Shorten Your Workout

If you’re like most people, when you need to get a workout in, you want to get in, get it done, and get out.  We have so many demands constantly being placed upon us that it can be a real challenge to keep up with everything.

Rather than letting your workouts fall by the wayside though, consider using smart techniques to shorten them up slightly so you can manage to fit them into your busy day.
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Here are some quick tricks to start incorporating in.

Add Supersets

The first way to shorten up your workouts is to begin by adding supersets.  This is where you pair two exercises back to back with each other.  Since you’ll work two muscles in the time it took you to usually only work one, you’ll cut back on the overall workout duration dramatically.
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Remember to rest between the supersets for a long enough time that you do recovery however otherwise you could start to find you’re not maintaining the intensity necessary to make progress.

Reduce Your Rest Periods

Second, if you aren’t doing supersets but sticking with your usual straight sets, consider cutting back on the rest periods.  You don’t need to omit rest, but if you’re typically using two minutes between sets, one minute may be enough.

In some cases this may mean changing the overall protocol of the program and moving to a slightly higher rep range, lighter weight design, but the change can sometimes do you good.
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Just don’t go past the 12 rep range for most exercises as then the productivity of those sets will really drop off unless you’re strictly training for muscular endurance.

Cut Down On Your Sets

If you’re really in a hurry and looking to get in a super quick workout, the method to use is to cut back on your total sets performed.  As a general rule you can maintain your muscle mass on half the volume you typically use, so if you normally use four sets for an exercise, you can get away with two for the time being.
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Don’t expect to make very large gains using fewer sets, but maintaining is much better than risking losing muscle mass, so will be sufficient for those days when you really just don’t have time.

Use Compound Exercise

Being sure that the vast majority of your exercises are compound in nature is also wise for faster workouts.  This allows you to work a number of muscles all at once hence you have to do much less isolation work that really eats up time.

For example, doing a bent over row will work the back, the lats, as well as the biceps.  Likewise, an incline bench press will hit the chest muscle, the shoulders, the triceps, and even the biceps to a very small extent.
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Compound exercises are a great way to get in a full body workout in just minutes.

Add Interval Training

Lastly, on the cardio side of things, make sure you are using interval cardio training.  Nothing beats this method for boosting the metabolic rate and getting the workout done in a hurry.  Within twenty five to thirty minutes you can be in and out, all while getting a leg up on overall fat loss.
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So don’t let yourself skip a workout again. Instead use these principles to shorten the session so you can find the time to fit it in.