How to Choose the Best Length of Workout

Step 1

I want to talk about something that is very common, especially with beginners even intermediate and advanced weightlifters. Its called overtraining. You will see it a lot. Basically, people thinking more is better. That's not always the case.

Step 2

The first thing is overtraining: some symptoms of it. You feel burnt out, depressed, just tired, exhausted, loosing a lot of focus. Those are the first signs of overtraining. And a lot of things can be attributed to that. Basically not eating the right nutrition, so your muscles are not getting fed, not getting enough sleep, just working out too much.

Step 3

Basically when I go work out my workouts last and I break down my parts very specifically - But a workout shouldn't last more than 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. Anything over that - and I am really just talking about weight training. Anything over that - its just too much. You are not gaining enough after that. Basically, its not doing anything for your muscle. You are not getting that much bigger putting in an extra hour of working out - instead of 45 minutes and basically you are wasting your time.

Step 4

And I have had friends who, when they started to work out, they would be in the gym for 3 and 1/2 hours, and its just is ridiculous. Its not doing anything for you. You need 45 minutes of intense good workout, where you are focused, you get to what you need to do. You get it done, then you get out and you eat the right foods, you get enough sleep and do everything else you are supposed to do that is going to help your muscles grow.

Step 5

Overtraining happens a lot. Its really going to stunt your growth, you are going to feel depressed, you are going to feel burn out and you are also going to be sore.

Step 6

A huge indicator: if your chest is sore after doing a bench press, don't do bench press again until that soreness has gone, at least 72 hours before you do anything with the bench press again after you do the bench press. The same thing goes with biceps exercises, leg exercises. Doing it again when your muscles still haven't recovered, and the growth process happens during recovery, so you don't want to just burn them out again, because they haven't fully recovered.

Step 7

So, that is going to lead to overtraining. try and limit your workouts. This should be great news; that 45 minutes to an hour of an intense workouts is really all you need. If you were in the gym for three hours, you are wasting two hours of your time, and should be home doing anything else. Getting more sleep, so your muscles grow. Because that is a huge factor.

Step 8

So, always keep it intense, at a good pace. But don't do too much. And always make sure you are getting the right nutrition and sleep. And if you ever start to feel depressed, burnt out, or your muscles are sore constantly, see a physician at that time or maybe cut back your workouts and see if that improves. Maybe you will actually get more gains from cutting back your workouts and that would mean that you're definitely overtraining.

Step 9

I wanted to go over this in this segment because I see so many people starting out overtraining and doing way too much. And then they are baffled by they are not seeing any gains and just their muscles are sore. They are doing too much. Really look out for overtraining and really, like I said, (aim) for 45 minutes to an hour for your workout and hit the weights hard. Let's see what happens.