How to Make the Most of Your Limited Time at the Gym
Maybe you need to sign up for a timeslot at your gym where you could workout at any time that suits you. Maybe they’ll kick you out in an hour so they can get out. Or maybe your gym is operating as usual, but you’d rather limit the amount of time you spend with strangers who are breathing heavily. How can you make the most of the time you have? We have several strategies for you.
Divide your workouts into the gym and at home
In Before Times, your “gym time” and “workout time” could be the same. But it doesn’t have to be this way, especially if you’ve grabbed some dumbbells to leave at home, or found bodyweight workouts that you enjoy.
Sit down and divide your current workout into two lists: what you need to do in the gym and what you don’t. For example, if you have dumbbells at home but don’t have a barbell or rack, your lists might look something like this:
In gym:
- squats
- pull-ups
- bench press
- rowing machine intervals
Houses:
- curls
- boards
- push ups
- Run
Once you’ve put together your lists, see if you can change the order of your workouts. Instead of lifting a barbell and then doing lighter barbell work in the gym, you might be able to do barbell lifts and drapes while leaving your accessories at home.
Or, if you usually warm up with a little cardio, you can start your workout by walking to the gym or jogging in the parking lot instead of using a treadmill.
Do fewer, more lifts
If you’re used to doing a bodybuilding-style routine with a million different small exercises, consider that larger full-body exercises might make better use of your time. Barbell squats (or even a Smith machine) work more muscle in less time than every leg machine in the gym.
For this reason, it is worth shaking up your routine if it allows you to compress your exercises into somewhat larger ones. Instead of walking five times a week and working on a different body part each time (the classic bro-split with chest day, arm day, etc.), you can get the same benefit from workouts three times a week and do big lifts on those days.
If you’ve never lifted a barbell before, sign up for a workout with a coach or trainer so you can get started in good shape. This is another great use of time at the gym: learning to lift weights better with someone who can watch you in person.
Create strategic supersets
Supersets are a classic way to save time at the gym. While one set of muscles is resting, you can allow the other to work.
Sometimes a workout program requires a specific pair of exercises to be performed like a superset. For example, you can do biceps curls and then immediately extend them to the triceps, and then take a short rest before repeating the sequence. Supersets, or their close cousins, circuit training are sometimes used to maintain heart rate as a form of conditioning. This is also an option.
But you can also do supersets as part of your regular training program to save time. For example, many squat racks have a barbell or set of handles that you can pull up on. If you’re resting five minutes between sets of heavy squats, use one of those minutes to do a couple of pull-ups.
Likewise, bench and deadlift can work well together: grab a pair of dumbbells as you walk to your bench press station, and do rows between sets of bench press.
You may need to change the order in which you do things, or even change your equipment (for example, doing chin-ups with a squat rack instead of a pull-up on the top), but with a little creativity, you may be able to dramatically reduce your time in gym almost doubled.
Do intense cardio intervals
Not all cardio needs to be HIIT. But if you can do slow, light cardio outside the gym – taking a brisk walk, for example – use your time at the gym for what gives you the most bang for your buck. With tight intervals on a rower, bike, or ladder, you can get in and out in 20 minutes or less, and then you can supplement your cardio needs with lighter work at home.