If you’re a professional, your life is always busy. My clients roster includes executives, software engineers, attorneys, accountants, day traders, and bankers. Many of them have families and active social lives. Some spend several hours each day commuting from the suburbs. Getting the most out of their workouts is not just a nice idea, it’s a necessity.

Yet despite feeling crunched, many people waste time at the gym. I often see gym regulars performing the same workouts year after year with little to show for it. New clients frequently tell me they don’t have a plan when they show up for their workouts. And don’t even get me started on all the people I see texting, watching videos, or scrolling through social media in between sets.

If you want to make the most of your precious workout time, you need to change the way you train. Keep reading to learn my four favorite strategies to get more bang-for-your buck at the gym.

Keep a training log.

Writing down your workouts lets you assess progress and adjust your training accordingly. If you aren’t tracking your training, you’ll never know if what you’re doing is taking you closer to your goals.

Recording your workouts helps you track progress in the short and long term. You may remember a few lifetime personal records on big lifts, but nobody’s memory is good enough to recall all their personal records for various exercises and rep schemes. I know I have a hard time remembering what I did last week, let alone 3 months ago (in the case of an exercise I haven’t done in a while).

I recommend recording every single workout in a notebook or on your phone. Track the exercises, sets, reps, and weights used for each workout. Track the time and/or distance travelled for cardio workouts.

It’s also useful to note how you felt during the workout. For example, if you found a particular exercise challenging at a certain weight, make a note to focus on form without increasing the weight the following week. Write down any information you think will be useful. Then, periodically review your logs. It’s motivating to look back over months and years of training logs to see how far you’ve come. 

Focus and minimize distractions.

The more you focus during your workouts, the better your results will be. Don’t just go through the motions; really focus on the exercise you are performing at all times. Try to get in the zone as you train.

Set your intention before the set begins. Focus one tempo, using perfect form, owning the entire range of motion, or really feeling the target muscle working.

Phones are perhaps the biggest distraction at the gym. Scrolling through social media, answering emails, texting, or taking calls wastes time and prevents you from training with the intensity necessary to see results.

Keep your phone on you (in Do Not Disturb mode) if you need it for music or to track your workout. If you don’t need your phone, leave it in the locker room.

Training partners can be awesome motivators, but workouts with friends can sometimes devolve into two-hour long gossip sessions. If you train with someone else, stay on each other to keep things moving. You’ll have time to catch up in the locker room after the workout is over.

Use timed rest intervals.

A few years ago I did a program that instructed me to take specific rest intervals between sets. This was the first time I had ever paid much attention to rest. In the past, I took as much time as I wanted before beginning the next set.

Holy crap did this program smoke me! I realized that although I was pretty strong for a beginner lifter, I had been completely neglecting other areas of my fitness (namely cardio).

Some people have the opposite problem: they are used to taking too little rest which prohibits them from using appropriately heavy weights. These people are likely leaving strength and muscle gains on the table even though they feel they are working hard.

If you’ve never held yourself to strict rest intervals before, give it a shot and see how it affects your workout. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• High rep, lighter, metabolic work (eg arm training in the 12-20 rep range): 30-60 seconds between sets
• Power work (eg jumps or throws in the 1-5 rep range): 45-60 seconds between sets
• Moderate/challenging strength work (eg compound movements or assistance work in the 6-12 rep range): 60-90 seconds between sets
• Heavy, intense strength work (eg barbell lifts in the 1-5 rep range): 2 minutes or more between sets

Follow a program.

Too many people show up to the gym without a plan and decide what to do in the moment based on how they’re feeling. Although doing something is better than skipping the gym entirely, this is no way to get real results. If you value your time or are serious about achieving a goal, you need to follow a training program.

A training program is an intelligently-designed roadmap which helps you reach a goal such as fat loss, building muscle, getting stronger, or recovering from an injury. I write 3-4 month blocks of training consisting of different phases that build off each other. Taking a long-term approach helps my clients build consistency and get better every week without spending hours and hours at the gym.

Once you begin a program, stick with the it until the end. Hopping from program to program wastes time and kills your progress.

There are many ways to find a program. The best way is to hire a qualified online or in-person coach to provide individual guidance. Always ask any potential coach about their approach to programming before you sign up. 

If you don’t have access to a trainer, you can purchase a DIY program online from someone in the fitness industry you trust and respect. You can also find some good free programs online on various fitness websites. Make sure whatever program you select is appropriate for your skill level and goals.

Looking for a workout program specifically designed for busy professionals? Check out Full45, a three month training program featuring twice weekly workouts you can complete in 45-minutes or less. Click here to learn more and purchase your copy today.

If you’re a busy professional who feels like you’ve been getting less-than-stellar results from your workouts, try implementing these tips. I guarantee that with increased focus, fewer distractions, and a good program that you track and periodically review, you will make much faster progress toward your goals without adding extra time or workouts.