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This is a guest post from Rafi Bar-Lev from the community fitness site, Passionate Fitness – Fitness Tips where he recently wrote about compound exercises. Check it out!

So many people are convinced that they have to spend hours at the gym doing the treadmill, aerobic classes, special “core” classes and who knows what else, but the truth is you really don’t need to spend so much time at the gym to get great fitness.

In fact, sometimes – less really is more. Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Long gym hours are boring. You may laugh at this, but making fitness boring is the worst mistake you can make when trying to get in great shape. Why? Because you need to be set on working out for the long term, and considering that you’re probably doing fitness as a hobby and not as a job, if you don’t enjoy it – chances are you’ll quit. Spending less time at the gym but consistently going is by far better than spending one month doing super-intense exercises.

2. Spending hours working out isn’t necessary. Doing exercise more intensely,  known as high intensity interval training (or what I’ve called “intervals training“), one of the exercises to lose weight, has been shown to have the same fat burning results as long hours of cardio. Not only that – but in some ways it’s actually better. People are surprised to hear this because we think that the more we suffer, the better something is – but when it comes to working out it’s simply not the case.

3. You end up wasting time. The seems counter-intuitive, but the more time you’re at the gym – the more time you’re wasting. How many people are out of shape and talk about how they go to the gym 3 times a week for 1 and a half to 2 hours each time. But then when you actually analyse it, they’re spending 40 minutes in the sauna, 30 minutes talking to friends, and the rest of the time they’re just doing the treadmill. When you have less time – you use your time better.

In conclusion, more is not always better – and that’s especially the case when it comes to working out. Instead of focusing on time, focus on results – and when you actually do take the time to spend time in the gym or working out at home/playground – make it actually count!

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Thanks to Rafi for writing this article for Zen to Fitness. The points he makes certainly rang true to me especially when I was younger and just getting into exercise and fitness. I used to hit the gym and chat for most of the time while doing volume based workouts, so basically it would take me about 1 and a half hours to complete a workout if I was lucky. It’s amazing when we realise that we don’t need to spend hours in the gym doing either weights or cardio to get great results, or maintain a healthy body…. In fact overdoing things can be extremely counter productive.

A few High intensity sessions a week plus good nutrition and an active lifestyle will do wonders for your health and physical appearance!

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