Albert K. Park

            We can all get burned out training with the traditional rep and set schemes. Does 8 reps of 3 sets sound familiar or how about 6 reps of 4 sets? Yes, we were all taught to weight train this way and if you walk into any gym in the country you will find people working out this way. The problem is that without increasing resistance and continually changing exercises the results stop coming.

            Dan John (Strength & Conditioning Coach) says in Never Let Go, “programs will be effective for 4-6 weeks, you need to change it up.” So how long have you been training with 8 -10 reps? If you’re not monitoring maximum rep percentages and training with a specific program you can be slowing down your progress. A lot of us will get done with an exercise feeling you could have done more weight or one extra rep. This is an instant red flag that something needs to change, more resistance. Weight and reps are not the only ways you can increase resistance. You can make the workout more difficult by experimenting with tempo, complex movements, supersets, and more challenging exercises.

            Are you feeling a little lost yet? No worries just breathe and keep reading. At Hocevar Performance, my clients use a variety of training methods. One method that is great for fat loss and gaining lean muscle mass is training with time. Training for time ensures a full out effort without the guesswork of how much weight to use, since we will be incorporating body weight exercises, and offers an opportunity to continually improve.

            For most exercises I start clients off with 40 seconds of work and a 20 second break or 50 seconds of work and a 10 second break. This basically means that you will be working hard, performing as many reps as you can in the work period and then resting for the specific amount of rest time. We will usually work with 2-3 rounds without stopping.

            Training with a specific time schedule will be a rude wake up call. Kind of like your alarm clock after the third snooze. Take the opportunity to track your progress as well. See how many reps you get the first time you do the workout, than after a week try it again. I bet you that you will see improvement. There is nothing like training with goals.

            Try this full body workout that utilizes a 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of break time.

            This is a 5 minute Rapid Fat Loss Circuit that will allow you to push yourself to your full potential. The workout will also give you an opportunity to set some goals (beating your previous number of reps) and go after them. An important note is that when you train with time, you really do get out what you put in. Intensity is everything and you are the only one who controls how great your workout can be.

            Pushing your tempo and intensity can be a difficult aspect in training especially if you are training with rep and set schemes. I warn you now that when you train with time not only will you fatigue your muscles, you will be sweating. I often get cursed out, evil stares, and sometimes a physical threat when I put my clients through these timed training sessions. Don’t worry, they aren’t crazy, they’re just working hard. Please feel free to curse my name when your trying this new training method out!