Gym Session Length

I’ve recently returned to the gym, after a 4-month break due to gym closures amidst the pandemic. This gym moved outdoors onto the sidewalk. I’ve needed to adapt my workout routine in 4 key ways:

• no machines, only dumbbells and barbells
• from the floor, no racks or benches
• intensity and volume are adapted adhoc, to minimize equipment use
• gym session is restricted to 1 hour blocks

I want to talk about the last point, as it’s been the easiest change and with clear outcomes.

Average Gym Session Length

Before the pandemic, I used to go to the gym 4 days per week, where each session lasted 70 minutes. Now I go 6 days a week, with each session lasting 45 minutes.

This leads to different workout routines, to make best use of time in the gym.

Diminishing Returns

There’s a clear diminishing return on time spent in the gym. And there’s a sweet spot for best bang for the buck.

Overhead Costs

Let’s first outline overhead for each gym session:

• Getting to the gym
• Warming up

Previously, it would take me 45 minutes one-way to get to the gym. I went 2 days per week straight from work, which was an incremental 15 minutes. Needless to say, this is a deterrent.

Warming up also takes time. For me, the first 10 minutes are awash. I spend that time warming up with light movements and stretching. This is a cost of my sendentary lifestyle and I needed to do this anyways, it just happened to be prepended onto my gym time.

Workout Costs

Here’s where I made insightful observations.

Compound

At a minimum, I spend 15 minutes on compound exercises. These hit many muscle groups, in a functional movement pattern. They’re very good value for time spent in the gym. And the weights used tend to be heavier and harder to recover from.

I do these first in the workout to make use of available energy. If there is more time available in the workout, I extend this section by up to 10 minutes with additional secondary compound exercises. Usually the intensity is lowered and the goal is to accumulate additional practice on movements or to gather more raw volume.

Isolations

At a minimum, I spend 15 minutes on isolation exercises. These target muscles more directly, allowing to balance workload or work on lagging areas. They are auxiliary and can be skipped in a shorter workout. The intensity is lighter and the muscles tend to recover more readily from this work.

I do these after finishing compound. I gauge how much time is left in the session, to decide what to skip. As long as I hit the primary compound exercise, I will do isolations. Doing secondary compounds tend to have greater diminishing return, as they take longer to setup and impact recovery more. I’d rather do 4 exercise of isolations (2 sets of superset) than a single compound exercise.

I extend this by up to 15 minutes. The exercise choice expands, so I can chose to hit different muscles. I can even just hit the same muscle groups but higher frequency (bicep curl 4 days/week instead of 2/week).

Frequency

There doesn’t appear to be diminishing returns with increasing frequency. Only increase total overhead cost. As long as you feel comfortable with spending more going back and forth, the time in the gym will get spent well.

Increase frequency to reduce individual session length. Going 45 minutes 6x/week can feel more effective than 70 minutes 4x/week. This is primarily because the energy demands start to eat into rep quality and intensity. More frequent gym sessions will allow for more frequent higher intensity sets.

Summary

Short Session

On a day where I’m busy, the minimum gym session I target is 30-35 minutes. I go in and hit the heavy compounds. This is the volume stimulus to drive progression. 15 minutes in and I’ve already done 2/3 of the effective work.

I superset with practice movements, with little weight. Heavy compounds still take time to recover! But I’m trying to make good use of the time.

Long Session

When I have more time, I have more flexibility. Setting up a secondary compound exercise can be beneficial, as they’re still time-effective. The weights will just lower and it’s a combination of practicing the movement but under decent loading.

I will throw in more isolation exercises, to hit more muscle groups and to hit them with more frequency. These require less coordination (less CNS-taxing) and I can superset antagonist muscle groups. They require less energy individually, which means I can still do them with decent rep quality, even 60 minutes into the workout.