Fitness
and body building articles
Making Time for Strength Training: Part 1
 Strength
training is critical for achieving your fitness goals and this article
includes strength training ideas for those of you who have very limited
time to devote to exercise, but are serious about getting or staying
in shape. In addition to this helpful article, be sure to take our FREE
Fitness Analysis! Once you've completed the brief questionnaire, you'll
receive specific recommendations based on your responses, including
a sample strength training workout with exercise instructions! As a
special thank you, you'll also receive the new e-book, Big Fat Lies,
absolutely FREE of charge. Click
here to get started!
Most fitness experts agree that even devoting 30 minutes
to strength training two or three times a week is sufficient for strength
and muscle development. Many people make the mistake of adding more
exercises and sets to their strength training program to make it harder.
To increase intensity, do not look for ways to do more exercise, look
for ways to do the same or even less, by efficiency. Try to increase
the intensity of your strength training routine and shorten your workout
time by using the following methods.
1. Make sure strength training is convenient:
Getting to your strength training equipment should be easy and convenient.
If you have to drive a half an hour to get to your gym, you will view
strength training as a chore. If you spend more time traveling to the
gym than you do in the gym, you might want to consider a program that
you can do in your home. Muscles do not care where the resistance comes
from--they are going to respond. Strength training resistance can be
from body weight (push-ups), Thera-band® (rubber resistance), free
weights, machines, or a combination of any of these.
2. Work several muscles in one strength training
exercise: Another way to fit strength training into your busy
schedule is to choose exercises that work several major muscle groups
at the same time. Squats or the Leg Press (you can find the instructions
and video demonstrations for these and many other strength training
exercises on my site) works the quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, and
calves. Essentially, you will be training four muscle groups at the
same time with these strength training exercises.
3. Limit resting time: Skip the usual minute or so of resting
time between strength training exercises. You can do this by
doing Supersets, which involves doing two or more successive exercises
for a given muscle group without rest in between. This can be done one
of two ways: The first is to do two or more strength training exercises
in a row for the same muscle group without any rest in between. For
example, do a set of the Shoulder Presses and follow them immediately
with a set of Lateral Raises. This saves time and forces a lot more
blood into the shoulders and provides a more intense and effective strength
training stimulus for the shoulder muscles.
The second way to do supersets is to train two opposing
muscle groups without any rest in between. You can use this superset
style of training for two different muscle groups, but only if they
have an agonist/antagonist relationship with each other. In other words,
on any given lift one muscle is contracting and the other muscle is
relaxing (such as the biceps and triceps when performing a biceps curl).
Choose muscle groups that are physically close together such as biceps
and triceps, or chest and back, or quadriceps and hamstrings.
4. Have alternate strength training exercises for each muscle
group: This is especially important for those who are pressed
for time. Often there will be someone working on the piece of strength
training equipment you want to use. You should always have a back-up
plan, an alternate exercise that trains the same muscle group.
I hope you found this information helpful. Your greatest
challenge is not learning new exercises or the proper strength training
technique; it's not learning how many sets or reps to do or how much
weight to use. Nor is it deciding when or how to change your strength
training routine. The greatest challenge facing you at this moment is
deciding whether you are willing to take action and make time for yourself
and make strength training a priority.
When you begin achieving great results, the excitement and fun you experience
will make the change and time you've spent well worth the effort. Action
creates motivation! Good luck: I hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits
of an effective strength training program. And don’t forget, click
here to take our FREE Fitness Analysis for a free sample strength
training program and for the book, Big Fat lies!
Continue to Strength
Training Part 2. Factors Affecting Strength & Your Strength Training
Plan.
About the author
Chad Tackett, president of GHF
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