When women consider getting started with a weight training routine, one of the first obstacles revolves around “time”. I mean, we’re busy. We don’t have hours to spend in the gym every day.
Get your weight training workouts done in less time by watching the clock
But thankfully, we don’t need to spend hours in the gym to achieve the benefits that are associated with weight training for women. It is true that there are people (both men and women) who really do spend hours upon hours in the weight room doing their workout, and some how spend hours just socializing. There is nothing wrong with either, but it doesn’t imply that everyone who wants to weight train has to spend hours in the gym each day.
I would recommend that even an advanced weight training program for women should take less than forty-five minutes. If you are a true neophyte, you should only need about a half hour. These times include a brief warm up as well as a short cool down. Complete and effective weight training programs can be designed and executed more quickly than most people might imagine.
In order to get a great workout in a short period of time you have to:
- focus on multi-joint weight lifting exercises
- pre-plan your workout and stay on the clock
The best way to get “in and out” of the gym is to have planned your workout before actually getting on to the gym floor. If you fail to do this, you will find that you will eat up a lot of precious time “figuring out” what to do each day. Get a notebook and write out in advance what you will do that day. Not only will it help keep you on task, but it will be great to go back later and see how much progress you’ve made.
I like a plan that ties the thought of “legs, pull, push” together, like I discussed in Basic Program Design of Weight Lifting Workouts. You could perform an exercise (remember multi-joint exercises get the most done) for the desired number of repetitions and sets and then move on to the next exercises. This is probably the slowest way, but might be necessary if you need a lot of recovery time. You could also do one set of your pulling exercise, followed by a set of your pushing exercise and finally a set of your leg exercise. This would make 1 circuit, which you could then repeat 4-5 times.
The order of the “legs, push and pull” sequence can be varied from day to day at your choice and so can be the exercises to work each body part in the sequence. Variety is an important part of designing an effective weight training program for women, but I think variety is best approached as a long-term thing. In the beginning, I think it is best to learn proper technique on just a few key exercises. It is much easier to do a few things well than to do many things well, in strength training and in almost every other aspect of life. It might be fun to play with a new radical exercise each time you work out, but you will see the most immediate gains from a more focused approach. A good way to balance this is to follow your pre-planned routine 3-4x week and leave 1-2 days for easy “playing” at whatever. This should help you see the most results and keep you enjoying yourself.
Whether you are performing your exercises one at a time or in a circuit, it is important not to let too much time pass between sets. If you keep an eye on the clock and time your rest periods… start out with 1-2 minutes, you will be amazed at just how much you can get done in a short period of time. Equally amazing, is how quickly a 35 minute strength training workout can turn into an hour and a half if you aren’t paying attention. As a bonus, shorter rest periods between sets will provide cardiovascular endurance benefits from your weight workout.
Even with having to sometimes wait for a piece of equipment in a crowded gym you should be able to get about 12 to 18 total sets in 35 minutes if you have planned your workout and stick to watching the clock. You could spend more time in your gym, but if you get about 15 sets done in your 35 minutes you will have had a pretty good workout today.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Weight Lifting Workouts in Less Time
When women consider getting started with a weight training routine, one of the first obstacles revolves around “time”. I mean, we’re busy. We don’t have hours to spend in the gym every day.
Get your weight training workouts done in less time by watching the clock
But thankfully, we don’t need to spend hours in the gym to achieve the benefits that are associated with weight training for women. It is true that there are people (both men and women) who really do spend hours upon hours in the weight room doing their workout, and some how spend hours just socializing. There is nothing wrong with either, but it doesn’t imply that everyone who wants to weight train has to spend hours in the gym each day.
I would recommend that even an advanced weight training program for women should take less than forty-five minutes. If you are a true neophyte, you should only need about a half hour. These times include a brief warm up as well as a short cool down. Complete and effective weight training programs can be designed and executed more quickly than most people might imagine.
In order to get a great workout in a short period of time you have to:
The best way to get “in and out” of the gym is to have planned your workout before actually getting on to the gym floor. If you fail to do this, you will find that you will eat up a lot of precious time “figuring out” what to do each day. Get a notebook and write out in advance what you will do that day. Not only will it help keep you on task, but it will be great to go back later and see how much progress you’ve made.
I like a plan that ties the thought of “legs, pull, push” together, like I discussed in Basic Program Design of Weight Lifting Workouts. You could perform an exercise (remember multi-joint exercises get the most done) for the desired number of repetitions and sets and then move on to the next exercises. This is probably the slowest way, but might be necessary if you need a lot of recovery time. You could also do one set of your pulling exercise, followed by a set of your pushing exercise and finally a set of your leg exercise. This would make 1 circuit, which you could then repeat 4-5 times.
The order of the “legs, push and pull” sequence can be varied from day to day at your choice and so can be the exercises to work each body part in the sequence. Variety is an important part of designing an effective weight training program for women, but I think variety is best approached as a long-term thing. In the beginning, I think it is best to learn proper technique on just a few key exercises. It is much easier to do a few things well than to do many things well, in strength training and in almost every other aspect of life. It might be fun to play with a new radical exercise each time you work out, but you will see the most immediate gains from a more focused approach. A good way to balance this is to follow your pre-planned routine 3-4x week and leave 1-2 days for easy “playing” at whatever. This should help you see the most results and keep you enjoying yourself.
Whether you are performing your exercises one at a time or in a circuit, it is important not to let too much time pass between sets. If you keep an eye on the clock and time your rest periods… start out with 1-2 minutes, you will be amazed at just how much you can get done in a short period of time. Equally amazing, is how quickly a 35 minute strength training workout can turn into an hour and a half if you aren’t paying attention. As a bonus, shorter rest periods between sets will provide cardiovascular endurance benefits from your weight workout.
Even with having to sometimes wait for a piece of equipment in a crowded gym you should be able to get about 12 to 18 total sets in 35 minutes if you have planned your workout and stick to watching the clock. You could spend more time in your gym, but if you get about 15 sets done in your 35 minutes you will have had a pretty good workout today.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)