Finishing Workouts in a Reasonable Amount of Time

by Andrew Lewis, SSC | December 11, 2024

“Where does the time go? I got to the gym at 7am. I had to squat 3 sets of 5, press 3 sets of 5, and finish with a single work set of deadlifts. But it’s 9:30am, and I’m just now leaving the gym. This shouldn’t have taken me more than like 90 minutes.”

If you’ve thought something like this, you’re not alone. You lose track of time. You chat with people at the gym. You rest too long. Or you use a timer and don’t actually start the set until 4 minutes after it goes off. You’re in good company, but there’s hope. You can absolutely get your workouts done faster. Unless you’re doing a program with an extremely long volume day (Texas Method) or you are resting 12 minutes between sets for your 5x5 squats at 450lb, your workouts probably don’t need to be longer than 80 minutes. You’re just not focusing on moving quickly where appropriate.

Get to your first warm up quickly

This is the best place to save time. I have personally taken a half hour to get from opening the door of the gym to starting my first warm up. I’m not writing this article because of what I’ve seen in my clients – I’m writing this because I’m one of the worst offenders of every mistake you’ll read in this article (ask my coaches). Everything else can wait – catching up with gym friends, checking anything on your phone, getting everything out of your gym bag, setting up all your plates, etc. You already know what your first exercise is, so you can just get started.

In fact, your entire workout should already be written out before you woke up that morning, because you should have recorded what you were going to do today when you finished your last workout. Walk directly to the rack you’re going to use, get a bar, set up the rack, put on your shoes, and start your first set. Even with changing clothes, if it’s taking longer than 5 minutes to get from the front door of the gym to executing your first warm up, you’re doing something extra and unnecessary.

Warm ups – load the plates and go

Warm ups are to prepare the body and the mind of the lifter to do the work sets – the sets that create the stress you recover from and adapt to. You should do enough warm ups to be practiced, warm, and prepared for the work sets, but don’t do so many that you’re fatigued for your work sets. Warm ups do not need a lot of rest between them. This is where a lot of lifters waste time during their workouts. As long as it takes to load the next warm up is how much rest you should take between warm ups. The last warm up should have a little longer rest before the first work set. Three minutes is more than enough from the end of last warm up to the start of first work set.

Get a timer, and don’t ignore it

The energy molecule you use to generate muscular contraction is called ATP. It becomes depleted during exercise, and needs to be replenished with rest. This cannot be rushed. For work sets, a good rule of thumb is to rest for 5 minutes between sets of 4 or more reps and rest between 3 and 5 minutes for sets of 1 to 3 reps. Lifters almost always rest too short if they go by feel alone. Get a timer of some kind, and set it when your set is done. Then rest. When the timer has 20 seconds left, get ready. Put on your belt, chalk up, and think about what you’re going to focus on during the set. Turn the timer off when it rings and immediately do the set.

A lot of lifters have timers, set them, but then take an extra 3 minutes after the timer goes off procrastinating. This could be realizing they now need to go to the bathroom, finishing a story they’re telling gym friends, or doing some pre-lift ritual that takes way too long. When the time goes off, it’s time to lift, so get to it.

Other ways to save time – warm up between work sets

You can save additional time if you are in a particular hurry by warming up the next exercise between work sets of the current exercise. For example, if you have to do 3x5 squats, after your first work set of squats, do 2 warm ups of your press. After your second work set of squats, do 2 more warm ups of your press. After your last squat work set, do the final warm up of presses and rest for 3 minutes before your first work set of presses. This method can save you up to 15 minutes of workout depending on how long it normally takes you to warm up. This will require that you have access to 2 barbells in most cases.

Do not do this method if you have sequential lower body lifts or upper body lifts. For example, in a 4-day split where you have both lower body lifts on a single day.

The math on this is pretty clear for linear progression (3x5 squats, 3x5 upper body lift, 1x5 deadlifts):

Get to the first warm up: 5 minutes

Finish last warm up: 5

Rest between sets: 3 + 5 + 5

Finish last warm up of upper body lift: 5

Rest between sets: 3 + 5 + 5

Finish last warm up of deadlifts: 5

Rest between last warm up and workset: 3

Catch your breath and clean up: 5

54 minutes in total.

If we add 20% to account for error, we’re at about 65 minutes. Even if rest goes up to 7 minutes for the work sets, the total time (including 20% error) is about 74 minutes. You can do this. You get to finish your workout in a reasonable time. You just have to be focused on the important aspects and use your time effectively.