no time for gym, HELP!!!

[ryu007]

Hey guys, last week I got full custody of my son, and while he spends the day at daycare, when I get off of work, I pick him up, leaving me very little time to go to the gym (he's 16 months old). I can rarely afford more than 3 or 4 days at the gym. I've worked so hard to get to where I am, and I was wondering, what you guys thought was the best training split so that I could maximize my time at the gym. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Mike]

Hey guys, last week I got full custody of my son, and while he spends the day at daycare, when I get off of work, I pick him up, leaving me very little time to go to the gym (he's 16 months old). I can rarely afford more than 3 or 4 days at the gym. I've worked so hard to get to where I am, and I was wondering, what you guys thought was the best training split so that I could maximize my time at the gym. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

What's your current split?  3-4 days a week is fine for a recreational gym lifter.  Congrats on the custody!

[Bluto]

3-4 days should be plenty. i can work my whole body - twice every week - by just training 4 days. you might just need to limit the no of exercises or have more exercises that work several muscle groups at once. not a bad thing.

[ryu007]

 

What's your current split?  3-4 days a week is fine for a recreational gym lifter.  Congrats on the custody!

Thanks. Right now I do:
Chest
Arms
Shoulders
Back
Legs
And on a separate day I do abs with some cardio. But as you can see, it requires me to go about 6 days a week, something I can't do anymore. I was thinking of doing a split that looked like this:
Chest/Tri's
Back/Bi's
Shoulders/Legs
and on a fourth day squeeze in some abs and cardio. On my current split I do 5 exercises 3-4 sets. I know I"ll have to cut it down to about 4 exercises 3 sets, which I'm fine with (just up the intensity!) just wondering what you guys thought.

3-4 days should be plenty. i can work my whole body - twice every week - by just training 4 days. you might just need to limit the no of exercises or have more exercises that work several muscle groups at once. not a bad thing.

What's your split look like?

[The Squadfather]

Chest/Biceps  Day 1
Legs  Day2
Back  Day3
Shoulders/Triceps  Day 4

[lilwoday09smb]

day 1 chest and back
day 2 legs
day 3 off
day 4 cardio and abs
day 5 shoulders and arms
day 6 off
day 7cardio or lagging body part


do you have a stroller? get out and do cardio with your kid that way you dont have to go to the gym or leave him/her alone. take shorter rest and up intensity and youll still get a great workout. every 8 weeks switch it up and do 5-6 weeks of heavy compound movements to up stregth .
something like
bench, chins, rows, deads, squats, dips, cling and press or push press with low reps and more sets. just pick 3 exercises and do 5-6 sets of 3-4 reps

[The Squadfather]

day 1 chest and back
day 2 legs
day 3 off
day 4 cardio and abs
day 5 shoulders and arms
day 6 off
day 7cardio or lagging body part


do you have a stroller? get out and do cardio with your kid that way you dont have to go to the gym or leave him/her alone. take shorter rest and up intensity and youll still get a great workout. every 8 weeks switch it up and do 5-6 weeks of heavy compound movements to up stregth .
something like
bench, chins, rows, deads, squats, dips, cling and press or push press with low reps and more sets. just pick 3 exercises and do 5-6 sets of 3-4 reps

he said he's only got 3-4 days to train, dumbass.

[lilwoday09smb]

exactly there is 3 days of lifting and i said he could take his kid for cardio. do you read dumbass.

[ryu007]

All great advice. I'll try it out on Monday. Since I got him, I haven't had a chance to train since Tuesday!!

[triple_pickle]

get a babysitter or find a gym that provides childcare

[ryu007]

get a babysitter or find a gym that provides childcare

Wish I could. Daycare costs enough as it is, also, I'm military, so there aren't any gyms around here that provide childcare.

[Herc]

You can go as little as once a week or once every8 or 9 days and still maintain your muscle,  I used to do this when I didnt have the drive to go to the gym for a year or so and maintained all my muscle.  I would only go for about 15minutes each time and doing about 2 really heavy sets per bodypart.  The only thing is its easy to get fat that way but you can keep all your muscle.

[pumpster]

3 or 4 days should be enough; 4 would be enough to even do a 2-day split and hit each muscle twice weekly.

Or consider starting an affordable home gym.

[Beener]

How old is he? maybe he'd like to get jacked, bring him along and show him how daddy owns the weekend warriors.

[ryu007]

How old is he? maybe he'd like to get jacked, bring him along and show him how daddy owns the weekend warriors.

He's only 16 months old! Too young for now. Maybe when he hits 3.

[Kegdrainer]

my bally's has daycare right in the gym, they watch your kid for you while you lift.

[ryu007]

No Bally's, just the base gym.

[John O]

Your sure getting lots of options! LOL. Heres my 2cents

In the gym 3 days. Just work the basics, you know what they are. That will save time.
Pick 2 exercises per body part. You will be out in 30  minutes

Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

Wednesday : Legs

Friday : Back, Biceps

Umm?? looks a lot like my off season powerlifting routine. 

Or you could do Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday what ever fits better

The other days cardio with your child

P.S. Your military,  Thank you !!!!!!

[G.R.H.]

dude! what's the problem here?! 3-4 days a week at the gym is plenty of time. you got to realize too that the body needs rest periods in between. i am no expert, but my guess is that most of the guys that lift only go to a gym 3-4 times a week at the max.  THIS IS NORMAL! unless you are training for some competition, lighten up a little! 

[ryu007]

dude! what's the problem here?! 3-4 days a week at the gym is plenty of time. you got to realize too that the body needs rest periods in between. i am no expert, but my guess is that most of the guys that lift only go to a gym 3-4 times a week at the max.  THIS IS NORMAL! unless you are training for some competition, lighten up a little! 

The problem is that I'm used to doing one muscle group a day, so now I'm forced to do two a day, and because of my job I'm always pressed for time (military takes up a lot of your time). My week looked like this:
Day 1 Chest
Day 2 Arms
Day 3 Shoulders
Day 4 Back
Day 5 Legs
Day 6 Cardio and Abs
Day 7 Off
And repeat cycle. So my muscles had plenty of rest time.
p.s. Thank you everyone for your feedback so far! It's greatly appreciated.

[lilwoday09smb]

then stop training, your making excuses instead of sucking it up and working around it. if you want anything bad enough you'll make it happen. if you have to go home and bring your child to a play ground and do chin ups and push ups then do what you can, one thing i now about the military is there is also alot of stay at home moms on base im sure you could find a relatively cheap sitter.

[ryu007]

then stop training, your making excuses instead of sucking it up and working around it. if you want anything bad enough you'll make it happen. if you have to go home and bring your child to a play ground and do chin ups and push ups then do what you can, one thing i now about the military is there is also alot of stay at home moms on base im sure you could find a relatively cheap sitter.

It's not that drastic. I make time when I can afford to. And I do have people babysit him from time to time now. I've invested in some dumb bells and am looking to getting a bench press set. So I do what I can.