How Long Does It Take You to Workout? page 7

[primal_alex]

I workout after 6 hours fasting (14 hours when I go sunday morning).
My routine usually lasts 45-50 minutes, almost all is weightlifting.

[sbhikes]

I simply answered the original question:

When I do weight lifting it takes about 45 minutes to an hour or maybe a little more. I'm older and it takes a long time to rest and it takes a long time doing all these damn warm-up reps and swapping plates around.

When I go hiking I can take hours. Today I hiked from 9 to 2:30 with 12 miles and 3200 feet elevation gain (and loss). We could see all 8 Channel Islands, the snowy peaks of the San Gabriels and we think maybe even Mt. San Jacinto but I'm skeptical. If there hadn't been other mountains in the way for sure we would have been able to see Mt. Whitney and the High Sierra. Taking all day is the whole point of it.

I may not be recovered by Monday morning for more lifting. God only knows when I'll be recovered enough to do any sprinting.

I got a suggestion:

^SB seriously consider the "Body by Science" approach. More intense sessions, but done in 12-15 minutes and you only need to do it 1-2x/week to see results. I'm a male in my mid thirties and get good results with this. Same with my wife. Just saying, unless you just LOVE being in the gym, or have some very high hypertrophy goals the BBS program would be more than enough for you.

I explained that even if some other program is supposedly shorter, it'll probably still take me a long time because the program I'm doing is supposed to be pretty short but takes me a long time:

Well, supposedly the Starting Strength workout only takes 30 minutes. And the even longer StrongLifts program is also supposed to take 30 minutes. I am just not that adept at trading out all the plates and not as fast at resting. I don't really mind that much. Sometimes I'm back at my desk a half hour before it's time for work so I've got the time.

I looked up Body By Science to see what it was about. It involved leg press and other machines. Not full-body lifts. It seemed to involve slow burn-type weight training plus conditioning. I specifically chose to do full-body lifts because that was the kind of raw strength I was interested in. I'm not interested in leg presses when I can do squats. I'm not into doing a lot of machine work and maybe slow burn is good, but I am not ready to switch out what I'm doing until I'm done with it.

Hence, my answer below:

I suppose if all I wanted was a great body that would be fine. But I also want real strength. I'm not ready to give up on real strength yet even though it seems I have hit my limits of strength quite a bit sooner than most people.

Guess that answer didn't come out right. I wanted the strength you get when the weight is not supported by a machine. I want my core to be involved in the support of the weight, not to do isolation exercises with things like leg press machines.

Huh? All I was talking about was strength. Dunno where you got any other idea from. Ripptoe and the like don't own the trademark on strength.

My attempt at explaining what I meant after reading what I could of the BBS website:

That's the sense I got from the Body by Science website. That it was about training for a good looking body. Not a lot of talk about lifting lots of weight, more about spending more time under the bar. I didn't quite see what kind of training it is, but it looks like it's that super slow weight lifting (doing stuff like leg press, not squats) plus maybe a lot of fast conditioning things? I'm not sure I want to do the super slow stuff.

Out of the blue response by someone not even involved in the conversation:

That is pretty closed minded of you. You really don't know what it is about but you know you don't want to do it. Read the book, it makes a lot of since if you open your mind to the possibility that there is more than one way to accomplish the same goal.

I read the web site. I was not convinced enough to buy the book. If you are the author, I'm now even less convinced.

[Neckhammer]

SB...Just in case you're bored with carb wars, you can subscribe the the age old and just as futile fight between HIT and Volume Training. Should I put you on the mailing list? LOL

Its all good. Find what works for you. I do a cross breed sort of thing with all of it right now. HIT/BBS big 5 1x/week + one day of just 5x5 deadlifts + HIIT + daily "grease the groove" body weight work.

[emerson]

Today was 8 minutes; 100 push-ups followed by 100 kettlebell swings.

[kimmkimm]

I make my stay at the gym as long as I can. My one concern is that this pushes me to overwork my body.

[sbhikes]

SB...Just in case you're bored with carb wars, you can subscribe the the age old and just as futile fight between HIT and Volume Training. Should I put you on the mailing list? LOL

Actually, I think I'm ready for the low weight/high rep vs high weight/low rep war. It is really stupid to believe that if I fail to lift a super heavy weight 5 times and then sit on my ass for 3 days I will magically be able to do it next time. What makes more sense is to lift lighter weight more times more often until it's so easy I can do it in my sleep.

[seaweed]

It is really stupid to believe that if I fail to lift a super heavy weight 5 times and then sit on my ass for 3 days I will magically be able to do it next time

i have struggled with this theory too. and what i find worse is it isnt just a fail to lift the weight. you can sometimes do it, if you lose form which is not good at all.

in answer to the OP. usually about an hour or 50 mins. i go to the gym once a week as i live so far from town. we do whole body. right now we are doing supersets of compounds with isolation exercises and go hard. altho never to failure. we mix it up heaps and i always enjoy it. i am getting stronger and also way more defined. my "excuse" for only training like this once a week is i am loosely following the BBS idea. i havent read it but neither has anyone who asks me a typical example of a superset i would do is one legged hamstring curls and dumbell hyperflied extensions ( hyperextensions with dumbbells). a set of the one legged hamstring curls is 15 either leg, 10 either leg, 5 either leg. no rest in between. then straight into dumbbell hyperflies. 10 reps first set, then 15 second and then 20 on the last. i do 10kgs on the hamstring curl and use 4kg dumbbell for the hyperflies.

i also walk for at least an hour a day.

[Gorbag]

Actually, I think I'm ready for the low weight/high rep vs high weight/low rep war.

Good choice, if you have a basic strength level, and especially if you are a woman, but try to keep the weights close to the same and start to add reps, set, and even training days. Build up volume gradually, also shorten the rest periods and you will achieve a higher level of fitness, more than just by putting on more loads...

[Gadsie]

Actually, I think I'm ready for the low weight/high rep vs high weight/low rep war. It is really stupid to believe that if I fail to lift a super heavy weight 5 times and then sit on my ass for 3 days I will magically be able to do it next time. What makes more sense is to lift lighter weight more times more often until it's so easy I can do it in my sleep.

I also stalled on starting strength. I went to p.h.a.t (higher reps) and immediately got stronger and the major lifts.
However I did modify p.h.a.t, You have 3 hypertrophy days: back shoulders, lower body and chest and arms. On back and shoulders I start with 3x5 barbell shoulder press, on lower body I start with 3x5 squats and chest and arms I start with 3x5 and then do the higher rep stuff

[sakura_girl]

I also stalled on starting strength. I went to p.h.a.t (higher reps) and immediately got stronger and the major lifts.
However I did modify p.h.a.t, You have 3 hypertrophy days: back shoulders, lower body and chest and arms. On back and shoulders I start with 3x5 barbell shoulder press, on lower body I start with 3x5 squats and chest and arms I start with 3x5 and then do the higher rep stuff

I think there is some merit to volume training when you're plateauing on really heavy things (think isometrics as well), but for beginners, I think volume is completely stupid.

When I was lifting 3x/week and sprints 1x/week and making decent gains on some of my heavy lifts, I was eating 3000 calories/day and seeing some slight fat loss. Versus my "volume" of plyometrics and rowing machine the year prior of 5x/week and 2500 calories/day with fat gain. Both are overtraining, but there was still one merit of one over the other. Just saying...