Stop Spinning Your Fitness Wheels

When it comes to strength training, doing too many repetitions with light weights is paramount to wasting your time. And time is a commodity in short supply these days!

"When you’re trying to build strength and build muscles, you want to target as many muscle fibers as possible," explains Helen Golden, a personal trainer and director of pilates at Silver Mountain Sports Club.

The formula for success is very simple: upping the weight and decreasing the reps: "Forty biceps curls might build muscular endurance but you're not going to build strength," Golden says.
Of course, it also takes a lot more time to complete those 40 reps with light weights than the 10 to 15 reps with more weight. Net sum gain in time, efficiency and results!

A good rule of thumb: If you're able to do more than 15 repetitions of an exercise, it's time to increase the weight, Golden says. The same is true of cardiovascular exercise. It's easy to jump on the treadmill or elliptical trainer and type in the same speed, incline, and time every session. The problem is your body quickly adapts and your return on investment quickly evaporates.
"If you're trying to maximize time at the gym or decrease your 5k time, work at a higher intensity for a shorter time," says Tony Golden of Park City, UT. "If you can get to and train at or near 85% of your target heart rate, you'll accomplish more for your overall fitness in less time."