3 Principles For Shorter Workouts

We're all pressed for time each day to get everything done. We have to make the decision daily to give something up. More often than not, the something we give up is exercise. Why? There are several reasons, but I believe the major one is time. Most people I see think they need to spend two hours a day in the gym, doing a split body part routine, and performing 3-4 exercises per body part. The reality is you can get most of the benefits of strength training from 30-40 minute routine 3 times a week. How? I'm glad you asked.

First, you have to pick exercises that give you the "most bang for your buck". I'm talking about complex or multi-joint exercises versus isolation or single joint exercises. Exercises like squats, deadlift, push-ups, pull-ups, push press, hang cleans, etc. work several muscle groups at once as opposed to isolating or working a single muscle like bicep curls or calf raises. A study presented at 2000 NSCA Conference showed that isolation exercises added very little benefit over multi-joint exercises.

Second, working muscle groups more days for less time during the week is more effective than working them fewer days for more time. Meaning, you will gain more muscle and strength by working each muscle group for 3 sets on 3 different days each week than working each muscle group for 9 sets on 1 day each week.

Third, you need to combine exercises in a back to back fashion. We know from scientific study that when you work one muscle group the opposite muscle group is prevented from contracting and is at rest. For example, when doing a chest exercise the muscles of the back are at rest. So you can pair exercises together to get a higher volume of work done in a shorter period of time. An example of pairing exercises would be as follows:
-Dumbell bench press
-rest 60 sec
-Bentover Barbell row
-rest 60 sec
-Repeat two more times

By following these guidelines, you can get a great full body workout three times a week with only 4 or 5 different exercises each workout. Time needed for each workout is only about 30-40 minutes. Is this the perfect way to workout? No. Will you get 80% or more of the benefits of strength training by working out this way? Yes.