Many people have jobs or schoolwork that occupies much of their time. Those who use free weights often desire a workout that builds muscle and strength effectively and takes less time than other forms of exercise. You can choose from multiple, effective free weight exercises to use in a fast workout.
20-Minute Workout
The 20-minute workout is a great way to minimize the amount of time spent at the gym and target several muscle groups. This workout is divided over four days and uses different muscles each time. For example, Monday's workout targets the biceps, triceps and lower wrists. To start your week, you can perform exercises including 6 to 12 repetitions of barbell curl, narrow-grip bench press and behind-the-back wrist curl. Tuesday's workout stresses leg and lower back work, with squats, lunges and calf raises. Thursday targets your chest, back and upper wrists. Sample exercises include incline bench press and pullup. Friday's workout stresses shoulder work, featuring exercises such as the military press, barbell shrug and incline shrug. To make these workouts last only 20 minutes, you must perform double sets or tri-sets. This means that you select two or three exercises and perform only one set before moving on to the next exercise. Only rest 30 to 45 seconds between each exercise. After completing the final exercise, begin the second set by starting with the first exercise again.
Half-Hour Workout
This workout should only take 30 minutes to complete. Several exercises need to be performed with drop sets. Drop sets occur when you perform three sets of a particular exercise without resting between sets. The only rest time that you should use is the time it takes to lower the weight. Perform 15 repetitions during the first set and then remove one-fourth of the weight. Immediately perform as many reps as possible during the second set. Remove more weight for the third set and again perform as many reps as you can do. Record how many repetitions you performed for the first set and the weight you used. In your next workout, you want to beat this number. Exercises in the half-hour workout include the bench press, leg press, leg extension, bicep curl, close-grip lat pulldown, seated row and lateral shoulder raise.
Superset Workouts
Many workouts can be greatly shortened with supersets. Supersets require you to go back and forth between two exercises until you've completed the desired number of sets for each. You do not rest between each exercise set. Supersets also raise the intensity of your workout, leading to greater muscle development, according to the BodyBuilding website. There are several types of supersets, including antagonist, compound and isolation. Antagonist requires you to lift weight with two opposing muscle groups back to back, such as quadriceps and hamstrings. Compound supersets require two similar exercises to be performed consecutively, such as bench press and incline bench press. Compound supersets are extremely challenging and should only be performed by the most advanced weightlifters due to immense strain on the central nervous system. Isolation supersets require two isolation exercises to be performed consecutively, such as dumbbell fly and cable crossover. You can combine antagonist superset exercises and include a staggered superset into your workout. For example, perform bicep curls and tricep kickbacks and then barbell curls and bent-over rows. Superset training allows you a lot of creativity when designing workouts.
Considerations
Do not train too fast, as it may result in injury. Perform the exercises in a controlled fashion, and use a spotter if possible. Consult your doctor before starting a new fitness program. Supersets can be quite challenging. Perform superset workouts only if you have ample workout experience and have a high physical fitness level.
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