Fitting Workout Schedule into Work Schedule ?

[Meshuggah]

I will be going to 12 hour shifts on my job and my days off will rotate as follows...

3 days off, 2 days on, 2 days off, 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, etc...

I will only have time to workout on my days off, how would you set up the workouts?

Thank you for your time.

[csmith148]

I have been working the same exact shift for the last 25 years. I split my workouts into two pressing and pulling workouts. Workout A- Squat, Deadlift or Power Cleans followed by Chinups. Sometimes I may add in Barbell Rows or Glute Ham Raises. Workout B- Bench Press, Overhead Press and Bar Dips. Sometimes I add in Lying Tricep Extensions, Pushups or Incline Situps. It has worked out well for me. I rotate 2 weeks of dayshift with 2 weeks of nightshift. I average four workouts a week. It's not ideal but I find I am more consistent with this setup. I workout on days I am not working. I can also workout on the same day I start my first nightshift. I hope this helps.

[FKYT]

Just arrange the days so that you're not resting more than 3 days between workouts. For your example schedule, I'd do:

3 days off: workout, rest, workout
2 days on: rest
2 days off: rest, workout
3 days on: rest
2 days off: workout, rest
2 days on: rest

Like that. It doesn't matter all that much. People could do SS 2x per week and make progress.

[Meshuggah]

Thanks. Man that is horrible that they switch your days and nights every 2 weeks.

[snyderman3000]

I work the same schedule. Here's the template I've come up with:

Mon: Volume Bench (5x5), Light Press, assists
Tues: Volume Squat (8x3), Power Clean (10x2), assists
Wed: off
Thurs: off
Fri: Volume Press (5x5), Light Bench, assists
Sat: Deadlifts (1x3-5), assists, hill sprints (maybe light squats too)
Sun: off or active recovery

Mon: off
Tues: off
Wed: Volume Bench (5x5), Light Press, assists
Thurs: Volume Squat (8x3), Power Snatch (10x2), assists
Fri: off
Sat: off
Sun: off

[Meshuggah]

Thanks, that looks like a good setup.

[JT in MD]

I work the same schedule. Here's the template I've come up with:

Mon: Volume Bench (5x5), Light Press, assists
Tues: Volume Squat (8x3), Power Clean (10x2), assists
Wed: off
Thurs: off
Fri: Volume Press (5x5), Light Bench, assists
Sat: Deadlifts (1x3-5), assists, hill sprints (maybe light squats too)
Sun: off or active recovery

Mon: off
Tues: off
Wed: Volume Bench (5x5), Light Press, assists
Thurs: Volume Squat (8x3), Power Snatch (10x2), assists
Fri: off
Sat: off
Sun: off

Forgive me if the answer is obvious, but I don't see any intensity days in your program. Are you only doing volume work?

[snyderman3000]

I was doing intensity days on Friday/Saturday up until recently, but I decided with the reduced frequency of my template over a standard TM template, I'd probably benefit more from another volume day. I'm going to throw in an intensity day every six weeks or so when I feel like I've made decent progress to see where I'm at. I'm just starting to do it this way, so we'll see how it goes.

[JT in MD]

I gotcha. I used to work that schedule. Loved the schedule, hated it for training. My "long week" of M,T,F,S,S never seemed to afford me enough training time.

[yorick]

I work this schedule, and I usually end up trying to squeeze something into one of my work days, especially during my long week.

I have a basement gym, but it's still tough to do after work.

If the templates above don't fit you, you can always try to fit in some of your assistance stuff on your work days to allow for less to recover from if you put two bigger lifts on back-to-back days.