If you’re feeling bad about yourself because you barely managed to drag yourself to the gym for just 15 minutes, wait until you hear this story: two identical brothers from London conducted a strange experiment on themselves and discovered that there might be no point in staying at the gym for more than 20 minutes.
Hugo and Ross Turner, 34-year-old brothers, are known in the UK as the “Adventure Twins” because they are a pair of researchers and adventurers who carry out extreme experiments on themselves, usually related to nutrition, endurance, and exertion. In the past, they examined what’s better: a vegan or meat-based diet, high-fat or high-carb, and compared how each of them responded differently to various lifestyle methods – while their genetics are completely identical.
In their latest experiment, they decided to examine what’s better: a 20-minute workout or a 40-minute workout. For three months, they followed the exact same training program, but Hugo finished after 20 minutes while his brother Ross continued for an identical additional 20 minutes. They both maintained the same diet and closely tracked their physical changes to see who showed more significant improvement.
The result? A marginal difference
Although Ross invested twice the time and effort, he saw an improvement of less than 5% in the main metrics. In terms of body fat percentage, Hugo actually improved slightly more. Muscle mass remained similar for both, and cardiovascular capacity was measured using heart rate after cycling – and here too the difference was marginal, with a slight advantage for Ross. In strength exercises like push-ups and pull-ups – the result was either identical or in Hugo’s favor. “I invested 16 more hours over 12 weeks,” Ross said in an interview. “And the improvement? Marginal. It wasn’t worth it.”
This is how they looked before the experiment
And this is after
Each of them took away different insights from the experiment: Hugo claimed that the shorter workout gave him motivation to stay consistent and kept him refreshed, but sometimes he didn’t feel like he truly trained. Ross, on the other hand, felt exhausted and sometimes frustrated when he saw that the results were almost identical.
Is this conclusive scientific proof? Absolutely not. As Professor Michael Graham from Teesside University pointed out, this is a very small sample size, without a real control group, and therefore the results are not definitive. Still, the experiment offers hope for anyone who struggles to find time for a long workout – and perhaps a challenge to the fitness industry that glorifies hours of intense effort.
So next time you’re at the gym – maybe think twice before staying for another set.