Running Out of Time? Increase Your Intensity!

One of the number one excuses I hear from people when discussing the need to do a workout is:

I don’t have time.

No one said effective workouts have to take a lot of time! My lifting workouts range anywhere from 45 minutes to one hour, give or take. If I spend more time goofing off between sets or I want to go hard and add an extra set my workout can drag out to one and half hours!

When I’m really short on time I increase my INTENSITY.

There are five factors that come into play when developing efficient workouts. Frequency (the number of training sessions per week), Intensity (the demand you place on your body), Time (length of time in any given workout), Type (the mode of exercise), and Enjoyment (are you getting pleasure out of it). All of these are important, but when length of time decreases that means intensity must increase to make up for it. See how that works?

Case in point. I really wanted a hard leg day but had my eye set on my favorite cardio hip hop dance class at 10:30am. I knew that if I went to the gym I would have to get both of these done in one trip because there was no way I was going back later in the evening. I allotted about 45 minutes before the class to do my leg day.

In order to increase the intensity I grouped exercises together, back to back, cut down rest between exercises and sets, and was able to manage 28 working sets for my leg day. Not too shabby. And I could barely walk or do that cardio class after but I managed!

Here was my leg workout. I did one circuit of four exercises back to back four times (resting a minute between each circuit). Then I did a second circuit of three exercises back to back four times (resting one minute between each circuit). I utilized machines, one barbell, and bodyweight exercises to use less equipment, which saves time moving things around and putting them back!

Find weight ranges that are right for you and your experience level!

First Circuit
Stationary Lunges with Barbell (50#) 12 reps on each side
Barbell Squats (same 50#, never took it off my back, saved time!) 12 reps
Seated Calf Raises (machine, 35# plate) 12 reps
Squat Jumps (bodyweight) 12 reps
x4

Second Circuit
Good Mornings (50# barbell) 12 reps
One-leg Leg Extension (30#) 12 reps on each side
Hip Abductor Machine (90#) 12 reps
x4

I took the barbell over to the area with the leg extension, which had enough room for me to perform the good mornings and leave the barbell on the ground nearby. The abductor machine was two machines down from the leg extension. This was at a time where the gym was not busy. When doing circuits keep time of day in mind and choose your exercises based on availability of space and proximity to equipment!

Happy lifting and train hard!