Why shorter workouts can give you better results

If your goal at the gym is to burn fat faster, it is possible to increase your loss of fat by decreasing the amount of time you spend on your workouts.

Sound too good to be true? You always thought that you needed to exercise longer, not shorter? This does not mean that a 10 minute brisk walk on the treadmill is better than a twenty minute trek at the same pace; sorry, no miracles here, but it does make sense to start specific shorter workouts in order to lose fat faster.

One way this works is to perform what are called “supersets.” Basically, a set is a repetition of the same exercise, and most exercise routines include a set of one type of exercise followed by a brief rest period and then a repetition of the set. Well, supersets work like this: you target two areas of your body that are opposites — opposing muscle groups.

For example, you may choose to work on your back and your chest. So, what you do is a set of chest exercises, do not rest, and then immediately complete a set for your back. While your back muscles work, your chest muscles rest.

Completing your workouts in this way reduces the amount of time you have to spend in the gym, and your results are better because your metabolic rate increases. When your metabolism revs up, you burn more calories, and when you burn more calories, you lose fat.

If your goal is to build bigger muscles rather than shed flab, it also makes sense to use shorter workouts. Muscles are made huge by overworking them until fatigue sets in and then working them some more. Using a lot of weight and working with it for a shorter amount of time rather than doing multiple repetitions with a lighter load is likely to fatigue your muscles quickly and aid you in breaking down your muscle fiber so you can rebuild it and make it bigger, stronger, and faster than it was.

Another reason to try shorter workouts is really just a matter of time.

One of the major reasons people don’t work out is that they just can’t find the time. If you can cut your workout time down from about an hour to about thirty minutes, you are much more likely to keep working out.

Everyone knows someone who bought that expensive gym membership on January 2nd all excited about their new fitness resolution and then quit going by February 2nd. Well, shorter workouts that interfere less with your other obligations offer you better results because you actually find the time to do them.

Now taking this theory a little bit further, if you synergize your workout and eliminate the exercises that are least effective and concentrate only on those which are the most effective, you can cut your workout time by even more.

Now some people are under the assumption that if they need to lose fat, they can’t work on building muscle at the same time. This has been discussed in many forums and many will tell you that since your cutting back on calories to lose the fat, you can’t build muscle, so work on the fat loss first.

Jon Benson, Best-selling author of Fit Over 40 and Every Other Day Diet
has researched, tested and answers the question “Can you burn fat and build muscle at the same time?” To read Jon’s article just click here. I think you’ll enjoy the read.

You might also want to check out Jon’s latest ebook 7 Minute Muscle

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