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How to achieve more with less?

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Aren't we all short of time? After deducting the hours we spend on sleep, work and family, we are almost left with nothing much to spend on a proper exercise routine to keep us in good health. Afterall, too many exercisers claim they need at least 1.5-2 hours to have a effective workout. Is that really the case, they do not know how to make wise use of the time or how to train productively? Let's assume you have only ONE HOUR to train, what can you do to make full use of it? Here, we will share with you some of the proven strategies which will give you a excellent workout in that hour or less:

1. Have your workout plan ready before you hit the gym. It can be written on a piece of paper or recorded on your phone, to be carried with you. This saves some time trying to remember or figuring out what next to do
2. Warm up and get ready to do the first exercise even before you step into the gym. You can start the process by walking up stairs or a distance instead of taking the elevators. You won't have to spend unnecessary time warming up for 10-15 mins
3. If you see someone using the equipment you intend to use, ask politely if you can use it when the person is resting between sets or move on to do something else. Do not sit or loiter around silently waiting for the person to finish his entire exercise. One, it wastes time (you never know how many sets are the person going to do). Two, your body might be cooled by the time you get to use the equipment. Three, it is always a good idea to something different from your normal routine for unexpected results and fun. Four, someone might just cut your queue (e.g. that someone could be a friend of the current user), talk about getting pissed! And please do not stare hard at the person if you are waiting for your turn (this is impolite as the person might not be aware he is hogging the equipment).
4. Some of the alternatives you can do when the equipment you want to use is in used by somebody else and does not allow sharing or you are too shy to ask:
   • If the treadmills are being taken, use other cardio machine like stepper, cross trainer etc. And you can always have the option run outside, which we think is far more interesting.
   • If your targeted dumbbells are taken, use a lighter one for higher reps or heavier one for lower reps. If not, use barbells.
   • If everything is taken, do bodyweight exercises (you should do a lot of bodyweight exercises anyway).
5. Employ time saver methods like supersets, giant sets, prexhaustion, circuit training etc. Your training time will be much shorter and more intense.  
6. Do less isolation exercises, bang your bucks on compound exercises (read our previous articles on this).
7. Do all your resistance exercises slowly and do the reps until you cannot do another (to failure). When you train in this manner, all you need is just 1-2 sets per exercise. This will dramatically cut down your training time. Who says you must train 3-5 sets per exercise?
8. Don't do brisk walking (or worst, stroll!) on the treadmill (unless you have health reason to do so), it is not designed to for such purpose! Not only this is totally unproductive, you are taking up other people's right to use the machine. Do jogging, interval training etc instead. You can also save up to 20 mins for yourself.
9. Have a laser-like focus when you are exercising. The moment you start to lose your focus, it's easy to end up doing something else like making a phone call which can lead to long talks or socialise unnecessarily. Turn off your phone or don't answer any incoming call. Avoid eye contact with people as much as possible. If someone comes to you, wanting to chat, simply answer "sorry let me complete my workout today and we talk another time ok?". We are not tying to make you into an anti-social person, but when you are in the gym, your primary objective is to exercise. Need to say more?

There you are, some ideas to get more from all your workouts. If you can implement just some of the strategies, you can save as much as 30 mins a workout!  Don't just train, train smart!

P/s: I, together with People's Association and other organisations, will be at Suntec City this Sat afternoon (13 Jul 07, 3-7pm) to promote fitness programmes for women. Please drop by have a chat, tell me you are one of Fitness Tutor's subscribers and get some free advises from me on the spot. See you there! - Paul Kuck