On some days, even the most disciplined fitness fanatics struggle to find an hour for a workout when life intervenes. So, when we do finally walk through those gym doors it’s all about maximizing our time.
Maybe you’re looking to bulk up and pack on muscle mass for the ideal beach body. Or perhaps weight loss is on your mind, and you want to burn as much fat as possible every time you hit a workout. Regardless of your intentions, the question remains, how can you most efficiently reach your fitness goals? There are no true shortcuts, but the solution to jump starting your journey is knowing a few expert workout tips. These tactics offer subtle ways to bring improvements to your training program. The right workout tips can expedite your progress from isolated leg exercises and alternate grips to high intensity interval circuits between sets.
To learn more about maximizing workouts, we chatted with Joe Do’it — a Certified Personal Trainer and sports nutritionist, to learn more about maximizing our time in the gym. For his clients, Joe recommends first identifying your goals and having a plan for achieving them. He recommends tailored workouts to your specific needs.
“Efficiency starts with having a plan and then executing on that plan, not just going to the gym and doing whatever you think works or searched online,” he said.
If you’re wondering how to approach your workout, we’ve assembled the “Joe Do’it Workout” approach, which is some of his favorite workout tips, and he categorized them by fitness goal.
1. How to Gain Muscle Fast
Joe Do’it Workout Tip # 1 — Supersets
If your primary goal is muscle growth, it’s time to rethink your traditional workout regimen. Conventional wisdom says to approach an exercise with three sets of ten reps, perhaps with a warm-up set tacked on the front end. That’s an excellent, foundational basis for a muscle-building workout, but you can expedite the muscle growth process by shifting how you perform exercises.
The first workout tip is called a superset. While you would traditionally perform one set of an exercise, rest, then perform the next, a superset combines two separate exercises and has you crank up a set of each one without resting in between, NO REST. For example, you’d hit 15 push-ups and then immediately switch to perform 15 shoulder presses. Supersets allow for a more efficient workout — since you’re limiting the amount of rest — and increasing the intensity. It’s an extra challenge for your muscles.
“Traditional strength training focuses more on recovery time between sets to facilitate lifting heavier weight, meaning those workouts typically take longer,” Joe said.
“Getting some overlap is a great way to overload the musculature you’re targeting that day, increasing your strength after the fact,” he said. “For example, pull-ups heavily bias the latissimus dorsi while deadlifts utilize the lats as a secondary stabilizer. Both exercises incorporate the lats, but with pull-ups, the lats are the primary muscle group.”
A typical superset from Joe might look something like this:
Deadlifts + Barbell rows
Joe Do’it Workout Tip # 2 — Drop sets
Drop sets, another muscle-building workout tip, take a similar approach by re-imagining how to develop your exercises and sets. Instead of using the same weight for all sets of an exercise, you complete each set to failure, drop the weight by 20% to 30%, and then repeat with a higher volume of reps.
So, three drop sets of dumbbell hammer curls might look something like this (approx.):
6-10 reps of 40 pounds
10-15 reps of 30 pounds
15-20 reps of 25 pounds
Drop sets are an incredibly efficient technique for completely exhausting your muscles and boosting volume. However, studies have shown that performing sets to failure can increase fatigue and recovery time, which can negatively impact your performance. So don’t replace your entire workout with drop sets just add a few at the end of your last set of each exercise.
Weight loss remains one of the most popular fitness goals, particularly as beach season approaches. However, not everyone prefers a 5-mile jog every morning. Some particularly those looking to pack on lean muscle while also dropping a few pounds favour training methods that incorporate exercises that can do both. This leads us to Joe Do’it Workout Tip #3.
Joe Do’it Workout Tip # 3 — Circuit Training
Circuit Training combines elements of traditional weightlifting and cardio to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously. Circuit training has spiked in notoriety in recent years with the popularity of CrossFit and remains a great way to ramp up your heart rate while building strength. In a circuit-style workout, you quickly complete a set of each exercise with little rest in between, or as Joe says, “NO REST!”
“I’d argue circuits are the greatest bang for the buck you’ll get in the gym for many reasons, my personal favourite” Joe said. “Starting with what everyone cares about weight loss circuits are essential. By increasing the pace of your exercise, you also increase the intensity, which results in more calories being burned throughout the workout, maximising your output.”
“If your goal is weight loss, I highly recommend employing circuits to get there quicker,” he said.
A typical circuit might look something like this:
15 dips
20 squats
60 seconds of jump rope
10 push-ups
1/4-mile run
Circuit training is an effective and efficient way to build muscle and endurance while offering a workout for the entire body. It often features exercises that incorporate multiple muscle groups, and it’s also incredibly fun to build your own circuits and alter them every day to ensure things never get boring.