Been lurking on this forum for a few months, finally decided to create a profile.
I am currently in residency for internal medicine (not in US), and was just informed by my employer that i will have to start working longer hours. Im really wondering how i am going to fit in my training.
My daily schedule Monday-Friday will be:
Wake up at 4am, arrive at the hospital by 5am, work from 5am to 8pm. Home by about 8.30 pm and eat a quick dinner and go to bed at about 9pm.
On Saturday and Sunday, i only work from 7am-6pm. No night shifts fortunately.
I will start working these hours on Monday, previously i was just working from 8am-8pm Mon-Fri.
My current training program is The Best Damn Workout Part 1. I really like the low volume approach, and that i can be done in just 30 minutes. But i figure this could be tough to fit into a 15 hour work day.
So, if any of you have worked long work weeks, how did you fit in your training? Also, does anybody have a suggestion for a low volume program that i could fit in on saturday and sunday?
What’s your actual goal: Just staying “active”? Building size? Strength? Fat loss?
And, more importantly, is this hectic schedule going to be fairly long-term or will it calm down in the foreseeable future? That’s going to affect the plan, too.
The Best Damn Program is a solid approach when followed as-written, but you need those 5 or 6 workouts per week and you can’t really pare anything down because it’s already such low volume.
When anyone is time-cramped, I always suggest one of two approaches. Either super-short workouts often (5+ days a week) or figuring out 1-2 days a week to schedule longer/more traditional sessions.
Figure out what setup you can realistically stick to and then sort out a plan within that framework, instead of choosing any program and trying to tweak it to accommodate the schedule.
There’s a 5/3/1 weekend-only plan laid out here:
My goals are just muscle growth. Thanks for the program suggestion.
I live in a very small town, so commute time from home to my gym to my hospital is about 10 minutes. I might get in a quick 30 minute session before work, but that would mean sacrificing some sleep.
Im also a little cautious about working out with high intensity 6 times a week with this work load. Its medium to high stress, a lot of short breaks, but also a lot of acute situations.
As for how long this will last @Chris_Colucci, we are planning on getting more staff by june/july, so probably until then. Would it be an idea to combine the workouts from TBDWP on Saturdays and Sundays? Ex: Push 1 og Push 2 on Saturday, and Pull 1 and 2 on Sunday, and maybe 1 other combined session during the week if im able to fit it in. Or is that to much tweaking with the program?
Were I in this situation, with muscle growth as my goal:
I’d do Super Squats. Get to the gym 2-3 times a week (or 3 times every 2 weeks) to get in the squats and pull overs. On sat and sun, I could get in some heavy upper body work, or maybe even a full body Super Squat workout. On non-squatting days, I’d get some kettlebells/dumbbells and bands for the home (assuming I didn’t have any equipment) and hammer some upper body lifts.
It’s not ideal, but I’d grow.
If we’re willing to buy more equipment, more things open up.
Grab one of those door gym pull-up bars and throw it in the lounge. Knock out pull-ups, push-ups, crunches, lunges whenever you’re not passing out on the couch. If you grab some bands, you could knock out pretty real arms and shoulders volume.
Don’t do any of that stuff when you go the gym; you’re there just to push some big kid weights because you got a bunch of body weight volume in all week.
I’d go to the gym on your two weekend days: one upper and one lower. I’d get some heavy barbell sets in and then one or two really miserable extended sets like the HIT guys. For example: ramp up to a 5RM on bench, do one back-off set of 12ish. Then go over to the hammer strength machine and do 3 rest/ pauses, followed by two drops, followed by a hold. You’re done with chest.
Good luck in residency. It’s supposed to suck, but at the end of this you’ll be a practicing physician. On the bright side, I’ll assume you’re young, have no children, and (likely) are not yet married. Any of those precious few hours you’re not working or zombie sleeping, you get to (and should be) totally selfish with.
Whether or not that’s worth it is up to you knowing how you perform mentally and physically, your priorities, etc. I believe the key is to pick whatever approach fits your schedule with 100% consistency.
There could certainly be something to that. Dan John has written about the Yin/Yang of in-gym stress and outside-gym stress. It’s tolerable in the short-term, but could be counter-productive if drawn out too long.
This is another limited-time approach to consider:
In any case, it’s good to hear this’ll only be a hurdle for the next 4-ish months, so whichever approach you use is just a fairly short-term situation and definitely survivable.
Thank you, and thanks for your suggestions. That extended set looks delightful And yes, fortunately i am still young and have no other responsibilities.
Yes, definitely survivable. I can see how cramming the different workouts might not work as well. Thank you for all your suggestions, i will look into it when i get off.
I didn’t read the original post very well. Sorry.
Only having access to the gym for 2 consecutive days is troublesome. I’d go for lower body Saturday (high rep squats) with upper body Sunday. Maybe press/pull up super set.
With press ups and pull ups mid week some how.
If you can invest in home gym kit a multi grip sand bag is great. I’m just learning how to get the best out of mine. Its cheap and you can use it to do a lot.
Sorry for the late reply.
I could definitely look into getting some equipment for a home gym when i get the time to. Multi grip sand bag sounds great.
I am considering just getting a cable station and a hack squat, a little expensive, but convenient since i can hit my entire upper body and to some extent, lower body.
I trained in an uninsulated garage in Northern North Dakota, where it got to -60 with windchill outside: I totally get it, haha.
Squat stands and a barbell would, of course, be very clutch. If that’s too much, you could do a lot of damage with a trap bar, and a trap bar with a power tower with a dipping belt would be more than enough for a full body workout. There are the aforementioned kettlebells.
When my daughter was born, I was not sleeping properly owing to feeding routines and being a shift worker as well. I basically canned the gym for a few weeks as a 60min session would normally mean 90+ out of the house. As well as being impractical, it also felt a bit like a wind up to the Mrs, who is a very keen lifter herself.
A colleague lent me two pairs of kettlebells; 16s and 24s. I would do a 10 or 20min workout in the living room;
An EMOM (every minute on the minute) drill worked well;
Odd minutes: KB Swings (number depending on weight)
Even minutes: KB OHP
There are literally thousands of possibilities.
Do it at a time when you are already up and moving, to avoid the need for a long warm up.
And yes, fortunately i am still young and have no other responsibilities.