Identical twins Hugo and Ross Turner took on a challenge to see the effects of a 20-minute difference in gym time over 12 weeks, and the results left them stunned.
The British adventurers and fitness enthusiasts decided to test whether doubling the time spent at the gym would yield double the benefits.
Their results were surprising and challenged common beliefs about gym time and workout efficiency.
Identical twins test the impact of a 20-minute difference in gym time over 12 weeks
Hugo and Ross started their experiment by committing to different workout durations.
Hugo worked out for 20 minutes per session, while Ross doubled that time, exercising for 40 minutes.
Both brothers followed the same routine, which included exercises such as deadlifts, squats, and bench presses, and both worked out two to three days in a row before taking a rest day.
They used Virgin Active’s Boditrax machines to track metrics like body weight, muscle mass, fat mass, and body fat percentage to monitor progress.
Although their diet wasn’t strictly controlled, they ate similar foods, consuming about 2,000 to 2,500 calories daily.
Hugo and Ross were motivated to find out if spending more time in the gym would directly translate to better physical results.
Given that they are identical twins, they felt that their shared genetic material would allow for a controlled comparison of the different workout durations.
The results after 12 weeks of effort
After 12 weeks of dedicated exercise, the results were unexpected. Despite Ross doubling his workout time, the physical differences between him and Hugo were minimal.
Hugo observed that, for all the extra effort Ross put in, he saw only a less-than-5% improvement in his results.
“You’d think double the work would see more than a 5% uplift, but it didn’t,” Hugo said.
The twins noticed that their weight didn’t fluctuate much throughout the experiment.
Ross started off about a kilogram heavier than Hugo, but by the end of the 12 weeks, their weight remained similar.
Interestingly, when it came to body fat, Hugo showed slightly better results with the 20-minute sessions.
Muscle mass stayed the same for both twins, which they attributed to their similar diets.
They had not been consuming an excessive amount of calories, which made sense considering their background in expeditions where calorie control is important.
The twins shared their experiences of the challenge in this experiment
While the results may have been similar, the experiences of the two brothers differed greatly.
Hugo, who did the 20-minute workouts, found that the short duration helped him maintain motivation. “I always felt motivated physically, and I didn’t knacker myself out so much,” Hugo explained.
He also mentioned that he felt “pumped” at the end of his workout, but mentally, he often wished he could do more.
“The downside is I never felt like I actually went to the gym. I always felt like I wanted to do a bit more,” he added.
On the other hand, Ross found the longer 40-minute sessions more challenging.
He admitted that it was “tough” doing twice the work, especially considering the dense nature of their workout program. “Once I finished, I had the whole lot to do again,” he said.
Ross described his experience as exhausting, mentally and physically.
His body was “spent” after the long sessions, and he didn’t feel like he was getting significantly better results.
Hugo and Ross concluded that doubling gym time didn’t yield twice the benefits. Hugo suggested that the key takeaway was the importance of consistency.
He found that 20-minute sessions were easier to do consistently, whereas longer 40-minute workouts were harder to stick with. “20 minutes is far easier to execute every day if you want to find that consistency and motivation,” he noted.
Ross, however, felt that working twice as hard and not seeing double the results was deflating.
“Knowing that I was working twice as hard and putting in twice as much effort and yet the results weren’t there was a little deflating,” Ross said.
This made him question whether longer workouts were truly worth it.