[Christian]

Everyone has nailed it bud. Structure!

If adjusting everything at once is difficult, just do one thing and nail that. Then do the same with the second, third etc until you’re in a structured routine.

Do you know what times you’ll be busy from now to Tuesday/Wednesday for example?

Hi James, yes, I’ve already started to structure a routine that will cover the entire week. Some aspects will remain a little more difficult, but I’ll keep trying.

Tomorrow I have some free time and I’ll finish organizing everything.

[Christian]

Structure is the best thing

Maybe you don’t have the ability to have the same days all week all the time

So preparation is key
When I worked full-time, I would prep my meals for the full week on Sunday
Chilling in the fridge the first three days
Freezing the rest of the week
And then getting it out the night before to thaw if it was frozen, I never had any issues from a digestive perspective or getting sick from food

Or you could simply have foods that are just simple on the go style one so that there’s minimal preparation

Sit down every Sunday
Write out exactly how each day is going to look
Work
Wake up time
Sleep time
Training time
Et cetera

And stick with it, but if things do crop up, at least you are prepared with your meal so that if your days have to adjust a little that keeps you feeling so on top

Hi Meg, I really appreciate all this! What foods do you recommend that can keep well even if frozen and eaten during the week?

[Christian]

Hello mate, the fact you have a variable schedule is harder but it’s not something unpredictable.

Step 1 : find ONE DAY into your week on which you have 1/2h to batch cooking ; this means prep all your carbs/proteins in big quantities for it to last the all week.
Then it will take you 5min max to dispatch the evening into tupperwares for tomorrow.
All cooked food can last approx 5/6 days into the fridge so that’s perfect.
You need to invest into meal bag with freezing packs and you are ready to go!
The problem you had here is that you were thinking you had to cook for every meal/or eat outside everyday because you are outside; you can’t depend of the outside world for your routine.
If you know that the day after you have to leave home early after your dog walk, just prepare in advance your shaker with powders (isolate, cor) and drink it while you take your dog out. Super easy.

Step 2 : find a big water bottle of 3L and bring it with you everywhere everytime. Know that you will need to drink two of them per day approx. when you are coaching people this bottle has to stay with you and drink when the client is making his/her rest time.

Step 3 : for your busy schedule; I wouldn’t do steps + cardio, I would choose the easiest of the two output for your routine !
Or steps or cardio.
Steps takes longer time per day but they are easier to place.
Cardio takes shorter time per day but is harder to place cause you need a defined moment to do it.
So choose which one you place easier and that you can do with consistency.

Step 4 : sleep.
Sleep is the harder to correct cause you depend on your schedule for this. So I would suggest you correct the three first steps FIRST, and once you succeed those, find a way to always sleep 7/8h per night

Hi Allison, these are really useful tips.

What food do you recommend that can keep well even for 5/6 days in the fridge?

I will try to implement all the advice you have given me in the best possible way

[Christian]

How far off the mark are you ?

Can you prep meals for the following day every evening ? So you have all your meals for the next day ?

Can you look at the next day schedule and make a note on your phone when those meals will be ? And then set alarms to get them in

Can you have a 1.5L water bottle on you all times that you sipp and refill 2 times over rhe day so from water you take in 4.5 litres then the extras from shakes and food .

Can you be strict for the time you go to bed ?

The above there imo are VERY easy . And if you do those , what else do you need to do really .

If you can’t do the above, simply keep trying over and over and over until you can

Hi Jordan, thank you very much for the advice, unfortunately some evenings I find it a little more complex to prepare meals for the next day, I have to try to organize myself better.

Thank you very much for your advice, I will immediately start using a larger water bottle, setting alarms on the phone for meals and marking everything on the notes.

For the rest I will keep trying until I find an efficient organization for everything

[Christian]

Plan your week ahead and organise your schedule for the week

The issue here is lack of structure, you can make time for it all by planning your week better, it seems to me like you are trying to do things at random

Organise your week an structure your training – down time – work blocks – meal prep all into time allocated windows for the wee

Hi Kuba, yes I often seem to do things at random just like you say, to organize your day more efficiently is there any tool you recommend? I recently started using Google Calendar

[Christian]

Don’t view it as a step back. You’re just moving your volume around. With that, 3 presses EOD may see you run into a bit of trouble with recovery.

What we don’t want is you starting a new setup and the you’re only a few weeks in and not progressing to which you then associate the split with not stepping forward. Start with the lowest volume and taper up as you find what you muscle groups can recover quicker/slower.

Hi James, thanks for the answer, do you think 3 EOD presses are too many? I followed JP’s IG template (and the YT video)

[Christian]

It’s not bad at all, if she has ankle mobility issues could she not just do a primer / warm up at the start and keep her actual calf work till right at the end to give her glutes the focus

I do like a kick back variation in all sessions for an isolated glute exercise doesn’t need to be at the start but a nice way to end

I suspect the smith squat is glute dom?

And leg press glute focus ?

And split squat glute bias stance ?

How about having her split as

Glutes

Upper

Rest

Glutes

Upper

Lower

So you can make specific glutes only session to give it priority whilst not ignoring whole

Leg and having a day dedicated solely to that if her goal is still to develop them as a whole

Hi Meg, thank you very much for the answer
Unfortunately, she only has Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday available to train
Leg press is glute bias
Smith squat is quad bias
Bulgarian split squat is glute bias

Where would you insert the glute isolation?

• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by  Christian.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks ago by  Christian.

[Christian]

Hi Kuba, I’m planning my new split upper lower, what do you think?

UPPER A

1. DB incline x2

2. Lat bias pulldown x2

3. Chest press x2

4. Lat bias cable row x2

5. Upper back bias row x2

6. DB laterals x2

7. Pushdown x2

LOWER A

1. Preacher curl x2

2. Lying leg curl x2

3. SLDL x2

4. Leg extension x2

5. Leg press x2

6. Calf x2

UPPER B

1. DB flat x2

2. Upper back bias pulldown x2

3. Lat bias cable row x2

4. Pec dec x2

5. DB row x2

6. Cable lateral x2

7. Overhead extension x2

LOWER B

1. Cable curl x2

2. Seated leg curl x2

3. Leg extension x2

4. Smith squat x2

5. Hyperextension x2

6. Calf x2

Looks solid your covering all bases now start and see how you recover [/quote]
Ok Kuba, thanks for your feedback!

[Christian]

Hi Kuba, I’m planning my new split upper lower, what do you think?

UPPER A
1. DB incline x2
2. Lat bias pulldown x2
3. Chest press x2
4. Lat bias cable row x2
5. Upper back bias row x2
6. DB laterals x2
7. Pushdown x2

LOWER A
1. Preacher curl x2
2. Lying leg curl x2
3. SLDL x2
4. Leg extension x2
5. Leg press x2
6. Calf x2

UPPER B
1. DB flat x2
2. Upper back bias pulldown x2
3. Lat bias cable row x2
4. Pec dec x2
5. DB row x2
6. Cable lateral x2
7. Overhead extension x2

LOWER B
1. Cable curl x2
2. Seated leg curl x2
3. Leg extension x2
4. Smith squat x2
5. Hyperextension x2
6. Calf x2

[Christian]

Sweet , so start at 6 presses , if progress stalls pull that to 4 presses and see if re picks up again . How you distribute that doesn’t matter much

Most other body parts also don’t matter in terms
Of body part volume , it’s only pressing and hamstring work

Counting volume , like in your first question, doesn’t matter, looking at the split and the total sets does . So on upper lower rest , total sets of pressing needs paying attention to and that’s about it

ok jordan it’s all clear, thank you very much

[Christian]

Come on communicate better

So you are doing upper/ lower / rest ?

Yes forgive me, my current division is upper/lower/rest/upper/lower/rest/rest, the split in question is

UPPER A
Machine chest press 2x
High incline db shoulder press 2x
Dip 2x
Cable lateral 2x
Lat neutral grip 2x
Chest supported row 2x
Pushdown 2x
DB bicep curl 2x

LOWER A
Lying hamstring curl 2x
Squat BB 2x
RDL 2x
Leg extension 2x
Standing calf raise 2x

UPPER B
DB incline 2x
Shoulder press 2x
Narrow grip chest press 2x
DB laterals 2x
Lat prone grip 2x
Cable row 2x
Overhead extension 2x
Preacher curl 2x

LOWER B
Seated leg curl 2x
Leg press 2x
Bulgarian split squat 1x
Hyperextension 2x
Leg extension 2x
Seated calf 2x

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by  Christian.
• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by  Christian.

[Christian]

That’s 6 press sets . See in the example I said take 5 down to 3 . You are doing 6 total

What’s your split ( first question I asked you )

I’m following your “template” upper lower

[Christian]

You are tracking volume to know what is too much work

If something stresses a muscle , which could impact recovery ( dip) . You count it

What I have found much easier language when it comes to beginners understanding what they can and can do for movements that do stress multiple muscles is just say “ presses “

If you have ever see me answer questions where lifts have stalled in upper lower etc , I will always say , “ too many press sets , scale back to 3 total sets from 5 “ , as an example

Becomes very easy then

What split are you trying to do ? And what movement is stalling ? Show me the full session and the full session before / after it

Thanks for the answer JP, this vision is very interesting and I will definitely take a cue from it, I had never seen it like this

For example, if my upper session was:

1. Chest press x2

2. Shoulder press x2

3. Dip x2

4. Lat pulldown x2

5. Chest supported row x2

6. various insulations

The volume would be:

2 press for chest

2 press for shoulder

2 press for triceps

2 vertical pulls

2 horizontal pulls

Right?

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 6 days ago by  Christian.

[Christian]

Generally, just assign the movement to the target muscle, but understand secondary, tertiary working groups will be working in those movements. So your programming will need to account for it.

Ok thanks, so you say for example to count:

1 set of dip = 1 set of triceps, but obviously I take into account that the chest and the frontal deltoid also work, right (Not counting these indirect series, however)?

[Christian]

Hi Kuba! For a neophyte who needs more volume at the beginning of his career to how many sets per muscle advice to stay per week?

With which movements would you set a full-body on 3 days a week? Could you write a basic layout like you did in the past on other splits on your YT channel?

Thank you 🙏🏼

4-8 working sets per muscle group per week

Full body I would go with

2 delt

2 chest

2 back

2 quad

2 ham

2 bicep

2 tricep

Then rotate which bod part you want to prioritise and start with it

[/quote]
thanks Kuba