By Scott Mooney
SIX STAR AMBASSADOR
Time is undeniably the most precious of resources. It’s something we all want more of and yet never seem to have enough of. When it comes to working out and being active, one of the most cited barriers is a lack of – you guessed it – time. Here are six ways to be more efficient with your time, so you don’t have to sacrifice your health and physique despite a hectic schedule.
JUST DO SOMETHING
It can be an easy trap to fall into, to give up on your training session when you only have a short amount of time. You think to yourself, “It’s not even worth it,” when in fact, it definitely is. Just because you can’t do an hour and a half of intense weight training with 20 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of post-workout stretching doesn’t mean you should skip the workout all together. Don’t let the frustration of not being able to get in your ideal workout stop you from doing anything. A quick 20 minutes of intense interval training is infinitely better than doing nothing.
CONSIDER A HOME GYM
If you want to free up a ton of time, consider investing in a home gym. If you have the space in a garage or basement, a home gym can be assembled very inexpensively by compiling various used equipment over a period of time. Find out what kind of equipment is essential in this article. Saving time commuting to and from a commercial gym can make a huge difference and free up a ton of time for training. Even just a few pieces of equipment, like a pull-up bar and a suspension trainer, can mean the difference between fitting in a quick workout and doing nothing at all.
WAKE UP EARLIER
Very few productive things happen after 10 p.m. If you go to bed at 10 p.m. and get up at 6 a.m., that would give you an 8-hour sleep. Simply going to bed and waking up earlier is a great way to prioritize your health and fitness and to create that extra time slot for you to get some quality training in. Although, you’ll probably need some Pre-Workout Explosion to really get going for those early morning workouts! For some tips on how to maximize early morning training, check out this article.
USE SUPERSETS
Supersets are one of the best time savers. To perform a superset, simply combine two exercises together in one set. For example, if you were doing bench press and barbell rows, instead of completing all the sets of the bench press before moving on to the rows, you perform a set of each back-to-back with no rest, 5 reps of the bench press followed immediately by 8 reps of rows, then rest. This allows you to complete more work in a shorter amount of time and will greatly increase the efficiency of your workouts.
COMPOUND MOVEMENTS
Unless you are a dedicated bodybuilder or college student with ample time, you don’t need an “arm day.” Training small muscle groups, like the biceps and triceps, gives you very little bang for your buck when it comes to training efficiency. If you are short on time, you are much better off performing full-body workouts using compound movements that train every muscle in your body, like deadlifts, overhead presses, squats and chin-ups. Doing three workouts a week using a full-body routine can be enough of a stimulus to help you lose fat and build muscle.
UTILIZE BODYWEIGHT MOVEMENTS
The beautiful thing about bodyweight exercises is that they require little to no equipment and can be done almost anywhere. This versatility allows you to fit in short training sessions almost anywhere when you get the chance. For example, all it takes is a few minutes here and there spread out throughout the day to drop down and do a few sets of push-ups. If you did this throughout the day, before you know it you can easily rack up over 100 push-ups, all you need is to perform 10 push-ups at 10 different times throughout the day! While this may not be the ideal workout, someone who does 100 push-ups a day will certainly look and feel better than someone who does none.
