4 Ways to Supercharge Your Gym Time
Gaining muscles can be a daunting experience at first, but not only then. Another frustrating phase of working out is when you hit a plateau, that point where you’re killing yourself in the gym without the improvements.
Regardless of where you’re stuck in your journey, there is a way out, and that’s by putting your goals in your sights and using the drive to make the most out of your gym time. Here’s how to make every minute, rep, and set count.
1. Pre-plan
The key to anything is preparation, and working out isn’t an exception. Without a workout plan, you leave room for improvisation, and most often, improvisation doesn’t serve any goals. Not to mention, the seven minutes of downtime between each workout won’t do your muscles any favors and will bring your heart rate down, reducing your gains. With a plan, however, you’ll walk into your gym with a goal in mind and a method that efficiently and effectively serves your goals. So, how do you prepare a weekly workout plan? The answer is simple. It’s all up to your preferences, fitness level, and goals.
First off, be sure to keep your expectations in tune with your level to avoid getting the illusion of failure due to unrealistic expectations and any injuries due to overworking. For losing weight, you’ll want to focus more on cardio, high-intensity interval training, and full-body workouts rather than strength training. For bulking up, however, strength training is essential, and cardio, while important, should be limited to 20 minutes and 3 times a week. As a general rule, if you work out more than three times a week, you’ll want to dedicate a day to each muscle group to avoid overstraining and injuring a muscl
If you’re looking for guidance on how to create a workout plan that’s tailored to your specific goals and fitness level, check out our article on “Designing Your Perfect Workout Plan.” The article provides step-by-step instructions and helpful tips to create a workout plan that can help you achieve your fitness goals more efficiently.
Remember, having a well-designed workout plan can help you stay motivated, avoid injury, and see better results from your workouts.
2. Supplement
The truth is, you can gain muscles without supplements. With an efficient workout plan and a good food plan, you will achieve some of your goals. What you may not know, though, is that if you truly want to supercharge your gym time and make the most out of each rep, supplements are necessary. The best thing is that there is a variety of products, according to https://www.wilsonsupplements.com/, which means that there is something for everyone, depending on your fitness goals and your nutritional needs. The appropriate supplement can significantly increase your muscle gains and help you reach your goal faster.
What should you keep in mind while looking for a supplement? Reliable brands that list their ingredients. When considering a supplement, look up the ingredients, their benefits, and possible side effects (if any). Whether your supplement is whey protein to make sure you meet your protein needs, a certain vitamin, amino acid, or a hormone, before introducing a new supplement to your diet, you’ll want to check with your doctor.
3. Intensity
During your workout, you want to maintain a certain level of intensity. Think of your gym session as a line on a graph. The line should show an increase in intensity, working up to a steady and uniform level combined with well-timed, short recovery periods, followed by a steady decrease during cool down. In other words, to get the most out of your workouts, you’re going to have to time your rest periods. Keep them limited to thirty seconds between sets, if you want to build muscle endurance. Although, if you are building muscle strength by lifting heavy weights, you’ll need to increase that rest period a little, but try to stay under the five-minute mark.
4. Muscle Focus
You’ll want to consider actively targeting muscles when aiming for maximized gains. The first method is supersets, back-to-back sets of workouts that target either opposite or the same muscle groups. For example, lunges and planks (different groups) or bench presses and push-ups (same groups). Without a rest period between each set, you’d be exhausting your muscles and developing their endurance.
Plus, when working out opposite muscle groups, by engaging one group, you’d be resting the other without getting your heartbeat down. Another method of gaining the muscles you want is by targeting multiple muscle groups at the same time using compound movements. When you engage several muscle groups rather than just the one, it’s like combining several exercises into one. Bench presses, shoulder presses, pull-ups, lunges, and deadlifts, are all examples of exercises that target a range of muscles.
As you see, our methods all involve being actively aware of your goals and the science behind muscle gain. Once you are, you can cut down on the habits that don’t serve you and hone in on the ones that do. Having said that, it’s important that you keep two things in mind the next time you’re working out. First, proper posture is the one non-negotiable key to maximize gains and minimize injuries. Second, make sure you give yourself and your body enough rest between workout days. Muscle growth is a result of the body repairing itself which happens during rest. No rest means no growth. Now you’re ready to supercharge your gym time. Good luck!
