When you work out, you want to get the most results for the precious time you spend lifting weights and working your muscles against resistance. Who doesn’t? And if you have little time to train but still want to maximize your strength gains, there are ways to do that.
By learning how to use your training time to its fullest potential, you can get results with less training time. Let’s look at some things you can do to optimize your strength-training time and get the most out of every workout, no matter how short.
Choose Your Exercises Carefully
If you have limited time to train, every exercise you do must count. How can you make the most of the training time you have? Select more exercises that work as many muscle groups as possible simultaneously. Push-ups, deadlifts, squats, pull-ups, and dips are exercises that do this, and they’re super time efficient.
Here’s an example. If you do a bicep curl, you’re only working the bicep muscles in your arm. But if you do a push-up or pull-up, you also work your chest, back muscles, and the muscles in your arm. By doing more multi-joint exercises, you don’t need to spend as much time training to get a good workout.
Some fitness trainers even believe you can build total-body strength with only a few exercises — deadlifts, squats, and push-ups. If you have limited training time, you can do worse than doing these three exercises circuit style for 20 minutes.
Focus on Intensity
Once you’ve done a warm-up set, focus on keeping the intensity level of your strength training high. When you have limited time to work out, you need intensity to make up for the shorter duration. Studies show that high intensity, lower volume strength training leads to superior strength gains but similar gains in muscle mass relative to moderate-intensity, high volume training. When you’re short on time, don’t sweat it – focus on intensity.
Go In with the Right Mindset
If you have limited time to train, make sure you enter each training session with a focused mindset. The objective is to pack as much training into the limited time you have to work out. The right mindset is key to getting the most out of short training sessions. Focus on one thing: lifting weights and keep distractions to a minimum. No sneaking a peak at your smartphone between sets. Instead, think about how you’re going to maximize the next set. Every repetition must count, and you should do each one with impeccable form. When technique suffers, so does the quality of your workout — and your results.
What about background music? It’s okay to listen to music if it helps you lift more weight or helps you focus and concentrate better, but don’t do it if it distracts you or keeps you from being mindful about your technique.
Studies show that when you focus on the muscles you’re working, you’ll get more benefits than if you lift in a distracted manner. Keep your mind engaged with your muscles and the weight. Doing this will improve your form and even help you generate more force, so you get greater gains.
Focus on One Goal Per Session
You might have a lengthy list of things you want to accomplish through training – lose weight, build muscle, become stronger, gain flexibility, but don’t try to target multiple goals in a single training session. If you have limited training time, you won’t do them justice. Instead, you’ll end up doing a little of everything, which leaves you with a lot of nothing.
Set up a training schedule each week and ensure each session focuses on one goal. Write down what you hope to accomplish during each workout and stick with it.
Make Nutrition Work for You
You’ll get more benefits from your workouts if you have enough energy to push through a training session. If you’re doing an intense training session, you’ll perform better if you have enough carbohydrates on board and your muscles have full glycogen stores.
Eat a snack that contains carbs and protein in a 3 to 1 ratio about an hour before your workout. Whey protein is an excellent choice because it contains branched-chain amino acids — including leucine — which help stimulate muscle synthesis following exercise.
Poor hydration can also limit your performance. Drink water throughout the day but take special care to hydrate before and after each workout. Even mild dehydration can cause fatigue. Not only will you not lift your best when you’re dehydrated but lack of hydration can reduce your motivation to work out.
If you’re working out for more than an hour, switch to electrolyte-rich sports drinks or drink chocolate milk during a session to stay hydrated and energized. Carbohydrates and the protein in milk will refuel and provide energy to ace your workout and protein for muscle repair. Studies show that dehydration reduces performance during strength-training workouts.
You can work your hardest with the weights but if you’re ignoring nutrition, your gains will be limited. Muscle fibers are built from amino acids, and there are essential ones you can get only through diet. Make sure you’re consuming enough protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, and a balanced array of nutrients. It all counts.
The Bottom Line
Use these tips to boost your performance and results when you don’t have hours to work out each week. Quality beats quantity every time!
References:
- Judelson DA, Maresh CM, Farrell MJ, Yamamoto LM, Armstrong LE, Kraemer WJ, Volek JS, Spiering BA, Casa DJ, Anderson JM. Effect of hydration state on strength, power, and resistance exercise performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007 Oct;39(10):1817-24. doi: 10.1249/mss.0b013e3180de5f22. PMID: 17909410.
- Mangine, G. T., Hoffman, J. R., Gonzalez, A. M., Townsend, J. R., Wells, A. J., Jajtner, A. R., Beyer, K. S., Boone, C. H., Miramonti, A. A., Wang, R., LaMonica, M. B., Fukuda, D. H., Ratamess, N. A., & Stout, J. R. (2015). The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men. Physiological reports, 3(8), e12472. https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.12472.
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