For a beginner it’s always tempting to think that just because the key to muscle growth is breaking down as much muscle tissue as possible, that working out for as long as you can with endless sets and exercises is the best way to achieve the goal.
It makes sense, after all, right? However, not everything in bodybuilding is as straightforward as it may appear to be, because the human body is one complex machine and is far from straightforward.
When a person trains, growth hormone and testosterone levels reach a peak, and they usually begin to decline around the 45 minute mark. It’s for this reason that training any longer than say, an hour, is usually a bad idea – particularly if you are training without steroids.
What’s more is, when testosterone and growth hormone levels drop, cortisol levels begin to rise, and cortisol is a hormone which does the following 3 things:
1: Halts tissue growth.
2: Impairs protein synthesis.
3: Turns protein to glucose.
Vince Gironda believed, therefore – as many others now do – that the key to the best workout and results is short, intense sessions.
But, what does this mean?
Basically, it means without compromising form or the quality of your workout in any way, keep things short as possible. It doesn’t mean do your reps half-baked and sling weights around in rapid motion – that’s not the slow, controlled bodybuilding style.
Instead, do the following to keep your bodybuilding sessions short:
1: Have everything planned so you know what you are doing before you even enter the gym, and time isn’t being wasted deciding on what to do.
2: If you need to have equipment arranged or setup beforehand to make your workout even more seamless, then do so.
3: Keep your rests in between sets as short as possible. Rapid breathing can allow you to get more oxygen into your system to quickly rejuvenate your muscles for the next effort, so don’t sit slouched over and forget to breath, or it’ll take forever to recover.
Again – short and sweet, just like this article.