How do you know if you’re doing too much in the gym or not enough? We talked about it how to manage the intensity of your exercise, but what about the actual time you measure during a workout? The optimal length of a workout depends on your goals and what exactly you are doing.
When you really don’t have the time
If you’re asking this question because you don’t know when to find an hour to work out, for example, I have good news for you: any workout is better than no workout.
The American exercise guidelines included a rule that the only exercise that counts if you do it for 10 minutes or more. you dropped this rule in 2018, so the shorter stuff counts too.
Do you need ideas? Aside from a short walk around the block, you can also try partaking in “fitness snacks” like one of these 5 minute ideas. Or work on a target movement like pull-ups by greasing the groove and Spread your reps across the day.
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If you want to improve your cardio fitness
Let’s talk about what to do when you have time for a more traditional type of exercise. For example, how much should you budget to improve your aerobic fitness and reap all of these? heart healthy benefits?
For stationary exercises like jogging or cycling, consider at least 20 minutes for a focused workout session. 30 minutes is likely the sweet spot for something you plan on several times a week – three sessions of 30 minutes means a total of 90 minutes, which falls within the range US recommendation for 75 to 150 minutes of weekly cardio training. Five sessions of 30 minutes also give you a nice weekday routine.
However, you don’t have to limit yourself to 30 minutes. Many fitness classes are 45 or 60 minutes long, and that’s great too. Between 30 and 60 minutes is solid cardio workout that most of us can find or can find time for.
Do you want to go any longer? Low-intensity cardio exercise (like hiking or light running) for 90 minutes or more will add to your cardio fitness. Workouts of this length are typically done once a week. For example, if you have a program in progress, you might want to do 30-minute runs and then 90-minute runs a few times a week long term Saturdays.
What if you’d rather get your cardio in as short a time as possible? High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can do the job while it is real HIIT and not just a YouTube video marked as such. The puke Tabata protocol only takes four minutes. Other HIIT protocols typically reach 10 minutes or less. Once you’ve added a five minute warm up and cooldown, watch out for 15 to 20 minutes for the whole thing.
When you lift weights
The length of the workouts will vary depending on your goals and the way your program is set up.
If you are a beginner, a 30 minute workout three times a week is likely enough to see results. If you are more experienced, you may still prefer to break your workout up into 30-minute sections every day rather than doing longer workouts a few times a week.
When you lift heavy If you are aiming for the greatest strength gains, your workout will typically take longer per exercise. You must Warm-up kits to prepare for the day’s work weight and you need 3–5 minute break between sets for large compound exercises like squats and deadlifts. Add that all up and a day’s squats can take half an hour on their own. So these types of workouts can last anywhere from an hour to two.
So we have a range of 30 minutes to two hours to lift workouts, depending on what you’re doing. If you want to spend less time in the gym, check out two exercises and work on reducing the amount of rest between sets.
Not only is cardio good for your heart, but it can also improve your body’s ability to recharge faster between sets. Don’t expect to be able to lift back to back with a two minute break. However, improving your condition can help you reduce rest times from eight to five minutes, or do isolation exercises like curling with just a minute break instead of two or three.
This saves you time without shortening your training
We have a few too Tips on how to save time in the gymif you find that your workouts are taking longer than necessary.
Don’t forget that you can combine lifting and cardio – even on the same day – to get a little more of each. If you can schedule an hour to exercise, consider doing a 30-minute workout and 30 minutes on the treadmill.
It can also be worthwhile to look at all of the other things you do during your exercise time to see if you are using your time appropriately. If you have a long drive to the gym, and afterwards have to shower forever, and hang out with your gym buddies between sets, it may take you three hours to do what is really just a 90-minute workout.
Be honest with yourself about your schedule, but realize that there is no need to be ruthlessly efficient unless you’re under tight deadlines. Perhaps chatting with your gym friends is the best part of your day. Perhaps you could make more progress if you allowed yourself a full hour in the gym instead of trying to squeeze it all into 45 minutes.
