Workouts should be an hour long

... or should they?

Confused minds say “No!” so everything in bodybuilding gets simplified to the point that it becomes useless. Keep your points simple if you want lots of views or want to sell product. The problem is, very little in this world is simple. Lets take a look at the optimal time to workout, first of all, optimal for what and optimal for whom?

Optimal for you or optimal for your trainer? Doesnt it strike you as an astounding coincidence that the oft reported “1 hour is the optimal workout time” just happens to be 1/24 of a revolution of the earth??? How are our bodies so linked to the planetary rotation? They are not! One hour is a convienient time for personal trainers, not an optimal amount of time to workout. Optimal for health, strength gain, muscle mass gain, or for time effeciency?

Take a poll at the gym and ask people “How long is optimal to workout?” and everyone will emphatically know the “correct” answer and quote their favorite teenage SARMS broccoli head - and everyone will all give you a different answer. Keep an open mind about how long might be optimal to workout and consider experimenting if you are an advanced lifter who has hit a plateau. Try 45 minute workouts for 6 months then try 90 minute workouts for 6 months and see if either reboots your gains.

The optimal time to workout is very complicated because it depends on so many factors:

• type of workout -powerlifting, bodybuilding, or cardiovascular

• size of bodyparts being worked - big like quads or little like biceps

• experience level - beginner or advanced

• amount of sleep

• nutrition

• stress levels

• when your last workout was

Big muscles with big weights is very taxing on the body which is why powerlifting workouts are shorter and have fewer sets that bodybulding workouts. Workouts involving quads, chest, or lats tend to be very taxing. Workouts that hit the little guys like calves, arms, or shoulders are much less taxing.

Today I did a 80 minute weight workout. I did 55 minutes of lats followed by 25 minutes of biceps. Something that you develop after decades of lifting is the ability to tell when your body is done and after 55 minutes I could tell that my lats were done and I was pretty tired from moving that big weight. The thing is, nothing says that you cant do little stuff after that. I used supersets most of the workout so my workout volume was very high, maybe 30 sets in the 80 minutes. Doing biceps and abs doesnt tax the central nervous system so my body has no problem doing 25 minutes of those, and I am 65 years old.

WARNING: If you are a beginner or intermediate lifter then stick to a standard workout plan and do it unmodified. The temptation for new lifters is to fall into the “more is better” mindset and lots of sets which is counterproductive.