Best results in 2 days/week
Sal Di Stefano found that his average clients achieved their best body composition results training only 2 days per week with good programming.
Snapshot · Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth
2880: The Program That Built Mind Pump: 10 Years & 100,000 Transformations
Explore episode
Jun 15, 2026
Where this was said
Why Most Programs Fail
At 21:32 · chapter starts 19:59
The counterintuitive heart of MAPS Anabolic is its training volume prescription. Clients who were willing to come in every day, who would have happily paid for 5-day-a-week sessions, consistently got their best results on just 2 days per week. Sal was willing to leave money on the table to prescribe what actually worked. The living proof of this principle is Doug Egge, who hired Sal after a chiropractor referral for back pain. When Sal said they'd be training twice a week, Doug was skeptical. But the result speaks for itself: starting from injury and a belief that his genetics were the problem, Doug built up to a 400-pound deadlift at just 152 pounds bodyweight. Sal notes with some sharpness that it wasn't bad genetics — it was bad programming.
Why Average Clients Got Their Best Results Training Just 2 Days a Week
Clients willing to train 6 days a week got their best results coming in just twice. More is not more — and Sal's willingness to prescribe 2-day-a-week programs when everyone else was pushing 5-day splits was a core differentiator of MAPS Anabolic.
From Back Pain to 400-Pound Deadlift: The Doug Egge Story
Doug Egge came to Sal as a chiropractic referral with back pain and a belief he had bad genetics. Two days a week on MAPS Anabolic-style programming turned him into a 400-pound deadlifter at 152 pounds bodyweight.
Doug deadlifted 400 lbs at 152 lbs
Doug Egge, who originally came to Sal with back pain, deadlifted 400 pounds at a body weight of 152 pounds following MAPS Anabolic-style programming.
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