When you leave the gym do you find yourself wondering if that gym session was the proper amount of time? If you stay too long you could be over training; or, if you’re not there long you could be under training? Are you getting enough out of your gym session, or could you have gone harder? Let’s put these concerns to rest, because all you really want to be thinking about when leaving the gym is “What to eat?”
We here at Fitvocate have undergone a lengthy study to determine the actual length a workout should take. Now, we already touched on this a little while back, Article, but while that was based on experience this will be based on a scientific method. To set the record straight, for this study we did not include High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts. We wanted to consider a workout an average gym goer would be more likely to conduct. Ok, let’s settle this thing.
When we want to consider how long someone should stay in the gym to have an effective workout, we must understand all the factors that would constitute an effective workout. Through research, and experience, I have concluded that an effective workout consists of three factors:
- Intensity
- Challenging
- Time Under Tension
Intensity
No, this doesn’t mean that you need to always train with the HIIT philosophy, but it does mean that you need to train at a pace where you’re keeping rest to a minimum, for this simulation we chose 2 minutes of rest between sets.
Challenging
Perform each rep of each set with maximum effort. This factor ties into the next one and these combined will account for the amount of time each rep will take.
Time Under Tension
The amount of time to perform a rep. Time under tension has been proven to be one of the most determining factors when it comes to muscle development. However, there needs to be a sweet spot, too much and you’re increasing the time at the gym exponentially and too short, well, do you even lift? For this simulation, and after much observation, we have decided that the average time per rep is 3 seconds.
With these factors considered we then needed to come up with an algorithm that provided enough workouts to give a proper sample size. Oh wait, that’s right, we have a Free Workout Generator which has a library of over 150 trillion workouts. Ok now we have all of the factors considered, and the materials to do so. Let’s run this simulation and get to the results.
With a sample size of over 400 workouts routines, we have found that the proper amount of time to spend in the gym is 67 minutes.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you should set a timer and hit stop right when the 67 minutes is up. You should give yourself a window to workout which can be broken down to anywhere between 50 - 90 minutes.
As long as you stay in this window of time while keeping your intensity high, choosing a proper weight, and aren’t flying through your reps, you will be training in the most effective time frame. Now go get yourself a workout, and hit the gym with complete confidence that your session was effective! So, what are we eating?
The proper amount of time to spend in the gym is 67 minutes.
- Food For Thought
- Getting Started
- Muscle Size
- Weight Training
