Managing my time

thedreamhazer

Currently, I'm on a twice-a-week lifting schedule. My current lifting routine only take about 40 minutes ... which is fine, but I have more time than that and I'd like to find a way to fill it effectively.

My current weekly routine looks like this:

Monday - Boxing, 1 hour
Tuesday - Spin, 1 hour
Wednesday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, OHP, Pull-ups; 1x5 Deadlift; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Thursday - Spin, 1 hour
Friday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, Rows, Bench Press, Curls; 3 minutes core; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Saturday - Boxing, 1 hour
Sunday - Yoga, 1.5 hours

I'm open to suggestions for filling in my Wednesday and Friday. What I'm currently thinking of doing, is doing all big moves on each day. So I would be doing my mobility warm-up, Squats, Deadlift, Bench Press, Row, OHP and Pull-ups on both days. I'm not sure if there is a downside to this that I'm unaware of, so your input is appreciated.

(Side note: I am aware my weekly routine is fairly cardio heavy. My current goals are fat loss and conditioning for a race in August. Nutrition is a little all over the board at the moment, I'm trying to get it under control but it varies widely. On average, intake is at 2000/day with about 100 g protein).

Sarauk2sf

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Sarauk2sf

Crap - this one fell through.

At first glance, I think your suggestion good. I would only do deadlifts once a week though.

I do have one question though - how long are you taking for your rest times? And are you doing warm up sets? You are getting through a lot in a short time.

bumblebums

Currently, I'm on a twice-a-week lifting schedule. My current lifting routine only take about 40 minutes ... which is fine, but I have more time than that and I'd like to find a way to fill it effectively.

My current weekly routine looks like this:

Monday - Boxing, 1 hour
Tuesday - Spin, 1 hour
Wednesday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, OHP, Pull-ups; 1x5 Deadlift; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Thursday - Spin, 1 hour
Friday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, Rows, Bench Press, Curls; 3 minutes core; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Saturday - Boxing, 1 hour
Sunday - Yoga, 1.5 hours

I'm open to suggestions for filling in my Wednesday and Friday. What I'm currently thinking of doing, is doing all big moves on each day. So I would be doing my mobility warm-up, Squats, Deadlift, Bench Press, Row, OHP and Pull-ups on both days. I'm not sure if there is a downside to this that I'm unaware of, so your input is appreciated.

(Side note: I am aware my weekly routine is fairly cardio heavy. My current goals are fat loss and conditioning for a race in August. Nutrition is a little all over the board at the moment, I'm trying to get it under control but it varies widely. On average, intake is at 2000/day with about 100 g protein).

I wouldn't be able to get through your Wednesday workout in 40 minutes--certainly not with foam rolling. Are you just doing 3 sets per exercise without warming up? It's a good idea to do specific warm-ups before each exercise; you start with the unloaded barbell and gradually work up to your three work weight sets. So even if you are doing 3 sets of 5 of squats at your work (5 max) weight, you end up doing more like 5 or 6 sets if you include the warm-up sets.

thedreamhazer

Currently, I'm on a twice-a-week lifting schedule. My current lifting routine only take about 40 minutes ... which is fine, but I have more time than that and I'd like to find a way to fill it effectively.

My current weekly routine looks like this:

Monday - Boxing, 1 hour
Tuesday - Spin, 1 hour
Wednesday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, OHP, Pull-ups; 1x5 Deadlift; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Thursday - Spin, 1 hour
Friday - Mobility warm-up; 3x5 of each: Squats, Rows, Bench Press, Curls; 3 minutes core; Foam Rolling (40 minutes total)
Saturday - Boxing, 1 hour
Sunday - Yoga, 1.5 hours

I'm open to suggestions for filling in my Wednesday and Friday. What I'm currently thinking of doing, is doing all big moves on each day. So I would be doing my mobility warm-up, Squats, Deadlift, Bench Press, Row, OHP and Pull-ups on both days. I'm not sure if there is a downside to this that I'm unaware of, so your input is appreciated.

(Side note: I am aware my weekly routine is fairly cardio heavy. My current goals are fat loss and conditioning for a race in August. Nutrition is a little all over the board at the moment, I'm trying to get it under control but it varies widely. On average, intake is at 2000/day with about 100 g protein).

I wouldn't be able to get through your Wednesday workout in 40 minutes--certainly not with foam rolling. Are you just doing 3 sets per exercise without warming up? It's a good idea to do specific warm-ups before each exercise; you start with the unloaded barbell and gradually work up to your three work weight sets. So even if you are doing 3 sets of 5 of squats at your work (5 max) weight, you end up doing more like 5 or 6 sets if you include the warm-up sets.

I do 1-2 warm-up sets. I rest a minimum of 90 seconds between working sets. I foam roll minimally ... maybe 5 minutes. Wednesday may take a little longer (more like 50 minutes) but still not close to an hour. Some exercises I do not do specific warm-ups because my working weight is so light -- pull-ups and OHP. If I warmed up with the bar for OHP, my muscles would be too fatigued for the working set.


@Sara- Good point about the deadlifts. I was just thinking this morning that instead of doing deadlifts both days, I'd do deadlifts one day and cleans (3x5) the other.

FTR - Wednesday time looks something like this: 10 minutes mobility; 20 minutes squats; 5-7 minutes OHP; 5-7 minutes Pull-ups; 5 minutes Deadlifts; 5 minutes foam rolling.

Sarauk2sf

Are you progressively loading the bar?

thedreamhazer

Are you progressively loading the bar?

With the heavier moves, yes. So, for squats and deadlifts I do. My bench and row are still pretty low (benching with 40-lbs dumbbells and rowing 100 lbs) so I just do a couple of warm-up sets at the same weight (20 lbs dumbbells, and usually just a little something on the bar for the row).

Sarauk2sf

Are you progressively loading the bar?

With the heavier moves, yes. So, for squats and deadlifts I do. My bench and row are still pretty low (benching with 40-lbs dumbbells and rowing 100 lbs) so I just do a couple of warm-up sets at the same weight (20 lbs dumbbells, and usually just a little something on the bar for the row).

Sorry for all the questions, but how long have you been doing your current routine?

thedreamhazer

Sorry for all the questions, but how long have you been doing your current routine?

I appreciate the questions, no worries!

I've only been doing this current routine for about a month. I have been lifting for about 2 years now, though, and was doing 3-4 days per week previously. I'm coming back from about a 2 month hiatus from lifting.

Sarauk2sf

I assume that deloaded a lot when you returned back after your break. Is this correct?

thedreamhazer

I assume that deloaded a lot when you returned back after your break. Is this correct?

Yes, a bit. I was fairly conservative getting back to the weights and din't want to risk injuring myself, so I may have undershot it just a little. But I'm pretty much back to the point where the weights are challenging on all moves (I've been refusing to go up more than 5 lbs at a time to make sure I don't over do it). The only lifts where I feel like I could still go heavier (without work) are bench press and deadlift.

Overall:
Squat deloaded by 30 lbs.
OHP deloaded by 15 lbs.
Bench switched to dumbbell, so no real insight on this deload.
Row deloaded by 10 lbs.
Deadlift -- unknown. I was pulling 245 lbs and I stepped it back to 200. Up to 210 now, feel like I could put a lot more.

Sarauk2sf

Because you deloaded, you are requiring less rest time. As it starts getting harder you will require more rest time between sets and as such your workout will start to take more time.

We would suggest that for now you fill in any extra time you have with accessory work so that when the main lifts get harder and therefore take longer, you can just drop those, rather than changing your routine and then finding that you are spending too long at the gym.

We would also recommend on trying to take full advantage of recovery time as you are only lifting twice a week and as such have 2 days between lifting sessions rather than the one you currently have, if you can fit this into your schedule.

thedreamhazer

Because you deloaded, you are requiring less rest time. As it starts getting harder you will require more rest time between sets and as such your workout will start to take more time.

We would suggest that for now you fill in any extra time you have with accessory work so that when the main lifts get harder and therefore take longer, you can just drop those, rather than changing your routine and then finding that you are spending too long at the gym.

We would also recommend on trying to take full advantage of recovery time as you are only lifting twice a week and as such have 2 days between lifting sessions rather than the one you currently have, if you can fit this into your schedule.

Thanks for the advice. I was just thinking (as I woke up this morning and could barely convince my legs to lift me out of bed) that it might be beneficial to try Sunday/Wednesday instead of Wednesday/Friday.