Time your breaks

Put an alarm on your phone and time your rest periods. We’re all guilty of having a ‘quick’ scroll where a short, 30-second rest quickly turns into a 3-minute break. 

Pro Tip: To avoid distractions, turn on ‘do not disturb’ on your phone. 

Tabata Training

Short. Sharp. Intense. Tabata training is guaranteed to get you bang for buck. Think 20 seconds of intense work, followed by 10 seconds of rest. However, those 20 seconds need to be big and powerful - work to the clock!

Superset

We’re talking back-to-back exercises here to minimise rest and maximise time under tension. When you’re in a rush, try one push movement, like a bench press, followed by one pull movement, like a bent over row. Alternatively, try one lower body exercise, like squats, followed back-to-back by one upper body exercise, like push-ups. This will give one muscle group a rest while the other works. Repeat this and you can cut your workout time in half. 

Compound (full body) exercises 

Skip the isolating exercises like leg extensions and go for bigger, full body exercises like squats, deadlifts, and push-ups. When you go for compound exercises, you’ll be working many muscles at once. Consider a squat, you’ll be working your glutes, quads, hamstrings all from one move. If you’re short on equipment too, go for a big range of motion exercises like everyone’s favourite, burpee – you’ll be glad you’re short on time!

Give one of these hacks a try next time you’re at Fitness First Newtown Central and you’ll easily cut that 60min workout into 45 or even 30!

Brendan Modini - Fitness First