Top Five Ways To Speed Up Your Workout
In a time crunch? If so, you’re like a great many other people out there who are trying to squeeze their workout in during their lunch break, immediately after work before they go home to prepare dinner, or first thing in the morning before they get started with their day.
Time is a hot commodity in our lives right now so making sure you’re doing what you can within the limited time span you have for your workout is important.
Here are five ways you can speed up your workout without sacrificing your results.
Eliminate Isolation Exercises
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time now, you’re likely aware that I don’t particularly like isolation exercises. While I do feel they have some value in a well-rounded workout program, I do not think they are absolutely necessary if you want to experience results.
In fact, often I think people are doing far too much isolation work that it’s actually serving to hinder their progress. Not to mention the fact that isolation exercises will take up time out of your day. Instead, focus on lifts that are going to give you the best results for your time invested. This includes the squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, and row.
All those curls, tricep extensions, and leg extensions can be dropped if you simply do not have the time of day.
Add In Supersets
Another method to shorten your workouts is to add in supersets. This will reduce the amount of weight you can lift slightly so note that if your goal is maximum strength development you may want to opt away from this technique. Otherwise though, it’s a fantastic way to decrease your total workout time commitment and really feel a good burn.
Typically you’ll superset the isolation exercises (which goes against point one, but this is one technique for those few stubborn people out there who refuse to drop the isolation work altogether – and I know you are out there).
Reduce Your Rest Periods
The next obvious way to shorten your workout is to reduce your rest periods. Now, with this one, keep in mind your goals. Are you looking to get really strong? If so, make sure you’re not shortening that rest period so much that you no longer are able to lift maximally. When that happens, you’re not longer working in accordance with what you want to accomplish with that workout anyway.
If you’re goal is fat loss though, then you can afford to shorten the rest slightly provided you aren’t dropping the weight significantly. You shouldn’t ever see over a 10 pound drop in weight (5 pounds for upper body) or else that tells you that you’re shortening the rest just a bit too much.
For many people though, their rest period is just so over exaggerated in the first place (they’re at the water cooler, at the front desk, staring at their body in the mirror, etc) that you can easily shave off 15 seconds per set. That may not seem like much, but if you’re doing 30 sets in a given workout, that adds up to almost ten minutes off your workout total.
Listen To Headphones To Stay Focused
The next way you can speed up your workout is to listen to headphones. Many people will find themselves getting distracted as time progresses onward, which is a primary reason why they aren’t finishing on time. If you’re someone who is stopping to talk to another gym-goer a little too often, this is a technique you should consider using.
As an added benefit, most people find the music really helps to pump them up as well.
Meet With A Trainer To Get A Proper Plan
Finally, the last way you can decrease your total workout time is to make sure you have a plan to complete. If you’re going about your workout aimlessly, not really ever knowing what exercise to do next, this will definitely take longer than you anticipated.
You should always have a clear plan of course when you enter the gym, so if you don’t, get someone to help you get one.
Workouts shouldn’t need to take longer than 45 minutes to an hour in most cases, so if yours is, it may be time to make some changes.
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