New Intensity born from Necessity!

Once you have kids, the only constant is change. For those of us living an active lifestyle, these changes in schedule can wreak havoc on our workout and training schedules. I know from personal experience as I only worked out a handful of times during my child’s first 18 months!

Recently, I have been trying to get back into a more stable training routine. One of the most under-utilized times of my day was my lunch hour, which was usually spent sitting around chatting with friends. Fun yes, but not necessarily the best use of that time.

So 2 weeks ago I joined a gym about 5 minutes from my office. Every day since, I have used my lunch hour as training time. However, my workouts usually take about 1h15 or more (chest & triceps, back & bicep, legs split – I float my shoulder routine from day to day, but more about that later). Since I realistically have only 45 minutes to workout once you subtract travel and shower time, a new level of intensity was born out of necessity.

I usually limit my rest time between set to 2-3 minutes. Like most people, that rest time is shorter for the first few sets and tends to grow longer as I get deeper into my workout. However, with a real focus on time, my rest between sets has averaged about 90 seconds. For the first week or so, my strength in later sets suffered a bit, but it did not take long for my body to adjust to the increased workout speed and now I am doing as much on the last set as I was on the first.

I am not suggesting that this is necessarily the answer for you, but if you are looking to revitalize your training, and realise some new gains, the best way is to increase the intensity of your workout. More weight, more reps, more sets, new exercises or less rest between sets will do it.