Minimalist training routines are great for people who either have little time in their schedule to exercise, or simply want to try a more basic and simple approach. After all, life happens. The good news: There are some easy, research-backed ways to incorporate minimalist training.

To gain muscle and strength, all that’s really needed is two, full-body workouts per week, focusing on compound movements for the major muscles of the body. A 2021 review by the journal Sports Medicine analyzed dozens of studies to determine appropriate guidelines for time-constrained training. They found that a weekly minimum of four work sets of six to 15 reps (depending on actual load) per muscle group was enough to promote gains in strength and muscle.

To do this most efficiently, one could divide this into two workouts per week. Each workout would include at least four sets of six to 15 reps for each exercise, and should include an upper-body push, an upper-body pull and a lower-body exercise. One workout could be as basic as overhead press, pull-up and dead lift, and the second workout could be bench press, bent-over row and back squat. Total time for these workouts should be around 30 to 45 minutes, which adds up to a weekly total of merely 60 to 90 minutes.

For fat loss, a true minimalist approach would be to simply move more during the day. Research shows that exercise actually has a minimal role in fat loss compared to dietary changes. However, exercise does have a supplemental role in fat loss, and an effective way to employ minimalism here is to use sprint interval training (SIT).

A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis by the journal Sports found that there is little difference in long-term fat loss between interval training and traditional endurance training, yet interval training takes up much less time.

Though various protocols exist, two days per week is sufficient. Sessions can run as short as five minutes and usually are no longer than 30 minutes, but should be of very high intensity. A sample SIT workout would be six to eight stationary bike sprints lasting 20 seconds each, with two minutes of rest in between each sprint.

Overall, a minimalist approach can be very effective—and even ideal in some cases—for gaining muscle and strength and losing fat, which argues against the traditional notion that fitness goals require a tremendous amount of time and effort.