T Nation

Can I Spend Too Long At The Gym

Bodybuilding
#1

Hey folks,

Was just reading one of those, “If i were a movie star with all day to train then I’d be huge” posts and it got me thinking.

I’m not married, no kids, lots of spare time, and I could probably spend at least an hour & half if not 2 hours a day in the gym… But do I really want to? Am I going to make much bigger gains than doing my current 45 minute workouts?

I’ve read a few articles saying if you spend longer than an hour in the gym you start breaking muscles down & cortisol starts going nuts & stuff.

I’ve tried to search on T-Nation but find nothing.
Cheers,
Jon

#2

What I would do is have a 45 minutes main workout and a 15-20 minutes extra workout to raise GPP or lagging body part.

Yes, its true that your testosterone level will greatly decrease if you stay in the gym for too long.

Fahd

#3

Maybe you could spend those extra 45-75 minutes a day looking for a wife and kids…

:slight_smile:

#4

F**k looking for a wife and kids.

Spend that time looking for a piece of ass.

#5

It depends how many sets/reps you are doing. What are your goals? When I am getting ready for a powerlifting contest I rest about 5 minutes between sets. Then my workout may take up to 2 hours.

beef

#6

dont the metal melitia guys spend 4 hours working out. and look at the size of them

#7

a lot of pler’s workout for hours, like beefcake said, but it’s not a constant 2 or 3 hours, long rests inbetween sets, it’s needed for your atp to restore. remember in meets during the lifts there can be a long time in between lifts. And again it’s about what’s your goal. My new girl does afull body workout every 4th day, she runs the others, and spends almost 2 hours in the gym, no complaints here.

#8

I’ve been putting some thought into this myself, I think that it all comes down to the adaptability of the human body. I would definitely agree with most of the stuff you read about keeping the workouts under an hour because most of those articles are written for people just starting out. I think it all has to be balanced with your recovery/nutrition modes but I would assume that as your training age increases you body could handle workouts that were a little longer without negative side effects- but I wouldn’t just double the time of the workouts right away. I’ll leave it to the smart guys to figure out if longer is better, but I think it can be manageable.
Personally in my experience my body will usually respond better from throwing that extra hour into my sleep time than into my training time.

#9

my workouts are ussually at least 2 hours, hour and a half if i’m in a hurry…ten minute warmup doing steps, rest is lifting, five times a week…it’s the way i’ve done it since the begining and always have had great results…

#10

I’m a HIT lifter. 25-40 minutes, twice a week. I used to do the hour-plus thing 5x and even 6x a week and had almost nothing to show for it but way too many overtraining symptoms.

#11

I personally spend a lot of time exercising. It’s not uncommon for me to hit the 2 hour mark. A lot of people fret on overtraining and I think that overtraining is a major issue but each individual has to test their self to see what their body can handle. But…it’s not like I’m in the gym supersetting for 2 hours.

I stretch for 20 minutes, warm up for 10, take long breaks during certain exercises. I have more of a powerlifter mentality where I lift a heavy percentage of my max for a few reps and I need a good amount of time to rest. I am not the type who goes for the pump, and does what seems like endless sets and reps. If I did that for 2 hours I’d surely overtrain.

#12

If you are doing high rep, low intensity (by low intensity I mean 50-70% of your 1 rep max you are lifting at), and short rest time workouts, then yes 45 minutes to an hour will be enough.

beef