How to Make Your Training More Time Efficient

Safety first. But general warm-ups and excessive ramp-up sets provide no additional safety and are a waste of time if you are exercising properly.

Is there a reason to perform a general warm up before you begin your first exercise of a workout?

No.

Not when we are using quality, joint friendly exercises, and performing them in accordance with their proper muscle and joint function.

Also, the way in which the exercises of each workout are sequenced in our program, the warm up is already built in.

You will notice that our workouts do not begin with an exercise that has a high level of coordination requirements.

Major compound or barbell based movements are typically placed 2nd or 3rd in the workout.

However, this is all based on the premise that you are following the program as written, committing yourself to excellence of execution on every rep and every set, and with the recommended cadence.

Rep Speed

- 4 second negative

- smooth and controlled turn arounds maintaining continuous tension on the targeted muscle(s)

- a 2 second controlled positive and hard contraction of the muscle

Training this way, the right way, avoids sudden peak forces on the connective tissues and you will be avoiding rapid accelerations, instead applying force gradually to the exercise. This will also ensure you are always using appropriate loads.

Walk into the gym and after saying what’s up to the bros begin your first exercise immediately.

No need for extra band work and most definitely do not stretch before a workout.

Ramp up sets

You will notice in the program that begins next week - Seek and Destroy - I have scaled back the recommended ramp up sets as well.

Perform the exercises in the way described above and you will find that in most cases you will not need more than 2 ramp up sets and in most cases only 1 working set to true failure.

The purpose of the ramp up set or sets is to get blood going to the activated muscle, synovial fluid to the working joints, and prime the nerves involved for the hard work set.

Outside of that they are only a practice set and can help prepare you a bit psychologically as well.

Really, it only takes a few reps to do this.

Lifts where you are using heavier loads - like the deadlift for example - may require an extra ramp up but the reps can be kept low - 2 to 5 reps when ramping up.

Personally I do 2 ramp up sets on my first exercise and then only 1 ramp up for each of the following exercises.

This is a good sequence -

1 x 10 (light)

1 x 5 (medium)

1 x failure (High Octane)

If you decide to add a second set, that is fine and it will not “overtrain” you but if you nailed true failure on your first set, a second may be a waste of time and energy that can be better applied elsewhere.

Also, training with the utmost intensity of effort is also courteous to fellow gym members as no piece of equipment or power rack is being occupied for a half hour doing a bunch of junk half assed sets.

Go as hard as you can and move on.

Rest Intervals

Rest between ramp up sets should be 45 to 60 seconds.

Rest between work sets (if doing more than one) should be about 3 minutes.

Hope this is helpful.

Train hard!