Exercising Efficiently and Effectively

Get the most out of your workouts by adjusting the volume

We live in an age where we are short on time and resources, and exercising sometimes goes by the wayside. This makes it that much more important to design a wellness plan that is effective and flexible to meet the demands of your busy schedule. You certainly don’t want to be spinning your wheels during the little time you have to improve your health.

Depending on your goals, you can adjust the volume; vary rest periods and rep schemes of your workouts to make sure you are exercising effectively. There is no one-size-fits-all program; finetuning the variables will help you lock in on your goals a bit better.

Generally speaking, for a majority of the general fitness population, completing lifting movements in the 8- to 12-rep range will help build muscle (hypertrophy) and strength. Based on my personal experience training individuals, this range appears to provide a nice blend of both. If maximum strength and power are what you are looking to achieve, then lowering your range to fewer than eight would make a significant impact on your strength levels while taking the focus off of increasing the size of the muscle. Furthermore, increasing the reps to more than 12 will start to emphasize muscular endurance while taking the focus off of muscular strength and size.

Adjusting rest periods between sets and exercises is a sure way to keep the workouts intense. Some days you can keep your periods longer, which allows you to save energy between sets to lift heavier weights, while other days you can keep them shorter to focus more on a cardiovascular effect. Adjusting the amount of total physical work you complete from week to week is also recommended to help keep your body fresh and avoid burnout.

Recovery from workouts is very important. Typically, you would want to lower the total volume of work leading into an event, such as a sporting event, race or competition. Some refer to this as tapering your workouts.

A key fact to remember is that muscle tone does not come from a certain rep range. Muscle tone comes from eating healthy and burning off the subcutaneous fat under the skin through cardiovascular exercise. Lifting at a higher rep range to “get ripped” is a complete myth. Remember, when you are completing resistance training you are working the muscles. It’s only when you burn off the layers of fat covering them that the muscles start to appear. This is where the phrase “Abs are made in the kitchen” comes from.

Use these tips to make the necessary adjustments to your workouts, and you will be well on your way to achieving your goals in a safe and efficient way.

Michael Stull is a wellness consultant and exercise physiologist with more than eight years of experience in designing health and wellness programs for individuals and businesses. He can be reached through michaelstull.com.