When to workout?

[sard]

Ok, I try to stick to the HST principles as stated in the original plan. (Im not good at customizing)
Here is my understanding:  Full body workout, 2 exercises per bodypart, workout every other day (approx. 3 times a week), increase weight every workout, 6 workouts per cycle, 4 cycles - 15 reps, 10 reps, 5 reps and Negs.

Now, I started a new job and it has me all confused as to when to workout.

Here is my schedule:
Monday - 8 am to 7pm - work from home
Tuesday - wake up at 4am to catch the first flight out to my client.
Wednesday - 8am to 8pm
Thursday - 8am to 8pm
Friday - 8am to 4pm, catch a plane, get home after 11pm.
Saturday - run errands
Sunday - visit family

In terms of which days to do HST, these are my thoughts:
Monday - I could workout, but will not be able to get a good nights sleep.  Since I have to wakeup at 4am on Tuesday, I only get around 4-5 hours of sleep.  Since sleep is probably one of the most important aspects, then should I even bother working out on a day where I will get very little sleep?
Tuesday - since I woke up at 4am, I am basically sleep walking through the day, I cannot even imagine working out today.  Its only 2pm right now and my body feels tingly cuz Im so tired.
Wednesday - I can workout today, but to be honest I still feel tired from Tuesday, but I can workout.
Thursday - same as Weds. I can workout.
Friday - cannot workout, by the time I get home (after 11) the gym is closed.
Sat and Sun - can workout.

So basically I can workout: weds, thurs, sat, sun.
Which does not fit into the HST schedule (every other day).
so I can only get 2 HST workouts in a week, because if I work out weds, then I cannot workout thurs (if i do the HST way).

Any ideas?
I guess if I could get a good nights sleep on monday, I could do a Mon/Wed/Sat workout.  Im just concerned with getting such crappy sleep on monday, if I workout, it would do more harm than good.
Perhaps a Tues/Thurs/Sunday workout, but Tuesdays I feel so crappy that I cant imagine working out.

I havent worked out in 2 weeks, and I still feel rundown just because of the work schedule.

Thanks

 

[vagrant]

Honestly, sleep is important. But it doesn't make the difference that we seem to think these days. Yeah, you've got to have enough, but it isn't like your workout was wasted if you don't get 9 hours. Many nights I get 2-4 a night and still make progress.

Workout 3 or 4 days a week. Rest as much as you can. You'll do better that way than doing it 4 days in a row or worse yet...not working out.

 

[bluejacket]

is this your work sched. for the forseeable future...next 1-3 yrs or is this a temp. work sched that will calm down in a few months?

basically your in a new job thats really got you running and by my calcs your working at least 50hrs a week not including tue. trav day so add that in as well. now this might sound like strange advice from a bb forum but lifting should be one of your lower priorities right now.

starting a new job/career is what puts money in the bank, food on the table and a roof over your head. dont take it for granted. sleep is what keeps you doing that job well. proper eating is also what keeps you doing that job well. friends, family, signif others is the real reason you do the job in the first place so you have to make time for them.

now if there is any time energy left over then i would try to work in some gym time.

do you stay in a hotel when on the road?

with your current sched id whittle your program down to bare bones until things improve. do the big lifts like squat, deads, chins, bench, milt press. on sunday. maybe only about an hr w/o. then on tue or wed night at the hotels sorry excuse for a gym do whatever you can on their univ. machine as well as push ups, chins, dips etc. any more than that and chances are youll be cutting into your limited sleep and eating time/energy.

ive been in your situation as well many yrs ago. i had a job out of college at a non-profit working 60-70 hrs a week including weekends. i also tried to lift but as you can guess made very little progress. im all for making lifting a priority but experience has told me that starting a new job (and doing it well) while still trying to maint. friends and family is not the time to make it one. dont worry in time things will mellow out.....or youll have to make choice about career vs life. but thats for another time

good luck

 

[Old and Grey]

Other than the 'possible' exceptions of T and F, all I heard was a bunch of excuses as to why you think you cannot possibly workout. If you want to lift, concentrate on what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do. Are you going to go into a coma on S,S and M? You don't appear to be working on T other than a flight according to what you wrote. W,TH and F allow for early morning workouts...but only if you want to work out. If you can't find 3 hours out of the 168 hours in a week (<2%) to do something you WANT to do, then you should consider getting a new life because the one you describe sucks.   

 

[sard]

>>Honestly, sleep is important. But it doesn't make the difference that we seem to think these days. Yeah, you've got to have enough, but it isn't like your workout was wasted if you don't get 9 hours. Many nights I get 2-4 a night and still make progress.
>>

Ok, I thought of it like...when you dont get enough rest then you can overtrain, so by getting only 4 hours of sleep then instead of gaining muscle Im just putting myself into a rest deficiet.


>>is this your work sched. for the forseeable future...next 1-3 yrs or is this a temp. work sched that will calm down in a few months?
>>

It will be like this until March of 2007 most likely.


>>do you stay in a hotel when on the road?

Yes, and hotel gyms suck. They have 2 treadmills and dumbbells that go up to 20lbs.
I asked if they have an affiliation with a real gym but they do not.


>>Are you going to go into a coma on S,S and M? You don't appear to be working on T other than a flight according to what you wrote. W,TH and F allow for early morning workouts
>>

Sorry, should have been more clear.
On Tuesday I catch the first flight so I can get to the client and work until 8.

Yes, it is true I can workout on Weds, Thurs, Sat, Sun.
I can workout everyday....BUT I want to do HST (which is why Im here).
As I stated in my first post, HST principles is to workout every other day.
So you cant do it on Weds and Thurs...sat and sun.
If I was going to workout W/Thr/Sat/Sun, I could just do bodyweight.
Hell I could do bodyweight before I leave for work on Wed-Fri and then go to my gym in my hometown on Sat and Sunday.
But I cant do that because I want to do HST and hopefully gain some size.

Thanks!

 

[Old and Grey]

<div>
(sard @ Oct. 24 2006,16:55)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Yes, it is true I can workout on Weds, Thurs, Sat, Sun.
I can workout everyday....BUT I want to do HST (which is why Im here).
As I stated in my first post, HST principles is to workout every other day.
So you cant do it on Weds and Thurs...sat and sun.
If I was going to workout W/Thr/Sat/Sun, I could just do bodyweight.
Hell I could do bodyweight before I leave for work on Wed-Fri and then go to my gym in my hometown on Sat and Sunday.
But I cant do that because I want to do HST and hopefully gain some size.  

Thanks!</div>
HST does not tell you when to workout. The articles have given some examples but that is all they are. I have done HST as little as twice per week and as much as 6 days per week, twice per day. Science is leaning toward the conclusion that you should work a muscle at least once every 48 hours. However, it has not yet studied if it is beneficial to work it more than that. It may or not be.

I would suggest something along these lines:

Wed:

Incline DB press
Dips
Flat Bench Flyes
Military Press
Shrugs
French Press

Thurs:

Chin ups
Pull ups
Seated Rows
Deep Squats (Will hit your hams also)
Deadlifts (Yes, both in the same Workout)
Calf Raises

Sat and Sun: Repeat

Because you can only work each body part only twice per week in the above routine, I would suggest 2 sets of each exercise. If you can, do each body part in giant set fashion so there is no rest between each group of exercises.  For instance, do all 3 chest exercises with no rest between exercises, rest 3 minutes and do the second set of each exercise. You won't die. You'll just feel like it. That will 12 sets in total each time you workout and 48 for the week. Each workout should be complete in 45 minutes or less. That is plenty except for the roided up pro. You will grow more with a reasonable amount of volume that an overload.

Or you could do the following 4 times per week, W,Th,S,S:

Incline DB Bench Press
Dips
Chin Up
Rows
Military Press
Shrugs
Squats
Leg Extensions
Calf Raises

1 set of 15's, 1-2 sets of 10's and 2 sets of 5's depending on your available time and energy level. Stop the sets when you are at a point when you think you could another 1/2 round of sets but not a full round. In other words, leave fresh. No need to giant set these exercises since you will be hitting each body part 4 times per week. Or go 3 times one week and 4 times the next week. The possibilities are endless. Just keep a good written record so that you are following the principle of progressive loading.

Do  2 weeks of 15's, 2 weeks of 10's and 2-4 weeks of 5's and then SD for a week to 10 days.

Because you will be traveling, diet is very important. Keep your diet as clean as you can but Burger King once a week or so won't kill you. Make sure you eat at least 300 calories over your estimated maintenance level.

Good luck!    

 

[Lol]

For a few cycles my sleep pattern was appalling but I still made great gains. I am pretty sure that keeping away from failure helps your body deal with the CNS drain much better especially if you get less than an ideal amount of sleep. I think it is known that muscle tissue repair is able to continue day and night (and even during continual loading according to the chicken studies in the FAQ  

).