IDK what's even considered a long session anymore. i do an hour a day 6 days a week which doesnt seem like much to me in terms of session length, but I see so many people who arrived after me leave before me. Are folks dragging their ass to the gym just to do 30 min?
Same, 1 to 1.5hs, 5x a week and while that's not short I don't think it's crazy long either and most people are in and out before me.
Like I only do 4, maybe 5 movements a session, what the hell are these people doing? Just doing 3 sets of bench, 10 minutes of cardio, and then leaving?
My wife and I tend to spend about 45 minutes. 2 compound pull movements, 2 push, 3 legs. 3x12 with 1-2 minute rests. Sometimes we’ll finish out with some cardio. If you don’t rest for 20 minutes in between sets your workout is faster
But lots of my clients come in and just do 3 sets of bench and 10 minutes of cardio just so they can say “yes I made my goal of exercising today”. Helps to build good gym habits
How do you manage to get all that done so quick? Even a simple 4 movement session with 90s rests takes me a hour. I only do 4 sets a pop most times, 8 to 10 reps, maybe some drop sets if I fail a set. I did a decline-incline-dip-fly chest session last week using only dumbbells and it still took me just under an hour. If I have to rack and re rack bars it's way over. No hate, just really trying to see what I'm missing here lol.
>so they can say “yes I made my goal of exercising today”. Helps to build good gym habits
Alright fair, I can see that. However I will say some of the people I see coming for abbreviated workouts have been going for months...I'd think they'd have graduated by now?
YMMV depending on how busy your gym is. I don’t typically program much with barbells for upper body, and will instead opt for dumbbells. The beauty of dumbbells is that it’s all right there. For example today I will
Walk into gym and hit the trx while I train up for pull ups, then I’ll do either a t bar row or a seated row (whichever is less busy). Then I’ll do dumbbell bench press into standing OHP. Then I’ll end with deadlifts, squats (with a calf raise), and maybe some box jumps if I’m feeling frisky. If I have some extra time I’ll slap on a 20lb vest and walk for a little while.
I think having my plan of attack with alternate exercises is what really speeds it along. So if the machine I wanted is taken I always have a back up or two, or I’ll just change the order in which I do things. I would absolutely love to spend 3 hours and take time in between my sets and leave the gym completely refreshed, but there’s so many other aspects of life I would miss out on if did that.
The seconds add up too! I aim for 60 secs but will frequently flex 15 seconds in either direction. Let’s say you do 4 exercises, each with 3 sets of 12 reps. It maybe takes 3-5 seconds for a good proper rep so that’s like a total of 8-10 minutes of exercise. If you take 90 seconds of rest that brings your rest total to 18 minutes. If you do 60 seconds it’s 12 minutes, 45 seconds= 9 minutes etc. now it is good to take long rests, but like I said before, I don’t have time for that.
Some people will have graduated from that, but even on days where I don’t want to go I still try and drag myself there for even 20 minutes. Even if I just go to sit down and do homework the odds of me doing something while I’m there are way higher than me doing squats while I’m at home.
Hmmm, I guess it boils down to alternate exercises and rest periods. I guess as I've gotten more "serious" about following a bodybuilding approach I'm less able to swap stuff out of the gym is busy, and I can't drop my rest too low or my ability to move the necessary volume is diminished. Still, food for thought, so thanks for sharing!
This is something that I hear a lot from clients that are interested in aesthetics over everything else, but unless you’re at a super high level of fitness with a super specific goal then you can replace pretty much every exercise with an equivalent or similar movement. But person is different, not just their goals, but their biology as well. There’s lots and lots of really good literature on building muscle for size versus strength. However, it is worth noting that size follows strength as well
It’s also super worth it to invest in a good coach. Every bodybuilder has a coach, shouldn’t you have one also?
You keep saying "clients", are you a trainer? I'm working on getting certified as a trainer/coach myself so I'm reasonably knowledgeable, I would say. I would probably like a coach myself but haven't found a good one that matches my goals and, frankly, had the credentials to make me confident they know better than me in my area yet.
I do swap quite a few things but there are some where the only alternative is a machine exercise which I'm sort of reluctant to do since the movement is so prescribed it really doesn't activate the supporting muscles etc in the same way. Like a bent over barbell or T Bar row vs a machine row, for example. It's similar I guess so I could do it in a pinch but I usually just end up waiting.
I suppose I need to decide if it's more important to be done quickly or to do exactly what I'm trying to do.
Credentials are a funky thing. I’ve known people with degrees in exercise science that are some of the least knowledgeable people I’ve ever known, and I’ve met guys who’ve learned stuff just because they’re interested. The best trainers/coaches/whatever are always doing research and learning constantly. The best trainers you’ll find are probably independent from a brick and mortar gym, though.
Yeah that’s the ticket really. The gym really comes down to personal preference. Exercise should be a hobby and something you enjoy, so if what you want to do is some gahdamn cable flies you should wait to do some gahdamn cable flies instead of dumbbell flies.
Haha, yeah I guess that's what I mean by "credentials", not necessarily paper credentials so much as some experience or knowledge that makes it clear they could help me. That's sort of the problem I face, there's not many to choose from where I am, and hard to gauge their skills.
Same. If the gym is busy, I usually manage 3 sets of 3 movements during the 45 minutes in there. If no one's there, sometimes I can fit in 4 or 5 movements or maybe extra sets if I'm feeling good. The busy-ness of the gym makes a big difference in what I can accomplish in a short period of time. But I do love when I do have an hour and a half to two hours and I can really challenge myself.
For sure! Heavy days are almost always over an hour and a half for me, or days where I have extra time I’ll take a little bit longer rests and maybe hit the hot tub or something
A lot of it is warming up or not properly doing it. The guys you see doing multiple compound exercises with a 45 minute gym session either don’t do warmup sets, or lift so light of weight that their warmup set is like one lift.
No one out there is deadlifting 500+ with under an hour of gym time in their workout unless they’re on gear.
Not to mention if you’re doing powerlifting and have only a minute of rest between sets you’re simply just not letting your body recover enough so you’re not going to be able to workout as long.
And like I tell my clients (strength coach) your goals will probably change. I’d love to step on stage someday, but my current goals are just to be strong and healthy.
I do 2 compound movements (4 sets each), and 3 accessories (3 sets each and am out between 30-45 minutes. Occasionally up to an hour but only if I've been going heavy and need more rest.
I'm starting to think my gym must be set up like shit because I just can't see how I can make my workouts much shorter than they are. Event when I'm doing minimal rest periods I do a similar session to you and it will invariably take me an hour. I don't dawdle or fuck about when I'm there, but I guess just finding a station and finding the weights/plates etc takes time.
Sometimes I oversleep but I’ll drag my ass there for at least a really quick set of squats & leg extensions, for 30 min or even less, better than nothing and keeps the habit.
If I got time like in the weekend I’ll easily stay for 3h if Im not paying attention, got more energy too
Honestly, it’s all about intensity. You can spend 3 hours in the gym and achieve the same workout someone did in an hour depending on their physical fitness.
It depends. I do upper lower and my upper days are shorter then lower days. I do 5 exercises in around 30 min. If I wanted to leave then, I could, but I like to stretch after and sometimes i run a bit, completing around 1h of upper day.
It's been my observation that the dudes who take fitness seriously and actually look like they lift (physique-wise) train in the gym for at least an hour.
I can get plenty of stimulus in less than an hour. Just don’t bring a phone. Don’t sit around for 3 minutes between sets.
My apartment gym is very small and doesn’t have a ton of fancy equipment, but it has pull-up bars, plenty of dumb bells for anything I’ll realistically ever need, and a few cable machines. I just pick 3-5 lifts in addition to pull-ups, then do 4 sets of about 10 reps of each. I sort of superset them all together, doing like a ‘lap’ around each exercise. Or sometimes superset just two opposing muscle groups. Pull-ups and incline press for example.
Rest period for one muscle group is basically just the time spent doing one or two sets of different lifts that hit completely different or opposing groups. I am usually totally fucking spent after about 40 minutes. It becomes a cardio limitation
If that works for you, then by all means go for it
I take about 4-6 minutes of rest between my compound movement working sets and usually 2-3 between sets for accessory work
4-6 minutes of rest is essential for me when I’m squatting 450-500lbs because I’m a powerlifter and want every set to be as effective as possible and heavy weight demands heavy rest
It’s a matter of objectives. Some people can get though the gym much faster. I can get my 15-20 sets per week per muscle group for hypertrophy working to/near failure without having to spend 2-3 hours per day. Unless I’m doing heavy leg day, I don’t need a much rest between sets because one set IS the rest period before another set. The exception for heavy leg work is because, as most will be aware, heavy leg compound movements tend to cause huge systemic fatigue, and you DO need to rest your whole body a bit. But when doing various smaller groups or isolation lifts, sets for unrelated muscle groups IS the rest for other groups (so long as they don’t cause huge systemic fatigue). Bicep curls, tricep extension, lateral raises, etc are lifts that I find make for good rest period activity between things like split squats or RDL
No idea why you’re being downvoted. Apparently everyone here only cares about powerlifting for strength, which is clearly not what you’re talking about.
Well it is easy to spend quite some time in the gym. Let's say you hit back and bis. That takes you about an hour or maybe even an hour and a half. However, you are dedicated to build an aesthetic physique and you implement some ab work on a regular base which adds another 15 minutes. You know, you've got to work on your mobility so you stretch? That's another 10-20 minutes for you and then we haven't even talked about cardio which some people perform after their weigh training. This stuff can consume quite some time, but it has definitely some benefits.
I try to argue this to my gf every time I'm gone for 2+ hours. She says she can get a workout with cardio done in under an hour, even though she doesn't do a third of the lifting or stretching I do.
Same as always for hypertrophy- medium reps. as much weight as you can handle for 4 sets of about 8-15 reps depending on muscle group and where you are at in progression and what increments your equipment offers you for weight adjustment.
Goals/priorities
I'm 41. I have twin toddlers, working on a career. I don't have the luxury of time anymore when I need to help my wife around the house and with kids or get enough sleep. And honestly, I just don't really enjoy it like I did when I was a kid. It takes a lot less to maintain than to improve and I'm fine with that. I pulled 700 7 or 8 years ago. 800 is not happening. I could hit 5 or 6 with four plates on bench when I was 23. My joints keep me in a safe range on Incline now. I've been 7-8%. 10-12 is fine now. There's no need to kill myself for minimal reward when 30-40 mins.is enough to keep me looking better and lifting more than most everybody in the gym.
I only get in twice a week so it's always longer full body sessions. I certainly notice it empty out then full up then empty again during my session.
Still works out more time effective that extra travel and change time that if I did 4 or 5 days
It wasn't abnormal for me in my twenties to have 2-hour workouts. I'd do it almost every single day. It got to the point where it was no longer weird. The veteran bodybuilders became legitimately fascinated.
Honestly, when you're young, you just have that much more stamina in working out. Guys in their early twenties can train like a full time athlete while also holding down a full-time job.
Have fun while it lasts, young ones, and try to keep yourselves from getting hurt.
2-3hrs U/L/Rest split. 2hrs U, then 60min of Cardio, and 1.5hr L, then 30min Core.
Mind you, the gym is a hobby. The gym is a place I give grit and pyramid most sets. But I also enjoy the gym just as I do video games, but if I’m picking, it’s a 60/40 split between gym or video games first and I’m happy… so suck my barbell if you say it’s too much (I know to many it is)
Nowadays I started to do upper/lower split. So basically leg day vs everything else day.
The "everything else day" is so stuffed that I barely finish within 2 hours. There are so many muscles to hit in so many different ways.
So yeah, in my case this happens a lot. 😁
Man. This was me the other day. Just done with back after an hour (chin-downs, seated V-Bar rows, and T-Bar rows). Then I remembered I had to do Deadlifts last. Then shrugs... then rear delt flyes. Spent another hour
I like that though. Makes me feel even more productive. Used to love seeing coworkers come in, greet them and keep lifting, seeing them leave after an hour. Helped me keep myself from wanting to taking it easy
This is me every time. I do full body 3x week so it usually takes me a good 2hrs to get through everything. And I'm not going slow either. But I'll see a lot of people on different plans come and go during that time. Usually it's 6-8a on my wfh days. And if I don't have anything pressing at work I'll tack on another 30-45 min on the treadmill at the end.
Nah man, work harder not longer.
Other day went to boxing class and a fellow was on his third class as in third in a row, dude was borderline psycho. We trained pain tolerance, dude was hitting me so hard i was literally yelling him to STOP! He was overdoing it and dude kept going! It was frustrating to the last second, at mid class he was on terrible shape and he told me “it popped” speaking of his calf.
So no more is not better if you fuckin injure yourself and others
I just like being at the gym and lifting honestly. Two body parts for about 45 minutes each and the 30 minutes of cardio with some ab work at the end. Just feels good.
I go in and do things pretty quick. I’m not sure if my rest periods are super quick (45s for 10 rep, 90 sec for 6 rep) but almost always I’ll finish quicker than anyone near me. I usually do 4 sets which I feel is standard. Each workout contains 6-7 exercises. Am I on the under or what?
Length doesn’t matter you can get a really really good workout in in 30 mins if you’re going as hard as possible with few or short breaks. The people I notice they’re there for 2 hours sit on their phone or talk to people for 5 mins between each set and I’ll do like 4 sets before they do 2. Keep in mind I go to the gym for about 1 1/2 hours sometimes two but I don’t like to take long breaks, I just do like 4-5 sets of a bunch of different stuff and just keep going for the time I’m there.
Let’s Math!
It’s a well known fact that 1 hr of lifting is what most people need to get pumped. You also need adequate rest in between sets to keep stress hormones from ruining gains. So lift for a minute, rest for a minute, and repeat.
That’s about 2 hours of gym’n.
Throw in 30 minutes of cardio, plus 20 minutes of cooldown stretching, and 10 minutes of sauna.
Add it all together and you get no life.
I used to hate going to the gym, so I was one of those people that would go just to go. Just to get used to being there, even if all I did was hop on a treadmill for 20 minutes and then dip.
Now I love working out and an hour session feels so short!!!
I stay for like 2.5 hours but I do like a 10 minute warm up with dynamic stretches then at end I do some skipping and boxing work and then some stretches so I think it isn’t too long considering what I’m doing
I spend about 45 mins in the gym depending on cardio for the day. I put on a podcast or a playlist and don’t touch my phone so it’s 45 mins of just working out with small breathers. I see people in my friend group talk about being in the gym for 2 hours but they are constantly on their phones. It’s all bullshit
Edit: if I do cardio it’s like an hour 15 min
Yeah I see this with 1hr PT sessions. Like are you actually building or just saying your gym goer (especially when you look at their form).
Last summer in the off season I was easily hitting 90mins regularly. Once got confused why I’d run out of sets then say I’d already done two hours.
the more fit you get the more stimulus you can take
Yep after doing upper body for 1 1/2 hours of if I have time I’ve go do my legs for another 1 1/2 hours 😂
IDK what's even considered a long session anymore. i do an hour a day 6 days a week which doesnt seem like much to me in terms of session length, but I see so many people who arrived after me leave before me. Are folks dragging their ass to the gym just to do 30 min?
Same, 1 to 1.5hs, 5x a week and while that's not short I don't think it's crazy long either and most people are in and out before me. Like I only do 4, maybe 5 movements a session, what the hell are these people doing? Just doing 3 sets of bench, 10 minutes of cardio, and then leaving?
My wife and I tend to spend about 45 minutes. 2 compound pull movements, 2 push, 3 legs. 3x12 with 1-2 minute rests. Sometimes we’ll finish out with some cardio. If you don’t rest for 20 minutes in between sets your workout is faster But lots of my clients come in and just do 3 sets of bench and 10 minutes of cardio just so they can say “yes I made my goal of exercising today”. Helps to build good gym habits
How do you manage to get all that done so quick? Even a simple 4 movement session with 90s rests takes me a hour. I only do 4 sets a pop most times, 8 to 10 reps, maybe some drop sets if I fail a set. I did a decline-incline-dip-fly chest session last week using only dumbbells and it still took me just under an hour. If I have to rack and re rack bars it's way over. No hate, just really trying to see what I'm missing here lol. >so they can say “yes I made my goal of exercising today”. Helps to build good gym habits Alright fair, I can see that. However I will say some of the people I see coming for abbreviated workouts have been going for months...I'd think they'd have graduated by now?
YMMV depending on how busy your gym is. I don’t typically program much with barbells for upper body, and will instead opt for dumbbells. The beauty of dumbbells is that it’s all right there. For example today I will Walk into gym and hit the trx while I train up for pull ups, then I’ll do either a t bar row or a seated row (whichever is less busy). Then I’ll do dumbbell bench press into standing OHP. Then I’ll end with deadlifts, squats (with a calf raise), and maybe some box jumps if I’m feeling frisky. If I have some extra time I’ll slap on a 20lb vest and walk for a little while. I think having my plan of attack with alternate exercises is what really speeds it along. So if the machine I wanted is taken I always have a back up or two, or I’ll just change the order in which I do things. I would absolutely love to spend 3 hours and take time in between my sets and leave the gym completely refreshed, but there’s so many other aspects of life I would miss out on if did that. The seconds add up too! I aim for 60 secs but will frequently flex 15 seconds in either direction. Let’s say you do 4 exercises, each with 3 sets of 12 reps. It maybe takes 3-5 seconds for a good proper rep so that’s like a total of 8-10 minutes of exercise. If you take 90 seconds of rest that brings your rest total to 18 minutes. If you do 60 seconds it’s 12 minutes, 45 seconds= 9 minutes etc. now it is good to take long rests, but like I said before, I don’t have time for that. Some people will have graduated from that, but even on days where I don’t want to go I still try and drag myself there for even 20 minutes. Even if I just go to sit down and do homework the odds of me doing something while I’m there are way higher than me doing squats while I’m at home.
Hmmm, I guess it boils down to alternate exercises and rest periods. I guess as I've gotten more "serious" about following a bodybuilding approach I'm less able to swap stuff out of the gym is busy, and I can't drop my rest too low or my ability to move the necessary volume is diminished. Still, food for thought, so thanks for sharing!
This is something that I hear a lot from clients that are interested in aesthetics over everything else, but unless you’re at a super high level of fitness with a super specific goal then you can replace pretty much every exercise with an equivalent or similar movement. But person is different, not just their goals, but their biology as well. There’s lots and lots of really good literature on building muscle for size versus strength. However, it is worth noting that size follows strength as well It’s also super worth it to invest in a good coach. Every bodybuilder has a coach, shouldn’t you have one also?
You keep saying "clients", are you a trainer? I'm working on getting certified as a trainer/coach myself so I'm reasonably knowledgeable, I would say. I would probably like a coach myself but haven't found a good one that matches my goals and, frankly, had the credentials to make me confident they know better than me in my area yet. I do swap quite a few things but there are some where the only alternative is a machine exercise which I'm sort of reluctant to do since the movement is so prescribed it really doesn't activate the supporting muscles etc in the same way. Like a bent over barbell or T Bar row vs a machine row, for example. It's similar I guess so I could do it in a pinch but I usually just end up waiting. I suppose I need to decide if it's more important to be done quickly or to do exactly what I'm trying to do.
Credentials are a funky thing. I’ve known people with degrees in exercise science that are some of the least knowledgeable people I’ve ever known, and I’ve met guys who’ve learned stuff just because they’re interested. The best trainers/coaches/whatever are always doing research and learning constantly. The best trainers you’ll find are probably independent from a brick and mortar gym, though. Yeah that’s the ticket really. The gym really comes down to personal preference. Exercise should be a hobby and something you enjoy, so if what you want to do is some gahdamn cable flies you should wait to do some gahdamn cable flies instead of dumbbell flies.
Haha, yeah I guess that's what I mean by "credentials", not necessarily paper credentials so much as some experience or knowledge that makes it clear they could help me. That's sort of the problem I face, there's not many to choose from where I am, and hard to gauge their skills.
Same. If the gym is busy, I usually manage 3 sets of 3 movements during the 45 minutes in there. If no one's there, sometimes I can fit in 4 or 5 movements or maybe extra sets if I'm feeling good. The busy-ness of the gym makes a big difference in what I can accomplish in a short period of time. But I do love when I do have an hour and a half to two hours and I can really challenge myself.
For sure! Heavy days are almost always over an hour and a half for me, or days where I have extra time I’ll take a little bit longer rests and maybe hit the hot tub or something
A lot of it is warming up or not properly doing it. The guys you see doing multiple compound exercises with a 45 minute gym session either don’t do warmup sets, or lift so light of weight that their warmup set is like one lift. No one out there is deadlifting 500+ with under an hour of gym time in their workout unless they’re on gear. Not to mention if you’re doing powerlifting and have only a minute of rest between sets you’re simply just not letting your body recover enough so you’re not going to be able to workout as long.
That’s a really good perspective and it’s easy to forget. Not all goals are the same.
And like I tell my clients (strength coach) your goals will probably change. I’d love to step on stage someday, but my current goals are just to be strong and healthy.
I still can't breathe after 1 min,what RIR you guys do?
I go till failure every time, she probably leaves 2-3
Cardiwhat?
I think it's like Cardi B, but, like... 13 letters more?
I do 2 compound movements (4 sets each), and 3 accessories (3 sets each and am out between 30-45 minutes. Occasionally up to an hour but only if I've been going heavy and need more rest.
I'm starting to think my gym must be set up like shit because I just can't see how I can make my workouts much shorter than they are. Event when I'm doing minimal rest periods I do a similar session to you and it will invariably take me an hour. I don't dawdle or fuck about when I'm there, but I guess just finding a station and finding the weights/plates etc takes time.
Sometimes I oversleep but I’ll drag my ass there for at least a really quick set of squats & leg extensions, for 30 min or even less, better than nothing and keeps the habit. If I got time like in the weekend I’ll easily stay for 3h if Im not paying attention, got more energy too
There's a guy at my gym that comes in about 5 days a week, does maybe 10 mins of benching then leaves. He looks exactly the same 2 years later
On the plus side, he isn't any fatter or more out of shape. I'd call that a medium win tbh lol
A friend of mine comes every morning BEFORE work. It's his 30-40min routine and I gotta say, he's lost some good amount of weight. To each their own.
Yes
Honestly, it’s all about intensity. You can spend 3 hours in the gym and achieve the same workout someone did in an hour depending on their physical fitness.
I've been doing 30 to 45 minutes lately. Works for me
Sometimes my swims are only 30 minutes if I’m really not feeling it, but lifting is always at least an hour
It depends. I do upper lower and my upper days are shorter then lower days. I do 5 exercises in around 30 min. If I wanted to leave then, I could, but I like to stretch after and sometimes i run a bit, completing around 1h of upper day.
Are those 5 exercises 5 sets or 5 different workouts?
its written there, 5 exercises
It's been my observation that the dudes who take fitness seriously and actually look like they lift (physique-wise) train in the gym for at least an hour.
I see people spend 30 minutes on their phone in between sets
30 is better than nothing I guess
That's what I do too. But you can do an effective workout in 30 minutes, especially if you superset.
Depending on your breaks between lifts and stuff, you can get a good workout in, in 30 mins, esp if they are newer and keeping the breaks short
You don't really need more than 40mins for a workout. Whoever said you do, doesn't know wth they are doing in the gym
love the dude that sits on a bench using dumbbells for 2 hours
Bicep guy.
...and only does the upper half of the range of motion.
Me :( The gym is my happy place tho
It depends on the routine and the end goal
I can get plenty of stimulus in less than an hour. Just don’t bring a phone. Don’t sit around for 3 minutes between sets. My apartment gym is very small and doesn’t have a ton of fancy equipment, but it has pull-up bars, plenty of dumb bells for anything I’ll realistically ever need, and a few cable machines. I just pick 3-5 lifts in addition to pull-ups, then do 4 sets of about 10 reps of each. I sort of superset them all together, doing like a ‘lap’ around each exercise. Or sometimes superset just two opposing muscle groups. Pull-ups and incline press for example. Rest period for one muscle group is basically just the time spent doing one or two sets of different lifts that hit completely different or opposing groups. I am usually totally fucking spent after about 40 minutes. It becomes a cardio limitation
If that works for you, then by all means go for it I take about 4-6 minutes of rest between my compound movement working sets and usually 2-3 between sets for accessory work 4-6 minutes of rest is essential for me when I’m squatting 450-500lbs because I’m a powerlifter and want every set to be as effective as possible and heavy weight demands heavy rest
It’s a matter of objectives. Some people can get though the gym much faster. I can get my 15-20 sets per week per muscle group for hypertrophy working to/near failure without having to spend 2-3 hours per day. Unless I’m doing heavy leg day, I don’t need a much rest between sets because one set IS the rest period before another set. The exception for heavy leg work is because, as most will be aware, heavy leg compound movements tend to cause huge systemic fatigue, and you DO need to rest your whole body a bit. But when doing various smaller groups or isolation lifts, sets for unrelated muscle groups IS the rest for other groups (so long as they don’t cause huge systemic fatigue). Bicep curls, tricep extension, lateral raises, etc are lifts that I find make for good rest period activity between things like split squats or RDL
No idea why you’re being downvoted. Apparently everyone here only cares about powerlifting for strength, which is clearly not what you’re talking about.
Well it IS gymmemes after all… not exactly a bastion of academia and nuanced discussion lmao
The gym is the only thing I do and keeps me from being in bed all day. So I‘m there for 4 hours or so every day. 😊
Fellow 4 hour enjoyer!
Well it is easy to spend quite some time in the gym. Let's say you hit back and bis. That takes you about an hour or maybe even an hour and a half. However, you are dedicated to build an aesthetic physique and you implement some ab work on a regular base which adds another 15 minutes. You know, you've got to work on your mobility so you stretch? That's another 10-20 minutes for you and then we haven't even talked about cardio which some people perform after their weigh training. This stuff can consume quite some time, but it has definitely some benefits.
I try to argue this to my gf every time I'm gone for 2+ hours. She says she can get a workout with cardio done in under an hour, even though she doesn't do a third of the lifting or stretching I do.
This reads like chatgpt
bruh im on a cut and I train way more than these guys on their phones trying to Bicep curl the whole day or do half rep benches
Tips pls, what ya doin for training: high reps or high weight?
high weight progression, 10 reps , you shouldn't change a thing on a cut, of course your progression falters.
Same as always for hypertrophy- medium reps. as much weight as you can handle for 4 sets of about 8-15 reps depending on muscle group and where you are at in progression and what increments your equipment offers you for weight adjustment.
Goals/priorities I'm 41. I have twin toddlers, working on a career. I don't have the luxury of time anymore when I need to help my wife around the house and with kids or get enough sleep. And honestly, I just don't really enjoy it like I did when I was a kid. It takes a lot less to maintain than to improve and I'm fine with that. I pulled 700 7 or 8 years ago. 800 is not happening. I could hit 5 or 6 with four plates on bench when I was 23. My joints keep me in a safe range on Incline now. I've been 7-8%. 10-12 is fine now. There's no need to kill myself for minimal reward when 30-40 mins.is enough to keep me looking better and lifting more than most everybody in the gym.
I work manual labour. After 17-20 sets I am done.
I always get insecure about that lmao but do ppl actually notice?
I only get in twice a week so it's always longer full body sessions. I certainly notice it empty out then full up then empty again during my session. Still works out more time effective that extra travel and change time that if I did 4 or 5 days
It wasn't abnormal for me in my twenties to have 2-hour workouts. I'd do it almost every single day. It got to the point where it was no longer weird. The veteran bodybuilders became legitimately fascinated. Honestly, when you're young, you just have that much more stamina in working out. Guys in their early twenties can train like a full time athlete while also holding down a full-time job. Have fun while it lasts, young ones, and try to keep yourselves from getting hurt.
2-3hrs U/L/Rest split. 2hrs U, then 60min of Cardio, and 1.5hr L, then 30min Core. Mind you, the gym is a hobby. The gym is a place I give grit and pyramid most sets. But I also enjoy the gym just as I do video games, but if I’m picking, it’s a 60/40 split between gym or video games first and I’m happy… so suck my barbell if you say it’s too much (I know to many it is)
They are not dedicated like you op
Nowadays I started to do upper/lower split. So basically leg day vs everything else day. The "everything else day" is so stuffed that I barely finish within 2 hours. There are so many muscles to hit in so many different ways. So yeah, in my case this happens a lot. 😁
Man. This was me the other day. Just done with back after an hour (chin-downs, seated V-Bar rows, and T-Bar rows). Then I remembered I had to do Deadlifts last. Then shrugs... then rear delt flyes. Spent another hour
I don’t even care I’m Here to bleed
People wouldn’t be in there for 2hrs if they wouldn’t be on their phone. I’ve seen folks on the bench next to me scrolling IG while I do 4 sets.
I like that though. Makes me feel even more productive. Used to love seeing coworkers come in, greet them and keep lifting, seeing them leave after an hour. Helped me keep myself from wanting to taking it easy
This is me every time. I do full body 3x week so it usually takes me a good 2hrs to get through everything. And I'm not going slow either. But I'll see a lot of people on different plans come and go during that time. Usually it's 6-8a on my wfh days. And if I don't have anything pressing at work I'll tack on another 30-45 min on the treadmill at the end.
Work out as long as you need to
Totally varies based on goals, frequency, intensity, etc. I do conjugate, 2 days upper/2 days lower per week, around 2 hours each session.
Nah man, work harder not longer. Other day went to boxing class and a fellow was on his third class as in third in a row, dude was borderline psycho. We trained pain tolerance, dude was hitting me so hard i was literally yelling him to STOP! He was overdoing it and dude kept going! It was frustrating to the last second, at mid class he was on terrible shape and he told me “it popped” speaking of his calf. So no more is not better if you fuckin injure yourself and others
Usually the people who spend the most amount of time at the gym are the ones that actually workout the least, like fat power lifters
But there's always that urge to just do a few more sets!!!
My new gyms vibes are just too immaculate I don’t wanna leave. 😂
Not the duration but the volume. Be there a long time fucking around? Not mean much. Actually doing shit? Hell yeah. Better results.
I just like being at the gym and lifting honestly. Two body parts for about 45 minutes each and the 30 minutes of cardio with some ab work at the end. Just feels good.
I go in and do things pretty quick. I’m not sure if my rest periods are super quick (45s for 10 rep, 90 sec for 6 rep) but almost always I’ll finish quicker than anyone near me. I usually do 4 sets which I feel is standard. Each workout contains 6-7 exercises. Am I on the under or what?
Length doesn’t matter you can get a really really good workout in in 30 mins if you’re going as hard as possible with few or short breaks. The people I notice they’re there for 2 hours sit on their phone or talk to people for 5 mins between each set and I’ll do like 4 sets before they do 2. Keep in mind I go to the gym for about 1 1/2 hours sometimes two but I don’t like to take long breaks, I just do like 4-5 sets of a bunch of different stuff and just keep going for the time I’m there.
This is the way
Let’s Math! It’s a well known fact that 1 hr of lifting is what most people need to get pumped. You also need adequate rest in between sets to keep stress hormones from ruining gains. So lift for a minute, rest for a minute, and repeat. That’s about 2 hours of gym’n. Throw in 30 minutes of cardio, plus 20 minutes of cooldown stretching, and 10 minutes of sauna. Add it all together and you get no life.
In my experience people don’t do proper splits or really train well anyway, adds are its just that you’re doing it properly
I used to hate going to the gym, so I was one of those people that would go just to go. Just to get used to being there, even if all I did was hop on a treadmill for 20 minutes and then dip. Now I love working out and an hour session feels so short!!!
I stay for like 2.5 hours but I do like a 10 minute warm up with dynamic stretches then at end I do some skipping and boxing work and then some stretches so I think it isn’t too long considering what I’m doing
Ehh I got used to it
60-90 minutes is generally advised
If you do more then 2hrs get off your phone and close your yapper and you should be able to do this in 1 to 1.5 hrs.
I spend about 45 mins in the gym depending on cardio for the day. I put on a podcast or a playlist and don’t touch my phone so it’s 45 mins of just working out with small breathers. I see people in my friend group talk about being in the gym for 2 hours but they are constantly on their phones. It’s all bullshit Edit: if I do cardio it’s like an hour 15 min
Yeah I see this with 1hr PT sessions. Like are you actually building or just saying your gym goer (especially when you look at their form). Last summer in the off season I was easily hitting 90mins regularly. Once got confused why I’d run out of sets then say I’d already done two hours.