Fitting training days around a packed schedule

nikeboi17

nikeboi17

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Lately my calendar has gotten pretty full, and I want to hold onto the routine I already have without every workout turning into a race against the clock.

At the moment I train 5 days per week, though I keep asking myself whether 4 quality sessions might be simpler to bounce back from and still deliver the same results.

What does your weekly training split look like, and would you rather stick to a set plan or shuffle things based on what your week allows?
 
100% someone who thrives on a routine, but here’s the reality;I’ve got 3 kids,2 of them in high-school, 1 in college, and all of them play fall sports. There are days when the only option is to squeeze a session in whenever possible. Try not to get hung up on every detail. Whether it’s 5 days, 4 days or even 1 day, that’s 100% better than doing nothing. We’re lucky just to be able to train at all, never mind having the motivation and drive to push ourselves! Keep grinding big dog!!
 
nikeboi17 said:

Lately my calendar has gotten pretty full, and I want to hold onto the routine I already have without every workout turning into a race against the clock.

At the moment I train 5 days per week, though I keep asking myself whether 4 quality sessions might be simpler to bounce back from and still deliver the same results.

What does your weekly training split look like, and would you rather stick to a set plan or shuffle things based on what your week allows?
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What does your training split consist of when you're hitting the gym 5x/wk? Without knowing that, it's hard to offer any useful guidance.
 
If things get hectic and I'm just maintaining, I stick to 3 quality sessions. I rotate upper, lower, upper one week, then lower, upper, lower the next, and keep cycling. If I skip one, no big deal—I just do the missed day and can do the next workout the following day since recovery isn't a problem.
 
One more approach I plan to use for my next bulk, because the volume will be higher: leave 2 adjustable kettlebells at the workplace. During lunch, get through overhead press and rows on upper body days, split squats and somersault squats, and then whatever remains for after work becomes far easier to handle.
 
Appreciate the input, everyone — plenty for me to mull over here. My plan is to start with 4 days and then judge how my recovery holds up. The upper/lower arrangement in particular seems like it would be much simpler to stick with once things get hectic during the week.
 
18 years of training. 4 gyms. I've watched plenty of folks show up and then vanish. Injuries take some. Boredom, fatigue, or stalled progress take others (a huge number, honestly). Steroids take a few too (they run a cycle, come off, sink into depression, and stop).

My own setup is 2-3 sessions per week. Whole body each time. 15min of stretching plus 45-50min lifting. Rest periods are kept very short — no 5minute tik tok scrolling mid-set or any of that nonsense. Closer to HIIT, though less brutal.

Plenty of routines have crossed my path, and this one came out on top. Beyond carrying more muscle than 90% of the people at my gym — even ones training hard or on small steroid doses — it simply works with my schedule. I walk in, I walk out. No fixed days to plan around, no mental checklist of which muscle group still needs hitting.

Sure, some people genuinely enjoy training. I'm not in that camp. The post-session feeling is nice, and at mid 40s(man) I look better than most guys in their 20s, but the fun is gone and 7 days in the gym isn't happening. There's a life and hobbies waiting outside those walls.

One more thing: splits got pushed into the mainstream by bodybuilders using steroids. For natural athletes, ***full body work tends to win out. Everyone I've coached or nudged toward switching has backed that up — assuming the goal isn't living at the gym 5 days a week (and if the gym is your life, keep doing you). Nutrition and sleep, obviously, drive progress no matter what.

PS. lots of people torch their CNS on splits by pushing too hard (heavy squats, for example) and then trying to return for another session a day or two later.
 
With 2 kids and a schedule that's genuinely packed, I'm on the road 30/35 weeks each year. The 5AM club, as my wife and I refer to it, is the only thing that makes it work. I train before the kids wake up, or I use hotel gyms when nobody else is there. When a day slips by, I don't stress about it — I treat it as one more recovery day and go harder the next time. No need to over think it.
 
nikeboi17 said:


Thanks guys, this gives me a few things to think about. I’m probably going to try 4 days first and see how recovery feels. The upper/lower setup especially sounds a lot easier to keep consistent when the week gets busy.

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At this stage of your life, scaling back is likely to produce better outcomes. Growth happens during recovery, and extra stress will drag down how well you recover. Piling on more isn't automatically an improvement, and for you, putting additional strain on your body could work against the fitness goals you're chasing.
 
Without knowing the specifics of your situation, speaking generally as someone who works and raises kids, the only dependable method I've found for staying consistent is to exercise first thing in the morning. One weekday morning is set aside for basketball, so I try to get in three weekday mornings of lifting, with Saturday serving as a flexible day (or a 4th day when I can manage it). Thursday is always my rest day, and Sunday is either basketball, cardio, or yard work if it's needed.

At the moment I'm following more of a bro split, since that's been my lifting partner's routine for a long time, but I've been attempting to persuade him to switch to a push-pull-leg rotation so it better matches the realities of our schedule and the likelihood of missing days here and there.
 
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