If you’ve ever worked out in a health club, then you know it’s not unusual to see people spending an hour and a half or even two hours at the gym. Maybe you’re one of these people. But longer isn’t necessarily better. Aside from the fact that most of us don’t have a ton of extra time to get our workouts done, several studies show that exercising at a high intensity for a briefer bout of time is just as effective at burning calories as exercising at a moderate intensity for a longer period. In other words, you can get just as effective a workout from a 25-minute cardio session as you can from a 45-minute session.
In fact, you can cut your total workout time to an hour or less with the right plan in place and plenty of motivation. Below are several suggestions for increasing your workout efficiency.
Dedicate as Much Time to Strength Training as You Do to Cardio (If Not More)
If you're trying to build mass, you likely already do this. If you're trying to lose weight and tone up, you may be in the rut of doing endless cardio sessions, when 25-30 minutes should suffice. The important thing is to keep your intensity---and therefore your heart rate---up, and then carry that intensity over to your strength-training workout. You’ll do this by utilizing High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Aim for a maximum of 30 minutes of interval-style cardio, where you alternate brief bouts of high intensity movement with a lower intensity "recovery" period. This might mean sprinting for 30 seconds followed by walking or jogging for 60, for instance. Allow yourself up to 5 minutes to cool down, and then spend another 30+ minutes on strength training.
Choose Strength Exercises that Involve Big, Full-Body Movements
Performing dynamic, multiple-muscle-group exercises will ensure that you keep your heart rate up and increase the number of calories burned throughout your workout. Lunges and push-ups are great examples. You can increase the effectiveness of other exercises by combining them: add a shoulder press to a squat, or combine a row with a Romanian (straight-legged) dead lift, or perform biceps curls while sitting against the wall. Choose exercises that involve standing up whenever possible, rather than sitting on a machine.
Perform Your Exercises Circuit-Style to Minimize Rest Intervals
Rather than doing all 3 sets of a chest exercise in a row, do a set of chest followed by a set of legs followed by a set of crunches, and so on. By avoiding doing multiple sets on the same muscle group in a row, you eliminate the need for a rest between sets (unless, of course, you need to drink water/catch your breath). This means a shorter workout overall. Aim for 2—3 sets (circuits) of 6—8 exercises per workout.
Do Both Cardio and Strength Every Time You Work Out
Rather than spend upwards of an hour on a full-body strength session 2—3 times per week (when you're also trying to cram in 4—5 days of cardio per week), why not do a little bit each time you're at the gym? This will result in more varied workouts, since you don't want to work the same muscle groups the same way 2 days in a row. Maybe one day you'll do rows, shoulder presses, and biceps curls with deadlifts, squats, and wall-sits. Maybe the next you'll do chest flies, push-ups, and triceps extensions with reverse and side lunges. The point is, you'll learn to pay attention to what's sore and mix it up, and by doing a little each day, you'll be less likely to get burned out on your workouts.
If you’re a beginner, you may need to factor in longer rest periods and lower intensity exercises until you increase your stamina. If, however, you’re an intermediate-to-advanced exerciser looking to up the challenge of your workouts or simply break out of a rut, implementing these strategies will help you get to your goals.
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