Limited Equipment, Limited Time

Hey guys, I’m looking for some advice on how to structure a new training plan. Goals are maintaining muscle mass.

I have 30 minutes available for training 4 days a week. With my ghetto home gym I have 235 pounds of weight plates to work with and am able to perform Squats, Trap bar deads, bench presses, overhead presses, dips, rows and chins.

I haven’t done dead’s, squats or presses since the beginning of the lockdowns, so I have strength to regain there. Weights are limited for bench since I’ve maintained most of my strength through floor presses and dips.

My idea is to run 531 BBB until I max out the weights I currently have, or something else based on the big lifts. I know it’s not ideal and I won’t have time for any fluff work, but if I can maintain some decent strength and maybe even gain a little muscle mass I’ll be content.

You’ve got a lot of equipment, it sounds like. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t choose to do. I’d probably just do a boring but big plan. Maybe just keep an eye on Craigslist for plates as you go? I don’t know how far you have to go before the percentages no longer work with 235, but you can always just keep going up in reps. If you can squat 235 for 100 reps, you’ll still have put in the work.

Guys are putting on more mass than you’ll ever accomplish in a tiny jail cell, with no equipment whatsoever

You have a better home set up than 99% of the folk reading this thread

Navy seal burpees, chin ups and high rep trap bar deads will turn you into an animal

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As TrainForPain said keep an eye out for some more plates, other than that you’ve got loads of equipment available to you. You can run a decent 531 programme with what you’ve got, on bench you could always lower your TM max until you get more plates.

I’d also invest in some bands which give you loads of options for other exercises you could superset with main lift of the day.

For shits and gigs the other day I loaded up my trap bar to equal my bodyweight and went for a timed 100 reps as quickly as possible, it was disgustingly sadistic but highly effective and I’ll certainly be repeating it.

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Thanks for the responses guys. There’s no doubt that I’m fortunate with the equipment at my disposal and the job that allows me to construct and store this stuff. The pandemic forced me leave the gym and improvise most of my lifting gear; it’s pretty rustic but more than adequate.

I guess my problem is that being limited to lunch break training times and crude equipment my discipline has faltered. For the past 2 years I’ve been using dips, chins and diy concrete dumbbells for all my training. Now that I’m able to add the big lifts back into my routine I’m just trying to find a way to structure quick training that’s dead simple to program but effective.
BBB sounds like it would fit the bill but open to other suggestions as well.

The challenge you face is not a lack of equipment, it’s a lack of time. The issue of workout structure is what you need to focus on, not weight and/or equipment.

No they are not and the ones training with weights who have a decent amount of muscle are most likely on steroids.

A conditioned animal. That is no plan for muscle.

He also stated his goal is maintaining muscle bw exercises are not doing that.

Very little volume is required to maintain muscle. Pick any split and get 3-6 sets to failure per muscle group. If really strapped for time look into Myo reps/cluster sets/rest pause.

Thank fuck I stopped listening to guys like you @sparkyo .

I’d still be wondering why I looked like Justin Bieber’s index finger

Thanks, this sounds like an easy, logical approach. This is what I’ve been doing with weighted chins and dips and it’s worked well, only hit a wall after a while.

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That sounds tempting, and though I’ve only just got the trap bar conventional deads were one of the most beneficial lifts I’ve employed before I quit the gym. I’ve had a depressing lack of hip hinge/posterior chain movements in my life for the past two years and I plan on hitting these hard, if not frequently.

You’re right. I meant limited based on what I built my physique on previously in my lifting career but the new rack I just built gives me plenty of options. Time certainly is the issue here.

I’m not very familiar with myoreps but I’ve seen this suggested on other threads that asked about time constrained training.
Say I were to do a 531 BBB where a press day looked like this:

Press 531
Press 5x10
Rows 5x10

Could I somehow utilize myo reps with the 2 accessory lifts to make them more brief?

do it and yes - it is very ideal.