Intermediate Program Help?

[Justin Smale]

I've posted about this a few times but maybe I've worded it poorly since I never get great answers. I have maybe 30-45 minutes 4 times a week to work out but I can't count on having more than that (single dad of 2 young kids, work full time, other time constaints, etc.). I've run through 6 months of beginner LP and have been experimenting with different intermediate programs for the past 5-6 months. My question is given my time constraints and experience level, what's the bare minimum program I could use to continue building strength? I'm not going to get into what I'm currently doing because that leads to needless verbiage, and for the love of all that's holy, feedback of "you probably haven't run out your beginner gains" is not helping.

Thanks!

[DeanT]

You could run a 4 day split on a version of the Hepburn program. If you look in the competitive lifter log section and view the log of "Finding out that the iron never lies" and on page 98 he converts from a 3 day per week full body program to a 4 day split. I've taken his 3 day full body plan and modified it for me and I am making good progress on it. I'm 3 months in at this point and everything is moving nicely. If you went straight to the 4 day split, I'm certain that you could easily be in and out of the gym in 30 minutes. Keep your rest times at 3 minutes on lower body and 2 minutes on upper body. Start point would be around 80% of your 1RM. It would look something like this:

Monday: Squat xxx lbs 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 3 min rest
Chin up 7 minute block (alternate with pullups)
Tuesday: Bench: xxx lbs 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 2 min rest
Press: xxx lbs (I do rep progression on this too but you could do a block, 3x5 or whatever works for you)
Thurs: Deadlift xxx lbs 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 3 min rest
Chin up (weighted) 3x5 2 min rest (alternate with pullups)
Friday: Bench: xxx lbs 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2 2 min rest
Press: xxx lbs (I'd do rep progression here)

To start you do 6 total sets with one set of 3 and then 5 sets of 2. The next time you hit the lift, you do 2 sets of 3 and 4 sets of 2. You change one set of 2 to a set of 3 each time you do that lift and once you get to 6 sets of 3, you add 10 lbs (squat and DL), 5 lbs ( bench and press). After a time, you may have to adjust the jumps down some...the point is to keep making all your lifts while still moving the weight up.

I hope this helps.

[Jeff Illingworth]

30 minutes doesn't leave you much time to get any kind of volume in. I, personally, would have a hard time getting warmed up and getting more than one or two work sets in with only 30 minutes. You could try something like this:

Day 1 - Heavy squat, light press
Day 2 - Heavy bench, light deadlift
Day 3 - Heavy press, light squat
Day 4 - Heavy deadlift, light bench

or

Day 1 - light deadlift, Heavy squat
Day 2 - light press, Heavy bench
Day 3 - light squat, Heavy deadlift
Day 4 - light bench, Heavy press

[quikky]

30-45 mins per workout is quite the time crunch. You can try running a 4-day split with short rest times kind of like this:

Day 1
Bench 3-4x5
Press Assistance (presses, pin presses, LTEs, tricep work, etc)

Day 2
Squat 3-4x5
Deadlift Assistance (rack pulls, RDLs, SLDLs, paused DLs, etc)

Day 3
Off

Day 4
Press 3-4x5
Bench Assistance (paused bench, CGBP, LTEs, etc)

Day 5
Squat Assistance (squats, paused squats, pin squats, front squats, etc)
Deadlift 2-3x5

This is just a general way to organize it. The exact number of sets and exercise selection will vary depending on what you can actually accomplish given your time constraints. On some of the assistance lifts you might simply run the main lift, but vary the intensity/volume.

[Rob-UK]

I've posted about this a few times but maybe I've worded it poorly since I never get great answers. I have maybe 30-45 minutes 4 times a week to work out but I can't count on having more than that (single dad of 2 young kids, work full time, other time constaints, etc.). I've run through 6 months of beginner LP and have been experimenting with different intermediate programs for the past 5-6 months. My question is given my time constraints and experience level, what's the bare minimum program I could use to continue building strength? I'm not going to get into what I'm currently doing because that leads to needless verbiage, and for the love of all that's holy, feedback of "you probably haven't run out your beginner gains" is not helping.

Thanks!

Can you try and ensure it's 45 mins rather than 30 mins every session or is that out of your control?

I think that would make quite a difference.

[George Christiansen]

30 minutes a day is jack shit. You probably won't progress, but you might be able to maintain doing one lift a day. I'd do it every day or six days a week though and just rotate through all of the lifts. Maybe one top set and then two sets @-5% or so to cut down on the need for interset rest.

Monday: Press
Tuesday: Squat
Wednesday: Bench
Thursday: Deadlift
Friday: Press
Saturday: Squat
Sunday: Off
Monday: Bench
Tuesday: Deadlift
Wednesday: Press
Thursday: Deadlift
Friday: Squat
Saturday: Bench
Sunday: Off

[Dlk93]

Monday:
a) Bench 3-5x5@8
b) Rows 1-3x8@8
Tuesday:
a) Deadlift 1-3x5@8
b) Pause Squats 2-3x4@9
Thursday:
a) Press 3-5x5@8
b) Chins AMRAP 7 min
Friday:
a) Squat 3-5x5@8
b) Close Grip Bench 2-3x4@9
---------------
Meh? Certain modifications can be made if time still does not permit, or if you have equipment constraints.

[Justin Smale]

Awesome feedback folks. These kind of ideas are exactly what I was looking for.

[CamLeslie]

How to Train Without A Plan – Andy Baker

This is what I do when I have zero time for the gym.

Basically, work up to a heavy single for the day followed by back-offs. Assistance by feel based on time/energy.

[Justin Smale]

How to Train Without A Plan – Andy Baker

This is what I do when I have zero time for the gym.

Basically, work up to a heavy single for the day followed by back-offs. Assistance by feel based on time/energy.

That's an awesome article! Thanks for passing that along.