Advice with long workdays. Regarding squats mainly.

Hi.
So im a pipe welder/fitter who works out of town all the time, working 12hrs a day mon-wed (staying at hotel) and about six hrs on thursdays (thursdays i go home), fri to sun off.

I usually train tuesday, friday and sunday but recently ive been training mon, wed, fri. Fridays and sundays i train quite early, around 11Am. Workdays 8PM.

After a long day working i really feel exhausted. Thats why i made tuesday a light day (-20%) and friday and sunday the regular 3x5reps +5lbs.

But since i for various reasons i cant train sundays, and instead move that session to monday, i feel i dont have the same power and cant be as focused as i am sundays (and fridays) and its really hard putting on more weight.

I would say i sleep good 8hrs, eat good about 3500cal, its just that it feels like shit doing heavy lifting on workdays. I am probably novice at squats (but its really hard adding weight two times/week), clean, deadlift. Possibly late novice/early intermediate at pressing and bench.

Anyone with similar experience and/or advice?

What is your height, weight, age and what are your 5x3 weights ?

I'm not anywhere remotely in your boat re: work schedule, but here's my suggestion: Make Friday-Saturday a 2-day upper/lower split. Go heavy on your top sets, and then get in lots of volume via drop sets (at least 3 sets of 5 at 85-90% of your top set). Then pick one more day during the week to go full body, all four main lifts, at lower intensity and volume: Perhaps 3 sets of 5 for each lift at 80%.

You could even make it a four day so that your mid-workweek also features an upper/lower split, at lower intensity and volume. So, maybe like this -- Friday: upper-heavy; Saturday: lower-heavy; Tuesday: upper-light; Wednesday: lower-light. Something along those lines.

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Originally Posted by Pete the swede

Hi.
ive been training mon, wed, fri. Fridays and sundays

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Just train Mon, Wed & Friday. Make Wed a light day if you need to. [/QUOTE]

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Originally Posted by Pete the swede

I would say i sleep good 8hrs, eat good about 3500cal,

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You should eat 300gr of protein and get in 4,500k calories a day. See how you feel then. You arent eating enough.

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Originally Posted by Szymon

What is your height, weight, age and what are your 5x3 weights ?

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Oh yeah, forgot about that. 35yrs, 188cm (i think about 6foot 2in?) 97kg ~213lbs. Last succesful 5reps x3 squat was friday 130kg ~286lbs. Tried 132,5 kg this monday, but only managed 3 and 2 and then i dropped to 120kg. I think my technique might suck. I can feel i lose tightness in upper back at heavier weights. Maybe i should drop about 10% and start again?

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Originally Posted by MAD9692

Just train Mon, Wed & Friday. Make Wed a light day if you need to.

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You should eat 300gr of protein and get in 4,500k calories a day. See how you feel then. You arent eating enough.[/QUOTE]

Yea i probably should increase my cals and protes. Eating about 180 gram protein/day, my weight is about 97kg ~286lbs

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Originally Posted by BastiatBB

I'm not anywhere remotely in your boat re: work schedule, but here's my suggestion: Make Friday-Saturday a 2-day upper/lower split. Go heavy on your top sets, and then get in lots of volume via drop sets (at least 3 sets of 5 at 85-90% of your top set). Then pick one more day during the week to go full body, all four main lifts, at lower intensity and volume: Perhaps 3 sets of 5 for each lift at 80%.

You could even make it a four day so that your mid-workweek also features an upper/lower split, at lower intensity and volume. So, maybe like this -- Friday: upper-heavy; Saturday: lower-heavy; Tuesday: upper-light; Wednesday: lower-light. Something along those lines.

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Its just that i dont think my nlp is "finnished" yet.

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Originally Posted by Pete the swede

Its just that i dont think my nlp is "finnished" yet.

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No, it's not. But your OP made it clear that you can't do a standard NLP, and the only days you are anywhere near full energy given your schedule are Friday and Saturday. My suggestion was to make the most out of a sub-optimal situation. You will still make gains every week, and hopefully for a long time. It won't matter much 10 weeks to add 50# to your lifts instead of the 5 weeks it may have take you in a more optimal situation.

But all that said, you never shared what your current weights are on most of your lifts. A 286# squat when you weight ~213# isn't much, but you aren't all that far off from where lots of people need a light middle day anyway.

Anyway, my two cents. Good luck with whatever you decide.

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Originally Posted by BastiatBB

No, it's not. But your OP made it clear that you can't do a standard NLP, and the only days you are anywhere near full energy given your schedule are Friday and Saturday. My suggestion was to make the most out of a sub-optimal situation. You will still make gains every week, and hopefully for a long time. It won't matter much 10 weeks to add 50# to your lifts instead of the 5 weeks it may have take you in a more optimal situation.

But all that said, you never shared what your current weights are on most of your lifts. A 286# squat when you weight ~213# isn't much, but you aren't all that far off from where lots of people need a light middle day anyway.

Anyway, my two cents. Good luck with whatever you decide.

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I appreciate your answer and it sounds like a good plan. I will try it for a month or so, and also increase my calories. I could post an update later on if someone is interested.

Btw my other lifts are DL 167,5kg ~368lbs x 5 (felt easy), ohpress 3x3 77,5kg ~170lbs (felt easy), bench 115kg~253lbsx5(felt heavy) PC 5setx 3 reps 50kg~ 110lbs (easy, but still learning the movement) chinups 11, 10, 8.

Pete the swede, I'm in similar situation. I work about 3000 hours a year with less than 10 days vacation.

You need to eat more as it was already mentioned.

One more very important thing is hydration. Sometimes I forget to drink while I'm at work and I don't even feel the need to but after work I feel thirsty. I noticed that my performance drop significantly if I don't drink enough. Sports drink works good, chocolate milk works good, just water works good but you don't get extra calories.

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Originally Posted by Szymon

Pete the swede, I'm in similar situation. I work about 3000 hours a year with less than 10 days vacation.

You need to eat more as it was already mentioned.

One more very important thing is hydration. Sometimes I forget to drink while I'm at work and I don't even feel the need to but after work I feel thirsty. I noticed that my performance drop significantly if I don't drink enough. Sports drink works good, chocolate milk works good, just water works good but you don't get extra calories.

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Dayum, thats a lot! I guess im in no position to complain at all.

About drinking enough, that could really be contributing to my lack of focus and energy. We drink a lot of coffee at work (swedish habit), and im not drinking much water during the day, maybe one-two cups on the whole day.

Ok so more calories and water. I should have asked myself the three questions before posting haha.

BastiatBB: i will try to continue to add weight twice a week a little longer, while increasing cals and hydration, and see where it takes me. Then i might take your approach.

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Originally Posted by Pete the swede

About drinking enough, that could really be contributing to my lack of focus and energy. We drink a lot of coffee at work (swedish habit), and im not drinking much water during the day, maybe one-two cups on the whole day. Ok so more calories and water.

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As the weights progressively get heavier, what you do outside of the gym starts to become as important as what you do in the gym. Getting enough sleep, eating enough calories, protein, getting enough sleep are all factors that directly impact success or failure. Luckily all of these factors are in our control. If you are serious about getting strong you need to be serious about it throughout the day.