Most people waste a lot of time in the gym which adds more resentment and less effectiveness to their exercise routine. Here are some time saving methods –
Change Quickly or come dressed – Most people judge the time it takes to exercise from time in the door to leaving. While I was on the cable machines for 30 minutes the other day I started timing how long it takes from people walking in the door to actually doing the first bit of exercises they did. Many many people were taking 10-15 minutes before they even did anything. Just come prepared and get straight into it.
Warm-up quickly – The classic warm up fitness protocols have you doing 5-10 minutes easy exercise to get you going. This is just dead time, you are much better doing a quick 2 minute active stretching routine and then using progressions of intensity on the exercise in hand, e.g. starting off slightly lighter/slower for a bit before going into the higher intensities. In reality it is only the heavy complex movements of dead lifts, cleans etc that require you to be really prepared body wise. Likewise with sprinting compared to jogging. Most single person workouts do not need much to allow you to be safely prepared to train.
Forget exercise order – There is nothing more ridiculous than waiting 10 minutes to use a machine simply because someone wrote your programme down in a specific order. While some people feel there is magic to an exercise order for 99% of people it has no effect. If you simply adjust the intensity used based on fatigue you will be fine, e.g. squatting first in the gym you will use sligtly more weight than if you did it last exercise of the day.
Faster Cardio – If your goal is fitness then shorter and harder training will usually be more beneficial than longer and easier. This can save you a lot of time. Pick one machine/form of fitness and just go mental for 10-15 minutes in total.
Eat better – Most people are trying to out exercise a bad diet. The statistics on this are completely stacked against you with the ability to eat food way above the ability to burn it off as shown in this chart –
Check out part 2 for more time saving tips
April 2 – April 6(2/5 days measured)
The last week in my 4 week 48 gym session training phases. I backed off the intenisty a little to keep the body from being too broken down. It has adapted fairly well already to the heavy work load. I played touch rugby on Wednesday and I was running around like a coal mine pony let out of the pit for a night. Good to see fitness is not at all affected by my reduced cardio routines. Diet was nailed on at the 3000 calorie mark.
Diet – Protein – 254g, Carbs – 341g, fat – 0g, calories – 3008, P:34 % C :45% F: 21%
Exercise – 8 Weights sessions, 1 touch rugby session and 1 off day
Weight – 74kg Body fat – 41mm* Activity Measure – 17.4 km / Day**
Supplements – Protein shake (max 40g per day), creatine (10g-30g) and BCAA (8-10g)***
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*This is my own 10 point self measurement system, it does not correlate to body fat scores. At a guess 40mm – 8%, 50mm – 9.5%, 60mm – 11%, 70mm – 12.5%. I do not take it everyday if looking to gain muscle or maintain as it puts me off wanting to eat more. If on fat loss phase I take it daily. Like any body fat measurement system, as you get to low body fat levels the number become less accurate or reliable.
**Measured using Fit Bit Flex wrist band. Add me as a friend – Ben on fit-bit.com
*** Supplement use was not consistent everyday.
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Knightsbridge – For Personal Training London please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or parks across London. Ben Wilson – London Personal Trainer
