How long is too long at the gym?

[abpanther]

30-45min for me, as hard as possible

Studies have shown that not only will you not gain much by working out for longer than an hour but you actually go backwards in some cases. For instance if you do cardio for longer than an hour your levels of cortisol (a stress hormone that breaks down muscle) goes through the roof.

I've read up on that but i don't think I've shown any symptoms so far

 

[Cliffhanger]

I do nine workouts in 45 mins. I do five sets of each generally, I give myself one minute for the set and whatever time is left over is for rest. That said the only weights I do are core rows and incline bench press. The rest are like dips, pullups, one legged squats etc. I do legs on a seperate day to everything else and do them one day a week, triceps chest, deltoids, shoulders pecs and bicep together twice a week. Core three times a week.

I did the stronglifts 5x5 program before, it took me 35-45 mins a workout. I highly recommend it, it took me less than two months to go from benching 25 kg to above my my body weight and I was training without a spotter.

 

[Cliffhanger]

Oh I never did warm up sets with stronglifts though.

 

[abpanther]

Did you read my post? I am doing 5x5

 

[dogslife]

My advice to you would be to halve the number of isolation exercises you do, and if possible do a 4th day. I do shoulders on a separate day and it works for me. I've also noticed on your Leg/Shoulder day you're doing 8 sets of OH press and 4 sets of Military press. To me they're pretty much the same thing, so you could either drop the military press altogether or halve the number of sets you do on both

I just did my leg workout, and including warmup I was there for about 70 mins. I did 18 sets, resting 2-3 mins in between heavy compound movements and about 2 mins between isolation exercises, and my legs feel like jelly

 

[shaggs]

Stronglifts is commonly called 5x5.

I'm doing it at the moment. Added 6kg in about 16 weeks. I'd dropped heaps of weight boxing. I think it works.

Anyway, it takes me 45 minutes. Don't have time to mess about. I am doing 11 sets of squats. 6 warm ups of increasing weight, no rest in between. Then my 5 work sets. Prob have 2min between work sets depending on how I'm feeling and how much food I have eaten.

For the other exercises I don't usually do a warmup except for bench position.

I recommend that you drop all the other exercises. Stick to the stronglifts only for 6 weeks and see what happens. Overtraining can be as bad as undertraining. Give your body time to recover.

Overall. 60mins should be plenty.

 

[Cliffhanger]

Did you read my post? I am doing 5x5

Yeah I know, but I don't rest properly between sets. But Mehdi said it shouldn't take longer than 45 mins.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

When you say I'm about right are you referring to the time spent in the gym or the 5x5 set up?

For warm up sets I generally do 1 set of 5 reps at 33% of the work set weight and 2 sets at 66% of the work set weight. I don't have a break in between other than to change the plates and do a quick stretch of my hamstring, quads and lower back.

So how long are you generally at the gym dude?

I normally take a little bit more than an hour all up. As other have said if you're taking too long consider cutting back on the accessory stuff, the important thing is to get quality on your core lifts.

How long you take between sets can be largely dependant on your training goals. If you're training mainly for strength with a low rep, high weight programme such as 5x5 your goal is to lift as much as possible, so you need to rest enough between sets to recover. that can be as much as 4-5min between heavy sets of squats. If you're doing more bodybuilding type stuff aimed at hypertrophy then the normal thing is more reps with less weight and shorter intervals.

Your warmups sound about right, if you start off with squats it's important to warm up properly before your heavy sets and the best way to warm up for squats is to do squats with a lighter weight.

There's no one right answer to how long someone should spend in the gym- like most things it depends on your goals.

 

[abpanther]

Is it bad to just not do warm ups?

I'm sure that would cut off some time for me

 

[abpanther]

I also do 5 mins warm up on the treadmill too before I start, maybe I should get rid of that too.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Nah f**k that noise. No warmups = injuries, especially if you're lifting heavy. I normally start off with 5 min on the rower too.

 

[abpanther]

So I guess I just need to drop off some isolation stuff, maybe do away with the arms isolation exercises or something?

Either that or do more days per week

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Ditch the isolation stuff IMO.

 

[dogslife]

If you've got time, add an extra day like I said and ditch some of the isolation stuff, but not all of it

 

[abpanther]

I've got time, it's just a matter of how many days do I want to wake up at 6am to go to the gym before work.

It's awfully tough in winter

 

[Cliffhanger]

It's tougher in winter, but you feel that much better for doing it and it also means on that one day a week you allow yourself to sleep in, it's guilt free.

Seriously, I love knowing that I am putting the effort in that few are willing to.

 

[dogslife]

I was having a problem with overtraining up until a few months ago. Some nights I'd go well over 90mins which I way too long imo. What helped me get past this was writing up workout plans, nothing major, just a list of a few exercises and how many sets of each, factoring in 2-3 mins rest in between and within about a week I was able to figure out how many sets I needed to do each workout in order to get it done within an hour. Works a treat, I leave the gym wrecked just about bang on the hour mark every time now

 

[Cliffhanger]

Over training isn't all bad, it's generally the people who are most intrinsically motivated and mentally tough who end up over training.

 

[dogslife]

Depends on the level of overtraining I think. If you're only going 10-20 minutes too long it's not going to have catastrophic effects. But training for 2 hours is outrageous imo. After about 80mins your body would start going catabolic I would think, and whatever you've gained up until that point you start to lose. That's my take on it anyway, it's up to each individual to decide what they're capable of

 

[abpanther]

Firstly, thanks everyone for your feedback, I'm trying to take it all in and work out what I should do.

Okay so this morning I trained the following:

Day 2 (5x5 + Back/Biceps)
Squats (8 sets with warmups)
Flat Bench Press (8 sets with warmups)
Barbell Rows (8 sets with warmups)
Pull Ups (4 sets)
Chin Ups (4 sets)
Seated Row (4 sets)
Barbell Curls (4 sets)
Incline Dumbells (4 sets)

I really tried to focus on keeping my breaks to a minimum, I managed to get it all done in 90mins, do you guys think that is still too long?

If so I'm thinking maybe if I just reduce my sets to 3 instead of 4 for the non 5x5 exercises (everything after the first 3 exercises), that would definitely get me closer to 60mins as it would remove 5 sets from the workout.

Thoughts?