Timesaving Tips
Too pressed for time to have time for presses? Try a few of these tips to maximise those fleeting moments in the gym.
This is only natural. We’re all forever promising ourselves that we’ll do an extra long session next time just as soon as we’ve finished with this budget/school holiday/ international arms deal. Little and often, however, is a much better way to exercise than sporadic blitzing. For a start it means you’re less likely to half-cripple yourself by launching an under-prepared body into an overambitious workout. It’s also easier mentally to keep up the momentum and the feel-good factor, not least since mega sessions with long gaps in between quickly become daunting and may lead eventually to cancelled gym memberships. Little and often makes it easier to monitor progress motivational bonus - plus frequent short spells in the gym will do more to raise your metabolism on a daily basis than a once-a-fortnight gut-wrenching osteopath special.
So how can you make sure you get a decent workout when you only have a few precious minutes to dedicate to the temple of toning?
Try the following:
Have your kit ready, packed up, and by the door
Einstein used to line up seven sets of clothes on the hangers each week so he never wasted precious brainpower deciding what to wear or trying to find it. Take his lead. when you pull stuff out of the dryer, match it up into complete sets of kit, then make sure you have a gym bag ready to go for every day. Leave it sitting by the door like a patient dog hoping to go walkies and it will be both convenient to grab and a helpful reminder to your conscience.
Plan your workout, work your plan
Nobody has enough time at the gym so who are all those people wandering around from cardio room to weights and back? Be clear in advance what your workout goals are. Don’t fix on a single machine - it may be in use - but decide in advance how much cardio you’re going to do or what weight session you have in mind.
Try going early
What? Like in the morning? Working out before the day gets its claws into you means you start out feeling good and get your metabolism up and running. There are also fewer people and it’s hard not to feel virtuous which makes it more likely you’ll be back for more tomorrow.
Train with your beloved/kids/mates
Don’t force fitness to compete with friendships and lovelife - it will come a sad second and if it doesn’t you will become a sad individual. See if you can mix gym/social life by training with friends and family. This may mean thinking a little laterally. You may have trouble getting your spouse to show up to an abs class, for example, but swap it for something more fun like a core class and you can frolic with the whole family.
Don’t rest, cross-train
Your gym tells you to spend no more than 20 minutes on a machine? Fine, just leap straight off it and onto another one. Take ten on each if you like. Forty minutes working on a mix of rower/treadmillibike will give you a more thorough workout than the same time spent plodding away at the same machine. It uses different muscles and psychologically allows you to put more effort because you know you’re changing soon.
Don’t rest, superset
Normal practice if you’re doing weights is to rest at least 30 seconds in between sets. Well don’t. Instead switch straight to an exercise that works the opposite set of muscles and cut to and fro between the two with no rest time at all. For example, if you’re working biceps, then alternate with a triceps press. Pair chest press exercises with lateral pull downs. Hamstrings with quads, etc.