I'm a person who likes to take the holistic approach on things, and that includes my workouts.
And it can be frustrating when you want to do every single thing (cardio, strength, volume, skills, yoga / mobility) but there's no time. Well, maybe this routine of mine can give you some ideas on how to implement everything in a tight schedule (or you can just copy exactly what I do).
Prerequisites
- You know what you want out of your workouts (hypertrophy, skill acquisition, flexibility, strength, fat loss?)
- Wake up early enough to do it all or set aside 2 hours per day (can be done all at once or separate 30 minute sessions throughout the day)
1 - Low intensity, Steady State, Fasted Cardio (30 minutes)
I set my alarm every morning, 7 days a week at 4:30 am. Sometimes I wake up earlier on my own at 4 am, or I sleep in an hour late (5 - 5:30 am). That means I'm sleepy, fasted, stiff, and sometimes with extreme DOMS.
Motivation and discipline at the crack of dawn is not an issue for me because:
- I enjoy my workouts
- I have no other choice (health and disease prevention is my number one priority)
- My day and work flow goes better if I had a workout in first thing
- And most importantly, I put together killer Spotify playlists lol
So in order to wake up both my muscles AND my mind, all mentally ready for a strong workout, I do 30 minutes of cardio first thing with loud uplifting music (with headphones of course, we don't want to wake up the husband, children and neighbors now do we?) . That's usually 15 minutes on the stationary bike, followed by 15 minutes on the rowing machine.
Doing it first thing fasted at a low intensity uses your stored fat for fuel, and it doesn't exhaust you, therefore you warm yourself up while still having enough energy to do the actual workout.
And I know what some say that you shouldn't do cardio before strength training, but hey, if it works for the Rock (Dwayne Johnson) then why not for me too?
2 - Warmup and Core (15-30 minutes)
But cardio is not my actual warmup. Depending on what I'm doing for the day, my warmup usually consists dynamic yoga moves like Sun Salutations and Cat Cows, and preparation sets like scapular pull ups on a Pull day. I also like to get my core warmed up as well, including my back.
No matter if it's a Push day or a Leg day, your core is always being used for the big compound movements, so why not get it prepared for a killer session?
So I work the abs with my warmup before the main workout. Details on what I do for warmup and core on separate posts.
3 - The training session (20 or 30 minutes)
You do NOT need to kill yourself in 2 hour training sessions in order to have an efficient strength workout. And it doesn't matter if you're aiming for low rep strength session, a high volume hypertrophy session, or training for advanced calisthenic skill progressions. 20 or 30 minutes are more than enough, if you're smart about it.
Just today I woke up with massive DOMS that have me screaming when I sit and stand up (and I walk funny), just from a 10 minute bodyweight squat session as yesterday's leg day! So even if you're REALLY short on time, a 10 minute microworkout can be more than enough and can even cover a full body training in that short amount of time.
I will be going into more detail in separate posts on each type of training session on how to get the most out of them at a minimal time, but the gist of it is, whether low rep with isometrics or high rep for volume, you should do them at minimal to no rest times. You just keep going until the time is up (or you can't move anymore lol) with only 5-15 seconds for a breather. It's like 20 minutes of constant myo reps.
No matter what your goal, you'll have the added cardiovascular bonus, as it'll get your heart pumping and turn your sweat machine on.
And you can either have them as a split routine (such as Push, Pull, Legs) or even a killer full body workout in the form of Crossfit just with a few compound movements.
You can even split it to 15 minute skill building, and then 15 minute focused workout on muscle building.
4 - Yoga and meditation for cooldown (usually 20 minutes for yoga and 10 minutes of meditation)
Yoga is so beneficial, I don't consider it as optional, but compulsory. It improves your flexibility and balance, strengthens your body, helps with muscle soreness and tightness, relaxes your body and mind after a tough workout, and helps improve your form on your exercises thus preventing injuries.
Meditation and breathing exercises (both are 2 different things) are also highly beneficial to reduce stress, and improve focus and clarity. And doing them at the end of your tough workout is perfect.
I do different things depending on the day. I may do backbends on Pull day, flexibility on Push day, balance or Warrior sequences on Leg day, or more specific things like easing back pain or improving an area for a calisthenic skill I'm working on.
For this I use the Yoga Studio app, but you can use any app or YouTube video for your yoga and meditation needs. I also occasionally just have meditation music on headphones (to drown out the city noise and the family's footsteps / conversation etc if they're already awake) and let my mind become empty and still for 10 minutes... while my daughter pushes a chair in the kitchen so she can climb up and grab a whole pack of salt and waste it all over the place lol.
But seriously though, after this 2 hour session, I can handle just about everything life throws at me... most of the time lol.
I got everything in, without worrying about skipping cardio, or if I'm doing enough yoga, and meditation is the icing on the cake. My reward for going through all of the different kinds of workouts in those 2 hours and it feels fantastic.
Try it out and let me know what you think.