The million dollar question: how can you save time in your workouts?
Look, I get it.
You probably don’t love working out.
And even if you enjoy moving your body a little bit and staying somewhat active, I bet you don’t want to be that “gymaholic” (did I just make up a word?) that’s working out 7 days a week doing 2 hour sessions and chugging a protein shake in the gym parking lot immediately after your last set of the workout to “maximize the anabolic window.”
Because you have a life. You have responsibilities. And you have plenty of other interests and priorities that don’t involve picking up a heavy barbell off the floor.
So, that begs the question.
Is there a way for you to get all of the amazing benefits of exercise WITHOUT having it take over your whole life?
Well, lucky for you, there is a way.
And, also lucky for you, you’re reading an article that’s going to help you out a lot.
I’m going to give you three ways to save time in your workouts so you can get a lot done in a little bit of time.
And be able to have fitness fit into your life rather have having your whole life revolve around fitness.
Sound good?
Wonderful. Let’s dive in.
1. Superset All The Strength Training Exercises That You Do In Your Workouts
Now, I know what you’re thinking right now.
“Dylan, what’s a superset?”
So glad you asked.
It’s actually really simple.
A superset is just when you do two exercises back-to-back with no rest in between.
You rest after doing a set of the second exercise in the pairing.
Here’s an example.
Let’s say you’re doing a superset of incline dumbbell bench press paired with dumbbell RDL’s.
And, for the sake of simplicity, both exercises are 3 sets of 8 reps and there’s a 2 minute rest in between sets.
You would do 8 reps of incline dumbbell bench press, then immediately after finishing that set, go straight into 8 reps of dumbbell RDL’s.
Once you’re done with that set of dumbbell RDL’s, you’d rest for the allotted time (2 minutes) before heading into the next set.
This is hands down one of the best ways to save time in your workouts because you’re getting a set of two different exercises done before going into your rest period.
So, with this method, more work is getting done in less time.
How To Implement Supersets
There are two main ways that I recommend implementing supersets into your routine so you can save time in your workouts.
Both of these methods will allow you to pair exercises together that won’t interfere with each other.
Meaning, if you follow these guidelines, the first exercise in the pairing won’t hinder your strength on the second exercise.
Pair Antagonist Muscle Groups
The word antagonist is just a really fancy way of describing muscles that are on the opposite side of the body.
This means you’d pair a muscle on the front side of your body with a muscle on the back side.
For example, you could pair a chest exercise with a back exercise or a quad exercise with a hamstring exercise.
So you could superset flat dumbbell bench press (chest exercise) with a chest-supported dumbbell row (back exercise).
Or you could superset a heel elevated dumbbell goblet squat (quad exercise) with a Swiss ball hamstring curl (hamstring exercise).
By the way, just as a quick side note, the Swiss ball hamstring curl is one of my favorite hamstring exercises.
And I don’t see a ton of people doing it.
Here’s a video tutorial of it if you want to try it out yourself.
Pair Lower Body And Upper Body Exercises
I think this method of implementing supersets is pretty self explanatory.
You’d just pair a lower body exercise with an upper body exercise.
For example, you could pair a single leg dumbbell hip thrust (glute exercise) with a seated dumbbell shoulder press (shoulder exercise).
This is one of my favorite ways of setting up supersets for my online coaching clients whenever I program full body workouts for them.
If you like doing full body workouts and you want to hit each muscle group in under an hour, definitely utilize this method!
2. Prioritize Compound Exercises
Compound exercises sound confusing but they’re actually really simple.
A compound exercise is any movement that trains more than one muscle group at once.
So, compound movements are things like shoulder press variations, lunge variations, deadlift variations, etc.
I’m using the word “variation” deliberately here.
Most people think compound exercises are just barbell bench press, barbell back squats, and barbell deadlifts.
But that couldn’t be any further from the truth.
Sure, those are all great compound exercises that you can absolutely include in your routine.
But they’re not the only compound exercises that you need to do.
And, if you’re not able to do something like a barbell back squat, that’s no problem at all.
You can opt for another squat variation whether it’s a goblet squat, leg press, split squat, etc.
It’s never about having to do one specific exercise.
It’s about doing variations of basic movement patterns (squat variations, chest press variations, row variations, etc) that suit you, the equipment you have available, and your current fitness level.
How Do Compound Exercises Help You Save Time In The Gym?
Because these kinds of exercises allow you to train more than one muscle group at once, you’re essentially getting a better “bang for your buck” with each exercise you do.
Which, obviously, is a great way to save time in your workouts.
And, just for context, the opposite of compound exercises are isolation exercises (bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, leg extensions, etc).
Since isolation exercises only train one muscle at a time, they’re not as ideal for someone who has less time to work with in the gym.
That’s exactly why you should view compound exercises as the bread and butter strength training movements in your routine.
Especially if your main goal is to save time while still getting a killer workout done.
So, for example, if you only have say 40-45 minutes to work with in your strength training workouts, it makes a ton of sense to only do compound movements.
And, on top of that, I highly recommend supersetting compound exercises together to get even more done in less time.
Like I mentioned earlier, you can either do this with antagonist muscle groups or pair lower body and upper body exercises together.
By the way, you can watch this video to learn more about the best compound exercises to include in your leg workouts.
3. Do Fewer Sets Per Exercise
This one might sound a bit counterintuitive.
It makes total sense that doing fewer sets would make the workout shorter, but how would it make the workout more effective?
Isn’t it better to do more sets per exercise?
Well, yes and no.
See, if you had your technique and intensity dialed in, it might be better for you to do say three sets of a given exercise rather than two.
But most people who do 4, 5, 6+ sets per exercise aren’t actually getting that much out of them.
I often find that most people gravitate towards doing four sets on everything in the gym.
Which isn’t necessarily bad.
The problem is that those people only rest for like 20 seconds in between sets and lift way too light.
So, for those individuals, continuing to add more and more sets to an exercise isn’t really fixing the root of the problem.
Remember, more of something isn’t necessarily better. Better is better.
Let me give you an example.
How Fewer Sets Can Be Beneficial
Let’s say you’re doing lat pulldowns in the gym.
I’d much rather you do two really high quality sets than four sets that you rush through and lift too light on.
What do I mean when I say “high quality sets?”
Well, it’s really simple.
First, I mean that you’re really paying attention to keeping your form as locked in as possible throughout each set.
And that you picked a weight that left you within a couple reps shy of failure at the end of the set.
Meaning, if you did a set of 10 reps on lat pulldowns, did you pick a weight that put you in a position where you had 1-3 reps left in the tank at most once that set was over?
So, you did 10 reps but maybe you could’ve gotten 12 reps if you pushed all the way to failure.
On the other hand, if you stopped the set at 10 reps but you picked a weight that you could’ve done 20 reps with, then you went way too light with the weight selection.
Remember, those last few reps on each working set should be very challenging (while maintaining good form).
While pushing harder and lifting heavier in the gym isn’t always enjoyable, it actually can make your workouts shorter.
Because doing two high quality sets takes less time than doing four sets.
So, even though the sets are harder, your exercises get done quicker which means you get out of the gym sooner.
It’s a win win situation.
You’re able to get a super high quality workout done without being in the gym forever.
Sounds pretty good to me!
Wrapping Things Up
There you go!
Three ways to start saving time in the gym so you can get more done in less time.
Hope you got value from this article, and if you did, it would mean the world to me if you’d share it with a friend or family member that you think could benefit from it.
Now go implement the tips I just outlined and we’ll chat soon!
