Are You Working Out Too Much?

There is a question that I would like to ask you to ask
yourself: Are you wasting too much of your valuable time by
going to the gym to lift weights?

Are you trying to convince yourself that the more time you spend
in the gym working out, the better off your results will be?

One of the biggest misconceptions I deal with each and every day
as a personal trainer is the belief people have that it takes
hours in the gym lifting weights to produce a fit and toned body.

I have some (good) news for you. What if I told you that only
20% of your total fitness results will come from the time you
spend lifting weights.

What if I told you that 80% of your weight loss or weight
management results come from the time you spend OUT OF THE GYM!

How much time do you really need to spend lifting weights to get
a great body and be in great shape?

What if I said only 3 minutes a day, 3 times a week, for a TOTAL
of 9 minutes A WEEK! (Are you scratching your head yet or
calling me names?)

I am willing to bet money that you are spending a lot more than
9 minutes a week on weight lifting and I am also willing to bet
you are not totally happy with your results.

Before totally labeling me crazy, let me explain.

Let’s take a visit to the gym for a moment, and join up with
yourself in a workout. Today is “chest day” for your workout.

Let’s assume that for each exercise, you perform the standard
norm of 10 repetitions per set. So, if you do a bench press, you
probably do 10 reps.

That, my friend, amounts to about 10 seconds of time that you
are actually physically moving the weight.

Next time you are in the gym, time yourself and see how long it
takes to perform a set of 10 reps. (Please do not look at your
watch while doing the exercise!)

Let me save you the time–it takes 10 seconds. If you perform 3
sets, which most people do, you are now up to 30 seconds (3×10)
of actual lifting movement.

If you do 3 exercises for each muscle group (for the chest we
can do bench press, incline dumbbell press, and dips) you are
now only up to 90 seconds, or 1 1/2 minutes.

So far, so good?

Let’s assume you do two muscle groups per workout (let’s say
chest and back). You have doubled your 1 1/2 minutes to 3
minutes. 1 1/2 minutes spent on chest ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY
LIFTING THE WEIGHTS and 1 1/2 minutes spent working out your
back, ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY LIFTING THE WEIGHTS.

Total time=3 minutes.

All of the other time you are spending can be put into one of
these other categories:

1. RESTING BETWEEN SETS 2. WASTED TIME

Hopefully, most of the time that you are not actually lifting is
spent in category #1, rest.

Waiting between sets, walking around a bit, getting a drink of
water. But this should only amount to 1-2 minutes between sets.

So, what does all of this mean?

You have 3 minutes to make or break your results. 3 minutes to
give everything you can give while in the gym.

Treat it like the last 3 minutes you will ever have (you never
really know when it will be) and I absolutely bet that you will
have an incredible workout and will soon be reaping incredible
results.

Remember I said at the beginning that 20% of your results come
from the time spent in the gym lifting weights and the other 80%
comes from time spent out of the gym.

If you are spending only 3 minutes total each workout and 9
minutes total each week ACTUALLY MOVING THE WEIGHTS UP AND DOWN,
shouldn’t it stand to reason that most of your results will come
from outside of this 3-9 minute time period, outside of the gym?

The time you spend in the gym is meant to accomplish one thing.
Muscle stimulation. Period.

The time spent in the gym lifting weights is for muscle
stimulation, which in turn, will lead to muscle growth and
improved muscle strength.

I hope you weren’t thinking fat loss.

You cannot burn body fat during the lifting process, lifting is
anaerobic, not aerobic. Don’t worry though, weight training is
probably THE BEST investment for future fat-burning capabilities!

Your time spent lifting should focus on muscle stimulation by
progressively lifting heavier weights so that your muscles
become stronger and bigger.

THE OTHER 80% of your results come from:

1. Proper rest outside of the gym 2. Proper nutrition to support
muscle growth 3. Intense, yet brief aerobic/cardio exercise

If either of these three areas are compromised, results are
minimal.

All of the weight lifting in the world will bring about nothing
positive if you are not recovering properly between workouts,are
not eating to support muscle growth and fat loss, and are not
performing aerobic activity to help the heart and also aid in
fat loss.

Focus and direct your efforts on making sure these three
criteria are being met and I guarantee you will see positive
results.

In conclusion, because you are only spending 3 minutes of actual
weight lifting time each and every day, do you see areas in your
own routine that can be cut down to become more efficient?

Are you spending way too much time in search of those elusive
results you’re after, all the while unsure if what you are doing
is even the right thing?

I know this much for sure.

There is no universal law that states if you double your time
spent in the gym, you double your results.

Quite the contrary. I see many people spend needless hours in
the gym, not changing their physique a bit. I also see people
that change quite dramatically by losing fat and gaining muscle.

I know for sure that these people are making that 3 minutes of
each workout the best possible 3 minutes they can give.

It is not the time that matters, it is how well you spend that
time.

Make your 3 minutes of your workout the most intense, focused 3
minutes you possibly can and I guarantee you will start to see
better results.

So, the next time someone asks you how long you work out for
each day with weights, you can tell them, with confidence, that
it only takes 3 minutes a day to get a great, muscular and toned
physique.

Everything else is either rest or time wasted.

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