09 Oct Build Muscle and Endurance with a 30-Minute Gym Workout

NYC’s 30-Minute Gym Workout

Ladies, by now it is abundantly clear that to get the lean, toned body you want, you need to lift weights. Heavy weights, ideally. Yoga, Pilates, Barre, and many other types of exercises work well, too. But resistance training takes the cake when it comes to body shaping. With that in mind, plan to carve a few 30-minute gym workouts into your schedule this month.

Not everyone has the time for the two-hour weight lifting workouts some of the best bikini models factor into their day. We get that. Most of us don’t have that kind of time, either. Fitness becomes a part of your lifestyle, once you get into a rhythm. Some of us can set aside more time than others.

If you’ve got just a little bit of time, you can still make it work. You just have to really maximize that time and don’t waste any of it on non-essential things.

Why a 30-Minute Gym Workout?

It’s not at all uncommon to have a day where you literally have exactly 60 minutes to spare, including getting to and from the gym. That leaves just a little bit of time for a workout. So if all you’ve got is 30 minutes, take it! Do something with it.

You can do a lot in that amount of time. That’s double the length of a 15-minute workout (see, there’s always a silver lining). Take care of your health and fitness by just making the most of whatever time you have.

If you’ve got an hour to spare, including travel time and shower time, 30 minutes is about the most you’re going to be able to spend working out. Let’s just be real. Unless you can shower and change as quickly as Supergirl and literally work right next to the gym, you need more time.

15-minute commute + 30 minutes working out + 15 minutes changing, showering, and blow-drying = an hour

For anyone with that kind of busy schedule, we suggest maximizing that time with a 30-minute gym workout that builds muscle and endurance each and every time you do it.

3 30-Minute Gym Workouts (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced)

Here are three different 30-minute workouts you can do at the gym. Each can be tailored to your individual fitness experience and current health status. We also suggest talking with a personal trainer first, too, because she or he might be able to really take your 30 minutes to the next level with some advanced techniques.

Beginner 30-Minute Gym Workout

Here’s a 30-minute workout you can do at the gym, originally published on LiveStrong. You’ll need:

• Barbell
• Weights
• Dumbbells
• Kettlebells
• Pull-up Bar
• Jump Box

CompleteBody Gym in Manhattan has all of that. If you’re not a CB member, check out our gym. If you’re outside of Manhattan, any quality gym should provide this equipment for its members, so talk to the gym staff if you don’t see them.

You won’t need to do each of the movements every time you hit the gym. The idea is to circulate between two and five of them, maximizing your repetitions, and then taking a short rest. Continue until you reach 30 minutes. Since the article doesn’t really provide a great example of this, here’s a routine you can do:

5 Minute Warmup – Jump rope, jog, jumping jacks, etc. At the gym, sometimes the easiest way to warm up is just to jump on a treadmill for a slow jog.

1. Jump Box: 20 reps (How to do it)
2. Kettlebells: 20 swings (Watch this to do it right)
3. Dumbbell Squats: 20 reps (Video)
4. Walking Plank: 30-60 seconds (Video)

Rest for a minute between each exercise. Once you’ve completed a complete set (all four exercises), do it again. Continue until you hit the 25-minute mark. Then spend 5 minutes on the floor, stretching out or simply doing some mindful meditation.

Intermediate 30-Minute Gym Workout

For intermediates, continue your focus on maximizing your time with a rotation-based workout. However, take it a step further by ramping up the bodyweight movement.

This quick 30-minute gym workout published in Men’s Fitness is ideal for both men and women. You’ll build fat, burn muscle, and start to really see some changes in your shape soon enough.

You’ll need:

• Dumbbells
• Pull up bar or TRX rows (optional, you can use dumbbells)
• Kettlebells

Very simple.

• This routine starts with a simple warm up of prisoner squats, elevated pushups, and prisoner reverse lunges.
• Then, you move on to a round of the following resistance exercises: Bulgarian or regular split squats, dumbbell chest presses, TRX rows (or pull-ups, or chest-supported dumbbell rows).
• Next, complete three rounds of the following: kettlebell front squats, dumbbell incline presses, dumbbell chest-supported rows.
• Finally, complete the routine with what they call a “total-body finisher” that includes total-body extensions, pushups, lunges, and burpees.

For the exact workout, click here.

Advanced 30-Minute Gym Workout

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This workout from Muscle & Fitness works for people who are super short on time but already know how to work out. You’ll work your entire body by going through a series of exercises for 5 minutes each.

That’s it.

Unlike the above two routines, you won’t cycle through a bunch of different ones. Focus on a particular body part, really work it, and then move on to the next. This is the breakdown:

1. Chest press
2. Leg press
3. Lateral raise
4. Lat pull or seated row
5. Cable pushdown
6. Preacher curl

Since you know yourself and what you can handle, you decide the amount of resistance. Obviously, you will need access to some machines to do these. Also, as noted in the article, mix in your favorite exercises and definitely vary these from time to time. The point is that in 30 minutes, by focusing on a single body part for 5 minutes at a time, you can manage a solid resistance training workout that makes a difference.

Summing It Up

When you really look at it closely, you can do a lot with 30 minutes. These exercises build muscle and endurance, burning fat and utilizing glucose. This is truly an ideal way to spend time at the gym. Toss in a 30-minute swim or spin once a week and you’re golden. But don’t just come to the gym and jump on the treadmill for a half hour and leave. You can do much more with your time. These are some good examples. And if you need any more help, reach out.