Just a little background information, I work in the restaurant industry and will be looking after a group of 6 restaurants. My schedual went from hectic to nuts. With the increased duties Ill be traveling plenty and am wondering if anyone here has flip flopped between a 2 day and 4 day program? My thoughts are when I am logging my hours in stores near my area I will continue with a 4 day program but on weeks where im out of province im considering 2 workout days and then maybe 2 mobility sessions and 2 cardio sessions per week. Budget wise its just not doable for me to pay 4 day passes a week when out of town.
Anyone in a roughly similar situation? Im thinking maybe drop a couple deload weeks if I end up with a host of 2 day weight weeks. Any thoughts? Thoughts are welcome from anyone who travels regulary and how they adjust things. Well thoughts are welcome in general lol
I was a chef for many years and had similar scheduled.
I simply stuck to my 4 day split. If I already knew I was not working out for a few days, I combined the major sets on the same day (squat and press for example) or did a shortened brutal work out (20 rep breathing squat and strip presses). You know, up the intensity.
I basicly stuck to the program. If the 20 rep breathing squat replaced my 5x5 week, next time I did legs, I was on the 3x5 with proper weight,
Train when you can, you do not have to do the same number of workouts each week. Each time you go to the gym just do the next workout. I have been training like this and it works. I average three days per week, but some weeks only twice and other weeks four times. I find with an average of three days per week I do not have to deload every 2 cycles. I personally deload every 4 or 5 cycles, that seems to work for me.
I typically do a 4 day split, but when I’m crunched for time I’ll switch it up and do a couple full body sessions. I don’t think it matters how you do it so long as you get the work in, although you’ll need to use your judgement with regard to when to move your TM up.
I would just dedicate myself to a 2-day program 100% of the time until your returns to some normalcy. I think you’ll find that if you train hard enough on those two days and do your conditioning and mobility the rest of the week, you’ll want for nothing. Remember Jim, himself, uses a 2-day program by choice and has for some time with great success.
I think the reason that 2 days doesn’t seem like enough is because few of us are used to leaving it all in the gym because we know we have to be back in there 24-36 hours later. What if you knew you weren’t going to be training again for 3 days? I bet you would push that session a little harder to the point that you would need those 3 days to rest, recover, and condition.