Training With Time Constraints

[Mark D]

I'm a 54 (next week) year old male. I've decided to give SS a try. Using information from the Barbell Prescription, I decided to start off training three days a week (until the weights get heavy enough that I can't recover), alternating squats/presses/deadlifts and squats/bench/lat-pulldowns.

My problem is that I have limited time for training. Because of work and gym schedules, I need to go first thing in the morning. The gym opens at 5:00 am, and I need to be in my car, showered and dressed, by 5:50 in order to get to work on time. I'm finding that doing three lifts per session runs long, so I'm thinking of dropping to two lifts on work days (on Saturdays I can stay at the gym longer).

Can I productively train something like:

Tuesday: Squat, press

Thursday: Squat, bench

Saturday: Squat, lat pull-down, deadlift

??

Would I be better off switching bench and pull-down (rather than do two pulls in one session)?

Before anyone asks:

1) Changing jobs isn't really in the cards now
2) Getting to the gym after work won't work, by the time I get there I'd have about the same amount of time before they close
3) There are no 24 hour gyms in my area (well, there's one CALLED 24 Hour Fitness, but it's not open 24 hours a day).

After I finish some other home projects I'd like to build a garage gym. That would make scheduling easier, but I'm not sure that'll happen this year.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

No worries, I get it. I got a large AM Crew that is in the same boat. Gotta get in and out quick.

2 Lifts per day is fine. We rarely do 3 except with fairly rank novices who can sail through the sessions pretty fast.

Tues: Squat / Press or Bench
Thurs: Press or Bench / Deadlift
Sat: Squat / Press or Bench / Lat Pulls