If you’re reading this article, we’re gonna assume you’re seriously considering going to the gym, so congratulations. Your favorite pair of Lulu leggings are finally getting some use, even though the gym might be the last place you want to spend your v important time. Like, sometimes I feel like I’d literally rather be summoned to three days of jury duty than spend 30 minutes on an elliptical. Anyway, we want you to get an efficient workout without wasting time that could be otherwise spent scrolling through Instagram, or like, watching Tasty videos. Here’s how to spend less time at the gym without downgrading the quality of your workout.
1. Plan Before You Get There
You might not wanna be the girl who’s trying too hard to get a good workout, but then again, that girl is hot AF, so let’s move past that. It’s time to try—a little, at least. If you have any clue of what you want to do in the gym, write it down in your phone before you get there. It’ll save you a ton of time so you don’t have to make decisions once you get to the gym and already want to leave. Everyone knows the feeling of doing five seconds of crunches and then deciding you want to use the spin bikes. You’re wasting everyone’s time when you could have just written out a plan for yourself beforehand.
2. Choose Your Area And Stick To It
Whether your workout revolves around dumbbells, cardio machines, or that little ab dolly that will literally make you want to die for the sake of a six pack, make sure you organize it based on where you are in the gym. In other words, don’t plan a workout that involves a minute of treadmill sprints, then running to do a few minutes of kettlebell moves, then going back upstairs to the machines again. It might have been a while since you’ve been to the gym, but try to remember where everything is located, and then structure your workouts based on the close areas. You’ll end up saving a ton of time that you would’ve spent going back and forth like an idiot.
3. Make Your Playlist Beforehand
This is also a planning tip, so if you’re anti-preparation, you’ll just end up scrolling through Spotify for an hour until you find the song you want to listen to during your workout. The music you listen to while working out is a game-changer, so make sure you have a dope playlist ready to go. I mean, I guess you can search “Motivating Workout Songs” or something, but just know that you’ll end up listening to a combo of Eminem and “Eye of the Tiger”. I’d suggest making your own playlist.
4. Make Plans For Right After
Going to the gym and winging it just puts you on less of a time crunch than if you were to sign up for a 45 minute spin class. While it’s nice to have the time to do whatever the hell you want, that freedom can also make you procrastinate and not get anything done. I’d suggest making plans to meet a friend for dinner right after your workout, so that way you’ll have the motivation to get shit done while you’re at the gym. If you only have 35 minutes to work out, you’re probably not gonna want to spend 25 of them taking mirror selfies. Or like, you will want to, but you can’t. I don’t care how good the locker room lighting is.
5. Do A Ladder Style Workout
A ladder style workout is exactly what it sounds like, so you’re basically structuring your workout by going up and then back down, like you’re climbing up and down a ladder. By setting a number of reps and then doing exercises that correspond to that number, you’ll end up spending less time deciding how long to spend doing each exercise, and you’ll also just get the workout done faster knowing there’s an end number to hit. For example, decide you’re going to do one squat and work your way until 20, and then work your way down to 1. There’s no way you’ll stop in the middle or slow down because you have an end goal you need to hit.
6. Download A Timer App
If you’re not into counting reps or staying on one machine for a long period of time, downloading a timer app will save you a ton of time at the gym and help you break up your workout more efficiently. You can get timers that can be set to a certain amount of minutes or seconds, and then you can build in breaks, which your phone timer doesn’t do. We prefer Tabata timers, so you can time yourself with a 20 seconds on, 10 second break period, but try out a few and see which one works for you. You’re not gonna slack off when you literally have 20 seconds to get the work done.
