Among the most common questions I get a lot is how to handle workouts when people are in a rush — either from stress or traveling — or they’re just tired.

In this video, I’ll offer some quick tips on getting the most out of your workout time to maintain your consistency, muscle mass and hormonal profile.

With a few minor adjustments, you can make a real difference in your workouts.

It’s so easy to operate on auto-pilot when you’re stressed or tired, you may be falling back on old habits and your typical workout routine, when doing less may be a better strategy than doing more.

Here’s four questions to think about when you need to shorten your workout sessions due to time, stress or fatigue:

  1. If you’re feeling more stress, are you decreasing your workout volume? Maintaining mass and strength may mean cutting back on the duration of your workouts or the number of sets.
  2. What’s better: Performing low or high intensity loads? If you’re cutting back on sets, consider choosing loads of higher intensities.
  3. Are your keeping your workouts simple or more complex? Reducing the complexity of your exercise — and doing fewer exercises overall — lowers the demands on your brain and nervous system and allows you to recapture the joy of working out.
  4. Have you incorporated Big Bang exercises into your workouts? These really save time by accomplishing multiple objectives in just one exercise.

Just a reminder, I show you how to design workouts geared to your current stress levels based on a series of questionnaires in my book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! (now in its second edition).

Love and chi,

Paul

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