Training Just 2 Days a Week?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Well, I’m new to the forums although I’ve read them for a while.

The thing is that in about 2 weeks I’m going to start school and given certain circumstances in my life, I also am working. So I won’t have any time left to workout except saturday and sunday (and I intend to get the most of it).

So I wonder, what’s the best approach that I can take? At this point, I can cut a little more (I’m about 14% bf, down from 22%) or I can “bulk”. But from my experience, cutting and bulking requires discipline and hard work.

So, can I get results (in any approach) working out only 2 times a week?

What would be more effective: cutting or bulking?

What kind of workouts should I do? Currently I’m doing split routines, although I’ve done full body routines and got results with both.

I’m currently carb-cycling, how would I adapt my meals through the week? I think my metabolism will slow down by the fridays.

Anyway, excuse my (poor) english.

I’m looking forward to the opinions and comments.

2

Your thought process here sucks.

I don’t know how you can’t give 30-45 mins of your day to the gym. Get up earlier or work out late.

Unless you are an ER doctor I think you can find time.

Sorry for being so blunt but if you’ve read these forums like you said you have, you would realize working out only 2 days a week would probably get flamed.

DG

3

Well, I did not expect to be flammed, really. I’m just exposing my situation.

You do however, have a good point. I could minimize sleep time and workout instead. But I think having 6 hours sleep, while working, studying and going to the gym might be far too stressful for a life (feel free to prove me wrong).

I don’t live exactly near my job and I have to get there before it opens so I wake up around 5:45 am(working 7 am-2 pm, no real lunch time (15 mins tops)). My gym opens around 6 am, even if I worked out before work, I couldn’t get cleaned for work in time.
Anyway, school starts at 3 pm, ends up 10 pm. I could hit the gym then (it closes around midnight). Having that in mind I would be sleeping (luckily) around 12 pm.

I’m taking your opinion seriously. I’m going to try to do that (given that I haven’t actually tried it as to give an opinion).

I would still like to hear some answers to my questions.

4

There’s only one way to find out man. I bet you can get it done. If it doesn’t work, try and make time once in the week for another day.

5

Working out 2 days a week on a bulk will get you fat.

Working out 2 days a week while trying to cut probably won’t get you anywhere.

Best bet would be to have a healthy diet and train when you can.

I’d say to try and get in a 3rd workout sometime throughout the week and do a full body routine every time. Don’t worry about overtraining at all, you will have plenty of time for rest. lol

Sorry it’s hard for me to not think like a bodybuilder and I know you cannont make huge improvements with your schedule.

I do believe, however, that you can get some decent gains off of a 3day a week routine.

How are you going to school for 7 hours mon-fri??

I mean I work and go to school, part-time job tho. I only work about 30hrs a week.

Sorry dood but your life seems like it’s not going to be too much fun. lol

I’ll help if I can tho man…

DG

6

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Working out 2 days a week on a bulk will get you fat.

Working out 2 days a week while trying to cut probably won’t get you anywhere.

Best bet would be to have a healthy diet and train when you can.

I’d say to try and get in a 3rd workout sometime throughout the week and do a full body routine every time. Don’t worry about overtraining at all, you will have plenty of time for rest. lol

Sorry it’s hard for me to not think like a bodybuilder and I know you cannont make huge improvements with your schedule.

I do believe, however, that you can get some decent gains off of a 3day a week routine.

How are you going to school for 7 hours mon-fri??

I mean I work and go to school, part-time job tho. I only work about 30hrs a week.

Sorry dood but your life seems like it’s not going to be too much fun. lol

I’ll help if I can tho man…

DG[/quote]

It seems we think alike. I also don’t think that I can get good results working out 2 times a week (that’s why I came here to ask) and as I said, I’m going to try to add that extra workout around wednesday (I have to wait until school to see how well can I handle it). I think that sleeping little for one day and getting a workout is worth it.

About my school time, It isn’t 7 hours a day, I have 30 hours of class a week(6 hours/day), but for some odd reason (and since it’s my first semester(wrong word? I mean it as in 6 month long cycles)) I got a random schedule and always have a free hour every day (despite that, I can’t leave school, work out and go back in time). I may get lucky next semester and may be able to choose my schedule, but as of now, I want to survive while getting some progress done.

Anyway, so I would end up doing splits on weekend and full body on wednesday.

What approach would be more effective: cutting or bulking? (my guess goes to bulking as I will have a lot of time to recover, but it sounds believable to get progress cutting since my metabolism won’t fully slow down, I think)

By the way, yeah, my life doesn’t look like much fun right now, but that doesn’t mean that my body should suffer, does it?

7

Depends on your definition of good, and where your at now. If your a beginner. You can get very good results from two days a week. If your looking to be a seriuos bodybuilder size then of course not.

The key is what are you going to be eating like, and how long you are going to workout for on those 2 days. The 45 minute rule should not apply to you.

8

Is there any time you could lift in between classes? Maybe you could use the schools gym?

I wouldn’t bulk or cut, I would more maintain what you have and refine the physique you have. Which requires adding a little here and taking a little there through your training.

I don’t think you would be successful on either a bulk or cut, I do think that you can try and eat as clean as possible, not worrying about cutting but don’t eat the junk. If you do this and hit the weights hard 3 times a week you will have a very refined physique.

People always get caught in a bulk or cut phase when in reality you can’t do both but you can maintain and refine at the same time.

Maybe your physique won’t change much as far as size and stuff goes, but your body composition might be the best thing to try and change with the hand that life has dealt you.

You might try and add in a 10-15 minute run a couple times a week. It won’t do much but it is better than nothing.

As much as I hate to offer this advice to anybody but I think you should try and take this with “fitness” in mind instead of bodybuilding.

my .02

DG

9

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
Is there any time you could lift in between classes? Maybe you could use the schools gym?

I wouldn’t bulk or cut, I would more maintain what you have and refine the physique you have. Which requires adding a little here and taking a little there through your training.

I don’t think you would be successful on either a bulk or cut, I do think that you can try and eat as clean as possible, not worrying about cutting but don’t eat the junk. If you do this and hit the weights hard 3 times a week you will have a very refined physique.

People always get caught in a bulk or cut phase when in reality you can’t do both but you can maintain and refine at the same time.

Maybe your physique won’t change much as far as size and stuff goes, but your body composition might be the best thing to try and change with the hand that life has dealt you.

You might try and add in a 10-15 minute run a couple times a week. It won’t do much but it is better than nothing.

As much as I hate to offer this advice to anybody but I think you should try and take this with “fitness” in mind instead of bodybuilding.

my .02

DG[/quote]

Hey there.

My school does have a gym, but not in my campus(branch?) (I’m in the engineers campus, you won’t see a gym there). The sports campus isn’t near.

But I have to disagree with you, I would like to believe that if I work hard enough in the correct fashion, then I can get good results (albeit, not the best). I really don’t like the fitness approach, yet, I know that in given case, anything is better than nothing.

I also have been thinking about adding some body weight excercises here and there (maybe a couple sets of push ups, pull ups and squats right after I breakfast and before I sleep).

Anyway, at this point, I think that the best I can do is try and see how well I do. Having that third workout in mind I feel more confident of getting results (it actually sounds believable).

10

with 3 solid workouts…I mean solid workouts, in a bulk can be successful. I think with a cut you will need to be exercising more in general.

If you decide to cut then I’d say add cardio in at least 2 more times throughout the week.

DG

11

I know what it takes to run a successful cut and bulk…

I know that neither can be done by working out on weekends alone.

If you add the 3rd workout and spread them out throughout the week you can make some progress.

DG

12

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
with 3 solid workouts…I mean solid workouts, in a bulk can be successful. I think with a cut you will need to be exercising more in general.

If you decide to cut then I’d say add cardio in at least 2 more times throughout the week.

DG[/quote]

Now, that’s something I can really agree with. I plan to do that, I may gain a little fat, but I will use the holidays as cutting phases so I should be doing well enough in the long-term.

Anyway, thanks for your advice and bearing with me.

13

6 hours of sleep should be fine for a short time. This coming from a guy that loves 8-9.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.

It will suck and you may not feel as recovered, but I’d go for more than 2x/wk unless you’re just looking for some health benefit then something is better than nothing.

14

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
6 hours of sleep should be fine for a short time. This coming from a guy that loves 8-9.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.

It will suck and you may not feel as recovered, but I’d go for more than 2x/wk unless you’re just looking for some health benefit then something is better than nothing.[/quote]

I’m not complaining exactly about the recovery time, but the overall stress that it would have in my life. But sleeping little once a week will not affect me much, I think.

So, my plan is to workout on weekends(split) and wednesdays(full body). I’m going to bulk, but I will start adding calories slowly, to see what is good and what is too much.

I think it would be too stressful to add anymore workouts but maybe if I’m feeling able to handle it, I will add a 4th workout. Although that will be until I try this first.

15

[quote]azstunt wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
with 3 solid workouts…I mean solid workouts, in a bulk can be successful. I think with a cut you will need to be exercising more in general.

If you decide to cut then I’d say add cardio in at least 2 more times throughout the week.

DG

Now, that’s something I can really agree with. I plan to do that, I may gain a little fat, but I will use the holidays as cutting phases so I should be doing well enough in the long-term.

Anyway, thanks for your advice and bearing with me.[/quote]

good luck trying to cut over the holidays…lol

I will be dieting for a show over thanksgiving and already know its going to be hard. lol

DG

16

Whether you decide to cut or bulk you shouldn’t be changing anaerobic training quite much, cardio and diet are the key. I think you’ll find results with that approach, but be careful about the exercises you choose for each bodypart; I can’t tell you which ones to choose, that’s a subjective matter, just choose the ones that are the most efficient in terms of workload (the most) and time (the least), FOR YOU. Be honest with yourself, to be effective you shouldn’t choose the exercises you like, you may hate them, but they should be the most efficient.

17

If two days is all you’ve got, just play the hand you’re dealt. School is more important.

That said, you could play the hand you’re dealt with a lot of intensity. Some of the old school bbers would train each muscle group just once a fortnight for periods using high intensity training methods.

I don’t know much about that, though.

18

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
azstunt wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
with 3 solid workouts…I mean solid workouts, in a bulk can be successful. I think with a cut you will need to be exercising more in general.

If you decide to cut then I’d say add cardio in at least 2 more times throughout the week.

DG

Now, that’s something I can really agree with. I plan to do that, I may gain a little fat, but I will use the holidays as cutting phases so I should be doing well enough in the long-term.

Anyway, thanks for your advice and bearing with me.

good luck trying to cut over the holidays…lol

I will be dieting for a show over thanksgiving and already know its going to be hard. lol

DG[/quote]

o dude thats a killer lol

19

[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
azstunt wrote:
Dirty Gerdy wrote:
with 3 solid workouts…I mean solid workouts, in a bulk can be successful. I think with a cut you will need to be exercising more in general.

If you decide to cut then I’d say add cardio in at least 2 more times throughout the week.

DG

Now, that’s something I can really agree with. I plan to do that, I may gain a little fat, but I will use the holidays as cutting phases so I should be doing well enough in the long-term.

Anyway, thanks for your advice and bearing with me.

good luck trying to cut over the holidays…lol

I will be dieting for a show over thanksgiving and already know its going to be hard. lol

DG[/quote]

Hey, don’t crush my hopes here :P. But seriously, I have done it before, it isn’t THAT hard. I think I have enough discipline to do it.

[quote]MEYMZ wrote:
Whether you decide to cut or bulk you shouldn’t be changing anaerobic training quite much, cardio and diet are the key. I think you’ll find results with that approach, but be careful about the exercises you choose for each bodypart; I can’t tell you which ones to choose, that’s a subjective matter, just choose the ones that are the most efficient in terms of workload (the most) and time (the least), FOR YOU. Be honest with yourself, to be effective you shouldn’t choose the exercises you like, you may hate them, but they should be the most efficient.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I think that I use the best excercises in terms of workload (Deadlift, squat, vertical push and pull; and horizontal push and pull) and time. I would like to get some isolation work after, but I will see what is effective and how much time do I have. By the way, if I’m thinking wrong, please, correct me.

[quote]DragnCarry wrote:
If two days is all you’ve got, just play the hand you’re dealt. School is more important.

That said, you could play the hand you’re dealt with a lot of intensity. Some of the old school bbers would train each muscle group just once a fortnight for periods using high intensity training methods.

I don’t know much about that, though.[/quote]

Well, I expected some insight about that matter when I posted my situation. I think that I remember somebody (a famous bodybuilder) that went to recommend working out every 15 days or so. However, I may be wrong.

20

[quote]
Well, I expected some insight about that matter when I posted my situation. I think that I remember somebody (a famous bodybuilder) that went to recommend working out every 15 days or so. However, I may be wrong.[/quote]

Sounds like Mike Mentzer and I’ll just leave it at he went a little crazy towards the end of his life.

If 2 times a week is all you can manage check out Iron Addict(google him) and some of his 2 day a week routines for an idea on how to set it up.