Pressed for time, but you want that lean, cut, chiseled look? You don't have to spend two hours in a weight room to look like an A-list action hero. Thirty minutes three times a week is plenty to see results if you are efficient about it, and efficiency is the key. The key to strength training is understanding your routine and cross training several techniques to mix it up and keep the muscle guessing. Try to increase the intensity of your strength-training routine and shorten your workout time by using the following methods.
1. Strength is convenient. Getting to your strength workouts should be the easy part. Rush-hour traffic can slow us down, so try to find a gym that is local and convenient to work or home. If you have to drive a half an hour to get to your gym, your priority will fall off the radar. Try a program at home that is convenient and within your time frame. Invest in some basic equipment, such as tubing, a few dumbbells and a weight bench. Have them ready to go on your time.
2. Use compound exercises. Another way to fit strength training into your hectic schedule is to choose exercises that work several major muscle groups at a same time. We call these compound exercises. For example, do squats with an overhead press added. This exercise works the entire lower body and shoulders, while increasing the heart rate. Set up a series of three or four of these exercises and in 30 minutes, you will feel a full-body workout. Grab a jump rope and create a cardio interval to mix it up a bit.
3. Superset your routine. Super-what? Supersets involve two or more successive exercises for any given muscle group without rest in between. This is a very successful technique for fatiguing the muscle in a very short time frame.
Superset 1: Perform two or more strength training exercises in a row for the same muscle group without any rest between sets. For example, do a set of bench press followed immediately with a set of push-ups. This saves time and forces a lot more blood and oxygen into the chest and provides an intense and effective stimulus for the chest muscles.
Superset 2: Train two opposing muscle groups without any rest in between. You can use this superset style of training for two different muscle groups, but only if they have an agonist/antagonist relationship with each other. Choose muscle groups that are physically close together, such as biceps and triceps or chest and back.
4. Circuit training. Choose four to five exercises and perform one set for one minute, rest and then onto the next exercise. Repeat the entire set one to two more times. Try the following routine: Leg press, then move to a dumbbell squat, followed by push-ups, lateral raise and finish with bicep curls. Start all over again and repeat two to three times.
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