2019ve overcomplicated fitness \u2013 these six simple things will make you healthier than most people<\/a><\/p>\n

A sample full-body dumbbell workout <\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n

Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Sets<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Repetitions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Rest between sets<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Goblet squat<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

60 seconds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Romanian deadlift<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

60 seconds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Dumbbell overhead press or press-up<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

60 seconds <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Single-arm dumbbell row<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

12-15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

60 seconds<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

All you need to complete this session is a pair of dumbbells, and you can use it twice per week as your strength training workouts \u2013 if you do, complete the dumbbell overhead press in one session and the press-up in the other to bias the shoulders and chest muscles respectively. <\/p>\n

You can also do it at the gym, in your living room or at the park \u2013 your muscles don\u2019t care where you are, just that you\u2019re giving them a good workout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The common denominator behind an effective strength-boosting, muscle-building, joint-bolstering session is something called mechanical tension. To achieve this, you need to ensure the target muscles are working hard enough during each set to achieve the stimulus needed for positive adaptations. <\/p>\n

A good way to check for this is, by your last two or three reps, your form should remain immaculate but your movements should be involuntarily slowing down due to the accumulated fatigue in the muscles. If the last couple of reps feel easy, the exercise wasn\u2019t challenging enough. <\/p>\n

This is why Matranga prescribes a goal of 12-15 repetitions, rather than giving you an exact number to gun for \u2013 stop when you can\u2019t complete another rep with perfect form, rather than hitting the breaks when you reach the listed rep target.<\/p>\n

\"If<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

If you want a time-efficient strength training session, full-body workouts are the way to go (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have access to dumbbells heavy enough to feel challenging for 12-15 reps, Matranga advises completing the exercises non-stop for a set amount of time (such as 30 or 60 seconds) or continuing until you feel \u201cit burning in the target muscle\u201d instead. <\/p>\n

However, a rep goal of 12-15 per set is his favourite for beginner lifters. This is because a higher target number of reps allows you to challenge yourself with lighter weights, while also practising the movement more times \u2013 lifting weights is a skill, after all, like any physical activity. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn golf, if you wanted to learn how to swing the driver, you wouldn\u2019t go to the driving range, swing it one time as hard as you can and then leave,\u201d Matranga explains. \u201cYou would take a bunch of swings, and after a lot of practice, you would eventually start hitting the ball straight. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor new lifters, I like aiming for 12 to 15 reps because you use less weight, which allows you to practise and rehearse the form while still getting close to failure. Sometimes you get a little bit of an aerobic benefit from a little more reps too, and let\u2019s be honest, most people could use a cardiovascular benefit from their exercise.\u201d <\/p>\n

When you become more comfortable with an exercise and fine-tune your technique, you can then start increasing the weight you\u2019re lifting and lowering the target number of repetitions to increase strength, Matranga adds. <\/p>\n

10-second takeaways<\/p>\n