Article By: John Fontana

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Time is of the essence. Though it’s a term originally coined with regard to legal contracts, it should actually be considered each time you exercise. You likely place most of your focus on how many sets you perform, the reps in each set and the weights used doing those sets. Although those three variables hold a lot of importance, time should not be ignored. In fact, time is so important that it should play a roll in nearly every aspect of your workout. Too much time spent in a workout and you risk putting your body in an over trained state. Too much rest in between sets and it will take longer for you to shed the pounds you are trying to take off.

I think that time is one of the most overlooked aspects of exercise. It is important when considering reps, sets, rest, duration of a workout and rest in between days. No matter what goals you have set for yourself, time can either be a major aid in reaching them or a hindrance.

Time Under Tension

When it comes to repetitions, time goes hand in hand with your goal.  Within a rep, time is called “total time under tension” and refers to the amount of time it takes from your very first to very last rep within a set.

Time Per Set

The theory is that the amount of time you spend under tension will determine which training goal you accomplish. If you’re looking for absolute strength, you should spend between 3 and 20 seconds under tension. To put on some muscle size (hypertrophy) you should be under tension from 40-70 seconds. My guess is that you do not want to get super strong, nor do you want to look like a body builder, so avoid those times. Your range should be between 20-40 seconds per set (usually 8-12 reps) of a given exercise. This will help strengthen the muscle just enough, while not getting you too bulky.

Rest To Lose Weight

The amount of time you spend resting in between sets, compound sets (2 exercises grouped) or a circuit (3+ exercises grouped) is also a key element in reaching your fitness goals. Keeping the rest to a minimum is a key in order to burn more calories each workout. Lately, spinning has been regarded as one of the best ways to burn calories. This is because you are constantly fluctuating your heart rate up and down, while taking minimum rest.

The same should go with weight training. Your exercises should get your heart rate sky high and then you should only use as much rest as needed. If you are just starting out, this should be between 60-90 seconds.  If you are experienced it should be 30-60 seconds. The basic theory is that the least amount of rest you take the higher your average heart rate will be. High heart rate equals burned calories, burned calories equals weight loss.

Time Per Workout

If you follow the aforementioned advice, each exercise will take between 20-40 seconds and you will be resting a maximum of 90 seconds. Since your goal is to lose weight you should be performing compound sets or circuits. I would recommend about 3 circuits (9 exercises) per day, which will total 36 minutes from the first rep of your first circuit until the last rep of your last circuit. Factor in warm up; stretch and cool down time and you are right around an hour for your entire workout.

The Time Limit

Studies have shown that most people’s bodies begin to take a serious decline after an hour-and-a-half of continuous exercise. Following this 3-circuit workout will allow you time to get in all of your weight training for the day and a little extra cardio, all within that 90 minute range.

Consistently performing more than 90 minutes of continuous exercise will put your body at risk of being over trained. Overtraining is also known as a plateau and is a natural phenomenon that occurs within your body. The stress of the exercise will overwhelm your system and your body will begin to shut down. Progress will be put on hold and you will likely start to lose some of the progress that you made.

As you see, time plays a crucial factor in exercise, especially when looking to lose weight. It should be accounted for just as much as the number of sets, reps or exercises you are doing. If you are having trouble cutting some pounds it may be a result of ignoring the clock. Figure out the amount of rest periods you need in between sets and attempt to lower them each week.  You will be surprised how much it changes things.

If you are still a bit unclear as to how to factor in rest with your workouts, you can sign up for a Shadow Fit personalized workout for free. Here will provide the exercise along with proper sets, reps, tempo and rest of each exercise. Just fill out the questionnaire and you will be on your way.

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I encourage any questions or comments, please:

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E-mail me personally at jfontana@shadowfit.com

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