Question:

Marc,

I’ve read through a lot of your material but one thing is still unclear;

How do you fit all of the following in 1 hour?

1. general warm up (5 mins cardio)
2. stretching (5 mins)
3. warm up sets of each exercise
4. cool down exercise
5. 12 set workout routine

The best I’m doing is 90 minutes in order to include all of the above. I can’t figure out how to get this under 1 hour.

Mike

Answer:

Mike,

1. my general warm up is about the same (5 minutes of light cardio)
2. 1-3 warm up sets for the first exercise for that muscle group
3. working sets (45 minutes that incorporates supersets)
4. cool down to get the blood flow regulated again (5 minutes)
5. stretching (5 minutes) 

I use a lot of supersets during my weight resistance to get more work done in less time.  I don’t stretch before hitting the weights as numerous studies have not shown any benefit to doing so in terms of injury prevention.  Doing it after is most beneficial. 

When a muscle is warmed up, there’s no need to do additional warm up exercises for that same group just because you switched the exercise.  Unless it’s vastly different. 

For example, even if I were almost done with legs, I would still do a warm up for stiff legged deadlifts because the move is unique. 

If I were doing chest and I warmed up with incline dumbbells, upon moving to the Swiss ball bench press, I would not warm up.  I would go for a working set. 

Overall, I have been able to keep my working time about 60 minutes give or take using the above setup. 

When people talk about keeping workouts short for focus and energy reasons, they are referring to your working set time.  I know some programs mention total gym time but if you are serious about building muscle, you will probably end up doing more volume, which makes the 60 minute recommendation, more focused on the actual weight resistance time. 

Your 90 minutes isn’t that bad.  I think if you tweak your situation a bit,  you can eliminate some unnecessary warm ups and stretching that may give you 15 minutes back.

Related Reading: 5 Ways to Cut Your Workout Time

Marc

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