One of, if not the, best way to make your workouts more efficient and effective is to drastically reduce the amount of rest you take between sets.
By how much?
Potentially only the time required to take five to ten deep breaths (a technique I first heard attributed to “The Iron Guru”, Vince Gironda).
Obviously that’s the extreme, requiring a mighty gas tank and bountiful experience in executing various weightlifting movements, among other things. But pretty much everyone can benefit from being more conscious of and actively trying to reduce the amount of rest they take between sets.
Truly, few things sadden me as much as when I notice I have completed anywhere from a third to a half of my workout in the time it takes for others to execute a handful of sets of a single exercise because they are fondling their phones with the same creepy intensity as Gollum treated The One Ring.
I cannot also help but notice that these people are, without exception, more than a little on the porky side or else painfully skinny. Which, to be fair, is entirely unsurprising considering they attack their workouts with all the ferocity of a coma patient.
Anyway.
Cutting rest periods down works by increasing something called “training density”. That is, the amount of work done in a set period of time.
Consequently, you can unlock new gains in performance and aesthetics without one or a combination of lifting heavier, doing more sets, training more often, or dabbling with risky intensity methods like drop sets, negatives, forced reps, and so on. (Making it an ideal approach for those who aren’t as bulletproof as they once were.)
More:
Working on this will reduce (perhaps significantly) the amount of time you spend in the gym.
For example, I regularly complete my full body workouts which typically consist of ten to twelve different exercises (mostly barbell compound movements like squats, bench presses, etc) in a shade under an hour inclusive of warmup and cooldown.
That is a lot of productive work by any serious standard, and the black hole level density multiplies results to the point that I look the best I ever have despite doing the smallest amount of training I’ve done in the fifteen years I’ve been lifting weights.
I keep the rest periods down by doing two things:
* Leaving my phone on aeroplane mode in my bag or, better yet, at home, and,
* Taking something I have called the “Ten Breath Challenge”. Wherein, as the name suggests, I attempt to take no more than ten deep breaths upon completing a set before attacking the next one.
Of course, there are no guarantees and the results I experience cannot and should not be taken as an example of what you might achieve by doing similar. Plus, much critical thinking is required to know when and when not to apply this methodology (for example, I always take “normal” rest periods when I squat to protect my hips and lower back).
But the practical advantages alone make this approach worth considering at the very least.
On that note:
Dense workouts are a feature of what I teach clients in “Silver Era Secrets”, my three-month private personal training programme for men and women who want to learn a sustainable way of getting strong and in shape.
You shall find the details on the below-linked page.
Please read it very carefully to ensure your decision is a fully informed one:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/programme
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman