Being busy in college is almost always a given but incorporating quick and effective exercises will keep you from feeling like you can’t do anything, or don’t have any time for exercise that day. So, this week I'll be talking about the best workouts for busy college students.
Personally, I am always subconsciously thinking about my time constraints, how long I have to do something during the day, and when I have to be places in order to be on time. One of my worst fears is to be late, miss a time commitment, or fail to turn in an assignment on time. So, naturally I will always be thinking of the most effective ways I can hit all my bases in the gym, depending on the muscle group I’m working that day.
The topics that I will be covering below, with tips from Dr. Anderson (my uncle), are compound movements, supersets, and drop-sets.
Compound Movements~
A compound movement is essentially an exercise that activates a bunch of muscles at the same time, which is pretty much hitting the jackpot if you’re wanting to get in and get out in a short amount of time.
The movements that are the most popular among the gym community, that you will hear about the most are deadlifts, squats, bench-press, pull-ups, and hip-thrusts.
A basic rule of thumb when you’re just entering the gym, or you haven’t tried a movement before, is to start off with a weight that is less than what you honestly think you can do, because you can always add more weight afterwards. This is essential to keeping you away from injuries, because I promise you, there is no shame in just lifting the bar or only adding 5-10lbs for your first attempt.
There is no need to ego lift and hurt yourself in the process. Plus, when you ego lift and add too much weight, you’re wasting time and you’re not even benefiting from the exercise.
Personally, I enjoy hip-thrusts or deadlifts the most, but that is only because I can do more weight and I feel more impressive when I’m in the gym, but that’s just my ego talking.
“By doing compound movements, moving multiple muscles at a time, it is also a cardiovascular exercise due to the increased oxygen demand for multiple muscle groups at the same time.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
Supersets~
A superset is essentially doing two different exercises right after each other with almost no time in between. Typically, with these, they are done with accessory exercises that will be targeting the same muscle group, so for example when you’re hitting legs you could mix Bulgarian split-squats with walking lunges (btw, this will absolutely kill your quads).
By doing supersets it is, 1) saving time by basically doing two exercises at once, but 2) it is also giving you a killer workout that is effective to growing the muscle. I try to incorporate at least one or two supersets into my normal workout routine because I find them very effective, and it definitely gets my heart pumping.
Depending on the muscle group I’m working that day it will obviously change which ones I do, but these are my current favorites:
For Lower Body:
- Bulgarian Split-Squats -> Walking Lunges
- Heel Elevated Goblet Squats -> Heel Elevated Alternating Lunges
- Leg Press -> Calf Raises (on Leg Press)
For Upper Body:
- Dumbbell Curls -> Hammer Curls
- Shoulder Press -> Push-ups
- Tricep Extensions -> Shoulder Flys
* The symbol ( -> ) is being used to indicate "going into".
“Incorporating supersets are a great way to increase the intensity of your workout, while also cutting the time in half, especially if you’re alternating an upper body exercise with a lower body exercise. For example, doing leg press with dumbbell squats.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
Drop-sets ~
A drop-set is essentially when you start off an exercise with a heavy weight doing less reps, and then progressively lowering the weight but doing more reps until failure. Another term people may call these are burn outs, which is somewhat of a better name since your muscles will definitely be burning after you complete the sets.
By doing drop-sets, it again, saves time but it is also very helpful at getting greater muscle growth in a short period of time. But one thing that should be noted with these is that it is essential to continuously keep your form in check to prevent hurting yourself since you will be in a state of fatigue.
Truthfully, I don’t incorporate drop-sets in my workouts as much as I should, but it’s one of those things that I keep in the back of mind to do if I can’t think of an exercise to do that day. But the one drop-set that I do regularly is the seated abductor and adductor machines that target your glutes and thighs (inner and outer).
I’ve personally seen a good amount of progress in myself since I started using the machines, but some people (specifically my best friend Kayri) continue to tell me that they don’t do anything, so I don’t know what to believe.
“A great technique to gain more definition in your muscles, is progressively lower the weight but doing high reps, because when you’re fatigued, that’s when the most blood is pumping into your muscles to get that pump you’re looking for.” - Dr. Patrick Anderson, DC
As a way to close out this post I’ll just say that being busy in college is okay and is normal, but it’s all about what you do with the time that you have that counts. Taking the time to work on yourself physically will help you more in the long run, and by going to the gym for a quick 30-minute workout doing a compound movement, a superset, and a drop-set will get you all set… see what I did there?
Anyway, by doing just three types of exercises during a workout every day you will start to see the results you may or may not be looking for.
Thank you again for reading, and tune in next Monday to read about the keys to time management where I go in depth on the ways that I personally found to strengthen my time management skills, along with the best ways overall to improve your ways of managing your limited time wisely.
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