The global fitness industry has grown massively in recent years due to the increasing concern for health and wellness. The Australian fitness industry, in particular, has exploded in popularity, with more and more residents getting gym memberships to become more fit. Sydney contributes a significant part of this growth due to its large population and the health culture. Indeed, going to the gym can have transformative effects on not just your physical health but your overall well-being.
Given the current situation surrounding the pandemic, most gyms in Sydney are operating with limited hours as opposed to the usual 24-hour setup. Similarly, people living in Sydney are known to have busy lives that it could be tricky to find time to visit the gym. With these concerns, you may be wondering: “How can I make the most out of my gym session?”
Maximising your gym time is key to getting efficient results. A longer workout is not necessarily better since the effectiveness of your workouts ultimately depends on how you spend your time in the gym. Read about these strategies to ensure you get a productive and efficient session.
Do Compound Exercises
Compound exercises are an excellent way to target multiple parts of your body simultaneously, allowing you to achieve more progress in a shorter time. The perfect time to do these would be the moment you enter the gym, when your energy levels are still at their highest, so you can exert as much energy as possible.
Common compound movements include squats and lunges with optional weights, deadlifts, shoulder press and chest press variations, and other combinations. You will be surprised to see how effective these are in exhausting your muscles.
Try High-Intensity Cardio
People who go to gyms in Sydney are easily drawn to machines like treadmills or elliptical machines to get their cardio fix. While these machines can help you get your heart rate up, they can be highly inefficient as you have to stay on them for a long time to get a significant burn. To maximise your cardio time, you can instead try high-intensity cardio like HIIT or Tabata training, which can get you sweating and your heart racing in no time.
Minimise Rest Time
What better way to make the most out of your gym session than by spending as much time as you can doing your workout? If you are familiar with workouts like HIIT, you may notice that the exercise times push you to your limit, but you only get a short rest period. The rationale behind this is that minimising your rest time can burn fat faster and keep your metabolism high, allowing you to get a productive workout within a short time.
Increase Your Volume
Rather than taking up your gym time to walk around or browse your phone, use your time efficiently with volume training. Essentially, the purpose is to increase the overall volume that you perform to accelerate muscle fatigue and build muscle effectively. Perform 10 reps of an exercise for a specific muscle group and repeat this until you can no longer do it. Make sure to stretch in between your sets to lessen soreness and tightness.
While enhanced safety measures have caused gyms to operate in limited hours, this does not mean you cannot sneak in fitness into your schedule. Ultimately, the productivity and effectiveness of your workout are not based on how much time you spend exercising. By working smart, you will be able to get a good session done.
