T Nation

Avoiding Daily Schedule Conflicts?

Bodybuilding
#1

I am curious to know what some of you lifters do to deal with unexpected conflicts in your daily lives. For those of you who work jobs with odd hours that can change without notice, or those of you who have family day to day items that interfere with your lifting, I’m interested to know some of the strategies you use to either avoid or overcome the situation.

I myself work a job where I am here 9-6 every day, but on any given day I could be expected to work until midnight if need be, or come in at 7 the next morning if need be. I know there are guys out there who probably have it way tougher than I do, so what are some of the strategies out there for sticking to your lifting plan in the face of daily life?

#2

Lifting has to become your life but cannot take over your life. I’ll bet my money I’m as dedicated if not more than the next guy…sometimes you just have to call it a day and hit it hard tomorrow.

Although I don’t remember the last time that I missed a day training because of time.

I’m glad u posted this because today, for example, I was called into work and have been here since 10 o clock. I still have homework, training, and a church function tonite…notice how I have training in there. lol

Thats how I deal with it, but I do understand where you are coming from. Sometimes life gets in the way and there is nothing you can do.

DG

#3

This is why I love full body exercises like: deads,squats,military presses etc. If you miss a day after a brutal session with these you won’t feel as bad compared to swiss ball push-ups…lol

#4

im assuming we’re taking into consideration that the event is actually somewhat important, and not like “hey can you give me a ride”.

anyway heres 2 strategies i use…if you wanna call em that.

for me i use a 4-6 day split. personally my shoulders do just fine, so when i use their day to swap with another. so say i do shoulders on Wed and chest on Mon but i need to go to my sister’s bridal reception. i would do chest the next day, then pushback Tuesday’s workout into shoulder day (Wed).

basically take whatever day is assigned to whatever part you could afford to take a day off from and swap them out.

the other option is just saying, tough shit and leaving the split the same minus that day. so if you missed chest, thats it you missed it.

its ok to miss days. i had a real hard time with it when i first started but as ive matured in the world of iron ive accepted that its ok to miss a day or two here and there so long as its a genuine reason and you arent just being lazy.

the other option would be to just reasses your schedule and if its more likely to happen on a certain day then make them your off days.

#5

Lifting is a priority to me for sure but sometimes life dictates you cant make it. I do a 4 day split so I have 3 days a week to fill in the missed day. Sometimes you just miss a day… it wont ruin your training.

#6

I keep my split rotation going regardless of how the days fall out. At the moment it’s a four-way split. But if I only manage to get into the gym three times in a week, the first time in the following week gets the last of the sessions from the previous one, if that makes sense.

Part of the result is that the whole thing shifts around a lot - so I’m never saying “It’s Monday, it must be chest” or whatever. It is whatever the notebook says it should be (though I seldom need the notebook to know that, because I’m usually psyched up for whatever it’s going to be anyway).

#7

[quote]DirtyGerdy wrote:
Thats how I deal with it, but I do understand where you are coming from. Sometimes life gets in the way and there is nothing you can do.[/quote]

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
its ok to miss days. i had a real hard time with it when i first started but as ive matured in the world of iron ive accepted that its ok to miss a day or two here and there so long as its a genuine reason and you arent just being lazy.
[/quote]

I think that’s my biggest problem, is accepting that sometimes I’m just not gonna be able to make it. For me that’s a frustrating thing, as my whole life (up until I graduated college) had been focused around sports, and whatever it took to be the best at that sport. And so now, my biggest competitive release is the logbook and it takes a little getting used to that some days I have to sacrifice that for real world conflicts. (Legitimate ones, like you said). Because up until now, I haven’t really had any real world conflicts. (Good to be young).

#8

Work out at 4:30 in the morning. That’ll extinguish any excuses. When I workout at that time, I get it done and out of the way, so whatever happens the rest of the day…hey it doesnt matter because I already got my workout done.

But I agree if you miss a day, or push your workout to another day, thats ok too.

#9

[quote]forbes wrote:
Work out at 4:30 in the morning. That’ll extinguish any excuses. When I workout at that time, I get it done and out of the way, so whatever happens the rest of the day…hey it doesnt matter because I already got my workout done.

But I agree if you miss a day, or push your workout to another day, thats ok too.[/quote]

Do you find that you lose anything strengthwise from your morning workouts (v. afternoon or evening workouts) because a lack of nutrition prior to your lift? (This comes with the assumption that you aren’t waking up at 3 to eat…)

#10

My schedule changes from week to week as to which days I have off, when I work AM shift or PM, so I adjust my training schedule accordingly. Sometimes I do a five day body part split, sometimes I do four days, sometimes I do Upper/Lower. To maintain consistency I still focus on making progress in the big three, and adjust the volume in my isolation work.

#11

[quote]oneforship wrote:
forbes wrote:
Work out at 4:30 in the morning. That’ll extinguish any excuses. When I workout at that time, I get it done and out of the way, so whatever happens the rest of the day…hey it doesnt matter because I already got my workout done.

But I agree if you miss a day, or push your workout to another day, thats ok too.

Do you find that you lose anything strengthwise from your morning workouts (v. afternoon or evening workouts) because a lack of nutrition prior to your lift? (This comes with the assumption that you aren’t waking up at 3 to eat…)[/quote]

No actually. My strength is fine. I do get up an hour early so that I wake up a bit. Along with that I have a cup of coffee, and something small like a cup of milk or a small piece of fruit, just to get something in my stomach and prevent intense hunger pains while I work out. But nothing too much otherwise I’ll be puking up food. But after wards its a big breakfast.

When i started I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I was wrong. Just getting out of bed is the hard part. But a splash of cold water and coffee help me up.

#12

Sometimes I’m forced to work up to 8 hours a week! Honestly, I don’t know how I am able to fit my training in sometimes. I guess I’m just so driven that I make time for it no matter what and I’ll rarely miss a training day. I really don’t know how I do it, I think some of us (specifically me)are just created more ambitious and driven.

jk :wink:

#13

Don’t stress out?

Life takes priority. Missing a day occasionally won’t kill you. You’re not going to be Mr. O you don’t need to never miss a workout.

#14

I don’t do body part splits anymore.

For me training is very important and therapeutic but it’s not more important than my wife/family/friends. Clearly sometimes there is a choice between the 2, mostly life comes first for me.