Not sure if this will be a rant or a request of info, lol.

How comes that everywhere I go it only talks about cutting down workout times, 15 minutes workout, 5 minutes per day, I even found a 1 minute workout!!
Is it just me enjoying the gym? Is it just me that has to stick to 1 hour workouts 4 to 6 times per week because of lacking time but would gladly do 2 hours everyday? Hell! I'm so strange?
Just out of a website "What if I said that with my plan you can get results in just 18 minutes a day?" I'd tell you I'm going to repeat your workout at least 3 times, not because I have to, but because I LIKE to. Again "You don't need to spend long, grueling hours at the gym." But I love the long, grueling hours at the gym, honestly I find they are always too short.

Is there something wrong in longer workouts? Why everywhere I find short workout times?

Yeah, myv workout time is my "alone" time - don't want to make it short. mm, I've got three kids six and under -marathon training is sounding good right now!

I'm there for an hour everyday. Would go longer, but then I feel like I'm hogging the machines...just using the gym in my condo building. And I use that term "gym" pretty loosely...When I belonged to a real gym I'd spend about 2hrs there everyday, I like it. Advertising short workouts is just a marketing tool IMO, 'cause the majority of the population doesn't go to a gym, and if they do they want to make it as short as possible. They just don't understand that little effort = little gain.

Matt

As someone who dislikes long workouts ....

Some people find it hard to find an hour or more, 2-3 times a week, to spend at the gym. Work, kids, study, sleep ... sometimes other things take priority. For me, a 1-hour workout is actually more like 2+ hours, by the time I factor in travelling, stretching, changing, showering, etc. I work long hours and gym time, especially quality time when I'm not already tired, can be hard to find.

Some people find it physically unpleasant to work out. I'm one of them. I dislike exercise, despite the fact I've been working out for years. I like the results, but not the process. So for me, 20 minutes of unpleasantness beats 1 hour of unpleasantness hands down. I don't enjoy the "burn" - to me, it's painful - and I've never gotten an endorphin rush from physical effort. I just get puffed out and uncomfortable. I think people are just wired up differently in their response to exercise.

Finally, I don't think it's true that long hours in the gym are required to produce an effect. Of course it depends on what your goals are. I don't want to be a bodybuilder. I want to build a little muscle and maintain it. Shorter, more intense workouts do that for me, with minimal time and discomfort.

Some people like spending hours in the gym, and that's fine with me! I like spending hours with a book, but not everyone does.

Rachel

I've done both...spent 5-6 days a week 60-90 minutes a day at the gym versus 2 days a week at 20-25 minutes. Frankly, my fitness level and fat loss has improved as I've decreased the time at the gym. I think I was overtraining.

The benefit to me in being at the gym less is that I have more time for other things. I can go to the beach and walk or swim or surf OR I can do other things in life rather than spend hours and hours at the gym.

I think it just comes down to where you want to spend your time and how much you have and what you enjoy doing.

I am a total believer in moving the ol' bod...we just need to find out what level works for us as individuals. I can certainly relate to the highs of working out 'cuz I've experienced them but at this point in my life, I have additional priorities so I've chosen to cut back a little on gym time and it actually seems to have broken my fat loss stall.

Yeah, I trained for a marathon walk once and spent hours and hours racking up miles. Lost weight, but got mighty bored.

Then I took up ultimate style fighting and trained 8-10 hours a week and weight room sessions on the side. Looked great but everything hurt all the time.

Now, I hit the weights in my spare bedroom 5 days a week, 20 minutes a day tops and look and feel better than ever.

'Course I work out at home. Now if I trained at a chrome palace that was crawling with MILFs on the prowl, well then I might start lingering.

There is some great research out that says anything longer than 45 minutes really elevates catabolism through the increase of cortisol.

Of course this is for someone who is working out very hard.

But there are those who can train for a very long time and are fine with it. The decrease in training time is good, because you should try to get as much work done in the shortest amount of time possible. So you HAVE to work out harder. You can't bust your butt for a long time.

If one was training for strength then yea longer rest between sets and maybe a little longer session is needed.

But for fat loss and muscle gain..get in and get out!!!

I'm one of those freaks who honsetly loves working out, too, but I've recently had to scale back a bit due to arthritis problems in my ankles. I've found scaling back beneficial both in terms of my ankle pain and my life! I'm doing enough to maintain muscle mass and cardiovascular fitness - 2 30-minute cardio sessions a week, 1 60 minute cardio and 2 strength training sessions - but no more. I like regaining some evenings to myself without the workout obligation, even though as I said I LIKE working out. Gives me some much needed time to run errands, sit outside, read, or whatever.

I do a 4 day split (4-6 moves 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps each), takes about 30 minutes (I rarely chit chat).

My full body workout (7 moves 3 sets of 5-8 reps each) I did every other day and that was under 30-45. But I just lift, if I do cardio it is usually done on a day I don't lift.

As mentioned previously in the thread, working out for too long and at a high intensity will take your body into a big catabolic state which will thrash your immune system and promote muscle breakdown rather than muscle growth.

I find that the best workouts are usually 45-60 minutes in length. You can often squeeze similar workouts into less time though. Try not resting too long in between sets, or try circuit training.