So, for quite some time now I have been following a 4 day upper/lower body routine, with a couple weeks in between of 4 fullbody workouts a week.
I am about to start work part-time at UPS while I go to school and have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to cut back on my training. I was thinking of a 3x a week fullbody routine with some ab exercises aftereach session.
My question is what exercises would be best when only training 3x a week? Also should I continue Deadlifting?
I am going to be doing a lot of bending over and back work and I am worried I will tire my back out.
I was also wondering if there are any good lower back exercises to help my lower back stay in shape? One more thing should I wear a belt to support my lower back? I am in really good shape but I really want to keep lower back healthy.
Read “Total Body Training” (TBT) by Chad Waterbury. It gives exercise recommendations as well as set/rep schemes to use each day.
Good lower back exercises include deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, reverse hyperextensions, back extensions, rack pulls, glute-ham raises, planks, etc.
Only wear a belt when lifting for maximum reps (1-3 reps) and save it for your heaviest sets only.
Don’t wear one of those support belts that most office workers and delivery people wear these days. It is a bad idea and usually contributes to injuries by giving people a false sense of security and also because it takes away from using your abs properly.
You a sorter, loader, or unloader? I worked at UPS for a while and which job you have will determine what you can do in the gym.
An unloader has the hardest job physically and will have the most strain on their low back. A sorter works almost as hard as the unloader, but doesn’t have to pick the boxes up off the floor so less low back strain there. They do have to rotate about 4-5000 times a shift so that could be problematic. Loaders have the easiest job physically but it’s pretty damn stressful.
I was a sorter myself and I definitely found it harder to recover between workouts. It was always best to workout before going to work because you don’t wanna go lift after a shift at UPS.
You should be alright though. 90% of the boxes you’ll deal with are under 20 lbs. Just don’t be stupid when handling the 150lb ones. A 150lb lopsided box feels more like 300lb. Just be sure to brace with your abs whenever you pick something up. Whether you prefer doing that by sucking the belly button in or filling the belly with air it doesn’t really matter.
Also, don’t wear one of those support belts. That will just weaken your back muscles.
I had to switch to a full body routine during the summer as my work hours were basically sun up to sun down, and very physically demanding.
My goal was to not lose much strength during the 3 months. I would advise to stick with multi-joint, compound exercises and not try and overdo it. Just ride it out without losing fitness.
My routine was a circuit of
Deadlift, Incline DB Bench, Abs/3x
Pullups/chins, Squats, Abs/3x
Shrugs, another favorite exercise, Abs/2x
I would work in one exercise that I liked, maybe a curl or another push exercise whenever time allowed. I also worked in my ab training just as Christian Thibaudeau explained in Staggered Ab Training article. Do one ab exercise while recovering from the other two lifts in the circuit.
Reps varied every 2 weeks from 6 up to 15, depending on the exercise.
It kept me in good shape for 3 months but I am glad to be back at the gym full time now, as it will only take you so far. But in and out of the gym in 45 mins was all I needed.
[quote]k1t0r5 wrote:
You a sorter, loader, or unloader? I worked at UPS for a while and which job you have will determine what you can do in the gym.
An unloader has the hardest job physically and will have the most strain on their low back. A sorter works almost as hard as the unloader, but doesn’t have to pick the boxes up off the floor so less low back strain there. They do have to rotate about 4-5000 times a shift so that could be problematic. Loaders have the easiest job physically but it’s pretty damn stressful.
I was a sorter myself and I definitely found it harder to recover between workouts. It was always best to workout before going to work because you don’t wanna go lift after a shift at UPS.
You should be alright though. 90% of the boxes you’ll deal with are under 20 lbs. Just don’t be stupid when handling the 150lb ones. A 150lb lopsided box feels more like 300lb. Just be sure to brace with your abs whenever you pick something up. Whether you prefer doing that by sucking the belly button in or filling the belly with air it doesn’t really matter.
Also, don’t wear one of those support belts. That will just weaken your back muscles.[/quote]
I will be an unloader, I will probably take the test to be a sorter, higher pay. I am not really worried about the weight it is more about the constant bending over for 5-8 hours.
I wouldnt standard deadlift more than twice a month if I were you. Alot of people have been using that exercise as an end all because it is so hard and works so many muscles, but I think especially for someone working like you are I think it may be too hard, I would do Romanian Deads and Goodmornings. Along with Front or back squats, some bulgarian Squat and lunges…