Dear Mr. Fitness:

I like exercising with the weights, as it gets me the fastest results. Can I work out with weights more than once a day? Most of the time my work schedule allows me only short breaks to get to the gym.

I'm a 30-year-old male that really enjoys exercising but, with my erratic hours, I have sometimes only 20 or 30 minutes in which to exercise.

That's not much time. Please give me some help.

-- Pinched

Dear Pinched:

The answer is a resounding yes! You can exercise one or two body parts very quickly if you are pressed for time. In fact, "fast" training is highly effective. If you can get to the gym more than once per day, you can take advantage of this form of a "double-split" routine.

Here is an example of the double split routine: Should your schedule permit you to get to the gym for 30 minutes in the morning, you'd be able to hammer your chest muscles completely in that 30 minutes. Perhaps you could do a giant set consisting of three different chest movements during that time.

A giant set would be flat dumbbell flyes, followed by bench press, followed by incline press, done one after another with no rest.

Doing it in this manner, you could accomplish quite a bit of work in a truly limited amount of time. You can then go back to work and -- well -- work! Later in the day you can come back to the gym and work on an entirely different body part. I'd recommend doing your triceps; that would be good.

Here again, if faced with a small time-window to train, doing only your triceps would work great. Knowing you have only a small amount of time will actually work to your benefit. It allows you to fully concentrate on only one body part at a time. Imagine going to the gym and knowing you're only going to do triceps and then leave. That would be very good!

You'll have plenty of energy to do your short workouts. This will make for quicker results and keep your enthusiasm high. I endorse this type of training and hope you give it a try.

Working out with the weights more than once a day is the way to go!

-- Mr. Fitness

Tony Wagner, aka Mr. Fitness, has more than 30 years of fitness and nutritional expertise. A certified personal trainer and fitness author, he has helped thousands get into and stay in shape. Contact him at mrfitness1@aol.com or on Facebook or stop by the Bodyzone Fitness Center, 2740 N. Roosevelt Blvd., 305-292-2930.