- The THRST Letter
- Posts
- LESS IS MORE: Why Training Less is Actually Better for Building Muscle
LESS IS MORE: Why Training Less is Actually Better for Building Muscle
Mike Thurston
June 04, 2025
Research shows that 85% of advanced lifters plateau because they're still using beginner strategies when they need advanced precision.
Most people respond by adding more volume, more exercises, more time in the gym - when really, you might just want to do less with surgical precision.
This week we’ve got Davis Diley on the show. A fitness influencer with millions of followers and former professional heavyweight strongman; Diley shares what he learned about maximising natural potential first—and why most people never even scratch the surface of what's possible without pharmaceutical assistance.
Keep reading to learn Davis’ advanced principles...
WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE:
ADVANCED TRAINING & NUTRITION MASTERY
Train Less, Grow More
Advanced lifters need maximum stimulus per session, not maximum volume. Three to four quality sessions per week with complete focus beats six mediocre workouts where you're fighting fatigue and can't reach the muscle fibres that actually need stimulation.
Neurological Matching Over Trends
Train muscles where they actually have leverage and can move weight effectively, not just in stretched positions because it's trendy. Your lats don't work through the entire range pulling your arm down; hit them where they're bio-mechanically strongest.
"When you become advanced, you're fighting for scraps... You can only reach and activate those final muscle fibres with the highest quality work. Anything less than that is kind of a waste of time."
→ High-Volume Eating Strategy - Use foods that fill you up without destroying your calorie targets. Lean ground beef burgers on low-calorie buns with high-fibre vegetables create the same satiety as regular meals but with half the calories—making cuts feel sustainable rather than absolute torture.
→ Walking as Primary Cardio - Build multiple daily walks into your routine rather than grinding cardio sessions. Morning walk for energy, post-meal walks for digestion, evening walks for recovery. Hundreds of extra calories burned daily without impacting strength training recovery.
"I knew in the back of my mind, there's one day that I'm gonna have to actually take steroids... My whole goal was to get as strong as possible that I could naturally, see if it's even worth it, and then my goal was, okay, now I'm gonna turn on the gas and go."
The methods that got you your first year of gains won't unlock your final 10% of potential.
Advanced training isn't about doing more of what worked as a beginner—it's about surgical precision in every element.
Later this week, we’ll be sending a deep dive into everything that was covered in more detail to ensure you don’t miss any value from your watching.
Until the next one, keep crushing it,
Uncle Mike & The THRST Team 👋
→ Follow me on Instagram
→ Subscribe to the First Things THRST for weekly episodes!
→ Check out THRST app to transform your physique in 30 days.
→ Learn how to become a creator and make money online with my playbook.
→ Join Whoop and get your first month for free!