There are 168 hours each week! Bearing in mind that approximately 50 hours of that time is spent sleeping (7 hours per night), and 40 hours working, it doesn’t leave very much time left. When you also add into the mix the daily chores, like washing, doing the dishes, food shopping, cooking, the commute to work, going to the gym, etc. Time soon evaporates!

That means you’ve got to be super-efficient with how you spend your time when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck in the gym. 

In this post, I am going to share 8 Secrets Behind Every Successful Workout so that you get the BEST RETURN on your time in the gym. 

#1 Warm-Up

The warm-up is incredibly important, this is the perfect opportunity to get your body ready for battle. I would recommend spending 5 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment, ideally something like the cross trainer, or rowing machine – because they warm up the entire body. 

Not only will the warm-up benefit your body and reduce the likelihood of painful injury, BUT it’s also an opportunity to get your mind in the right place. 

As blood starts to surge around your body while you cycle on an exercise bike, leave all your stress and worries behind. Focus on your breathing and being present. Take in your surroundings, the noise, smell, notice your breath, heart rate, and muscle contractions. 

Then take a moment to focus on the task at hand, and remember your vision, and why you are at the gym in the first place. It’s time to ignite that inner fire within and get ready for a battle that you are going to win. 

#2 Music 

The right music playlist will empower you to accomplish and an amazing workout. There’s nothing better for lifting your mood than a top-notch playlist, with feel good, and high energy tunes, pumping through your headphones. 

Whether it’s house music, rap, dance, pop, or whatever your preference, if you get your playlist right, it’s 100% guaranteed to take your workout to a whole new level. 

#3 Pre Workout Supplement 

If you want to gain an advantage, for example, you want to hit a new personal best on the bench press, or complete the most pull-ups you’ve ever done, then I’d recommend taking a pre-workout supplement from the Fitness Informant – this will boost your energy, and ignite your adrenaline within, so that you can muster up all of your strength to hit your new personal best. 

A good pre-workout supplement will help improve your mental focus and physical power, and it’s an absolute must for getting the most bang for your buck in the gym. 

#4 Compound Lifts 

You don’t need to spend hours in the gym unless you’re training to become Arnold Schwarzenegger? I doubt you are! 

Instead, you can get a great workout completed in 30-45 minutes. That said, with the less time you train, the smarter you need to be with your exercise choices. 

The best way to accomplish this is to pick what are known as ‘compound lifts’ – which means exercises that blast multiple muscle groups all at once. Take the deadlift, for example, which hits the legs, back, and core. Other fantastic compound lifts include pull-ups, bent over rows, military press, squats, lunges, dips, and the clean and press. Make-sure to pick 2-3 compound lifts each work out and train hard.

#5 HIIT Cardio

HIIT cardio stands for High-Intensity Interval Training – the main goal is to boost your fitness, and torch body fat in a short period of time. It’s perfect for annihilating fat from the stomach and improving your cardiovascular fitness. 

Once you’ve finished your weight training, I’d recommend doing a 5 minute HIIT workout, right at the very end of your session – to finish off the body!

Here are some extremely effective and short HIIT Workouts to try…

1) Rowing Machine – 20s rowing as fast as possible, followed by 40s slow rowing, repeat this for 5 minutes.

2) Assault Bike – peddle as fast as humanly possible, and burn 15 calories, then rest for 60s, before going again. Repeat 2-3 sets.

3) Treadmill (also known as the Deadmill!) – put the treadmill on the steepest incline you can manage (can you hack a 15% gradient?) then run for 3-5 mins at anything between 7-10km per hour. 

#6 Intra Workout Drink 

During the middle of your workout, usually about 20-30 minutes in, it’s easy to let your intensity dip. This is because both your mind and body are starting to get fatigued! The best way to override this is by quenching your thirst and consuming some high-quality fluid/electrolytes. 

A perfect intra workout drink would be something like a Lucozade Sport. A tasty and refreshing Lucoazde drink will instantly hydrate you, and spike your blood sugar levels to enable you to push harder for the remainder of your workout. 

#7 Full Body Workouts

Most of my personal training clients are super busy – they have children, work, social commitments, etc. They can only make it to the gym 3x per week. So what do I do? I get them to train their full-body every workout. 

I give them 3-4 compound lifts, one pull exercise (one-arm row), one push exercise (bench press), one leg exercises (split squat), and one core exercise (usually a plank or side plank). This style of training ensures that their entire body gets worked 3x per week. 

Guess what? Their results are incredible, and they only dedicate 3 hours a week to working out! If you get the right plan of action in place and train hard, the results are guaranteed! 

#8 Log Book 

How do you know you are progressing if you don’t track your progress? In short, you don’t! You must buy a gym diary and record every one of your workouts.

Whether you do this on your phone (using notes), or whether you buy a physical journal and jot down your numbers with a pen, it doesn’t matter, make sure you are tracking, and more importantly, beating every single workout!