#142: How to Save Time in Your Strength Training Workouts

If you ever feel like your strength workouts take forever and wonder if there’s a faster way to get them done, this episode is for you.

I’m breaking down 8 practical ways to save time in your training sessions without cutting corners or compromising results. These small, strategic tweaks can make a big difference when you add them up - helping you get stronger, stay consistent, and make the most of every minute you train.

You’ll learn:

• How to warm up efficiently - and no, it’s not 20mins on the treadmill
• Why redundancy in your programming wastes both time and progress
• How to superset exercises to save time without losing effectiveness

Resources mentioned:

• Learn to Lift Program

• Lift with Lynn Membership

• Free Strength Training Tracker

Transcript

#142: How to Save Time in Your Strength Training Workouts

[00:00:00] Welcome to 40+ Fitness for Women. I'm Lynn Sederlöf-Airisto, your host, and today we're going to talk about how to save time in your strength training sessions. Because I know we are all super busy. We wanna get our workouts in, but we don't want to spend more time there than we need to.

So I have eight different ways that you can save time in your strength training session. So let's get into that. 

All right. The first one is actually before you even get started, strength training, it's your warmup. So traditionally you have been probably taught that you should do 20 minutes of cardios, maybe on the treadmill or a bike or something like that, but actually that's not the best way to warm up your body. A much better way is to do some mobility exercises to kind of open up your joints, [00:01:00] especially if you've been sitting or not moving around very much during your day. And that can take like three or four minutes. It really does not need to take long. I will share the link to my warmup and cool down videos that I give to my clients so you can check out what that looks like.

And then in addition to doing this kind of mobility warmup for your body, when you are doing your actual exercises in your strength training session, you should do a warmup set. Now, not for absolutely every exercise, but for the first exercise that works a particular part of your body. So let me explain that a little bit better, for example, if you're doing an upper body session. Your first exercises might be a lat pull down and maybe you're doing shoulder presses. So a vertical pull, a vertical push, and that's the first time you're doing that kind of movement using those [00:02:00] muscles.

So do a warmup set in both of those. But then when later on in your session you do a horizontal row, well your muscles have all been warmed up to some degree, or definitely by the time you get around to biceps and triceps, because you have been using them the whole time during your upper body session, you don't need to do a warmup set for them. So that is the more efficient way to warm up to save time.

 The second thing that will save you a lot of time is getting a good program. And the reason that this will save you time is a good program, won't have a lot of redundancy built into it. Plus you won't have all this indecision like, Hmm, what should I do next? You know, I see all kinds of people in the weight room who are like, okay, I did a little bit of chest, now I'll do a little bit of back.

And you know, they're kind of wandering around and taking what's free. When you go in with a plan, you [00:03:00] are gonna save time, but the plan needs to be a good one. And I think the biggest weakness I see in a lot of plans is too much redundancy. Alright? And you really need to know something about biomechanics to spot that in the plan.

 For example, a really obvious one would be. A lot of men plan this way because they really want to grow their arms, and the thing you need to understand is that each set that you do that trains a particular muscle group, is going to be less and less stimulatory. So you are getting diminishing gains every time. Your first set is gonna give you the most bang for your buck. The next one a little less. The third one less fourth one less fifth, sixth, seventh. And that doesn't only apply for doing the exact same exercise, but it also applies for doing exercises that train the same muscles.

 So in [00:04:00] practice, this means that I wouldn't program two bicep curl types of exercise in the same program. You choose one, you're gonna do, you know, dumbbell bicep curls, or maybe you'll do preacher curls, but you don't need to do. Both of them in the same session. It's just not efficient. And if we're talking about saving time, like getting the most bang for the time you're spending in the weight room, then that is not going to be efficient for you. And okay. Bicep curls are a pretty obvious one because you know, they're bicep curls. They're just different ways of doing bicep curls. There are a lot of lower body exercises in particular that really train the same muscles and they feel very different. Their setups may be very different and all that kind of thing, so you may not realize that actually you're training the same muscles in both of the exercises, and that's why it's good to get a program from somebody who has studied biomechanics and understands what [00:05:00] exercise is training what muscles so that they don't do a whole lot of redundancy in their programming. Okay. 

And then the other piece of this is when you have the plan, it just makes it so much faster to get through it. Right? You know what you're gonna do and you do it. It's kind of like going grocery shopping when you have the list versus when you walk in and you're like, oh yeah, did I need eggs today? Oh, did we have oranges? It just takes longer if you have to be constantly thinking. Plus it's not so pleasant to be constantly having to think about what you're gonna do. Okay. 

And very much, related to that is the third thing that's gonna save you time, which is that you track the exercises that you're doing and you have pre-logged what you're going to do. Okay? So what does that mean? So you've got your program so you know what you're going to do, and it's not only that [00:06:00] you know the list of exercises you are gonna do, but you know what weight you are going to use and how many reps you're going to aim for. That way when you go to do your bicep curls, you just look at it and you're like, okay, I'm gonna do bicep curls. I'm gonna pick up that five pound weight. Last time I was able to do 10 reps. This time I'm gonna aim to do 11. It just makes it so much easier, and this is one of the things that I love about having a training app, and especially about this new one that I am in the process of moving all of my clients to. Is that it has very good tracking so you make sure that you continue to progress because that's important too.

All right, but if you're not following a program already designed by somebody who knows how to do these things, there are a couple other ways that you can speed up what you're doing. Another way is that how many unilateral [00:07:00] versus bilateral exercises you put into the program. Now, unilateral exercises are when you're working each arm or each leg separately. And. Obviously if you're first doing a whole set with a right arm and then doing them with the left arm, that takes longer than if you're doing both arms at the same time in one set, so if you suddenly have a program that is all kinds of unilateral work, that's just gonna take you longer. So when you're doing programming. You absolutely want to program in unilateral work that helps you not to become unevenly strong on one side or the other. Hmm. I'm somebody who very, very easily uses my right side more than my left side. So my left leg in particular starts to get really weak, and I always notice that when I go into a block where I'm doing unilateral leg work. But you don't wanna have too much unilateral, because like [00:08:00] I said, it takes a lot of time, but you don't wanna leave it out either. So you have to think about that when you're doing your programming.

And then another thing when you're doing exercise selection for programming is how long does that exercise take to set up? And this also, I think, applies very much to people who are training at home. And when you're thinking about, okay, what equipment are you going to buy. Because if it is taking you a long time, if you've got like adjustable dumbbells that have the little clips on the end and you've gotta change the weights and then put the clips back on every time you're doing a new exercise, then that is going to mean that your sessions take longer. Now, investing in some adjustable dumbbells that are faster to adjust. And they're not cheap, these ones, but there are the ones where you basically, you put it in the holder and you flip the switch and then pull it [00:09:00] out and it comes out, you know, with a different amount of weight. So it's very quick to adjust the weight of your dumbbells. So if you're working out at home, you may really wanna consider hmm. Yeah, it's couple hundred bucks, but over time it is gonna save you so much time and kind of frustration and having to swap out the weights on, on your dumbbells if you're doing the kind of manual adjusting type of dumbbell. So that's one place where you can think about, you know, the ease of a setup. Plus, when you have these kinds that are, quickly adjustable, you can super set more easily. And we're gonna be talking about super setting a little bit later, 

but when you're in the gym. You have so many options of how to do different exercises, and so for example, I tend to really push towards using exercises that have a shorter setup time. For example, glute [00:10:00] thrusts. You could do them on a Smith machine. You can do them with a barbell. You can do them on a glute thrust machine, or you can do them with dumbbells. So very many varieties, and they're essentially working your glutes in the exact same way. Now, what is the fastest one to get up and running on? Well, a glute thrust machine, and even better if you have a glute thrust machine where you have a pin on the weight stack, rather than actually having to load the weights manually yourself. So that's another way that you can really speed it up 

okay, and I mentioned super setting. And supersetting is a great way to save time because you do want to take rests between sets. You want to allow your muscles to recover so they can come back and go strong. That's why we're not doing any burpees, jumping jacks or box jumps or something like that between sets. We are letting our [00:11:00] bodies recover. But if you've just worked your legs or your glutes, then your upper body has not been worked, right? So it is okay to work. So you can super set upper body and lower body exercises if you're doing a full body day. An example of this would be, doing, shoulder presses and Bulgarian split squats. Now, this doesn't mean that I'm like going 1, 2, 1 2, 1 2 back and forth between those two. I still want to give myself the proper rest, so I'll do the shoulder presses first, then I'll set up and do the Bulgarian, and then I take a two or three minute break to really recover my whole body to recover. And then I do the shoulder presses again, and then the Bulgarian again. But that still, saves me a few minutes of time rather than doing all my Bulgarians first and then doing all my shoulder presses [00:12:00] next. Right. I'm not saying you have to do it that way. If you like to do all of one exercise first and then move on to the next one, by all means do it like that. And supersetting by the way, also works not just on upper, lower exercises being mixed, but also on, antagonist muscles. For example, if you're doing a chest exercise. Then you can superset that with a back exercise. Your biceps and your triceps are another nice pair to superset. Um, supersetting leg extensions and leg curls works really well. You can superset calf raises with just about anything adductors and abductors. So, those can save you a lot of time. Do the superset, take the break, do the superset, take the break. Okay. So that's probably one of the top ways to save a little bit of time.

Okay. And [00:13:00] then I was talking about the rest. And one way to save time in your session is to make sure that you're not kind of zoning out during rest period and actually ending up taking too long of a rest. I remember I have one client who sometimes would take a five minute rest just 'cause she'd like get kind of lost in thought, you know? And then she'd be like, oh, oh yeah, okay. I need to do my next set. And I have to admit, I'm the same way. 'cause. Yeah, I start thinking about stuff as I'm like walking back and forth a little bit near the machine or whatever equipment I'm using, and then some people get stuck scrolling, so it's great to have a timer. I used to actually clock watch, like look at my watch to see when two minutes was up, or three minutes was up. But now with my new app, I have an actual timer, so I just click the timer on and it makes this nice little bing sound in my headset. When my time is up and then I know, okay, back to work. And I tell you, it's [00:14:00] amazing that that is really keeping me going a little bit faster in my workout.

Now, of course, if you are not done resting, then ignore that like little bing in the timer. You need to make sure you're fully recovered. So when I was coming back from being sick, for example, and I was feeling more outta breath than usual on my lower body exercises. Then I might need a little bit more time. So I kind of ignored that timer and took the time that I needed. But when you're healthy and all is good, then the timer can really help you to kind of stay on track and not get distracted between sets.

And then my final tip is that you have a backup exercise ready because, oh my gosh, how many times has it happened that you need this one piece of equipment or these certain dumbbells and somebody else is using them? And it's, it's always one of those people who's gonna do. Six sets, right? 'cause they haven't [00:15:00] understood the role of diminishing returns.

That goes on with strength training. So you want to have a backup and for that. For example, in my app I have listed for every single exercise what are alternative exercises that you can do. So you can just swap it out of your program for that day, and it'll actually pull in the data that you have for that exercise from the last time you did it.

So that's really handy, but it's good for you to keep in mind. Well, if I was supposed to do preacher curls using the preacher curl machine and oh my goodness, there's like a line of 16 year olds who are, who are about to jump on it, then you know that, hey, you can actually do dumbbell curls. Just fine. And if the dumbbells are all taken, then you can go do it with cables or you know, with rubber bands or something.

So always have in mind some alternate exercises that you can do in [00:16:00] case that equipment that you need. Is busy, and if you really love to do the same thing week after week, which I do, I don't like to have to swap in alternate exercises, then remember to little keep a little bit of an eye on the gym. Like if the squat racks are usually busy and you're doing RDLs that day.

You know, you're, keep an eye on when they are available and go do your RDLs. Then even if it's not in the exact order that, um, your program is written in, you might wanna just switch that up to make sure that you're able to get that in without having to wait. Wait your turn.

Okay, so those were the eight ways that you can save time, strength training.

So the first was to warm up, not with a 20 minute cardio session, but instead with some mobility moves, and then do a ramp up set of your primary [00:17:00] exercises that you're doing that day to warm up your major muscle groups.

Second is to follow a proper program so that you don't have redundancy in there. You're not wasting time, that you're not getting return on your time invested. Plus, it helps you to, you know, be focused and not kind of meander around like, what should I do next? You know, you know what your plan is so you can get in there and get it done.

Track and pre log your session. That way you know exactly what weight you need to pick up and how many reps you are aiming to do or beat

if you're doing your own programming, then don't program too many unilateral exercises into one training session because they will take longer or else have the session, have fewer exercises overall so that you control the length of that session.

And if you can choose, choose exercises that [00:18:00] require less setup time. If you're worried about time. So my example was instead of doing glute thrusts with a barbell, which really takes a lot of setup to get the bench and the barbell, get all the weights on there, the pad, all that. Pick the glute drive machine instead.

 And if you're somebody like me who kind of spaces out between sets a timer can be really useful to remind you that, Hey, okay, you can go back and do your next set. Now

 And one that we all love is super sets a great way to save a little bit of time by super setting exercises so that you can cut out some of that rest time in between sets.

And finally have backup options ready in case the equipment that you are looking to use is taken and you don't wanna wait for that person to finish their six sets. 

All [00:19:00] right, so I hope that these are really useful to you, and I am really excited because actually I created this list and then as I was looking through it, I realized that, wow, my old app didn't enable all of these things to be easily done. But my new app does because it has a timer, because it makes it easy to swap in alternate exercises. It makes it easier for me to suggest alternate exercises. It also lets you pre-fill all the data on what weights and what reps for each exercise that you do. So in that sense, it's really enabling a much more efficient workout session. And I've noticed it myself as my workouts have gotten faster now that, that I'm doing them on the new app. 

 So if you're in my membership, you have that to look forward to. And if you aren't in my membership yet, then maybe this is the time to give it a try. Link is in the show notes, [00:20:00] www.befitafter40.com and check out the membership. And also my Learn to Lift program is now also on the new app.

 Talk to you again next week and wish you happy training.