On many occasions I’ve had to train either a client or myself with either very limited time, space or write a program for a client that they can complete in limited time or space, ie at home or a hotel gym.

Here are my five time saver tips to help save time on your workouts and your results

1. Complete compound movements ie squat, deadlift, bench press, lat pull down. Compound movements involve the  use of 2 joints and work multiple muscles at once in comparison to  isolation exercises such as bicep curls or leg extensions. Compound movement will also burn more energy during a session and help build more muscle.

2. Incorporate super-sets. Super-sets involve alternating from one  exercise to another back to back without rest in between exercises. For example alternating from lat pull down into bench press. One exercise works the back and biceps while the other works chest and triceps. One muscle group can recover while the other is working. You can therefore increase the intensity of the workout and include more exercises in the same amount of time. You could also alternate between upper body and lower body exercises.

3. While we are on the topic of working upper body and lower body exercises, full body workouts are a great way to increase the intensity of a workout and also allow you to hit individual muscle groups multiple times per week as opposed to working to a split routine ie chest, back, arms, legs where muscle groups only get hit once per week. Full body workouts are a great way to be more productive. You can also incorporate cluster sets or tri-sets where you  are working three exercises back to back.

4. Utilise HIIT instead of longer forms of cardio. You can achieve the same or better results from 15-20 minutes of High Intense Interval Training as opposed to longer forms of cardio at a lower intensity. One effective format is the Tabata Protocol which involves intervals of 20 seconds of maximum effort followed by 10 seconds of rest for up to 8 sets per exercise. This can be completed on an exercise bike, rower, body weight exercises, dumbbells or kettlebells.

5. While we’re on the topic of kettlebells you can do a full body workout with only one kettlebell and a limited amount of space. One kettlebell will allow you to use all planes of movement such push (overhead press or floor press), pull (single arm kettlebell row), lunge (kettlebell lunges), squat (kettlebell squat), bend (kettlbell swing), twist (kettlebell Russian twist). I keep a kettlebell at home for times when I need to complete a workout but am short on time and can’t get to the gym.

In conclusion, these steps are all very practical however if you don’t plan your training program out in advance and plan your gym time out in advance your training will be haphazard at best or will not happen at worst.