How to get the most of your time in the Gym

Posted on 28. Jul, 2009 by Keith Scott in Uncategorized

Years of training other people and training myself has given me a unique perspective about how things work in the gym, more so…how people work in the gym.

I have seen many people totally wasting their time by doing useless exercises, or not knowing how or when to increase their intensity, or worst of all, going through the motions.

Rarely, you see someone going “balls out” and sucking up every single ounce of time and energy doing their training session.

Time is money and people have much less of both these days. When you commit to your workout or training session, you shouldn’t waste a second of it…besides, if you are not there to improve or maximize your session, you need to ask yourself why you are there in the first place. If you are training by yourself, then you are only letting yourself down. If you are working with a trainer or a training partner, this is even worse, because you are wasting everyone’s time.

So you are committed to a training program and swear you are going to get real results this time around. Here are some tips to consider when you hit the gym so you can maximize your gym time.

· Become an “anti-social” gym snob – When you go to the gym you need to turn into a snob, and be anti-social. Don’t worry about talking to anyone, and don’t spend time catching up on the latest gossip. You are there for one thing, remember that. Chatting it up with others is one of the biggest distractions of your time and the major reason that I see people get side tracked at the gym. If you like going to the gym to meet new people and socialize then you can stop reading now, this post is not for you. Go update your Facebook status.

· Write down your program or plan and have it with you at the gym. This can be in the form of a small notebook, or whatever works. I use a program on my iphone that has my program, weights, rest times, etc… all at the touch of a finger. If you go in “blind” you will be more likely to skip things, cheat yourself, or just give up. If it is down on the paper, you do it…you can always add to your program, but never do less then what is there.

· Take that same note book and set goals before you walk through those doors to the gym. Write down these goals, review them and know exactly what you are going to accomplish before you start. For example, if you got 6 reps on the final set of the over head press, and you want to get 8 reps this time out, write it down and make that a goal. Do this for each exercise. You will be surprised at how much more you accomplish and how many personal records you break. This is the key to constant improvement.

· Listen to your own music. To go along with the first point, if you have headphones on, and your music is going, you will be less inclined to talk to people and better yet, people will be less inclined to approach you. When I hit the gym, the headphones are in and the music is on before I step out of the locker room. Also, music will move you and help maximize your session. Get your favorite motivating music and make a mix. Better, make a few different mixes.

· Add in extra time for quality warm up. People skip this step all of the time. A good warm up is essential for maximizing your workouts and also preventing injuries. But the key is to schedule that warm up time in addition to your workout time. The number one excuse (besides just being lazy about it) is that people just don’t have the time to warm up. Add in an extra 10-15 min at the beginning of each session for warm up. Make sure your warm up is intense enough to break a sweat and it should include some mobility drills, some stretching and a progression leading into your first lift.

Going to the gym should be fun, but it always needs to be productive or you are really wasting your time. Go at it hard and go at it right. Don’t talk to people, waste time doing dumb things. Maximize each session!