Using Your Time Wisely at the Gym

In relation to my last post, I wanted to extend it further to discuss how to be more time efficient when in the gym. This will allow you to get in and out in minimal time, all the while getting in a highly effective workout. When you  streamline your training, will see the benefits in improved performance, results, and recovery. Even if you aren't someone who is strapped for time, implementing these rules will only serve to benefit your goals.

Eliminate excess exercises

Though I don't train at regular gyms anymore, when I did, whenever I'd go, I would see individuals performing countless sets of concentration curls, triceps kick backs, and leg extensions. Unfortunately I'll admit, I was once apart of this crowd, devoting an entire day of lifting towards arms. However, continuously implementing this exercises into your program, does more harm than good. They provide little carry over, if any at all, towards your bench, military press, squat, and deadlift and also serve to impair and delay your recovery. A good rule to follow when debating if you should be doing an exercise or not, is asking yourself if it makes you look lame or not, like the guy in the picture above.


Prioritize

In the same regards as the first tip, in order to reduce training time and amplify results, you need to learn to prioritize. Squats, deadlifts, presses, pull ups, jumps, and sprints need to be the foremost aim of your training. It should be noted that it can be argued that any exercises performed after your first 1-2 lifts, might not be worth your energy, and in relation to the first tip again, impair your recovery. Your effectiveness takes a dramatic drop off the cliff after sets of squats and Romanian deadlifts. Continuing on with more exercises with less than stellar form is a recipe for disaster. Yes assistance work is needed in order to correct imbalances and bring up weak points, but there training should never come at the expense of proper form and recovery for your main lifts. Your goals towards lifting should revolve around how much you can squat, not how much you can reverse lunge.

Also, prioritizing should take place in regards towards your running as well. Answer this, which is a better use of your time, 10-20 minutes of sprint intervals or 30 minutes to 1 hour of running on a treadmill? If you answered the treadmill, than clearly you have yet to learn anything from this post. While I won't go into the benefits of sprinting over long distance work today, as that topic is enough for another post in and of itself, it is important to recognize sprinting's benefits towards fat loss, flexibility, mobility, and strength and power gains.

Reduce Rest periods

This tip is pretty self-explanatory in regards to reducing your training time. Decrease rest periods and you'll get out of the gym faster. However, it is important to take notice that this rule shouldn't apply when training your main lift. Though I sound like a broken record, getting stronger on these is a priority, and training them with inadequate rest will only lead to poor strength results as well as injury. With these lifts keep rest periods around 2-4 minutes between sets. 

When it comes to the rest of the workout however, perform the remaining exercises in a superset/circuit fashion and try to decrease the rest periods between rounds. Exact rest periods are determined by your conditioning levels and the amount of lifts performed, but anywhere from 90 seconds to Zero seconds rest should be used. Not only will this get you out of the gym faster, but it will ramp up your conditioning.

Use Body Weight exercises

When in a typical gym, you often are left to fight with other members over certain pieces of equipment. This battle can waste away a lot of crucial time in your workout. If this happens, perform the bodyweight version instead. In fact, bodyweight exercises should always have priority over any machine based exercises. Why? Well first off, bodyweight exercises are far more beneficial in carrying over towards daily life in the fact that daily life is all about moving your own bodyweight. Secondly, being able to perform multiple reps of one arm push ups is far more awesome than sitting down for 4 sets of 15 on the pec deck.

Avoid the Chit Chat

Finally, this last one should go without saying. You are at the gym to train, not small talk with any one who makes eye contact with you. You can socialize the rest of the 23 hours you're not in the gym. Your gym time should be just that, time for you.

No Nonsense Cutting of the Fat,

Kyle Bohannon, CSCS

Owner/Head Trainer

Strive Training 

Cincinnati, OH

kyle@trainstrive.com

www.trainstrive.com