Stop Associating Time Spent in the Gym with Progress

Stop associating time spent in the gym with progress. How long you spend in the gym each workout is NOT correlated to better gains.

I've worked in gyms for the last 10 years.

Most people waste a TON of time.

Most people seem to associate 1 hour or longer with being a "serious lifter."

Funny how many "serious lifters" make mininal gains and plateau eternally.

Stop worrying about spending a lot of time in the gym.

Focus, instead, on training with a high quality. So many people do so much junk volume because they're worried about hitting a certain number of reps, sets, or minute limit in the gym.

You'll make far better progress if you do less, but focus on doing each rep very well. Try to make every rep better every workout. Get the most out of each rep. I'm not saying go super low volume. But, rather than doing 5 exercises for a muscle group for 4-5 sets per exercise, do 2 exercises (they don't even have to be done on the same day) per muscle group for 2-4 sets per exercise and really focus on executing each rep and set like a professional.

Rest as needed. But don't sit on your phone scrolling whatever it is you scroll. It's bad for your posture and makes you look like a goon.

Most people sit around, barely panting between sets, but they still wait 5 minutes playing on the phone before doing another set.

You should be gassed out after your sets!

As soon as you're no longer wheezing, and your heart rate feels normal again, do your next set. This could be 1, 2, 3 or even 4 minutes depending on your intra-set recovery ability, your training intensity, your strength, and the specific exercise you're doing.

For example, taking a set of Bulgarian split squats close to failure has me panting, wheezing, whimpering for 2 minutes or so between sets of each leg. Meanwhile, I can do another set of calf raises within 1-2 minutes. Sure my calves hurt like rabies, but my breath and heart rate aren't beating out of my chest interfering with my ability to do another hard set. I can push through the muscular pain. Stand up, stretch the calves for a minute or so and get back to work. We got stuff to do the rest of the day.

Now – I get it – not every workout is gonna be maximally intense. I say all the time: sometimes you gotta just show up and check the box with moderate intensity because doing so is better than skipping altogether.

But, most people worry so much about spending 1-2 hours in the gym that they never train with any intensity, ever. And their execution of exercises is weak. They're not squeezing for any maximal contraction. They're bouncing and jerking around, no tension on the muscles, no time under tension – just meaningless half-arsed sets and reps ad infinitum.

Lifting weights is not an aerobic event. You should not be able to sustain these long workouts with 20+ sets. At least not if you're a natural lifter of normal genetic stock. There are outliers, of course.

If you're getting 4+ sets per exercise and your reps are not dropping significantly from set to set, you're not training. You're wasting space in the facility (even if that facility is just your own living room).

Do fewer exercises. A lot of times I see people doing a bunch of redundant exercises. You'd be better off doing 1 exercise harder instead of doing 3 of the same exercise variations just checking the box. Doing a certain exercise or group of exercises doesn't guarantee anything. The quality of how you perform a handful of exercises determines how much progress you'll make.

Stop overloading your mind with all these exercises and sets. Again, do fewer exercises but focus more and work hard on those exercises. You'll make more progress with less time invested and less mental stress and fewer mental gymnastics trying to fit every exercise you can imagine for a given muscle group into the session.

A greater number of exercises doesn't mean better development. It just distracts you from progressing. We, as humans, don't do well when trying to focus on a bunch of different things. It's no different in the gym.

Our time and energy levels are limited. So maximize your time training by picking a handful of effective exercises (for you) and pushing hard to add reps and load to those exercises. Do 2-4 sets per exercise and don't rush through the sets and reps. Embrace the grind of each rep.

I time my workouts to make sure I'm not sandbagging. If I'm lifting for more than 40 minutes, I know I either sandbagged or did more volume than I typically do. Or maybe I'm getting sick.

You may do more volume than me. There's a good chance of that, actually. I don't do much volume. I'm a very active individual outside of the gym and I work a lot (both with my day job and my side hustles). I like training nearly every day, so I keep my volume and session length quite low. But my quality and intensity are quite high.

I only do around 8-12 sets per workout. That's not super low – it's technically moderate. But it's definitely not high volume. Most gym rats do more volume than that. But I've been training for a long time and I've found this is what works for me, allows me to stay consistent, progress, stay motivated, derive a high level of enjoyment, and it helps me maintain a high training frequency – which I like, for both the physical benefits and the mental benefits. It works for me.

It's one reason my brand is called, 30 Minute Physique.

But, if you're someone that does more like 15-20 sets per workout, you may find that an appropriate workout duration is 45-60 minutes. That's understandable for that amount of volume if using a relatively high intensity.

If you're in the gym more than 60 minutes, you're either sandbagging or your program is way more complicated then it needs to be.

Work harder.

Train to standard, NOT to time!

Be consistent and focus on progressing and actually stressing the muscles.