The Art Of Training Smart

I could only find 20 minutes spare time in between training sessions yesterday afternoon as my schedule was packed. Faced with this challenge, it was either I skipped my gym workout or did a super-quick one. In other words, if I decided to hit the gym, I would be relegated to a quickie workout. 

And a quickie workout was what I challenged myself to do today. It was at least better than having no workout. As its name suggests, I had to fully utilise my time and effort in getting maximum results. Not wanting to waste time training minor muscles such as biceps and triceps, I decided to train my major muscles instead.

Running through my mind quickly, I shortlisted my options. Finally, I decided to just zero in on two exercises – namely chin-ups and cable reverse flyes.

Chin-ups are an excellent exercise especially when one is hard pressed for time. By executing it in perfect form without any swinging and using a wide grip with palms facing away from me, I could feel my lats, rhomboids, shoulders, biceps, forearms and core being worked on. Next up was the cable reverse flyes. Interestingly, I felt myself lifting heavier today! Breaking through my usual plateau, I made significant progress when previously I was always stuck at a particular weight. This time, I worked my deltoids and lats.

Looking at the clock and the minutes that ticked away, two exercises were all I could accomplish. 

<Fast forward to today>

When I woke up this morning, I felt the instant yet all so familiar delayed muscle soreness syndrome. If you asked me, the workout yesterday was ultra-short but I felt really good. 

Many a times, it’s not how hard you train. Rather, it’s all about how smart you train. Ganbate everyone!!