Workout plans shattered!!

JimmNeutron

Just got my college timetable for next year and as you may have guessed from the title, all my great intentions of hittin the weights again after too long a break have been ruined. It would have to happen that i get the most awkward timetable!
So, i need some help in working around this. Would it be better to work different groups for say a half an hour on monday and tuesday and an hour on thursday or just do one all over session for two hours on thursday??
Its a surprisingly hectic schedule with monday and thursday being my only (slightly more) easy days.
Thanks for any advice.

brianthebard

Couple of questions first;
What are you studying?
What year are you in?
How many hours are you in lectures per week?

Personally I'm in final year arts, doesn't require a huge amount of attendence hours to be put in, but I do have a lot of reading to do in my "spare time". But if you actually want to go to the gym then there's plenty of time.
Perhaps you could try to go early in the morning before lectures( with the added advantage of a quiet gym) or failing that, incorporating supersets or short, concentrated sessions will fit into your schedule and be more beneficial for you than just doing one long session a week. Aim for forty minutes in the gym, you'll always have at least an hour off in a day, and that will still give you time to shower and eat something. At least that's been working for me so far this year.

Clive

There are 168 hours in a week. Take away eight a night for sleep leaves 112.

Now add up all the time you spend in college, at work, commuting and looking after your children. If it's anything less than 100 hours, I think you may want to consider (I could be wrong, I don't know your personal circumstances) that you're making excuses.

D-Generate

Dude I do engineering and have pretty close to 30 hours a week and assignments and study on top of this. I still manage to fit in training every day. I either train at 7 in the morning doing weights or do boxing at night. Either which way i'm active every day. Also it won't really take away from your social life at all. Just show some commitment and get up at 7!

Dr_MalPractice

You haven't mentioned WHY you're training. Is it for a specific sport? Are you looking to 'bulk up'? Or are you talkin more about just getting/keeping in decent shape? I have to ask, because without knowing why, i can't give sufficiently accurate information to help you get the most from the time you have available to you.

thirtyfoot

My advice would be to get the finger out and stop looking for excuses. As Clive says, there are a lot of hours in the week, and from what it seems you just want to get 3 hourly sessions a week or maybe just 2 hours of training, thats not exactly a huge time commitment. I know someone doing medicine who is training full-time and competes internationally in track to a very high level and D-Generate is doing engineering and trains 7 days a week.

Many people here will be working full-time, long commutes, family commitments, stressfull jobs and still manage to get all their training in whether its for team sports, running, martial arts, or just staying fit. I bet they'd all say that its the training that keeps them sane and gives them the energy to maintain the hectic routine.

Sorry, I'm just bitter I'm no longer in college and can donate loads of time to training!!!

justsomebloke

I would go the route of doing the 2 half hour sessions and ab hour session on a thursday, chances are that you will see a lot better gains from this. So something like this may what you are looking for, just remember intensity with be the name of the game on the monday and tuesday as you will have to be in and out as quick as possible

monday chest
tuesday back
Thursday legs and shoulders (maybe a bit of arms)

Also what about the weeend can you fit something in there.

JimmNeutron

I know it does seem that im looking for excuses but its tough getting to a gym to workout in the first place. By the way im looking to bulk up and get into a bit better shape cos im sick of being skinny and unfit.
The problem is i have to get two busses to college every morning and even though im up at half six, the earliest i get to the gym there is nine. And every night i finish about six, with labs and all, and busses in rush hour across dublin means ill be home about eight. And i know, in any gym, there is no point in trying to squeeze in the door after six cos thats when all the little school kids come prickin around the weights section and taking everything. I do have a few free hours during the week and theyre on the days i do plan working out.
By the way im doing science. Cants say how many hours for definite because it changes every week.

tribulus

Tingle wrote:

My advice would be to get the finger out and stop looking for excuses. As Clive says, there are a lot of hours in the week, and from what it seems you just want to get 3 hourly sessions a week or maybe just 2 hours of training, thats not exactly a huge time commitment. I know someone doing medicine who is training full-time and competes internationally in track to a very high level and D-Generate is doing engineering and trains 7 days a week.

Many people here will be working full-time, long commutes, family commitments, stressfull jobs and still manage to get all their training in whether its for team sports, running, martial arts, or just staying fit. I bet they'd all say that its the training that keeps them sane and gives them the energy to maintain the hectic routine.

Sorry, I'm just bitter I'm no longer in college and can donate loads of time to training!!!

I have to agree. OP I know you're coming from Meath or somewhere so it's a long commute and i think you said you're in science. My hours were pretty crap in 2nd year too but i still found time. Train on the weekend, skip a few lectures, thats what they're there for!

We all have sh1t to work around but we still get it done

JimmNeutron

I cant do weekends because i work during the day on both days and the gym closes at six by the time i finish.

D-Generate

Any gym you can train in in Meath?

justsomebloke

If you are thinking of doing cardio by the way just make sure you are doing this at the weekend, as I as sure there is a road near you thar you can run on.
I would say that if you could skip an lunch and do an extra session there it would be ideal (just eat in your lecture and if you are skinny you will be needing to eat your way through a lot of your lectures to put on weight anyway;) ). But If you could get another session in then 2 half hour sessions a 45 minutes session and a 1 hour session would be ideal, as you should be able to get a good back/chest session can be fitted in around 30 minutes if the intensity is right

brianthebard

OP what college are you going to?

davyjose

It's not easy - going to the gym, working out, fitting it into your day, finding the time - it's much easier to sit in McDonalds eating burgers. But nobody ever said it was. No matter who you are your not going to easily find the time to go to the gym with a few hours to spare.
What you should do is really have a look at what you want health&fitness wise, and how much time and effort you are prepared to put into it. You don't need to kill yourself to get reasonably fit, but if you want to weigh 100 Kg with 10% bodyfat, it's going to take a huge amount of dedication.
My advice is give it time and see what you can fit in to your life, but DO be prepared to have to put some effort in.

JimmNeutron

I know how much effort it takes trust me. Ive come from training five days a week all through fifth and sixth year with matches at the weekend to struggling to get used to messy timetables.
In fifth and sixth year i was a little monster for my age, nearly eightyfive kilos and lifting ridiculous weights. I got sick towards the end of sixth year and lost it all and hav found it hard ever since to get back into scheduled training. Now im just trying to come up with a structured workout plan that will keep me as interested as i used to be. I know that once i get started and get over the initial soreness ill love it again tho.
Im in UCD by the way

LundiMardi

if i get this right, from what i understand, you're gym is home in Meath?? So why not quit that and join one in town, does your college have a gym?

maxi-twist

JimmNeutron wrote:

I know how much effort it takes trust me. Ive come from training five days a week all through fifth and sixth year with matches at the weekend to struggling to get used to messy timetables.
In fifth and sixth year i was a little monster for my age, nearly eightyfive kilos and lifting ridiculous weights. I got sick towards the end of sixth year and lost it all and hav found it hard ever since to get back into scheduled training. Now im just trying to come up with a structured workout plan that will keep me as interested as i used to be. I know that once i get started and get over the initial soreness ill love it again tho.
Im in UCD by the way

Join crunch,if u have even an hour gap between lectures.Thats enuf time for a quickie sesh.

The_Minister

If you are in UCD, there is a Crunch! gym on campus, which is meant to be very good. They had special student offers at the start of the year, and often repeat them now and again. It's still quite expensive though.

EDIT: Maxi-twist, he can't really go into lectures all sweaty, and if he takes time to change, shower etc, he will get much less than an hour, especially when you consider the gym's distance from most buildings.

JimmNeutron

i did join crunch fitness and it is quite a good gym, i have been going to it three times a week since i started, its just that my new timetable doesnt really allow this anymore. The biggest problem is that after twelve there is really no point in going because the queues for weights get ridiculous and you might only get a set or two of arm curls done with your free hour. At least thats what it was like anytime i went down late.

tribulus

I've found it to be fine up to about 5-6 to be honest. I'm usually there anytime from 12-5 depending on the day and it's not too bad.

Squat rack is rarely used for exercises that need a squat rack. There's always a bench free, the deadlift area is also rarely used and you can always work in with someone if they're benching, loads of space!!

maxi-twist

The_Minister wrote:

EDIT: Maxi-twist, he can't really go into lectures all sweaty, and if he takes time to change, shower etc, he will get much less than an hour, especially when you consider the gym's distance from most buildings.

My workouts take about 40 mins,thats plenty of time for a shower, change nd get to ur nxt lecture.On average most lectures finish after 50 mins aswell so thats loadsa time.



edit: just saw the thing about waiting times,that wouldnt work then!

JimmNeutron

Hey i just realised this has turned into a "prove me wrong and make me feel bad" session!!
I just needed some advice on constructing a decent programme:(
If i only have max. an hour a day, 3 days a week, what's the best way to split up a workout for bulking up and keeping fit?? How many sets/reps etc.

tribulus

Sorry for having a go man but i was in the same situation last year (3rd science now) and I managed it!

I wouldn't get too bogged down in reps/sets just train! Some recommend a whole body workout where as other argue that a bodypart split is fine http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=933431&pageNo=0

You could structure your training around the 3 big lifts: So bench one day with some tricep and delt work thrown in. Deadlifts the next day with some trap/chins/rows/bicep work and squats the other day with some hamstring, calf and abwork as well.

Basically just use plenty of compound exercises (such as the 3 above) and only a few isolation exercises such as bicep curls.

Keep the rest intervals short to keep up the intensity and because you're time is restricted.

Just as importantly is that you're eating too though, no point training and then not eating for 4 hours after because you have a lab or something. Make sure you have enough food with you, leave your lab every 20 minutes or so and munch down a few bites.

If you ever need a training partner i'm around a lot!

Get familiar with the like of deadlifts/squats/OH pressing/rows etc, they'll serve you well, and make sure you get enough sleep with all your commuting!

JimmNeutron

Thanks a mil tribulus, thats more like the help i needed.
As for your offer on the workout partner, i think ill pass on that for now, not really up to acceptable standards just yet:o As a matter of fact you have probably even seen me down there a few times. Im the scarily scrawny lookin bloke that bravely goes to the weights room, haha.
Also, i hav a quick qs about protein shakes. I used to take nutrisport 90+ and nutrisport whey isolate at different times and put on most muscle using the 90+. Naturally i should go with the 90+ again if thats where i saw the gains but is whey isolate really better??
Nutrisport is whey better than maximuscle aswel.

P.S. really sorry for the **** joke, it had to be done, but nutrisport is far better i found.

tribulus

I don't know very much about the different types of whey. It's not overly important for postworkout i'd imagine.

To be honest you can't really attribute your gains to a protein shake. Of course it helps for getting extra cals and protein in your diet and is a big help post-workout but it won't count for anything if the rest of your diet isn't up to scratch.

What i'm saying is it's not really important which one you get assuming they both have decent AA profiles and g protein per serving.
You're a student get whichever one is best value for money!

JimmNeutron

tribulus wrote:

To be honest you can't really attribute your gains to a protein shake. Of course it helps for getting extra cals and protein in your diet and is a big help post-workout but it won't count for anything if the rest of your diet isn't up to scratch.

Trust me i have the cleanest/healthiest diet for a student, its worrying haha. Im not old enough to go out legally yet so i dont have that problem...yet.
Nutrisport stuff is great value by the way, only 25 quid for a 1kg tub in the health store!
Do many ppl take supplements btw?? A trainer in my old gym once told me anyone who is training semi-seriously should be taking some form of supplement.

tribulus

Everyone who trains consistently with some knowledge, who allows enough recovery (not overtraining, getting enough sleep etc) and most importantly who's diet is in good shape could benefit from supplements. That probably discounts most people who take them - including myself for a long time.

25E for 1kg isn't great to be honest. That would be 100E for less than 10lbs of protein. Jon and Mickk both sell various supplements in their shops. I'm not sure of their prices but they're good value. Also easygainer here sells 10lbs of whey for 75E. Fitnessireland.ie sell 12lbs of whey for 90E. So shop around as you're not getting great value there.

edit: I'd say alot of people take supplements. Most of them waste their money for the above reasons.

All I "take" is my whey protein shake, a meal replacement/weightgainer (rarely) and a multivitamin