I’m in college where it seems time to go to the gym is pretty limited. With studying and all my classes I can make it to the gym 3 maybe 4 times a week. I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of a routine/article that I could fit into my schedule. My goals are strength and size. I would like more so the strength, but I’m 5’11, 173lbs, with about %8-9 bf. So I could use some extra size. The diet aspect is really hard to keep, but I’m trying my best at staying consistant and eat healthy every 3-4hrs. Any help would be appreciated. thanks…
How much time do you have?
Most of the programs I’ve seen on this site keep the workouts in the 45 min to an hour range, which to me is short and sweet.
Needless to say you won’t be able to dick around trying to isolate all three heads of your triceps, so it’s a matter of putting quality over quantity, sticking to the big movements and putting some weight on the bar. Do something big and heavy and throw in an assistance exercise or two to give the opposing muscle groups some love. Even the workouts in a full Westside split run about an hour, so look at that, Westside for Skinny Bastards, Neanderthal No More was a fun one, and Mike Robertson’s Freaky Athlete article.
Even if you just have 15 or 20 minutes you could do 5x5 with a big movement and get out. It’s not ideal, but if you pick a good exercise like squats or deads you’ll still be ahead of the guys who curl for an hour.
I know when things get busy it’s hard to stick with something if you feel it’s blowing a hole in your schedule, so maybe the best thing for you to do would be start bare bones, like with one big exercise per workout, and then when it’s clear you have no problem fitting that into your schedule, add some more work until you’ve built up to a full routine. That way you’ll have the barebones program to fall back on when you get busy again, rather than the excuse that you don’t have time for a full workout…
Nick
Westside for Skinny Bastards or ABBH, Big Boy Basics or the Single’s Club. All would be great and use minimal equipment and time.
alright, thanks guys. I’ll look into those routines. I have about an hour or so Tuesday and Thursday I can fit in so I’ll see how it works out.
I am in college and I can easily manage a full-body routine 3x a week (which is all you need). I only do compound exercises and the workout only takes an hour max, and that’s with a partner. If you do it on your own you can get it done in 30-45 minutes. My routine looks like this:
Squats: 3 sets of 10-12
Overhead Press: 3 sets of 8-10
Pulldowns (not strong enough for chin-ups): 3 sets of 8
Stiff-legged Deadlifts: 3 sets of 8
Bench Press: 2 sets of 8 (2 sets because of the wear OHPs cause)
Crunches: 3 sets of 15
I go for 3x8, then 3x9, then 3x10, then I add weight and go back to 3x8 and repeat.
Hope this helps.
Here you go, these 2 reads will be very valuable to you. One cover training and the other nutrition, all for the college student.
School Days 1 & 2
By: Steve Berardi
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460575
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459620
Hope they help
Phill
“I’m in college where it seems time to go to the gym is pretty limited.”
Training economy by Joe De Franco
ABBH,ABBH2 by Chad Waterbury
Ciao
Luca