Lifting advice

marialouise

Hi all...
Sooo last year I started a nutrition plan which came with a 5-day training bodybuilding style plan. I have lost a lot of weight and have gotten much stronger, am very happy with how it went. I worked really hard in the time I had the nutritionist because I paid for the plan and wanted the best results I could achieve in the time, so I made my health a priority. Over the summer then I took some strength and conditioning classes which were 3/4 days a week with powerlifting and other exercises, which was a nice change from bodybuilding type stuff but still with a similar goal.
Now I'm in the final year of my masters, college is a priority but I don't want to undo any hard work. Nutrition isn't a problem, but I'm confused about training. I can't do five days, I don't have time and won't make time, I have too much other stuff on and will not sacrifice my sleep like I did last year. I know how to make time 5 days a week but I won't do it for now. I feel rubbish when I don't get some sessions in though, so am totally up for 3-4 (max) during the week, but there's more to it than that I need to use very precise movements in my hands/arms from Monday-Friday, and have found that working chest/triceps or biceps has a detrimental affect on my work, so need to keep benching for the end of the week. Saturday and Sunday I have a job which requires long hours on my feet and lots of bending, reaching etc., so I try to get glutes/hams done earlier in the week and get legs finished by Thursday, otherwise well... it's killer.
So there you go, I have Monday and/or Tuesday, and Thursday and/or Friday, can't bench in the first half (sometimes not at all) and need to finish legs a bit earlier in the week. I don't know how to programme the training, I usually try Squats earlier in the week but have no idea about sets/reps to build muscle/strength. I go in and if I'm feeling strong I go for heavier sets for fewer reps, and if I'm feeling a bit hesitant I'll just squat for a few sets of 10-12. No idea what my maxes would be or which I should be doing more frequently (weight/volume), and am worried about wasting my time in the gym. Also I'm not sure about the best way to go about increasing the weight over a few weeks, I just do the same weights most of the time with occasional tiny increases! I guess the same goes for benching and deadlifting, how do you know how many to do, is there a general principle I've just never heard of? I'm not that interested in big numbers, I'm not going to be a competitive powerlifter, I want a sustainable programme which over time will keep me in shape and getting stronger little by little.
I am eating at maintenance because I think if I want to be in a calorie surplus to put on muscle, I would need a solid training programme, if I eat above my TDEE without 'lifting heavy' I'm afraid I'll just put on fat... And I won't eat in a deficit because I don't want to lose any more weight and I want to get stronger. I tend to carb cycle too and if I could get my training sorted I would definitely increase the food a bit so I can put on some muscle. After June 2017 I'll definitely be able to dedicate more time to this but I just need some advice for the coming 8 months.
My main goal is recomposition I guess, I'm currently sitting at a BMI of 21.6 and although I have some belly fat left, I really don't want to diet down any more to get rid of it,. I'll happily mix in some HIIT with strength training at maintenance or whatever, I just don't care about the last bit of fluff as much as I care about having loads of energy and feeling strong. Also I have noticed changes in physique even without a whole load of cardio and with lifting, so I can see for myself that it can be done. In terms of aesthetics, my arms and legs are quite lean, just a bit of love handles which is just my body type. I'd love to lose the belly fat and build some strong glutes, but it's really important to me that college takes priority and I won't put myself through calorie deficits and fasted cardio and then reverse dieting and training insane just to get a body which is not that important right now. What is important is having the gym as an outlet after my work/college and actually feeling like I'm going in there with a purpose, and having a lot of time to recover.....
Now I've typed my life story out maybe you can see what I should be doing? I should probably be doing more cardio, I just do a bit of treadmill sprints once or twice a week after an upper body workout, but I am very active throughout the day anyway. I should be 'lifting heavy' but I don't know how to go about that, how many warm up sets do you do to reach a working set and what volume do you do etc. etc. etc. - please advise me! Thank you in advance and sorry for the crazy long post but it's been a long time coming and feels good to get it all typed out!

cptgav

It seems like you're saying

a) not enough time to train
b) want to maintain previous gains from lifting
c) lower body Mon/Tues and upper body Thurs/Fri

It shouldn't be too hard to do, the main thing to remember is that to keep muscle you need to use it. So even though you're not worried about big numbers, you'll still need to lift relatively close to your 1RM (especially if you don't have the time to spend on other work).

Personally, I'd recommend benching all 4 days, but on Mon, Tues, and Fri just work up to a heavy single. It won't cause much muscle damage (you shouldn't be sore), it will help maintain the motor pattern, and it will mean that on the Thurs your chest won't be thinking "HOLY SH*T!?" because it hasn't seen a barbell for 7 days.

Leg work Monday/Tues (stick to sets of 4-6, reasonably tough), and maybe some light stuff on either Thurs/Fri. I wouldn't worry about cardio... I'm a fan of Density Training, but that can leave you sore so maybe stick to the basic lifts.

Example day (for max squat 70kg, max bench 40, max dead 100kg) would be...

quick foam roll / mobility work (5-10 minutes) ->
Squat: Bar*8 - 30*6 - 40*5 - 40*3 - 50*1 - 60*1
Bench: Push-ups (work on tension) - Bar*6 - 22.5*4 - 25*3 - 27.5*1 - 30*1 - 35*1
Dead: 40*8 - 60*6 - 60*4 - 80*1 - 70*6*6
Warm-Down / Stretch

You'll have to change the maxes and maybe you use different lifts, but you get the idea. Heavy singles in 2 lifts, work on the other. So Day1 = Sq., Day = Dead, Day 3 = Bench, Day 4 = Acc.

Something like that would be an interesting maintenance protocol, and there's room for progress if you manipulate things a little without a huge amount of work. That feels like a really long reply...

marialouise

cptgav wrote: »

It seems like you're saying

a) not enough time to train
b) want to maintain previous gains from lifting
c) lower body Mon/Tues and upper body Thurs/Fri

It shouldn't be too hard to do, the main thing to remember is that to keep muscle you need to use it. So even though you're not worried about big numbers, you'll still need to lift relatively close to your 1RM (especially if you don't have the time to spend on other work).

Personally, I'd recommend benching all 4 days, but on Mon, Tues, and Fri just work up to a heavy single. It won't cause much muscle damage (you shouldn't be sore), it will help maintain the motor pattern, and it will mean that on the Thurs your chest won't be thinking "HOLY SH*T!?" because it hasn't seen a barbell for 7 days.

Leg work Monday/Tues (stick to sets of 4-6, reasonably tough), and maybe some light stuff on either Thurs/Fri. I wouldn't worry about cardio... I'm a fan of Density Training, but that can leave you sore so maybe stick to the basic lifts.

Example day (for max squat 70kg, max bench 40, max dead 100kg) would be...

quick foam roll / mobility work (5-10 minutes) ->
Squat: Bar*8 - 30*6 - 40*5 - 40*3 - 50*1 - 60*1
Bench: Push-ups (work on tension) - Bar*6 - 22.5*4 - 25*3 - 27.5*1 - 30*1 - 35*1
Dead: 40*8 - 60*6 - 60*4 - 80*1 - 70*6*6
Warm-Down / Stretch

You'll have to change the maxes and maybe you use different lifts, but you get the idea. Heavy singles in 2 lifts, work on the other. So Day1 = Sq., Day = Dead, Day 3 = Bench, Day 4 = Acc.

Something like that would be an interesting maintenance protocol, and there's room for progress if you manipulate things a little without a huge amount of work. That feels like a really long reply...

Thanks, it was a really long reply but it was a very long original post! That's all really, really helpful thank you so much.
a) yes I can't commit to a lot of training
b) haven't made any gains really because I've been in a calorie deficit the entire time but just have newbie gains and would like to build strength and add muscle down the line
c) yep

Benching all the time probably is doable, but yes indeed the last time I did it my arms said "holy sht" and wouldn't work for me the next day when I really needed them in work!
The example you gave is really helpful, thank you so much. Also it's nice to read 'don't worry about cardio' as I do wonder what I'd look like if I included it but I'm just not bothered and am more interested in staying strong and getting stronger!
This is exactly what I needed, just someone else's view on what I need to do to maintain. Sorry the OP was so long, and thanks once again for a very useful reply. Have found some other threads on here too which have helped, I do love the fitness forum!