--- title: Get the Most Out of Your Workout, According to Research description: No extra sweat sessions necessary canonical: https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/ author: K. Aleisha Fetters article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-03T14:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:56.605Z og:title: 13 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Workout, According to Research og:description: No extra sweat sessions necessary og:url: https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9cd0caa72aee6d/698878c8524fc0d427df6427/metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image-motto-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 13 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Workout, According to Research twitter:description: No extra sweat sessions necessary twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9cd0caa72aee6d/698878c8524fc0d427df6427/metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 13 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Workout, According to Research ## Video: Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep? [Watch (HLS stream): Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o0FTMkL0.m3u8) (2:25)  _Published 2015-05-15. Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?_ by [K. Aleisha Fetters](https://time.com/author/k-aleisha-fetters/) ## K. Aleisha Fetters Mar 3, 2016 2:30 PM UTC  Molly Cranna for TIME by [K. Aleisha Fetters](https://time.com/author/k-aleisha-fetters/) ## K. Aleisha Fetters Mar 3, 2016 2:30 PM UTC No one hits the gym hoping for so-so results. You go in wanting to get 100% out of every rep, run and hard-earned bead of sweat. Fortunately for you, scientists and researchers want the same thing. Here, 13 incredibly efficient strategies, courtesy of the latest research, to get the biggest benefit out of every one of your workouts. **1\. Lift weights**“If you just do cardio, you’re sabotaging yourself,” says [Jacob Wilson](https://twitter.com/themuscleprof), Ph.D., certified strength and conditioning specialist and associate editor of the _Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research._ “Your metabolism will actually go down, making weight loss more difficult. Resistance training, however, builds muscle to increase your metabolic rate.” That explains why, in one [Harvard School of Public Health](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.20949/abstract) study of 10,500 adults, those who spent 20 minutes a day weight training gained less abdominal fat over the course of 12 years (compared to those who spent the same amount of time performing cardio). **2\. Listen to music**Everyone knows that your favorite tunes can fire you up for a workout, but in one [_Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology_](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21046917) of 30 men and women, people who listened to music (especially slow music) after their workout recovered faster than did those who went sans tunes. “Music boosts the body’s levels of serotonin and dopamine, hormones that are known to foster recovery,” says Perkins . Try listening to a few of your favorite, most relaxing tracks as soon as you finish your workout. It will help your blood pressure and heart rate get back to normal and recovery happen ASAP. _Watch how best to motivate yourself with music:_ **3\. Swap stretching for a dynamic warmup**Don’t stretch in vain. In one [Austin State University](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22692125) study, people who warmed up with light leg extensions and squats were able to squat with 8.36% more weight during their workout than if they had performed typical “bend and hold” stretches. Their lower bodies were also 22.7% more stable. “Think of a rubber band,” says Wilson. “If you stretch it around a lot and then pull it back to shoot it, it’s not going to go as far. The same thing happens with your muscles and tendons.” However, dynamic bodyweight moves—ones that mimic the workout you’re about to perform—increase blood flow and improve your range of motion without compromising your muscles’ and tendons’ elastic properties. So for instance, if you’re about to go for a run, it’s a good idea to move through about five to 10 minutes of lunges, knee raises and leg swings before hitting the treadmill. **_Read more:_** [_Kayla Itsines Answers Once and for All: What’s the Quickest Way to Get Fit?_](http://motto.time.com/4176076/kayla-itsines-fitness-tips/) **4\. Preface your workout with carbs**You might think of carbo-loading as something you do to run a better marathon. But eating carbs before your workout can also help you during those intervals, according to 2013 research published in [_Sports Medicine_](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23846824)_._ “Carbs are your body’s primary fuel for any high-intensity workout, and when your body is fueled, your body is going to put forth a better effort and get a better value, both in terms of caloric expenditure and muscle growth, than it would if you were in fasted state,” says Wilson. So even if you like your morning workouts, make sure to eat some toast or oatmeal before you head out of the door. **5\. Do intervals**Minute per minute, high-intensity intervals—periods of all-out effort interspersed with short, low-intensity “breaks”—come with more cardiovascular and fat-loss benefits than any other workout, says Wall. For instance, in one study from [Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3772611/), people who performed a 20-minute interval workout with exercises including pushups, burpees, squats and lunges burned an average of 15 calories per minute—nearly twice as many as during long runs. To burn similar calories, follow the workout’s protocol: Perform as many reps as possible for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds and repeat for a total of four minutes. Rest one minute, then repeat for a total of four rounds. **6\. Drink water**Losing just 2% of your body weight in fluids—some gym-goers sweat out 6 to 10%—can make your workout feel harder, reduce your exercise performance and reduce your body’s ability to recover after you leave the gym, according to a review from the [University of North Carolina](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908954/). Unfortunately, “we find that many people are dehydrated when they show up to the gym,” says Amanda Carlson-Phillips, M.S., R.D., vice president of nutrition and research at [EXOS](http://www.teamexos.com/). She recommends everyone drink ½ to 1 ounce of water per pound of bodyweight per day. To make sure you’re drinking enough water during your workout to replace any fluids you lose, weigh yourself both before and after a sweat session, says Carlson-Phillips. You shouldn’t be losing more than 2% of your bodyweight. **7\. Use free weights**Weight machines are great for helping gym newbies learn correct form, but once you’ve got it down, it’s time to move to free weights. Exercises using free weights like dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells lead to greater hormonal responses compared to similar exercises performed on exercise machines, according to a 2014 [_Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research_](http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2014/04000/The%5FAcute%5FHormonal%5FResponse%5Fto%5FFree%5FWeight%5Fand.22.aspx) study. That’s largely because free-weight exercises tap a wider range of muscles. “Whenever you have to move a free weight and you don’t have anything guiding or supporting you like a machine, all of your synergistic muscles have to fire to help you,” says Holly Perkins, certified strength and conditioning specialist, author of [_Lift to Get Lean_](http://www.instagram.com/hollyperkins)and founder of [Women’s Strength Nation](http://www.womensstrengthnation.com/). **_Read more:_** [_‘We Need to Change the Way We Think About Feminism’_](http://motto.time.com/4228321/gender-parity-leadership/) **8\. Get a better night’s sleep**Quality shut-eye is vital to getting the most out of your time spent in the gym. And that goes for every night of the week. According to one 2015 [_Sports Medicine_](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25315456) review, poor sleep hinders not only your exercise performance (and the number of calories you burn), but also your body’s ability to come back stronger after every workout. “Sleep drives the hormonal shifts that promote the body’s recovery to exercise,” says Carlson-Phillips. Without appropriate sleep, symptoms of over-training, including fitness plateaus, set in. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep every single night. _Watch this explainer video on whether you really need eight hours of sleep every night or not:_ **9\. Indulge in a massage**That post-workout massage does more than just feel good. According to research from [McMaster University](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22301554) in Canada, it influences genes in your muscle cells to decrease inflammation and increase their number of mitochondria, which help power exercise and recovery. It’s important to remember that your muscles don’t get fitter during your workout; they do so between your workouts as they recover and adapt to exercise, says exercise physiologist Anthony Wall, M.S., director of professional education for the [American Council on Exercise](https://www.acefitness.org/). “Massage helps this process along.” **10\. Drink chocolate milk**A recent [_Journal of Exercise Physiology_](https://www.asep.org/asep/asep/JEPonlineDecember2011%5FPritchett.pdf) study found that cyclists who drank low-fat chocolate milk after their workouts recovered just as well as those who drank commercial recovery beverages. That’s largely due to its 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein. The protein stimulates muscle repair, while carbohydrates replete your energy stores and even help protein get into your muscles, says Carlson-Phillips . After high-intensity or long duration workouts, try drinking a glass as soon after your workout as you can. **11\. Switch things up**It won’t just keep you from getting bored. In a 2015 [East Tennessee State University study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26544089), exercisers who performed both deep and full squats reaped greater fitness gains than those who performed only deep squats. The same holds true for any exercise variation. Performing multiple variations of an exercise changes the muscles recruited and the amount of weight you can lift, leading to greater gains than if you did the same exact movement month after month, says Wilson. While you can include multiple variations of the same exercise in a single workout (like planks and planks with one leg raised), changing those variations every month will also keep your body guessing. **_Read more:_** [_Ariel Winter: Breast Reduction Surgery Changed My Life_](http://motto.time.com/4225938/ariel-winter-breast-reduction-surgery/) **12\. Get a cardio buddy**In one [_Annals of Behavioral Medicine_](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21900846) study, cyclists who exercised with a partner pedaled almost twice as long as those who rode solo. Having someone else around pushes you to perform at your best and even makes workouts feel less difficult, says Perkins . The results: You can exercise longer and harder and get more out of every trip to the gym. **13\. Eat protein before bed**Protein helps your muscles build back up after a workout, and for optimal fitness results, that shouldn’t stop when you’re snoozing. Luckily, research from [Maastricht University in the Netherlands](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017) shows that a nighttime snack rich in casein, a slow-digesting protein, keeps amino acid and muscle protein synthesis rates elevated all throughout the night. To get the casein protein you need, Carlson-Phillips recommends eating Greek yogurt or cottage cheese after your workouts and before you turn in for the night. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/"},"headline":"13 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Workout, According to Research","datePublished":"2016-03-03T14:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:44:56.605Z","description":"No extra sweat sessions necessary","url":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9cd0caa72aee6d/698878c8524fc0d427df6427/metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"K. Aleisha Fetters","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/k-aleisha-fetters/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc9cd0caa72aee6d/698878c8524fc0d427df6427/metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image-motto-stock","caption":"metal-weights-4-fitness-exercise-strength-health-betterment-body-image-motto-stock","creditText":"Molly Cranna for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/","name":"13 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Workout, According to Research"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How to Find Motivation","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/5EPdnh7d/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-07T18:56:25.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5EPdnh7d.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/","duration":"PT1M42S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?","description":"Do You Really Need 8 Hours of Sleep?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/o0FTMkL0/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-15T21:17:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/o0FTMkL0.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/","duration":"PT2M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4237126/13-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-workout-according-to-research/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```