If your goal is to increase your cardiovascular health and improve your muscle tone, two full-body workouts per week may be the most time-efficient way to go. You can choose to lift weights or use simple resistance training exercises, which do not require expensive gym equipment. When targeting all your muscle groups each workout, be sure to have at least one day of rest between each session.
Weightlifting Exercises
If you have access to free weights and/or weightlifting equipment, you can get an effective full-body workout using compound exercises. A compound exercise is one that works multiple muscle groups at the same time; an example is bench press, which works the chest, arms and shoulders. Using these types of exercises will speed up your full-body workouts so that you can get a complete workout in 45 to 60 minutes. A full-body workout using weightlifting equipment could include bench press, squats/leg press, deadlifts, shoulder press, crunches, rows, biceps curls and triceps extensions.
Simple Resistance Exercises
Not everyone has access to free weights and other gym equipment, but you can still get an effective full-body workout. Simple resistance training exercises use your own body weight to provide the resistance. A sample workout using simple resistance exercises would include pushups, crunches, squats, lunges, calf raises and triceps dips. Additionally, you can use a heavy, well-balanced object to exercise your shoulders, lower back and biceps by doing shoulder presses, deadlifts and single-arm biceps curls, respectively.
Reps/Sets/Duration
The amount of time you spend training each workout is important because over-training is as damaging to your muscles as not working out at all. According to Bodybuilding.com, you should keep each workout to less than 60 minutes to get the maximum health benefit. Workouts lasting longer stimulate your body's production of cortisol, which hinders your performance and results. To stay within 45 to 60 minutes per workout, stick to a workout regimen of three to four sets of 10 repetitions per exercise. This will give you maximum results in the shortest possible time.
Potential
You can expect solid results from a two-day-a-week workout schedule. A full-body workout can help build muscle, burn fat and improve your bone health. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a two-day-a-week resistance training regimen to improve your muscle tone and reduce your risk of osteoporosis. Additionally, two full-body workouts per week will help boost your metabolism, which will help your body become more efficient at burning calories.
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