Can we accomplish a sufficient workout in a shorter time frame?
Sometimes we really don’t have a spare hour (or more) to train, so what can we do in less? Is 20 minutes enough to workout, can we sufficiently work a muscle group (or more in that time), we can, if we are smart about order and rest.
There are lots of technical words thrown around for workouts and variations – let’s start with some of those.
Superset – 2 exercises performed back to back
Giant Set – 3 or more exercises performed back to back
Pretty straight forward, and what they say on the tin, why mention them? – they can be used to create time effective workouts, they serve a number of other purposes, but let’s stay on track.
Squats/Stiff legs
Biceps/Triceps
Chest/Back
These form the somewhat typical thoughts as the muscles are opposing, and they are completely valid.
We can also look to mix the muscle groups to allow different parts of the body to be worked out and increase the intensity for this muscle groups.
Hamstrings/Shoulders
Quads/Back
Abs/arms
Variation on a theme, perhaps, tactical advantage absolutely.
Giant sets can work in exactly the same way, just with an extra exercise or two added in.
Quick example time:
Squats, incline presses (superset) add a row movement to make it a giant set.
Kettlebell deadlifts, Shoulder press (superset) add an ab movement to make it a giant set
Within the above you could make the row and ab movement a super set also.
Moving back to the short workout theme, lets talk about how workouts look helicopter style
Time | Volume | Intensity
The longer we go, the more volume we complete so intensity must be reduced.
Higher intensity with long rest periods (time) means less volume
And the one we are looking for High volume and intensity means less time – bingo
So by using some superset or giant set movements, we can do more volume (the exercises are back to back) and keep the intensity up (working different body parts) for a shorter amount of time.
By undertaking a smaller number of sets of each super or giant set we can keep the overall weight up, or increase the intensity via holding or slowing the movement.
We can use the example above,
20 Squats (bodyweight, KB, DB, bar)
12 Incline presses (Plate, KB, DB or bar)
10 Row movement (Plate, KB, DB or bar)
60 seconds rest and repeat
15 Kettlebell deadlifts (or bar, trap bar, DB)
10 Shoulder press (per arm) (Plate, bar, KB, DB)
45-60 seconds Abs – loads to pick from!!
60 seconds rest and repeat
You could even do a set of the first followed by the second, then back to the start for another round, got more time, add a few extra rounds in.
This is a basic example, it does show that we can string exercises together to build a quick functional workout in a limit amount of time.
It’s good to have these as go to’s when we may be a little light on the time side.
Need a hand with optimising your workouts? Chat to one of the team here at SF info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.