When you find yourself short on time, try these tips to shorten your workout while still making progress!
CARDIO BETWEEN SETS
It doesn't have to be an "either/or workout! You don't have to sacrifice one or the other because of a time constraint.
Perform your regular strength training program. Instead of sitting and resting between each exercise, add some cardio activity such as mountain climbers, fast feet, jumping jacks or my personal favourite, jump rope. As soon as you set the weight down whether using dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells or machines, immediately begin 30-60 minutes of jump rope, jumping jacks or other activity that will elevate your heart rate. Give yourself a minute to catch your breath to recover and begin your next strength exercise. This is an excellent way to not only save time, get both strength and cardio workouts in, but also to include some intense interval training to burn a ton of calories and shed body fat!
SUPER SET UPPER AND LOWER BODY
This technique will allow the upper body to recover from the previous exercise while working the lower body and vice versa. An example of this technique would be to perform a set of squats followed immediately by some lat pull downs. You would then either repeat the squat and pull downs for multiple sets or move onto leg extensions followed by chest press etc. If you are more advanced in your workouts, and you train two muscle groups per workout such as chest and tris, back and bis etc., you can superset two opposing muscle groups. An example would be to perform a chest exercise followed by a back or bicep exercise.
Not only will this cut your workout time in half, it will increase your heart rate, burn more calories and pump the muscles up with blood which sets you up for muscular growth.
COMPOUND EXERCISES
I have blogged about basic compound exercises in the past. Compound exercises use two more muscle groups simultaneously to perform the movement. These exercises are also known as multi joint exercises. Examples of these exercises include;
Squats
Leg Presses
Lunges
Jump Squats
Step Ups
Chest Press
Rows
Lat Pull Downs
Shoulder Press
Dips
Using movements that involve more than one muscle group simultaneously will not only save time but increase strength and power. The bonus: Many compound exercises can be done with just body weight which makes them convenient to anywhere. Exercises such as prison squats and push ups etc. are compound exercises that can help maintain muscle and burn a few calories anywhere, even when you can't make it to the gym!
There's no reason to cancel your workout because you think you have no time! I have literally given clients a 15 minute workout when they have shown up late and left them feeling like they worked out for an hour... I could name names but will not embarrass them : P