How Many Exercises Do You Really Need Per Workout?
If your workouts feel long, difficult, or confusing, the issue may not be effort—it could be excess. This post explains how many exercises you need each workout and why completing them less frequently leads to better outcomes.
The Question Almost Everyone Asks: "Am I doing enough exercises in my workout?"
Is one of the most frequently asked questions by both novice and seasoned lifters. It's a reasonable worry because, when you browse social media or YouTube, you'll come across workouts that include ten, twelve, or even fifteen different movements. This gives the impression that more exercises equate to better results, but this is often not the case.
Why More Exercises Feels Better (But Isn’t)
Exercising more makes you feel productive since it keeps you occupied. You're moving, changing motions, and pursuing that "worked" feeling all the time.
The issue is that efficacy and busyness are not the same thing.
Focus, quality, and progress are frequently compromised when exercises are added. You expend too much energy on too many lifts, none of which get the attention they need, rather than strengthening important movements.
This eventually results in stopped progress, persistent aches, and tiresome but unrewarding workouts.
What Actually Drives Progress
Variety for its own sake is not the source of muscle and strength. They result from good technique, increasing overload, and sufficient recovery in order to adapt.
You're headed in the right path if you're continuously getting better at a few carefully selected exercises by increasing the weight, repetitions, or control. Everything else is secondary.
This idea aligns closely with what I discussed in Consistency Over Discipline: The Real Secret to Long-Term Training. Long-term progress isn’t built on doing more—it’s built on showing up and progressing the basics.
So… How Many Exercises Do You Actually Need?
For most people, three to six movements per session are sufficient.
That range allows you to cover the major activities, exert serious effort, and still leave the gym feeling productive rather than exhausted. Anything beyond that is frequently considered filler—more work for no additional reward.
A simple way to approach exercise selection is to begin with a compound movement and then add one or two exercises that focus on a different stimulus.
Consider biceps training as an example.
I normally start with a compound lift, such as a barbell curl. It enables me to lift a heavy weight, overload the muscle, and increase overall strength. From there, I'll add one or two exercises that focus on the "stretch", such as incline curls or preacher curls.
These stretch-focused exercises do not involve heavy weights. They focus on control, tension, and positioning. Choose a lighter load, slow down the movement, and allow the muscle to perform the work.
Some folks see "stretch under load" and instantly think, "Great, I'm going to tear my bicep."
Au contraire.
Your biceps will be alright as long as the weight is light enough to handle and allows you to comfortably execute more than five reps. In fact, too aggressive exercises frequently lack this type of regulated stress.
A single compound motion. One or two targeted accessories. That's all.
You just need deliberate exercises to advance, not 10.
Compound Movements Perform The Heavy Lifting
Compound movements already train many muscle groups at once, which is one of the main reasons why fewer workouts perform so well.
Squats train more than just your legs. A press exercise does more than only train your chest. Pull-ups aren't simply for the back.
When you base your workouts around these movements, you get considerably more out of each exercise—without the need for a huge list of variants.
When Additional Exercises Might Make Sense
In some cases, adding one or two more exercises can be beneficial.
As you have more experience, you may incorporate isolated exercises to strengthen a muscle that is lagging or to target a particular weakness. Additionally, you may change the volume based on recovery, time constraints, or preference.
The important thing is that these additions are intentional rather than automatic.
More workouts should fix a problem, not create one.
The Hidden Cost of Doing Too Much
Every exercise you add carries a cost:
- More fatigue
- More time
- More recovery demands
If recovery cannot keep pace, advancement slows. Many lifters ignore this, particularly in the beginning. Training stress is only effective when combined with sufficient rest—a fact I emphasize frequently and have mentioned in several LiftLookup postings.
Doing fewer exercises well makes recovery easier. Doing too many makes things unpredictable.
A Simple Method for Sanity-Checking Your Workout
Ask yourself this after each session: "Did I make significant progress on my main lifts?"
If the response is yes, then the workout was effective.
If the answer is no, and you continue to feel weary, it's usually a sign that you're doing too many of the wrong things.
Final Thoughts
Strength and muscle development do not require a vast number of exercises.
You need:
- A few well-selected movements
- Consistent effort
- Time to recover
- Patience in allowing progress to accumulate
If your workouts seem simpler than those you see online, you're obviously doing something right.
Less is not lazy.
Less is focused.
And focus is what actually produces results.