Finishing Workouts in a Reasonable Amount of Time

by Andrew Lewis, SSC | December 11, 2024

“Where does the time
go? I got to the gym at 7am. I had to squat 3 sets of 5, press 3 sets
of 5, and finish with a single work set of deadlifts. But it’s
9:30am, and I’m just now leaving the gym. This shouldn’t have
taken me more than like 90 minutes.”

If you’ve thought
something like this, you’re not alone. You lose track of time. You
chat with people at the gym. You rest too long. Or you use a timer
and don’t actually start the set until 4 minutes after it goes off.
You’re in good company, but there’s hope. You can absolutely get
your workouts done faster. Unless you’re doing a program with an
extremely long volume day (Texas Method) or you are resting 12
minutes between sets for your 5×5 squats at 450lb, your workouts
probably don’t need to be longer than 80 minutes. You’re just not
focusing on moving quickly where appropriate.

Get
to your first warm up quickly

This is the best place
to save time. I have personally taken a half hour to get from opening
the door of the gym to starting my first warm up. I’m not writing
this article because of what I’ve seen in my clients – I’m
writing this because I’m one of the worst offenders of every
mistake you’ll read in this article (ask my coaches). Everything
else can wait – catching up with gym friends, checking anything on
your phone, getting everything out of your gym bag, setting up all
your plates, etc. You already know what your first exercise is, so
you can just get started.

In fact, your entire
workout should already be written out before you woke up that
morning, because you should have recorded what you were going to do
today when you finished your last workout. Walk directly to the rack
you’re going to use, get a bar, set up the rack, put on your shoes,
and start your first set. Even with changing clothes, if it’s
taking longer than 5 minutes to get from the front door of the gym to
executing your first warm up, you’re doing something extra and
unnecessary.

Warm
ups – load the plates and go

Warm ups are to prepare
the body and the mind of the lifter to do the work sets – the sets
that create the stress you recover from and adapt to. You should do
enough warm ups to be practiced, warm, and prepared for the work
sets, but don’t do so many that you’re fatigued for your work
sets. Warm ups do not need a lot of rest between them. This is where
a lot of lifters waste time during their workouts. As long as it
takes to load the next warm up is how much rest you should take
between warm ups. The last warm up should have a little longer rest
before the first work set. Three minutes is more than enough from the
end of last warm up to the start of first work set.

Get
a timer, and don’t ignore it

The energy molecule you
use to generate muscular contraction is called ATP. It becomes
depleted during exercise, and needs to be replenished with rest. This
cannot be rushed. For work sets, a good rule of thumb is to rest for
5 minutes between sets of 4 or more reps and rest between 3 and 5
minutes for sets of 1 to 3 reps. Lifters almost always rest too short
if they go by feel alone. Get a timer of some kind, and set it when
your set is done. Then rest. When the timer has 20 seconds left, get
ready. Put on your belt, chalk up, and think about what you’re
going to focus on during the set. Turn the timer off when it rings
and immediately do the set.

A lot of lifters have
timers, set them, but then take an extra 3 minutes after the timer
goes off procrastinating. This could be realizing they now need to go
to the bathroom, finishing a story they’re telling gym friends, or
doing some pre-lift ritual that takes way too long. When the time
goes off, it’s time to lift, so get to it.

Other
ways to save time – warm up between work sets

You can save additional
time if you are in a particular hurry by warming up the next exercise
between work sets of the current exercise. For example, if you have
to do 3×5 squats, after your first work set of squats, do 2 warm ups
of your press. After your second work set of squats, do 2 more warm
ups of your press. After your last squat work set, do the final warm
up of presses and rest for 3 minutes before your first work set of
presses. This method can save you up to 15 minutes of workout
depending on how long it normally takes you to warm up. This will
require that you have access to 2 barbells in most cases.

Do not do this method
if you have sequential lower body lifts or upper body lifts. For
example, in a 4-day split where you have both lower body lifts on a
single day.

The math on this is
pretty clear for linear progression (3×5 squats, 3×5 upper body lift,
1×5 deadlifts):

Get to the first warm
up: 5 minutes

Finish last warm up: 5

Rest between sets: 3 +
5 + 5

Finish last warm up of
upper body lift: 5

Rest between sets: 3 +
5 + 5

Finish last warm up of
deadlifts: 5

Rest between last warm
up and workset: 3

Catch your breath and
clean up: 5

54 minutes in total.

If we add 20% to
account for error, we’re at about 65 minutes. Even if rest goes up
to 7 minutes for the work sets, the total time (including 20% error)
is about 74 minutes. You can do this. You get to finish your workout
in a reasonable time. You just have to be focused on the important
aspects and use your time effectively.