The best 30min workout with weights
While I know I might catch some flack for the title of this article I’m going to give you my opinion of what I think is the best 30min workout with weights for a gen pop client. The kind of people who want to build a bit of muscle and get a bit leaner whilst still feeling good. I found that quite a few people were searching for this and having trained lots of people over the years for 30 min sessions I feel like I can provide you with an amazing workout in 30mins with weights. So let’s get started.
What makes a good 30min weight workout?
You need efficiency, mostly compound exercises and ones that are easy to set up. While it might not be ‘optimal’ for strength and muscle building you can still get amazing results with just 30min weights workouts.
Both of these former clients did 3 x 30min workouts with me each week and they got awesome results as you can see.
My go to things for the best 30min workout with weights?
supersets and tri sets
easy transitions
compound exercises and full body workouts
easy set up for the exercise
supersets for the win
I’ve been using supersets for years with clients and myself as they make workouts more efficient in general and if you programme them right you don’t lose much with regards to performance. You can squeeze in a lot of work in a shorter space of time so they work really well when making the best 30min workout with weights. A superset is when you do one exercise then with no rest you perform the next exercise and then after that one you rest. I learned them from Charles Poliquin. There are different ways you can perform supersets.
Antagonistic supersets
It sounds fancy but it’s really quite simple, you pair 1 movement with the opposite and you do the exercises back to back with no rest and then you rest after the superset. These supersets get your heart working a lot and can build strength and muscle at the same time and a balanced body. While one muscle works the opposite one can ‘rest’ so to speak. For example a dumb bell bench press is a horizontal pressing movement and so the opposite is a horizontal pulling movement which could be something like a chest supported row or an inverted row. Below is an example of a vertical press movement and a vertical pull movement. Ideally you would rest a bit longer than 60-90s but this is the best 30min workout with weights so we have to keep rest shorter.
Upper lower supersets too
Another superset that really gets your heart pumping and can build strength too in a short amount of time are upper-lower supersets. The blood pumps to the lower body while you work your legs and then it has to pump to the upper body when you train that. Be careful to not pair exercises that both tax your grip and your lower back too much. A killer combo I like for this is Bulgarian split squats combined with push ups or dumb bell bench press. Or chest supported rows and a squat variation.
tri sets
Similar to supersets tri sets are 3 exercises back to back and then you rest and repeat. You can smash the same muscle with 3 exercises but I prefer to team 3 different exercises back to back when you don’t have a lot of time to train. Again, it’s not “ideal” for strength and muscle building but this ain’t about ideal it’s about efficiency. For this you want exercises that flow well into each other. For example chin ups to push ups to goblet squats. Or Shelc to dumb bell floor presses to single glute bridges. The combos are endless but like I said before. Be careful with pairing exercises that tax your grip and lower back. Eg I wouldn’t pair RDL’s with bent over rows and planks as they all tax the lower back a lot.
Other considerations
In order to make the best 30min workout with weights I wouldn’t choose exercises that take a long time to set up and it’s best to choose exercises that aren’t physically far apart in the gym. Because if you are pairing exercises that are far apart and you’re in a busy gym there’s a chance some wasteman/girl (jerk in UK) might steal your bench if you leave it for 20s. lol. So 2 exercises that both use a bench and dumb bells are a solid choice in my opinion. If you’re fairly new to training things like a suspension trainer and a pair of dumb bells can work really well for a short effective full body workout. I also prefer to use mostly compound exercises and full body workouts as you need the exercises with the biggest bang for your buck.
Complexes
Complexes can also work well but I prefer supersets.
A complex is a sequence of exercises performed back-to-back using a single piece of equipment, in a single area, with no rest between exercises, not changing weights, and not letting go of the equipment. I like landmine complexes, kettlebell or dumb bells.
Suspension trainers can work really well as they’re easy to transition from one exercise to another which is great for the best 30min workout with weights
Here’s an example workout using supersets if you only had 30mins.
Warm up 3-4mins
Superset 1
1.a Goblet 1+1/2 squats 3 x 10-15 reps
1.b SHELC 3 x 8-15 reps
Rest 90s repeat
Superset 2
2.a Chest supported dumb bell rows 3 x 8-12
2.b 15 degree incline dumb bell chest press 3 x 6-10
Rest 90s repeat
3 Tri set
3.a TRX Y’s 3 x 10-15
3.b TRX Tricep extension 3 x 8-15
3.c TRX Bicep curls 3 x 8-15
Rest 90s repeat
I hope this helped you out and if it did please share it. It helps so much.
Ed
And if you’re interested in me being your coach email me bvoytraining@gmail.com to see if we’re a good fit.