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Did you know that 30 minutes at the gym can be exponentially more productive than 2 hours?  People tend to associate total time spent at the gym with how deserving they are of that elusive six-pack or 21-inch biceps. In reality most people waste hours of their lives performing inefficient exercises and wonder why they look and perform the same as they did months ago.

Efficient training also happens to be effective training, so be sure to keep these 5 tips in mind. 

1. Train on your feet. Our bodies weren't designed to perform strenuous work from the sitting position. Chairs, in fact, are a relatively recent invention in the grand scheme of life. Performing an exercise on your feet immediately engages your back, butt, abdominal core, and legs. Staying on your feet will help keep your heart rate up, your awareness up and your boredom down.

2. Vary your pace. Interval training such as tabata, time-constrained circuits (AMRAPs), short heavy met-cons, long light met-cons, long heavy met-cons, short light met-cons, you get the idea.  Interval training burns calories more efficiently and creates a better stimulus for your body to adapt to. There are also mental benefits to interval training, you are working, or resting never tuning out.

3. Train movements, not muscles. Squatting, pushing, pulling are the basic categories of movements that a comprehensive training routine should develop.  Performing 3 exercises for your back and 2 exercises for your biceps when two good pulling drills take care of them all. 

4. Train stopping, slowing, descending/ascending, and catching. Catching a ball, landing on the top of a plyo-box, changing direction are all movements that are undervalued by commercial gyms. They are invaluable exercises for joint safety, and far more valuable than any isolation exercise. It's not just about throwing a medicine ball but also catching it. Not just jumping on top of a box but also jumping down. Running up and down hills, footwork agility, and controlled lunging are most effective when performed with the appropriate intensity.

5. Prepare to use the distant corners of your gym. Gyms are not set up to allow people to move, they are designed with the intent of maximizing square footage. The more elliptical trainers and smith machines they can cram into a workout area the better. Empty basketball courts, aerobics studios, soccer fields are some great places to train dynamically, so get used to training apart from the masses.

Abridged from Paul Scott's MSN Article Is Your Workout Wasting Your Time?