Gym fitness time

For the vast majority of ordinary fitness enthusiasts, the optimal and effective duration of each gym training is between 45 minutes and 90 minutes. There is no absolute standard answer, and it fully adapts to your training goals, physical condition and training efficiency.

I'm not making this up. When I first entered the gym, the pit I stepped on could go around the equipment area three times. At first I heard someone say, "If you don't practice for two hours, it's all for nothing." I would go in after get off work every day and not come out. I would watch short videos between sets, chat with my friends about the latest new shoes, and occasionally stand on the sidelines to watch the big guys practice for a long time. After I realized it, two hours had passed, and I was so tired when I got home that I didn't even want to cook. As a result, after two months of training, my circumference didn't increase, I didn't lose weight, and my rotator cuff became a little inflamed.

Later, after talking to a veteran who has been practicing at the gym for almost ten years, I found out that there is no unified standard for duration. It depends on what you are going to the gym for. I have seen a young man who practices powerlifting in the gym. Before he can hit the 200kg deadlift, he warms up step by step for 20 minutes. He eats bananas and drinks water for a 5-minute break between squats. A full training session takes almost two hours. He really uses every minute on the edge, and his final results increase quickly. No one says that he has lost muscle after practicing for too long.

If you are an ordinary office worker and want to build some muscles to look good in clothes, practice 4-6 movements each time, and rest between groups for about 1 minute. Don’t wander around. 45 minutes is enough to train the target area until the target area is sore and swollen. If you practice more, your concentration will decrease and your movements will become deformed, which will only increase the risk of injury.

The most controversial statement on the Internet is that "training for more than an hour will cause muscle loss" is actually half right and half wrong. If you train on an empty stomach all morning, without taking any supplements, and still doing high-intensity aerobics, your cortisol will indeed spike, and your muscles will be broken down faster than they are synthesized. But if you eat bread and eggs before training and take a few sips of a sports drink in between, there is no risk of losing muscle even if you practice for 90 minutes. Don’t be intimidated by that rhetoric. I have believed this before, and I would pack up my things in a panic after 55 minutes of training. One time, I just missed a PR on the bench press, just one set short of it. When I looked at the clock and it was 1 hour, I stopped. It’s really stupid now that I think about it.

My colleague is even more awesome. He squeezes in 40 minutes to work out every day at noon. He changes clothes, exercises and takes a shower for exactly an hour. He just practices three compound movements, bench press, deadlift, and pull-ups. He doesn't even look at his phone between sets. In three months, he has gained almost 50 kilograms in these three major exercises. He is so much more efficient than those who do two hours of exercise every day.

Of course, there are also people who don’t go to the gym just to gain muscle and lose fat. For example, the retired aunties in our gym come every morning to run for 20 minutes, then dance for 40 minutes during exercise classes, and finally stretch and chat for 20 minutes. They stay for an hour and a half at a time. They are in very good health, and their blood lipids and blood sugar are more stable than their peers. You can’t say that it’s useless for them to stay for too long, right? Fitness is not just about achieving results.

The only thing I want to remind you is, don’t include the time you spend changing clothes, chatting, waiting for equipment, and checking your mobile phone into the “fitness time”. Many people say that they have practiced for two hours. After deducting miscellaneous things, the effective training time is less than half an hour. Then this time length statistic is purely self-impressed.

Now I don’t set an alarm clock specifically for how long I want to practice before I practice. If I’m in good condition, I’ll do two more sets. If I stayed up late the day before and didn’t get a good rest, I’ll practice for 40 minutes and then quit. I never push hard. After all, you are here to exercise, not to set time KPIs for the gym. Once you have practiced well and become comfortable, it is better than anything else.