While it can be fun, on occasion, to spend hours in a weight room, carefully picking and choosing equipment and working at a leisurely pace, a lengthy workout is not always practical or even possible. Seasoned resistance trainers all have their own methods and tricks for making the most out of their time in the gym. Whether you’re short on time for a particular workout or simply don’t like to be in the gym any longer than absolutely necessary, these simple weightlifting tips will help you get through your strength training routine quickly and efficiently.

1. Have a Plan. Be willing to modify

If you go into the gym with no idea of what you’re about to do, the simple act of deciding—which muscles, which exercises, free weights or machines, how many sets and reps on each, etc.—can take a significant amount of time. I like to keep a workout log, where I keep all of this information written down. When I have time, I can make up my routine and write it down as I go. But for the days where I need to get in and out, it’s quite convenient to flip to a recent page and have a complete workout right there in front of me.

With the blueprint taken care of, I’m free to go to work: hopping from one exercise to another as quickly as possible. But occasionally a machine will be in use, or someone else will be using the weights I want. In situations like this, it’s important to weight the options: wait and waste precious time, or change the plan a little? This brings me to the second of my weightlifting tips:

2. Know your equipment.

I love trying new things in the gym. Whether it’s figuring out a new machine or doing some people watching to pick up a new exercise, I enjoy any opportunity to incorporate fresh components into my resistance training workouts. But when efficiency and speed are top priorities, having to stop and read instructions on a machine, searching for the right piece of equipment, or looking around dumbly, hoping for inspiration, are simply wastes of time.

If you’ve just joined a workout facility, take advantage of the orientation, tour, or complementary training session that many of these places offer. Set aide enough time (possibly a couple of hours) for your first visit so that you don’t feel rushed, and really get to know where things are and how they work. When you pop in a few weeks later and are pressed for time, you’ll be able to fly through a workout with ease.

Familiarity with a facility’s equipment has the added benefit of allowing easy, almost thoughtless variations to your routine. So if someone else is hogging “your” dumbbells or weight bench, you can simply choose another exercise or machine that provides the same workout. No time wasted; no grudges held.

3. The last of today’s weightlifting tips is to try a superset routine. The superset method minimizes down time while still giving your muscles a chance to rest, by alternating sets of exercises for opposing muscle groups. This will get you through your strength training routine in almost half the time, but be warned that it will leave you worn out.

For example, if you would normally do 3 sets of biceps curls, and 3 sets of dips for the triceps (these are opposing muscle groups), try combining the 2 in the following manner. Take your curling weights over to the dip machine. Perform one set of curls, put the weights down, and immediately perform a set of dips. Give yourself a short rest and repeat. You’ll be effectively cutting out at least half of your down time, but still getting through your entire routine.

The next time you’re short on minutes for a resistance workout, don’t skip the gym altogether. When we’re busiest or most stressed is when we need exercise the most. Instead, try out one or more of these weightlifting tips to make your workout quick and efficient. You’ll get everything done, and you’ll be glad you did.

Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at once, and involve movement around more than one joint at the same time. The capacity of a compound exercise to target more than one muscle group in a single repetition makes it a very efficient component of any workout.

As much as I love biceps curls, they are not a compound weightlifting exercise. They target only a single muscle group, and the movement (the curl itself) includes only one joint (in this case, the elbow). The bench press, on the other hand, is a great compound exercise. The press movement incorporates both the elbow and shoulder joints, and works not only the chest but also a number of the shoulder and upper arm muscles. The effect is like combining a chest fly, shoulder raise, and triceps extension into a single motion.

Compound weightlifting exercises can save time in the gym by working more than one muscle group at once, and have the added benefit of requiring muscles to work together much as is demanded of them in everyday life. After all, if I reach down to pick up a shopping bag from the backseat of my car, I’m not only using any one muscle group: I need them all to be functioning well together.

Like the bench press, the shoulder press is another good compound exercise: working many muscles in a single movement. Come to think of it, almost any exercise with the word “press” in it (declined press, military press, and leg press, to name a few more) is most likely a compound exercise.

Lunges and squats include movement at the hips and knees, and can effectively work almost every part of the gluts, upper leg, and lower leg muscles. To recreate the effect of one of these exercises using muscle-isolating machines you would need at least the following: a leg extension machine for quadriceps, a hamstring curl machine, a machine for calf raises, an inner and outer thigh machine, and something particularly for the gluts.

Single muscle exercises have their place in almost every strength training workout, but the addition of compound weightlifting exercises to any regimen will add efficiency, challenge muscles in new ways, and increase their overall functional strength. So why not give compound exercises a try?

Almost everyone you see working out at the gym has a slightly different idea of what he or she is trying to accomplish with a strength training routine. For this reason, it is important to have a clear understanding of your own goals before attempting to copy anyone else’s routine.

For those of you with body building aspirations, you probably know your way around the gym fairly well. There is little risk that you’re accidentally going to follow a 90 year old around his machines circuit, but that doesn’t men you know everything there is to know about body building exercises. Which are the best exercises; which are ineffective? Here’s a bit of advice to keep you working hard and keep your muscles challenged in that quest for strength and hugeness.

-Get a buddy or spotter to workout with you. If you’re serious about getting big, then you’re going to be working with heavy weights, and you’re going to be maxing out quite often. And the best way to lift heavy weights is to have someone there to spot you; just in case. You’ll feel more comfortable trying different exercises with heavier weights if you have some backup (and everyone else in the gym will as well).

-Practice like it’s the real deal. This means that if you’re body building in preparation for a strength competition of some sort, you’ll need to put in adequate time not only working each muscle group separately, but also practicing the lifts or feats you’ll be performing in competition. If the reason for your body building exercises is to get big and look good, then you’ll need to pay extra attention to detail. Work each muscle group in different ways and at different angles to ensure that you’re targeting all of the many fibers involved.

-Isolate to make individual muscles work harder. So you’re curling pretty big dumbbells while sitting on the weight bench; but how much of this “biceps” power is actually coming from your shoulders, or even your lateral core muscles? Straining or leaning during free weight exercises allows muscles other than the ones you’re targeting to engage as “helpers.” To make sure your biceps (or any muscle) are really getting the workout they deserve, try alternating free weight curls with something like a seated bar curl machine. With less freedom to move the rest of your body, the biceps will get a more intense workout, which will result in gains in muscle mass and strength.

To ensure sufficient energy during workouts and maximum physical gains, any body building regimen needs to be supplemented by the appropriate fuels. When discussing body building exercises, the important thing to remember is to work as hard as possible during every set. By keeping your repetitions low and using weights that cause you to fail during every set, you will see significant gains in strength and muscle mass.