Post: #1

I've always done fairly heavy weight and high volume training with routines that take about 1 hour if done intensely, up to 1.5 hours if I go in lacking the energy and motivation.

This used to be alright when I had lots of free time. But now with an irregular work schedule I'm finding more often than not I'm only getting in 2-3 sessions per week or less.

With my schedule I could easily accommodate shorter 30 minute workouts for 5-6 sessions per week and I've found a few good routines of this length. But despite the fact I'll have higher frequency, the idea of such short sessions seems a bit strange to me.

Does anyone have experience doing short sessions in the gym, but with more frequency? Does the increased frequency offset the lower volume? Or does the reality of a 30 minute session with all said and done mean some very weak and innefective sessions?

Post: #2

I'm starting 30-35 minute routines on a 6 day schedule. Will report back in a week or two to share results in terms of how I feel, consistency etc.

Post: #3

Yes you can have a nice body and build strength on 30-35 minutes of weight training, even at 3x a week. I'm small framed, but in more than decent shape at 5'9 165lbs with 11-13% bf. I "only" train 3x a week and my sessions last less than 40 minutes.

Let's say a work set takes 1 min. and your rest is a conservative 3 min. Let's also assume that you are able to load the weights and use some of those 3 min rest periods for warmup...

Then 36 min gives you 9 work sets and 9 3-min rest periods. That's good for two to three big movements of 3-5 sets each.

Drop the rest period to two minutes and with 36 minutes total you get 12 work sets and 12 2-min rest periods.

The key is not to fuck around in your short amount of time. Come prepared with your mind ready, with planned alternative lifts if the bench/squat rack/pull up bar/ etc. are not available, cell phone in locker, a stopwatch, and lifting journal with planned training workout.

So 35ish minutes is definitely enough for me. I also train on the track 3x a week for 30min/session in between lifting days, since I compete in 400m and 800m races. Lots of bang per buck there too since track training involves lots of sprinting.

Good luck let us know how it goes. And keep the diet in check.

Post: #4

If you have a limited time you have to make sure each set counts. Use correct form and work the muscle until it burns. A lot of people completely fuck around in the gym and waste time and don't really push themselves. I have no easy sets. The last rep is always hard and at or near failure.

Post: #5

I am doing 20 minutes fasted workouts, 6 days. But, my goal isn't to get huge. I am looking for a more, lean athletic body, while lowering my %BF.

It is working so far. I have added about 5 lbs of muscle over the last few months, without any noticeable increase in BF.

Post: #6

I can wear myself out in half an hour with back and front squats and overheard presses. Gives me that relaxed yet shakey, worked out feeling I crave. Wouldn't think it's very effective for building though, especially as I don't eat enough. But it's better than 90% of the population. If I watch my diet and eat clean I can stay pretty in shape with just two or three workouts a week. I rely upon a fitted V-neck to create the illusion of bulk though...

Post: #7

Yeah, I used to do them when I worked many days a week.

Basically go to the gym and hammer a lift for 20 minutes straight, do an assistance exercise and go home.

I like the "Have it All" Routine. It's loosely based on escalating density training (basically do more work in the same amount of time => strength gains). The program says to do heavy compound lifts, so an example would be.

Monday/Thursday : Back Squat
Tuesday/Friday : Clean and Press

You pick a weight for each that is not too challenging and try to get to 50 reps in 20 minutes. Once you get to 50 reps (and it's not too hard), bump up the weight a bit.

Another one could be like this

Pullups supersetted with Dips
Deadlift

Sometimes I had three different routines during the week, but I would generally take it easier on two or more of the workouts depending on how beat up I was.

Back Squat
Overhead Press
Deadlift


As far as assistance work, you could do curls, tricep extensions, calf raises, ab work, the list goes on.

You can build a very respectable physique going to the gym x4 a week for a grand total of 2 hours. The Have it All Program is easily one of my favorites, if you play around with the "rep" ranges you can have a very complete, long term program. If you want to build more strength, do 40 reps in 20 minutes, if you want to build some mass aim for 100 reps in 20 minutes.

Post: #8

(04-03-2015 08:40 AM)ASOT Wrote:  I've always done fairly heavy weight and high volume training with routines that take about 1 hour if done intensely, up to 1.5 hours if I go in lacking the energy and motivation.

This used to be alright when I had lots of free time. But now with an irregular work schedule I'm finding more often than not I'm only getting in 2-3 sessions per week or less.

With my schedule I could easily accommodate shorter 30 minute workouts for 5-6 sessions per week and I've found a few good routines of this length. But despite the fact I'll have higher frequency, the idea of such short sessions seems a bit strange to me.

Does anyone have experience doing short sessions in the gym, but with more frequency? Does the increased frequency offset the lower volume? Or does the reality of a 30 minute session with all said and done mean some very weak and innefective sessions?

My gym sessions usually last 2 hours. 1 hour of stretching, 20 mins to shower and 40 mins for weights.

IMO if you take 1-1.5 hrs to workout, youre resting too much.

Post: #9

My workout lasts 40 minutes, I train in cycles, I do calisthenics with weights in a backpack, so upper body goes:

•8-12 handstand pushups
•8-10 pull ups with 25lb, drop the weight and go till right before failure, 2nd & 4th set switch to chin ups with 50lb
•10-12 pushups with 50lb
•6-8 dips with 50lb

I do 4 cycles, each lasts about 8 minutes, rest 3 minutes between cycles. A couple months before this I was doing kind of half assed workouts of only 3 cycles with just bodyweight or 25lb. Since adding weight and volume I am fucking smoked between cycles and after the workouts. Seeing big improvements in both strength and gains, and getting ready to add more weight.

I think as long as you train at high intensity you can get a great workout in under an hour.

Post: #10

You can do kettlebell hiit workouts based on the tabata protocol. The tabata protocol is a 4 minute workout where you do an exercise for 8 sets of 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest in between. This workout is a good example; he does 4x4 minute tabata rounds with one minute of rest in between rounds. He doesn't alternate exercises within rounds, which makes it a killer. You may want to start out alternating exercises at first ie: do swings and goblet squats alternating until you finish the round. This whole workout takes 20 minutes; it's a good finisher for after strength work using a lighter bell or a great stand alone on its own with a heavier bell.

Post: #11

If you train efficiently, 3x30 min per week is enough to build strength and muscle, however it is going to be a bit slow probably, which you can of course, as you mentioned, compensate by going so often. I usually train 45 minutes (rarely more than an hour) 3-4x a week and make good progress. If you go 6x/week there's good opportunity for you to either run through a 3-part-split twice a week (maybe with some variation, e.g. first training day power, second training day control with pause movements; see Candito), or have a 2-part split with 2 additional days for accessories if your focus leans more towards bodybuilding/aesthetics.

Post: #12

Most CrossFit workouts are 10-25 min. 15 min on average. They will fuck you up regardless.

Even if you do pure lifting like 5 x 5, CrossFit style is to shorten the rest and squeeze the whole thing in 20 minutes anyway.

Works for me.

Post: #13

Shortened rest periods are great for fucked up form, which equals hernia gains. Less time - more gains? Win-win!

Post: #14

Zatsiorsky says that increased frequency increases gains. The sum effect of several small workouts is greater than one big workout.

So for instance, if you work out four times per day for 10 minutes, that has a bigger net effect than working out one time per day for 40 minutes.

This is why I do some bodyweight shit in the morning and before I go to bed, and during work, regardless if I've gone to the gym.

Edit: This is why "grease the groove" training is so effective. If you have a doorway pullup bar and do a few chinups every time you walk through that door, then after a few months you can expect to greatly increase your max number of chinups.

Post: #15

100 air squats
80 chin ups and 80 pull ups
160 push ups
80 calf raises
ab routine

40 minutes

nuff said

Post: #16

Yes, you can fit in 30 min without cardio.

I can get each of the workouts below done in 30 min if I (1) gym isn't busy, (2) don't vary my rep pace (fast-slow, important for building muscle), and (3) no time between sets (switching muscle group). 3 sets of each. Day 1 is the toughest to fit in, but possible.

It sorta gives you some cardio simply by not taking breaks...at the cost of not getting as good of a lift and building as much muscle.

That said, for over a year I was doing max 30 min workouts and got in pretty decent shape, but I have a natural athletic build even not lifting.

Day 1 - Push:
Bench press
Inclined bench DB
Inclined Flys DB
Cable crossover
Skullcrushers
Dips and tri machine

Day 2 - Pull:
Barbell row (slight bent over)
Wide chin ups (with band to exhaust)
Inclined curl DB
Preacher curl
Back machine

Day 3 - Legs:
Squat
Leg press
Leg extensions

Day 4 - Shoulders:
Barbell shoulder press
Upright row (straight up)
Lateral raise (traps)
Rear delt raise
Barbell shrug
Dumbell shrug

Note, I've been lazy 1x per week on abs lately, and they aren't listed in those workouts.

It really all depends on your goal.