Many of us have too much to do in our daily lives to find some time for the gym, and those of us lucky enough to be well prepared and organized that we take our gym kit to work so we can go straight from desk to treadmill, still only get about a half hour before it’s time to shower off and get home for dinner.
Fitness fanatics who wish they had more hours in the day would love the opportunity to spend three or four hours in the gym and work out leisurely without worrying about time. Well, there is a way where we can spend just 30 to 45 minutes in the gym and achieve the same results as that guy we see sitting around on the chest press apparatus chatting away to his friends on his cell phone as if he has all the time in the world.
Plan Your Routine
Before you even go into the gym, work out exactly which machines you will go on and how long you’ll spend on it. Rotate your cardio workouts with cross trainers and treadmills, and even substitute the three-mile jog with a Zumba workout.
Feel the Burn
Whether you are running, skiing, rowing or on a cross trainer, you have to work hard in your limited time slot. Some may remember the days before gym membership when we would pay for the use of the gym by the hour – we never wasted a single second in those days, but now memberships mean we can use as and when we wish for a monthly subscription, we tend to become lazy and stroll effortlessly between cardio machines or sit on the bench presses chatting to our gym buddy.
After a 10-minute workout you must feel the pain of what you have just been through – and don’t worry, the feeling of “feeling the burn” is a high which counteracts us feeling completely exhausted. To measure whether you have actually worked out hard, you must be sweating. And remember, a 30-minute hard workout is more beneficial than spending a sluggish two hours in the gym and not exerting yourself at all.
