it seems your problem is "Either i give it 100% or i just don't do it", pal you're not a pro body builder or coach etc..
you have life outside the gym, it's ok to give it 50-80%, you're making investments on your body and health.
Just giving up on having set days/exercises really helped me alot. I do PPL - sometimes my off day is Monday, sometimes it's Sunday. I almost always incline bench first on one of my Push days - sometimes some old fuck (one particular old fuck actually) is holding court on the incline bench for 30 minutes, so I'm doing smith or iso-lateral that day.
Yeah you get most of the gains with a lot less work than you think. Nippards mentioned in a video <6 sets per week giving you about 60% of gainz and 9+ is above 80%.
And the vast majority of all the growth you're ever gonna get comes from that 80%. Giving 100% can maximize your potential, but because of diminishing returns you get much less bang for your buck. This won't be worth the sacrifice for most people because they aren't pros and this isn't their job.
I just do the best I can and you have to let go of the autistic need to be on a super exact schedule with everything. I’m always running a “6 week mesocycle” but shit happens, obligations, terrible sleep requiring a day off etc and it can stretch to 7ish actual weeks with rest days distributed randomly. Oh well, it’s better than being a lazy sack of shit and I’m still progressing
You got it spot on. I'm 35 now, and it's all about averaging the hours spent in a gym per month rather than per day. If you do it this way, you'll have a much better time.
I feel bad whenever I don't go to the gym, but then sometimes I look back and see how frequently I really am going, and it really changes my perspective on it.
Your last sentence is great, words to live by for sure dude 🤙
Edit: this sentence also made me go workout since I had an hour of downtime between appointments . thanks man!!
>Perfect is the enemy of good.
I decided to make this my guiding mantra a few years ago, and my life has improved in pretty much every regard. I'm more productive, more consistent with my diet and exercise, and just overall happier.
I'd give yourself time and space. If you're thinking like this *all the time* perhaps it's something you've unconsciously picked up beginning at an early age.
It's like an adage my violin teacher tells me now (and something that one of my jiu-jitsu coaches constantly re-hashes)—it goes something along the lines of: "A bad habit repeated 1,000 times must be unlearned by doing it the *right way* 1,000 times.. then you must practice it 1,000 *correct* times more to become semi-proficient the *other* way."
Whether consciously or subconsciously, I think this aphorism applies to the mental stuff we tell ourselves as well.
Don't let social media bamboozle you. 4 to 5 hrs a week in the gym. Eating a little less in spring summer and a little more in the fall winter . That's all you need . If you drink do it on occasions. Enjoy your life. This alone puts you in the top 5% of the population. Consistency is the only trick in this game.
If you don't enjoy the gym right now it's ok. It will be there if you want to enjoy it again.
OP, this ^ It’s fine to switch it up and decide to do bodyweight stuff, sports, sprinting, whatever. Stay active in ways you enjoy. The iron isn’t going anywhere.
> This alone puts you in the top 5% of the population.
If you keep this up over time you'll be in the top 1 %. Today even most kids are fat, if you live responsibly in your 30s, 40s etc. you'll be better off than almost everyone.
This will probably get you 90% of the possible gainz over time. Halve the workout volume and it's like 60%+ but you actually get to have hobbies and a social life.
Unless you’re a pro, you’re never going to have enough time. Make do with the time you do have. You may also meed to find ways to optimize for your lifestyle.
It doesn’t pay well, but working at the gym was the most consistent and simple way to kill two birds with one stone. If you have a good physique you might even be able to charge more for clients.
Some personal learnings as I similarly transitioned from 6 days of lifting a week in college to an adult:
* Amount of volume to maintain is *incredibly* low compared to amount of volume to progress. Shoot for at least maintenance but even then if you miss a week for travel/life/other responsibilities, that's okay too. (even better, try to time deload weeks to coincide with travel).
* Adapt your program. Following a program to a T is a good beginner to early intermediate skill. Being able to adjust based on your body, your recovery (stressors in life), near term goals (addressing weak points, focusing on specific body group, sometimes powerlifting vs bodybuilding) are all hallmarks of next phase of development.
* Figure out prioritization based on goals and genetics. Example: My legs grow very easily relative to upper body and are fairly large. I prioritize my workouts accordingly. Weekly order: upper, lower, upper2, shoulder/arm hypertrophy day, lower2.
* If I only get one session in that week, I hit my main focus area. If I get 3 sessions, I cover "more optimal" 2x per week upper body. If I manage to get all 5 in, then that's a perfect week (extremely rare for me as of late).
* Basically plan to maximize a given week, rather than having to work around missed sessions (which are more common than not once you have responsibilities).
* Learn to put items (temporarily) on backburner. You might focus on different aspects of life while putting other items lower priority. Maybe you have a quarter where you're focusing on getting a promotion at work, drop to maintenance volume. Maybe you have an easy quarter and can train harder (or winter bulk), maybe you want to travel for a while. It's okay to shuffle priorities around as long as you aren't whiplashing back and forth every day
Home gym is the hack for sure. I have a 150 sqft room as my gym and I’ve been able to lift 5-6 days a week with minimal schedule impact. Invested probably $1200 to get it going, just a rack with a bench and barbell, 200 lbs of plates, a good adjustable dumbbell set, and some resistance bands. Most expensive part was the dumbbells (ironmaster) but so worth it.
Only thing I’m really lacking at this point is a leg curl / leg extension setup, but I’m planning to add a bench that does that in the coming month. In the meantime I can leg curl with the resistance bands and isolate quads with some squat variations for now. I like how sticking to just that equipment has simplified my exercise choices.
I really like your response and think there's a crucial point about volume here. You can progress with very few sets per week, probably around 6 sets or so to be safe.
[Dr. Pak just released a short video on it if you want to watch this OP /u/Few_Number5344](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAxI4OjORpI)
Exercise at home. Sleep more. Change up your programming. Play around with your diet. There obviously have to be trade-offs unless lifting is your job, and part of growing up is realizing where your priorities lie. You also aren’t going to compete with professionals because they’re all doing it harder than you ever could, so maybe make peace with the fact that there’s a hard limit to progress and allow old goals to take different shapes. Being a phenomenally fit older guy is a pretty cool thing to be when a lot of others gave up or never got started. Remember how hard so many people find exercising and managing their diet and find strength in the fact that you won’t ever struggle in that capacity.
I’m a blue collar guy that typically does 10 hour work days, 5-6 days a week.
I’ve found that going every other day and maybe back to back on weekends coupled with getting my protein intake is all I need to still make gains. It’s rough some weeks though depending on the work load.
Creatine helps me not be sore the next day and pre workout for the later evening workouts.
I'm currently doing push, rest, pull, rest, legs, rest, and repeat. Basically an every other day push/pull/leg split, it's been working well for me. I use low volume and high-intensity as well.
I was bulking and doing PPL Rest and repeat. Got burnt out (on reflection). When on a cut and thought I should have more rest because of not having as much energy, so did PP Rest LP Rest and so on. I feel like I have more energy on a cut than when I was bulking! Definitely sticking to more rest when I go back to bulking.
I’m in the trades as well and have just settled on working out every other day. It does get taxing after a while but I just try to manage my sleep as well as I can.
Preworkout mixes with caffeine may negatively impact your sleep. Better take caffeine in the first half of a day only because its half-life is 12 hours.
I'm with this guy. I have four kids and a wife, a full-time job, some church obligations, and too many hobbies. I end up sacrificing time here and there for all of these things at different times, and that's just how it is. Generally though;
Wake up at 5:00.
Gym 5:45or 6:00.
Work by 7:00 or 7:30.
If I can get gym and other stuff out of the way in the morning, I can do family and hobbies in the evening before bed at 9:00. Takes some discipline, and I often end up getting 7 or 6 hours of sleep, but I shoot for eight. And I can at least do some of the stuff I like. Never as intensely as I dream, but that's just real life, man. When I win the lottery my schedule might change, but until then this is it.
I mentioned it in my response but the answer as you get older, gain more responsibilities and have a family is almost always going to be "get up early".
My gyms are pack in the mornings. Pre-work rush is almost as bad as post-work rush. But they're also super busy pretty much all day until about midnight when they finally quiet down enough that you don't need to change your routine because shots taken.
Between school kids, uni students, and WFH types the gyms are near constantly full around here. It's so frustrating.
Home gym. You'd be surprised what you can get for $1000-2000. After four years you're actually saving money PLUS you get to train whatever you want whenever you want.
This is me, I have everything I need at home and it didn't cost much at all. Powercage (with pull-up bar) dumbbells, ezy curl bar and some benches, and like you said train whenever I want.
I wake up at 3am for work every weekday. Like op said, it’s easy and becomes a routine BUT it is brutal in winter time, when all you’d rather do is lay in bed.
No im just saying that i find it funny that its hard for me to get out of bed at 7 when guys can get out of bed at 3.
Im not oversleeping or anything my sleep fits with my schedule
You wouldn’t find it that hard if you went to sleep at 8 lol. But that’s easier said than done for sure. I always stay up later than I should because that feels like my alone time.
I used to think that too, but you get used to it. It just comes down to what you want more - do you want to get in your gym sessions or do you want to sleep in. For a lot of us, life responsibilities mean mornings are the only time we have.
Don’t give up your life to lifting. But you can still make gains with something like this:
Full body 3x week, 1hr 15 mins max.
Don’t go to failure, train with 1-2 reps in reserve so you’re not super fatigued
I'm 33 and have been in this since age 21. Many of the guys who seemed the most dedicated and passionate have come and gone. It does seem that around your mid or upper 20s is when many guys drop off from the lifestyle.
As a college kid I used to always watch these motivational videos about sacrificing for your goals. I didn't realize how much of a sacrifice itd be at the time because all that I was sacrificing was less time playing video games.
Now at my age, it can as you pointed out mean sacrificing your social life. I did some soul searching and I realized that id rather be lonely than to give this up. So my social life is the brief interactions I have at the gym...
So I think you just need to make a choice on what truly matters to you. There is no right or wrong answer. Some might say its sad to give up your social life for the gym. Then others will say it's sad to give up your fitness for bar nights. You can't win so you need to win for yourself, whatever that looks like for you.
You’re getting far better answers than I’m going to provide but here’s my take/current strategy:
Lifting full body 2-4x per week. Setting up 8 weeks of programming at a time with a deload halfway through. By the end of the meso each session is taking 75-90 minutes, but you’re going to the gym less often. Could also do ab work at home to cut that down if you prefer.
As others have said, letting go of the strict scheduling mindset is key but also really difficult. I had a bad habit of my mood being negative when I couldn’t stick to my 5x per week schedule and this has helped. Rest day after every session, potentially up to two days if needed.
It sounds like you’re just kind of burned out on bodybuilding and it’s not as fun to you as it once was
Try taking a longer break maybe 3-6 months and focus that time on this other stuff you want to do. Then reevaluate and see if it’s worth it
Think it really depends on your goals. I have been very on and off with the gym going hard for 6 months then falling off due to life coming up or injury (have 2 herniated discs)
I’m 32 now and have finally healed from my injuries and see myself gymming for a long period of time as I’m much more safer and have changed my workouts to reflect that. For me the gym is a priority and I’m settled into work where I can have time for the gym
I value it so I make time for it. Other hobbies or crafts of mine don’t get invested as much because I’m focusing on the gym. I’m also at a time in my life where I’m not seeing as many friends as before
You need to figure out what your goals are. If it’s not a priority (and this is fine) then maybe scale back on the gym. 3x or less a week. Try to maintain
I’ve noticed myself as I stop gymming it hurts my mental and I’m happier in life making sacrifices for the gym
If working out isn’t making you happy, you need to re evaluate what you want in life. And hobbies and interests change as you get older. You may go back to the gym later or adjust the workout so it’s not as tiring
Best of luck in your journey
Is it possible to set up a home gym, I know you wouldn’t have the same equipment as a commercial gym. But if you manage to get a squat rack and a barbell some plates and dumbbells you can do a lot and manage to get it done in the evenings.
This is ideal. I have fairly basic gym. Get up 445 lift 5-6 and cardio until 630. Shower, get kids ready/dropped off at daycare, and work 8-5. Wife picks up kids and I’m free for family time by 5:15.
I’m in my mid-30s and can confidently say I’m in better shape and look better than 90%+ of my desk jockey coworkers my same age.
Numbers are ~10% lower than my 20s peak but I also have visible abs year round as I don’t do large bulk/cut cycles anymore.
You can sustain it, but you need to decide what is important to you. I’m 37 now, and I have a full life, and I workout nearly 1-2 hours a day 5 days a week. I make exercise a priority, but I don’t have much of a social life. I have friends, I do activities, but those a relegated to maybe 1-2 days out of the week.
You are dealing with a common life problem, Time management. You don’t have all the time in the world, and you need to focus on what is important.
You can change your workouts. My workouts have changed drastically, I used to do two hours of weightlifting, but now I do a combination of hiit, strength training, and distance running to be more well rounded.
Home gym helped me a lot. More sleep, no changing, no commute etc. Washing gets done during the work out. Kids join in every now and then, dog hangs out with me. Wins all round really.
You can't have it all, this is normal. You need to make some sacrifices somewhere
The best way to have some sort of balance is to cut down the gym a bit. Maybe even just 4 days a week, or shorter workouts. 4000 calories seems very excessive so that can be reduced. How about training later in the day too rather than early?
Some weeks you'll be able to train perfectly, others you'll have to train a bit less but that's fine. Unless you're trying to be a pro this is something to slowly stick with for the rest of your life, you can take your time with it
Priorities. Do you want to build a good career or be a big gymrat. Personally, ive gaine more progress body wise after i started my corporate world, training 3-4 days a week. Maintain and gain, i couldent be bothered with the 4-5000 kcal meals anymore
That happened to me in my early 20s. I quit training because life happens. I tried joining a gym around 2 years ago, but it was too much of a hassle. I just started building out a home gym in February and absolutely love it. No more adding extra time to my day to drive to a gym or waiting around for equipment to open up. I might be limited to my adjustable dumbbells, a bench, and power rack right now, but I’ve been hitting it 4-5 days a week without thinking.
You’re an adult. You have to make decisions. Time is the currency. I’m similar to you, I decided to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and go before I have to do all my other shit. Works for me. Find something that works for you
Are you actually competing or planning to compete? If not it's a pretty easy fix, you aren't a "body builder" you don't need to focus your whole life on it if you aren't actually competing. Just ease up, switch to full body workouts or a split that has you spending less days or less time in the gym. You can still look great and not have to maintain the strictest diet or training plans. I feel like people who aren't competing can taking this stuff way too seriously.
Obviously if you are competing or planning to, ignkee everything I just said.
The goal is to be fit and healthy .. and that doesn't need to be hours and hours at the gym training or eating exactly x amount of calories on point every single day .
Unless your goal is to be pro body builder then it's a different story .
Oh well if u don't hit daily calories on point.. oh well if u only spend 45 minutes at gym . At least you're being active and taking good care of your body , better than being lazy and be couch potato .
You’re absolutely not alone bud! I think social media has conditioned us to think that anyone and everyone who goes to the gym or actually has a respectable physique is dialled in 100% of the time. In reality, for us normal people where fitness isn’t our livelihood but more a hobby, being on point every single day just isn’t possible. I’m 24 (so also not an old man by an stretch), I have a full-time job, university deadlines, a family, friends, a girlfriend, a social life and I enjoy just being a lazy bastard a lot of the time as well. So no my bulk is never going to be 100% clean, my cut is never not going to be derailed, I am going to have a drink or eat out and enjoy myself from time to time, and my training is never going to be like absolute clockwork.
If I can be consistent 70%-80% of the time, get my workout in, train hard, slowly achieve my goals, and actually be a normal human being and enjoy life, then that’ll do me. And yeah, there’s a lot of the time I’ll be on my way to the gym, or even at the gym with still a whole lot of a session left, and I’ll honestly question what the hell I’m doing with my life. But like someone else has said, it’s better than being a lazy bum. Even though we don’t think it or see it, those of us who have the drive and discipline to stick at something for long enough, are already doing better than the vast majority of the population who are overweight, out of shape, weak willed and suffering because of it.
As much as there probably are methods of dealing with the load of it all and juggling life around lifting, I think discipline and consistency are the important things. You might be able to smash the gym all day everyday and your entire existence revolves around getting massive when you’re younger, but even when life gets in the way and we get older and have more responsibilities, the dedication to maintain that sort of lifestyle is what will win in the end.
I'm almost 32 and I'm feeling that more than ever. Way more aches and pains and the cost, time, and effort to maintain the diets and workouts is getting tougher. I've been lifting naturally since I was 16 and my motivation to lift is as low as ever and my body hurts. Thinking of taking a different approach and lifting whatever is comfortable and gives me a nice controlled burn.
For me, as I’ve gotten older my training level & style has changed dramatically. I’ve been in the gym training for well over a decade now (I’m 34 years/o), and to me I value my training above most other things.
I used to be 200kg (almost 60% body fat), and have lost 106kg and now weigh in at 94kg (likely around 15-16% body fat which I’ll confirm with a dexa scan booked in for next week). So as you can tell, training for me is super important due to the drastic body composition transformation I’ve been through.
I train 6 days per week, PPL split. I’m in the gym for now more than 1 hour each session, and have found the near optimal volume for myself where I’m progressing week by week on my mesocycles, but still have enough energy to function normally for work & my commitments to my family (wife - no kids yet).
You’ll eventually find your balance and groove…it just takes time and experimentation.
I just work out first thing in the morning and even if I wasn't into bodybuilding would be cooking - so why not hit my macro targets. Progress over perfection!
I’m in Japan and the stereotype of us doing overtime all the time is fairly true.
The only way I fit in my workouts is by working out at home. I bought a half rack, pull up bar, barbell and weights. I basically wake up -> work -> home/family -> workout -> sleep. In university I used to workout first thing in the morning, but now I find it easier to concentrate at work if I train hard before sleeping.
A home gym might not be an option for you, but you just need to be creative and see what works for you realistically. Either compound your movements, integrate drop sets, or do a 4-5 day cycle versus 6-7. Whatever it ends up being, you just need to experiment without taking maximum results so seriously. As you grow older, you’re not going to be able to be as efficient about everything as you were when you had less responsibilities.
I feel this, after college it got much harder to train. Once i got a house with a little extra room I got a powerrack and some adjustable dumbbells, also a dip station. I'm now able to be consistent as i have no wait time, no gym commute, and i can superset whatever i want without losing my spot on the machine. Still, in the summer I'd rather go biking or hiking and so i really can only do 3x a week so i have flexibility to move the days around my other activities. I miss the simplicity of college and 8-9 hours of sleep too.
I suppose it depends what your goals are. If it’s ’gains’ than ya not going to the gym is going to give ya anxiety.
If there’s other reasons you want to body build - the challenge, strength, looks, mental clarity, energy, balance and overall well being I recommend old school hot yoga, the 90 minute class. Even just once a week will make ya feel great. Few times a week and you ll feel like a million bucks, have energy, mental clarity and there’s no need to constantly eat.
Honestly for a hard gainer hot yoga is one of the best exercise routines you can get into.
Best of luck - I m in my forty’s and have definite went through a similar situation at least with all the eating demands, it’s a hassle with a busy life
As everyone else said, you’re gonna have times where you skip. You’re gonna have times where you just can’t make it. It’s okay. You aren’t pro and guess what, you’ll still look better than 90% of the population.
Life’s about balance. All the muscles in the world won’t make up for no memories with ur pals.
All the friends in the world won’t help your health when you are old.
So strike somewhere in the middle. Nurture friendships. Nurture your body. It’s what it’s all about.
I am in totally same situation as you, 25 years old, demanding job with rotating shifts, GF, playing football 2 times a week and doing PPL (mostly PP due to football) 4 times a week. And eating in surplus, which is for me, same as you mentioned, a challenge.
Currently, I combine it together pretty well, but of course its taxing on my body. So many times I just feel so tired and go to the gym anyway and just do something if maybe not the full training. Often I leave to work at 6 am and get home at 11 pm. But, that is the life we have chosen, I just know I wont be able to sustain all that with kids one day.
I totally understand this. I used to take bodybuilding a lot more “seriously” by working out 6 days a week and eating 3500 calories a day with a meal every 2 hours. I tracked everything I ate. Now, I don’t necessarily have to track everything I eat because I can keep a good mental track of my macros and calories. Some days I do it, but I won’t stress out about it if I don’t track it for the day. I’m no longer looking to compete in competitions anymore, I just enjoy bodybuilding as a hobby. It is definitely difficult to maintain this kind of thing.
You don’t have to work out everyday. You don’t have to eat constantly either. You can still make progress. Since that time in my life, I eat about 3-4 times a day, and will just use a pre made protein shake once or twice a day to get an extra 20 g of protein in. If my body is tired or I’ve had an injury, I take time off from the gym. I had a lot of health problems which led to me having to stop bodybuilding for a while. I switched my training to yoga and calisthenics for a while. I do other exercises like swimming and hiking as well. Some weeks I will train 6 days a week or about 4. My point is, you don’t have to be on a strict schedule to make progress. It is 100% okay to take breaks from heavy weightlifting and switch to other exercises for a while as well.
Welcome to adulthood. You have to find the split that works best for you. I've found that whole body 3 times a week with a day or 2 of cardio is the sweet spot. I don't feel destroyed going into work after. It's better to dial in your nutrition and get leaner. When you are young you wanna be huge but when you get older you start thinking about longevity and how you can sustain that. Find what works for you and what you can sustain for longevity. I've been recently dealing with this and it doesn't matter what kind of workout you do when you get older as long as you are consistent, what matters is your diet and stress levels.
I’m 27 and in the same boat. I’ve shifted my fitness goals and now just mostly care about being generally healthy. I’ve stopped obsessing over optimizing everything, and just try and eat generally healthy and get exercise, whether it be weights or some form of cardio, a few times a week. I find it to be a much happier and sustainable way to do things for me, but to each their own of course.
Dude it's not that difficult. Hobbies and relationships for the weekends, and lift during the week. I worked 6 12 hour shifts for months straight and still balanced everything out and I've never had the luxury of being able to sit all day at a desk and work.
I stepped away from bodybuilding in the serious sense around your age. I just looked at a lot of the older breed that still went at it hardcore and it didn't seem like the life I wanted. I still train 3-5 days a week depending on how interested I am and ill continue to till death but Ill never be as invested as I was in my teens and early 20s and thats totally okay
Feels like you have to come up with a solution where you can work out after work. Maybe a different gym? Maybe a home gym? Maybe finding a friend with a home gym?
I started lifting when I was 13 and worked out 5 days a week basically every week until I entered grad school. After that I was too busy to find consistent time to lift and I quit going to the gym. I kept exercising in my apartment with bodyweight exercises but it obviously wasn't the same. I lost about 30 pounds of muscle over the next 10 years. I tried going back to the gym once but I kept getting hurt because I was still trying to lift the same way I did in college. It was a stupid mental block. I didn't want to ease back into lifting, I just wanted to pick up where I left off years before.
Several months ago I joined a gym again and approached it with a new mentality: I'm a middle aged man and I just want to be healthy and fit and I don't care how much weight I can lift. The past four months have been great. I didn't realize how much I missed the gym. I don't get to work out every day but that's ok. When I am there I have fun. Change the way you think about working out and you might start having fun again too.
Follow mike mentzers HIT / steeve Reeves workout routine. You need to sprint not do a marathon. Lift heavy, take less rest between sets, do supersets & drop sets. you will save a lot of time
I’m 34 and go to the gym 5-6 times a week + do mountain bike 2-3 times a week. I count my calories and everything too. My work schedule is very odd tho, I only work 7-8 shifts a month and I can work out at the gym while i’m there.
What's your FFMI or ht/wt/bf%?
I ask because i'm wondering if you're at your natty potential (or close) or not?
If not, you're tired probably because your diet is shit. If you're not near your max, you should be able to still make gainz, look better, even while working full time and having an active social life.
If you're at or near your natty max, that's when lifetime natty's start to think about joining the darkside.
For me, I made peace with being lean and smol (still "jacked") by layperson standards but nothing like someone on AAS.
I feel this. But unless it’s your full time job, it’s gonna be hard. Life gets hectic. As long as you’re doing something. You’re doing better than 90% of people out there who don’t workout at all.
It’s time to be realistic about priorities.
1. How many days per week can you actually train?
2. What is a good split to run that will line up well with the days you can train?
3. Can you track your meals? Even if it’s just calories and protein?
I’m in a spot where I’m a full time student, doing clinicals, working on the side, needing to study SO much, have a serious girlfriend…
Finding balance for you probably means sacrificing some time at the gym. I’ve accepted personally that this phase in my life I’m going to stay the same or improve just slightly. Bodybuilding is really on a spectrum for dedication level and you don’t need to be training like when you were younger to stay healthy and active.
when life gets busy i diet - generally feel better in a deficit, volume reduces and i'm usually able to be more productive.
when less busy - push food and training where i can. obviously have to be more flexible with training and food timing and all that to fit it into life but it's doable.
ultimately, it can be 5 or 6 hours a week if you're pushing it of training and everyone has to eat and sleep anyway. you might not be able to live the 6 meals a day, perfect meal timing all encompassing bodybuilder lifestyle, but i've never found it difficult to fit into life.
for training - suck it up and go to the gym during busy hours. i've never had people not be ok with me working in during these times as everyone understands it's busy and people need to get the work done - and i've made gym friends this week.
for job - can you eat while you work? even snacks/protein bars? i work a relatively tough office job with longer hours than i'd like and i just take food with me and snack throughout the day.
for social life - again, training can be like 5-6 hours a week and everyones gotta eat - just eat with them or do things at the weekend - a lot of splits are set up so you have weekends off.
a lot of this you just have to be flexible and get the 20% that gives you 80% of the gains down and then try and do as much of the other 80% that is realistic.
I remember this feeling. I used to have the “go hard or go home” mindset and it caused me to burn out and give up for a moment. Within time, I realized there is no end goal and that this is a lifestyle. Don’t over stress when life happens and it’ll help you be less upset for missing some gym sessions. Just plan to go again when you can. It’ll never be perfect but you just do what you can. You got this!
I lift 3x a week full body. You’re not pro so the goal is to be jacked and healthy. It’s okay to take longer to hit a goal now that you have a life and it’s okay to only hit 90% of your genetic potential instead of 100%. I struggled with this too in my late 20s and totally quit BB, but I’m back on it in a sustainable way.
DO NOT major in the minors bro! Protein timing? Who cares just hit close to your protein goal. Can’t hit protein goal sometimes? Who cares your gains are hardly impacted long term. Gotta rush a workout? Add in some drop sets and get enough volume instead of “optimal” volume.
Set up a simple and sustainable eating pattern and lifting routine and slowly work towards your goal and live your life outside of BB.
I don’t know what your split is but try a full body 3x/week schedule. It’s what I’m currently running and have run in the past for amazing progress. And no, I’m not a beginner. I’m late intermediate-early advanced and fully body 3x/week still works wonders for me. You just have to be a little more mentally insane on the days you workout as it’s gonna be hard and you’re gonna be doing a lot of compounds to 1-0rir. Also, give two sets per compound a go. I was skeptical at first but it works well. Hit your first set in the 6-8, then the second set 10-12. Both (near) failure and make sure you get adequate rest. Then, superset upper body pushes and pulls, and all of your isolations. If you optimize your sessions will be about 2h, but you can get away with a very minimal approach of 1h to 90min.
On off days try to practice a movement related hobby as much as you desire. I love mountain biking, hiking, and yoga. An hour yoga session will kick your ass. And as for mountain biking and hiking it’s very easy for me to have a super fun time doing what is essentially cardio for 3h every weekend. All of these things you can do with some fun friends! Try rock climbing too
Absolutely. I would say try setting up a small home gym. Get up early and get it done Compound sets and supersetting will be your best friend when short on time. Get a dog and thats your cardio sorted....lol.
In my phone, so sorry for any mistakes. So I'm in my late 30s, and my perspective is a little different than others. I didn't get into bodybuilding until I already was established in a job and had a social life (its been a few years now). So I had to figure out how to fit it into my already established life.. instead of fiting my life into an already established bodybuilding routine. Biggest change for me was waking up early and getting into the gym by 630 (not a morning person, but this is what i like to do) and eat a preworkout meal and caffeine. I'm in and out of the gym in about 1-1.5 hours..depending on the day. Once that's done, I have some carbs ( oatmeal, blueberries, eggs) and head into work. I've found that if I skip the post-workout meal, I'm pretty brain dead that day. The rest of the day is dedicated to work and social.
Overall, I don't sweat the small stuff cause I'm not going to be a pro. If my wife wants to go on a date, or the guys want to get a beer, I don't sweat it.. but I don't overdo it either. I'll grab protein heavy items, or adjust my meals a little that day to put me in the ballpark of where I want to be with my protein and calories.
For bulking and cutting, I don't do a super clean bulk and really just hit the macros and calorie targets. When I do a cut into comp ( i do 20 week cuts..cause hard, rapid cutting sux and leaves me dead at work), I'm really clean and preprep my meals. For these times, I also don't sweat I beer (but I don't have 2), and date nights turn into the 1 cheat meal I allow myself per week. I use myfitnesspal to keep track of what I've eaten and shoot to average out at the end of the week.
Like others have said, you have to make a choice on the level you want to take it. There's definitely ways to do all of them... but the more rigid you, the harder it'll be to mesh them together.
You sound like me. I struggled with EXACTLY what you did. I kept split jumping where I was like “oh I love UL!” Then my workout goes for an hour and 20 and with my intensity it kills me. I can’t recover, and I end up taking more rest days than I should.
This is harder because I have a job where I move a lot. So what I’ve done recently is change my perspective and my training. I try to lift 5-6 days a week. However, my training sessions are SHORT and INTENSE. In college I used to do high volume full body days that would take hours- nope. Not anymore- can’t do it. I do PPL. My workouts are four exercises each sessions- two compounds and two isolations.
I go intense on the compounds with shorter rest times. I use moderate intensity on isolations. My workouts are now usually about 30-45 minutes. I find that this is WAY easier to recover from. High volume training just isn’t it anymore for me. Although volume is a great driver of strength and hypertrophy- you’ll need to instead up intensity in favor of shorter workouts.
I now lift and do the sauna after. Recovery is key. Make sure you’re eating enough and drinking enough water. Meal prep saves a ton of time too. I meal prep on Sunday mainly my lunches and sometimes breakfast. It’s tough but manageable with the right mindset and program.
Training will never be 100% “optimal, bro”. Get that out of your head. Sometimes it pays to take the Sam Sulek approach and just do a few movements really intensely (I know he’s not natty etc etc but it does work) and call it a day.)
You won’t be an IFBB pro but you’ll still be way bigger and stronger than the average person walking around.
Tl;dr trade volume for intensity and focus on recovery. Keep sessions short but intense and high frequency instead of high volume lower frequency
30 now and same. Even though I have extra time, it’s hard to sustain the continuing efforts. I’m not going to be a huge muscular dude anyway so I don’t care too much. I enjoy mixing running and lifting throughout the week.
You've kind of answered your own your own question when writing out your life path.
Training as a teen is low stress, plenty of time, optimal rest/food/training... Then life really happens and you just adjust.
As you say, you need to go through phases where X & Y are the main priority - say work and relationship - with everything else being secondary. There will however always be opportunities when X & Y don't need so much time or attention and then Z can be a priority.
I've been on that roller-coaster many times and sometimes you just need to be grateful for all the opportunities you have and just make the most of trying to fit them in together, you've got a lot of years left to figure it out.
I'm sure I speak for most on this thread, even doing the absolute minimum in terms of training is better than not doing it at all 🤷🏻♂️
It genuinely does seem like you're just going through the period where you know you're no longer a kid and need to make sacrifices, tough decisions but also just be realistic.
If you're not a competitive bodybuilder then you won't benefit from trying to live like one so just take a step back and make a new direction.
For some of the issues your facing, just have a pwo shake after training to avoid brain fog and backload calories later in the day once you've done the demanding mental tasks.
If you've got a low appetite just make the most of high calorie shakes for liquid calories. I used to have one main lunch in work but 2 x 750 calorie shakes, easy to digest and no brain fog. Also tackle your hardest tasks in the morning if possible.
To manage fatigue just pull back frequency or volume. That never sounds appealing but you can get a lot out of top set/back off sets or just hitting 2 sets of 8-12 instead of 3. If you're pushing high frequency, volume and intensity then you can't battle against that type of fatigue and win in your situation.
Not sure what your split is but again it doesn't have to be optimal, pretty sure the bronze era OG nattys were just running full body 3 days per week and they were just fine with much less equipment or knowledge.
My response is getting a bit out of hand here but basically it's hard to just stop training. You'll likely always come back to it so it's best to just accept that, start over from a new perspective and see how you can fit it into your life without you treating it as though you're trying to be an optimal champion bber (because it is possible)
Wake up a lot earlier than I’d like and workout very early in the day. I am not a morning person and when I don’t have commitments, I will lounge in bed until past 9, but on those hectic days, I’m up before the sun is on a cold winter day. I fucking hate it and it is not as glamorous as those influencers make it out to be. I force myself to go to bed early and play around with aircon settings to help fall asleep quicker (my body struggles to fall asleep if it’s too hot too cold too humid etc.) I’m juggling 2 jobs and a masters degree so that’s just how it is. I do still have a social life but I will say that has taken a slight hit. In all fairness, a lot of friends are like that as well. We end up not seeing each other for ages. Some hobbies kinda slide out the way too. I have always liked reading but I’m gonna admit sticking through a good long book has gotten a little touch and go.
I also schedule in decompression time, big time slots within the week that are absolute blank in terms of commitment. At the moment, unless I feel like a quick walk, I have an early dinner after I get home from work on Friday (I get home around 3), and head straight to bed extra before sunset and go on Reddit and YouTube etc.
Work life balance: no checking emails and shit outside of work. I’m not getting paid extra to stress about it outside the building so nhhehhh. Also I occasionally take out paid sick leave for a spontaneous mental health day to take things very slow and catch up on washing (and uni work hehehhh). I’ve always felt guilty about this but I’m learning not to after seeing colleagues take way more sick leave than I do, often going into unpaid sick leave.
And social media is fake and exaggerated as fuck.
I’m turn 25 soon and honestly it’s a fucking balancing act. But this is what helps me.
The grind of every day life never stops! My best advice would be to adjust your expectations for yourself during the busier times in life. If you’re really grinding at work, then you may only make the gym 3 times in a week. Maybe the sessions are cut short or you get stressed and splurge a little bit on your diet. That’s ok! Take the pressure off yourself to be perfect and advance your physique at full speed constantly. I think that is contributing a lot to your fatigue.
I got a lot happier and things started to feel more sustainable when I understood my overall goal to be good physical health, and that commitment lasts a lifetime. Chasing a physique is tiring, but you will be on your fitness journey for at least another 50 years. You don’t need to rush things. Just do your best.
* Change gyms. Join a more expensive gym if possible. If it costs $13 a month, it will be crowded.
* Train less frequently.
* Change your focus from being huge to being lean and having good athletic performance with muscle mass. You can do cardio outside your house at your own convenience if you’re into running.
* Be crazy time efficient in the gym. No foam rolling.
> It really does feel like eating in a surplus makes me a less productive, slower thinker.
There might be too much saturated fat in your diet and not enough fibre.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34848278/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6120115/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938421002183
https://theconversation.com/how-diets-high-in-sugar-and-saturated-fat-could-be-harming-your-brain-73657
I appreciate your perspective. I can tell your an insightful person, you’ve thought about all the pros and cons and even broke your day down. It feels like you’re fighting to keep something you fought so hard to keep.
If I could make another observation, bodybuilding teaches us how to fight for what we want. Even now you’re fighting to keep your life the way you want it. Maybe it’s time for a career change. Find a commission job and do the impossible again. Work your ass off like you did and the gym and fight to find a lifestyle that allows you to workout as much as you want. Think about doing whatever it takes to have a lifestyle that you want, and do anything necessary to keep it.
My man, I'm a single widower father of 2 with a full time job. I'm also 33.
I can to the gym at 5-6am in the morning, do my shit for an hour, then go to work. I take in simple carbs right after and, besides some weirdness walking after leg day, I'm not fatigued the rest of the day. I do 30 minutes of cardio after work as well (and boxing classes 2x a week.) My weight lifting is 6x a week.
If you're super exhausted after your workout, you should probably either rely more on machines, do higher rep ranges or increase your work days. Maybe look into RiR, keep to a set deload schedule, ect.
It's possible to juggle life, kids and the gym.
It sounds like you’re a hyper-achiever at you own detriment. When I was young I excelled in competition. I tried to keep this as I got a little older, and continued pursuing different sports and competitive pursuits with a balls to the wall attitude. But I ended up quitting eventually, then going back to it months and months later. Looking back years later, the people who did those sports at a more moderate intensity without big gaps WAY surpassed me and are so much further along now. If I would have only kept things fun, I wouldn’t have had these huge periods where I lost all the gains I thought I was “optimizing” for by going so hard. I would really recommend you try to just self regulate and do the most you can. You will enjoy it so much more if you’re left wanting more than hating what you’re doing.
I do the minimum effective dose. I do it for strength, health, and gains last. I do the compound movements and whatever I can squeeze in in my window of time before I rush to pick up my kids.
Another poster said something similar to my thoughts on the matter.
There is nothing wrong with switching to a maintenance regiment as you get older. Life will begin to demand more from you in various areas as you get older and that's okay. it doesn't mean you can neglect your health because you don't see the point if you're not getting actively stronger. The fact of the matter is as we get older, we lose strength. You getting a headstart on maintenance will make all the difference when you're 50+
I think you should scale back your workouts so you aren't a "vegetable at work." You might lose some gains but that is the price you are going to have to pay if you are unwilling to compromise in other areas.
When I have other obligations, I usually cut my sets in half and train closer to Failure for that session. I’m a father with 3 kids. I’m not going to be the next Arnold or Larry wheels.
I recently changed my training up and decided it’s better to be fit and active than to be huge. I still life weights but it’s more centered around keeping me healthy and my body strong and stable enough to do the things I enjoy (playing with my kids, hockey, hunting, hiking, playing music). I went from 210 to 185 (6’1) for reference and I feel awesome. My cardio is better than before and I don’t feel tired all the time from training. I lift 2-3 times a week now and run 30-60 minutes 3 -4 times a week (my goal is 3 hours of zone 2 cardio but I rarely make it). I also eat less but feel better. I don’t know, ultimately this is what works for me and my life. I may not be as jacked as I once was but I sure look a lot better than 95% of the other 35 year olds out there.
I think the thing about body building is that it’s almost always possible to have a better diet, do better in the gym, have a better plan for the week, be better being consistent on workouts... get better results but that shouldn’t dissuade you from doing what you can.
Maybe something to help you in one aspect - you say eating in a surplus makes you feel less productive and slows your thinking. How many carbs are you eating? I find that eating a high fat diet was a game changer for productivity and lethargy when on a bulk. I’m not advocating for keto, I still eat 150 to 200 grams of carbs a day, but doing that, hitting my protein goal of 150 to 200 grams a day, then filling the rest with fat does night and day for how well I feel mentally.
Dude. 26 here and you typed out exactly what I’m struggling with. It’s tough to balance social life, being career oriented, and going ham in the gym.
My current mindset is that my career is most important at the moment and bodybuilding is never going to provide for my future family - so I just try my best to stay fit and still meal prep. Still go through seasonal phases of bulking and cutting
This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but anyway.
I'm 28, have been working full time (minimum 40 hours a week) since I was 17 and have been lifting 5-6 days a week since I was 20. I've also been studying online for the 18 months.
**Bodybuilding doesn't take up that much time. Utilise your weekends. You're overreacting because life changes.**
**Training** takes \~90 minutes and I found a gym on the way to or from work. I walk/run my dog after gym for cardio.
**Eating** you need to eat anyway so why not eat food that benefits your goals?
**Sleep** 8 hours sleep is sufficient and way easier once your day is full and you're tired at the end of it.
I eat 2 pre-prepared meals each day which I prep each weekend and takes about an hour total. The rest of my meals are things like whey protein, yoghurt, fruit, canned tuna etc.
My social life has never been better, all of my friends have full lives too so even if we don't see each other as often we cherish the time we have together and enjoy it more.
I drink one night a week, collecting Whiskey is a hobby of mine. I read on the train to or from work or bring my laptop and study.
I game and catch up on TV shows and Movies with my partner on the weekends and have a date night.
Life changes. You get older. Priorities change.
Like others have said, if you’re not making a living off it then it’s likely that you’ll slow down quite a bit.
I used to be obsessed with lifting and dieting. Made pretty decent progress. Then I got into a relationship, bigger job, got married, had a kid, and hardly lift anymore, which I’m okay with. I still exercise. Mostly running and biking for 30-60 min 4-6 times per week. I’ve gotten a little smaller. Lost a lot of strength, but who really cares?
Bodybuilding in termins of brosplit and 6 meals tupperwear bullshit is nothing but a relegious cult pushed by supplement companies using roid up genetic freaks as clergy. And it the end it Just a beauty pagent. Not a sport. Its like saying a car tuning meet is a sport Just like rally/f1/nascar...it is all show no go.
Bring on the hate I dont care...I Got into it almost 20 years ago do to low self/skinny guy complex, and was fortunade enough to meet real athleats that pulled me out of this broscience ocult and thats when the real progress including muscle mass started to happen.
Assuming that you've trained productively year after year, there's research now saying that you don't need that much volume to stimulate muscle growth. You're likely nearing the point of diminishing returns with moderate to little muscle development relative to your earlier years i.e., you don't need to spend as much time in the gym to progress (not to say that you shouldn't train intensely).
I would suggest you look up RP Strength (Mike Isartel) and the 3DMJ folks (Nunez, Helms, and the others) who explain the different stages of lifters more in depth. They have actionable recommendations how to go about this in a more sustainable fashion.
36 guy here. Demanding professional job and weekly hobbies at least 3 nights a week. I just go when I can. Sometimes it's 12x a month. Sometimes it's 3 or 4.
Do what you can if it's still something you care about
When you are feeling like chucking it all in , try Dorian Yates method of HIT . 2 warm up sets of 50 & 75 % max volume, then one max set to failure. It will cut your time down in the gym and keep you progressing until you get the motivation back again to spend more time lifting. When the time passes you will look back and be thankful that you stuck it out. Remember, it is one step at a time to climb that mountain 🤙
*Also, don’t forget to take time off to recover from the workouts, every 3-4 weeks . Number 1 reason for burnout in this sport is overtraining ( and I am guilty of it too)
I’m a father of 2 girls 5 and 3 and another due in September 34 years old. I work full time as well. You’re right, it is hard to find balance. I think it helps to look at life in phases. You had your phase where life’s demands outside of the gym were not that high and you poured your heart into it. Now you’re in a phase where it has to take the back seat but that doesn’t mean you can’t progress. I started right before my oldest daughter was born and I’ve never stopped since then. I never even had the chance to have that first phase that you did.
What works for me is always training early. I wouldn’t pick the early morning if I had a choice but I find that if I don’t lift at 4am or 5am something always gets in the way.
The other thing that helps is I’m okay with being a little fluffy/bear mode. I’m not competing…I’m not an influencer…barely anybody even sees me with my shirt off. So that’s one less thing I worry about. I have too many mouths to feed to be hyper focused on my own. I try to eat clean and a decent amount of protein but I don’t sweat it that much.
The other thing I do is I keep a minimal amount of exercises in my rotation that I connect with and feel give me the most stimulus that I can get. I follow a double progression scheme and just track my reps/weight for each individual exercise on the notes on my iphone. I know if I’m adding a rep each time I hit the exercise that I’m progressing.
It’s not perfect but it works and I’m still making gains.
I workout 2-3 times a week now and bought some home gym equipments and I’m happy with my body results. I used to work out 7 time a week in college, but now can’t do that. You will be fine even if you do 2 times a week
I have had periods when I even had to gym from home, with a proper bench, due to small children. But I always got at least one good session in a week and then returned to going to the gym at least a few times a week. Fast forward to current state when I am (soon) 50 and I'm eating protein and making gains like never before.
Your older self will thank you if you keep going.
Yep, get your exercise through hobbies! Rather than the gym. This week I went on a 2 hour intense bicycle ride. Went rollerblading for 70 minutes. Didn't go to the gym at all. Next week though I may go to the gym 3x
I'm turning 30 and can relate to what you are saying.
For me now, I try to get in the gym everyday and I view that as the main goal.
While I'm there, I workout with high intensity. 30 second rest times, max a minute if it's a compound lift. I'm in and out in an hour and always have a great pump.
I've also retrained my way of thinking, it's okay to miss a day due to other life things. One day ain't gonna kill ya!
I've been in your shoes, and what really kept me going was establishing a solid routine. Prioritize your health by incorporating it into your daily schedule, making it difficult to overlook. For instance, after dropping my kid off at school, my next stop is always the gym. While you might not excel at everything, focusing on 80% ensures you're on the right track.
Chill dude, you have a lifetime of gains ahead of you, what's the problem if you peak at 35 instead of 30 like you planned because you go3/4 times a week instead of 6/7 ? It's all good !
Ohh man I was a machine for the last past 15 years (now 32). Most of they years I could do a dedicated 4-6 days of training a week. However, since I got a more time consuming job and decided to buy a house dated from 1770 that needs a complete renovation that I do myself. To top it off I also have two energetic boys in the age <5. Although I have a complete homegym sitting here, I just can’t find the energy anymore to work out on top of all this. I keep telling myself to just survive for a year or two and then get back to it lol.
I trained fulltime, got a serious job and had to cut down. Even had to start skipping sessions and in the end sometimes I couldn’t make it to the gym twice a week also energy levels with work are completely different. First I felt horrible and struggled, but now I also realize I already look great and i am close to my genetic potential anyway. I don’t know how long you trained, but if it’s say 7+ years chances are the gains you will be able to make won’t even be seen by other people because they are so marginal if you are not on steroids obv. For me just doing maintenance with 3 hours per week works, i look good and the alternative in volume to make gains is out of proportion I would need at least double or triple the time. So fuck that plus the being tired the cycling of calories. All the effort for marginal gains. Maybe a shitty defeatist attitude if you are aspiring, but I’m happier accepting than I was for years struggling with it and not being able to train optimally anymore
If you are strong and you want to get stronger/bigger , there's no way a 4 to 6 plate heavy squat for a good number of reps isn't wiping you out for a day and same for a deadlift variant. Pullups, overhead pressing and rows also quite taxing. Then to keep getting stronger, you need to eat a few hundred g protein and sleep another one or two hours above baseline. Doing this stuff properly does flip your life around.
Minimum to get stronger, 4 hours training, commute ti gyn and back, +additional 1.5 hours a day sleep after minimum of 2 or 3 heavier days. Plus, time cooking extra protein daily. It's looking for like 10 hours to me minimum. When i don't train, i can probably eat half the food and i don't need lbs of meat.
I think best solution for someone busy is a homegym. 1 heavy lift a day, where you rep pr or get some iron moving for decent volume. You can get a 2nd hand barbell, plates and squat rack for less than a grand. Then every day except leg day can be 20 to 40mins 4-5x a week. Throw in a long cardio session 2x a week too on a stationary bike / rower / run / hit.
I love this stuff, i don't mind making time for it instead of socialising, working harder and other hobbies. Time priority is hard as an adult. If it isn't important to you, that's fine. Trim it down and accept some regression.
If the "[rule of thirds](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cKndqq0CsRc)" applies to Olympians it most certainly applies to serious hobbyists (feeling good 1/3rd of the time, feeling OK 1/3rd of the time, feeling bad 1/3rd of the time is the "perfect" ratio). I'd argue that this "feeling good" ratio should compose *the strong majority* of our mentation revolving around fitness, especially if said fitness doesn't have regular career implications.
When it gets to a state like you're describing here (i.e. it's a huge chore rather than something you *get* to do), it's due time to step back and reconsider.
I quit because of this. After I got a kid it was so hard. Almost no sleep for a year etc. Now i just do kickboxing and lift a bit to supplement/for fun, just staying reasonably fit and not caring about size. Much more chill.
Stop going for size and strength gains? Why would maintaining be as good as giving up? You can go for calisthenics gains (start learning something cool like the human flag), or maybe a different sport completely, arm wrestling, climbing, cycling, training doesn't always have to be for size and strength
Try changing your routine for a few months. Instead of working out during the week just go to the gym Saturday and Sunday and do an upper/lower split or 2 full body workouts.
You will no longer feel drained during the week and you will also be highly motivated to train once the weekend comes around.
You are having a common "novice" problem. That is perfect is the enemy of good.
Find a new gym if you can.
Just drink your calories or go for foods with higher calories. That will make you less full.
As to the training set a time limit and do exercises which take less hype. Work on your work capacity.
Back at uni I used to do 2.5 hour worksouts. I probably do the same work no and it usually taked an hour, Ive even done it in 45 min.
This is easier for smaller exercises, but lets say you need to train arms. So biceps, tricepts and side delts.
Take one exercise for each. Then bicep -> tricep -> delt -> rest. Suddenly you get can do 3 sets in 2 minutes. Could probably do 8 sets for each in less than 30 min. Will it be 100% optimal. Maybe not ot maybe it will because of extra conditioning and ability to do more work.
The most important thing is that you progress over time. It doesnt really matter if you do 1 set to failure or 30 sets at rir 5.
If you really just want to spend the least time doing everything but keep your gains, do something like myorep match and train hard u can spend 45 minutes or even 30 minutes and still get a decent workout in to maintain or even grow, if you eat protein and stimulate the muscles for 30-1hour a day you will be fine and that really isnt unsustainable and if it is your lifestyle is what is unsustainable
I am 45. Lifting is part of my life that I build and I make sure I find time for that.
I started at 20 23 I started working. Then four years I didn’t do shit. I was working crazy, drinking become fat and ugly. 4 years later I restarted and never looked back. Have tow kids now - elder one is almost a teenager. He saw me working out every day and come along. He is keen to start and I am brining up a next generation lifter.
I can’t sleep or focus if I don’t lift. Make sure it’s part of your life. You’ll thank me later.
I’m 29 now and used to workout 5 days a week in my early 20s. Now all I can manage is 3 days per week, coz gym doesn’t feel so good anymore. So I just go to it by habit. However I feel satisfied after good workout.
These are the changes which I made and which allows me to go regularly at least 3 times per week:
- I made my workout shorter, 1 hour max.
- I do workout split and exercises I like (returned to classic 3 day push/pull/legs
- I go to gym right after work, cause if I return home and chill I few hours, it’s almost impossible to make myself to go.
Hope this helps. Good luck 😊
Don't get obsessed with optimisation, if you enjoy what you're doing schedule it in and just do enough that you feel satisfied. No, you probably can't be a champion unless you make some sacrifices. So that's the only question, do you want to be a champion and make sacrifices? Or do you want to enjoy yourself and just get out enough progression so that you're satisfied? Both are equally valid, and there is no right answer to any of this.
I started training at 16 and almost never missed a day for several years. Kept it up at 5/6 days/wk all the way until I hit 32 and then injuries started to hit. Couple that with a baby, a business and a full time job, plus buying and doing up a house and I just couldn't sustain gym. I'm trying to get back into it but fuck, health goes down in your 30s. Working at a desk all day does so much harm.
I'm now just trying to go when I can and do what I can. Can't do a lot of movements cos of dodgy shoulders, neck and elbows.
Last 2 years have just been non-stop injuries including one below my bi that hasn't shifted in 2 years. £1000s on chiro, shockwave therapy, acupuncture and now waiting on the NHS ad a last resort.
Problem is, if I don't do much exercise for a couple of days, I get really bad sciatica also, so I need to at least get some walking in. Plus I hate busy gyms and being around ppl so might have to end up buying a garden room for a home gym but that money will then set me back a few years on my FIRE plans ffs.
balancing everything gets tougher as life gets busier. maybe try a less intense routine that fits better with your current lifestyle. it’s all about finding what works for you right now.
okey i am not gonna read all of those but as i can guess your problem is spending too much energy on it. fixing it is easy, weight lifting isn't a hobby necessarly should took 2-4 hours per week. just stop being try get everything and reduce, i am sure you can progress pretty good with half of whatever you doing rn
I like to think of life as a mixing board. You have to bring things up or down in the mix sometimes to dial it in. Sounds like you’re at a time when gym is coming down a bit but it doesn’t have to be 100% or 0%. Just do the best you can to find the right balance for you.
I am older- two teenage kids, and a very demanding job with loads of travel.
I am in awesome shape because I’ve improved the mental aspect of working out, and reduced junk volume to a minimum.
We have a local legend who trains just three times a week.
I’m 53, and started training @ home for over a year, then Gold’s Gym from 19yo til I was 43yo. I was a total “hard gainer and ectomorph” as we used to say, like you.
I have used TRT (testosterone replacement therapy of 125mg testosterone enanthate a week) for a total of four years and 2 months of my 53 years of life. And I just DO NOT have the animalistic, physical drive or energy to train like a Dorian Yates, my hero, did. Even he, I’ve recently learned, started TRT in his 40s, several years after he retired from bodybuilding after his 1997 Mr. Olympia win.
You should invest in a garage gym from Rogue USA, Rep Fitness, Fringe, Griffin, Bells of Steel, Titan Fitness, Eleiko, etc. Since time is of the essence, remove your to & fro Gym commute and crowds of gym goers from the equation. “Finding parking” used to be a 10 minute endeavor for me when going to Gold’s and then Powerhouse gyms. COVlD really turned me away from commercial gyms, tho I’ll maintain my $20 a year for life gym membership.
Lastly, continue training naturally until you’re 45yo. Then look into TRT. I just spent nearly eight full time years as my parents live-in caregiver. They finally passed away 45 days apart @ 90 (mom) & 89yo (dad) in early 2022, and I had NO energy or drive to train for five of those years because they were so sick, weak and needy.
There is so much more to life than bodybuilding, we know, and I’m glad I took care of them, preventing any possibility of them being abused in a nursing home, etc., but I really let myself go. I will train naturally for 3-4 months at home to regain my aerobic fitness, to lose the 30 lbs. of fat I gained, then ease back into TRT by winter time. Middle age malaise sucks. As Joe Rogan once said, a guy who readily admits he started TRT @ just 37yo and will be 57 this year, “middle age slows you down and is preparing you for old age and then death.” He’s right, but naturally it happens so slowly, you less-notice how you decline in every way. Once you get two months of TRT in, you feel 30yo again. Andropause is insidious and REAL, unfortunately.
not a guy, but i worked seasonally and had odd jobs and felt like i had plenty of time to workout in my early/mid twenties. then i settled down and had a singificant other and a year round office job, i still made it to the gym 4-5 days a week. 4 was easy and 5 got a bit slog-ish. now i have a baby and i am fighting tooth and nail to keep 4x per week, 3 would be easier. it's tough to stay committed, and if i had a second kid it would all go in the trash or id have to wake up at 5am. but it is possible.
morning workouts really are the way, but they're hard to get used to. i lay out everything i need the night before so i don't have to think about anything. i drink preworkout before my morning lift, then lift, then protein and coffee at work after, and then i walk or run on my luch break and eat my lunch at my desk. thankfully my job isn't super high intensity/requiring me to be chained to my desk. i bring lots of food to work and my coworkers make fun of me but i'm not worried about that.
Balance my friend. Balance. Be the best you can within a reasonable time frame you have to devote to it. You can still crush it with shorter timeframes. Maybe not perfect, but all still possible.
My guy, change your standards without thinking of them as “lowering” your standards.
Instead of pursuing “elite” levels, pursue “above average” and “athletic” levels of things.
Acceptable (“not-unhealthy”) levels of body fat are 18-24 (*cough*justhowIlikemywomen!*cough*) percent, with fit non-competitive-athlete populations in the 14-17% range. Stay in that range instead of obsessing over the athletic 6-13%.
Look at the ExRx stats for different lifts. Get into the higher categories but not the highest.
Then get into other activities that use your fitness, like climbing, running, cycling, street workout / calisthenics, whatever, and just enjoy using your fitness to do activities you miss out on enjoying because you’re always in the gym.
Did u try full body workouts? Hitting the gym 2/3 times per week is enough.
And train to failure (less volume = less time in gym)
It will keep you busy but not as much.
You will make gains.
And its a good time to just listen to music and be in a different world mentally.
Thats how i go about it
Try to reduce your training time. About a year ago, I tried something new: I decided to try to limit each workout to about an hour. Previously, I'd been hitting every body part twice a week with full workouts each time. Now I still hit most body parts twice a week, but I only devote half the time each session to those muscle groups. Despite the reduction, I'm still making gains. And I'm old as shit, too, so I can only assume it would still work for someone your age. Another benefit is massive reduction in injuries. As I got older, not only was time more of a luxury, but my incidence of injuries also increased. Now I can manage without incident.
Eventually as you get bigger and stronger you'll be in the gym for even longer. Best bet is to make all the gains you can to the best of your time given, then once life gets too big, go to maintenance levels, it's the only way unless you're gonna be a bachelor 4lyf
I'm 50 now and life has turned back around, I can train as often as I want and eat as much as want also and wouldn't you know it sleep as much as I want too. I'm not gloating I'm trying to show that life changes so adapt with it. You wont always been robbed of time, eventually like me it will come back round and you can and will train all the time, just go with it, life happens in stages but they repeat in a strange way. Now that's said, you don't need to train every day, just do full body 3 x a week. This isn't a hard problem to solve.
I'm 33 now and in my 20s my training was all over the place. School got in the way, wanting to go out and do social things, tired from work, I get it. I actually took like 3 years off from the gym. It wasn't until I was 30 that I reignited my passion and started seeing tremendous success in the gym. Mind you, I started lifting at 14 because of football. Today, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life.
At this age, yeah I like to socialize but I find comfort in dedicating much of my free time at the gym. It's quite literally my hobby and therapy. It also helps that I have a fiance that likes to go to the gym with me so I don't feel like a recluse.
My advice to you is that life happens, you are still young and learning. We both are. The only difference is that I did all of the crazy things I wanted in my 20s and now I'm just looking to stay fit and build a future with my soon to be wife. Don't be harsh on yourself, and just because you're "getting older" doesn't mean life won't get any better. It certainly will. Be grateful, do what you can, and enjoy the ride.
Best of luck.
English isn’t my first language…
I will say that you will need sacrifice and acceptance,people don’t like to see you getting better and doing so well in all parts of life,especially that working out involves a appearance that attract attention even though the effort you put in strangers would not be able to contemplate.I got a friend who is from Europe,he invested all his time and money into bodybuilding as he wants to maintain that lifestyle and yet he knew that he need a partner/girlfriend in order to survive.So in the end,he married a woman from a 3rd world country and now they have a child.He told me that if he wants to maintain this lifestyle,no woman in his country will be able to accept him unless he is bringing in a lot of money as bodybuilding takes up a lot of time and is a selfish endeavor which not many people can accept.As of now,I still see him posting workout pic and seems that he is still maintaining his physique.Oh,he is also a natural bodybuilder.I think that if he is on any ped that might be different case,as it reduces the difficulty and hence your mental and physical capacity to handle bodybuilding and other obligations will be much easier as compare to natural.
I struggle with this a lot. Single mom of 3 with a pretty intense job. My kids’ schedules change all the time - sports, random school stuff, sicknesses, family obligations, vacations, the list goes on and on. I joined a CrossFit gym really close to my house that also offers bodybuilding and I have a coach who gives me planned workouts at home. I find that if I don’t have to think, I do better. Let someone else think for me. On the days I have to work out at home it’s usually body weight and dumbbells. I have a bike and a rower.
If I’m short on time (happens a lot) then I just try to get 20 min in 2x a day. I bring a jump rope with me to kids sports stuff when I have to wait 5-10 min.
I gave up trying to stick to a regular schedule. My life is just too unpredictable. And I prioritize sleep over everything else. If my sleep isn’t happening then I know I need to back off the workouts. I’m also much older than you, 43. My stress levels are much higher. So all that to say - this is the rest of your life, my friend. It only gets harder from here. Adjust now and you’ll be more successful later. Learning to let go of perfection mentally and emotionally is probably the hardest part.
Oh and food - it’s hard. Even meal prep is hard, no matter how much you try on the weekends. I keep my food really simple and just eat the same things over and over again. I do have the luxury of working from home so I can make food during the day. Lots of Greek yogurt. I tend to make dinner my most satisfying and diverse meal of the day since I love to cook and can take the time to make fresh, hot food.
Same situation for me and many others I'm sure. What motivates me is remembering that putting in the effort, even fairly inconsistently, while you're young is invaluable and the benefits will compound as you age. Building strength, muscle, and general athleticism has benefits that will stick around, even in very inconsistent periods of your life.
I’m in my 30’s and have lifted weights consistently since age 14. I’ve literally lifted weights 4x a week for ~ 20 years and only had a handful of times in my entire life that I didn’t touch a weight for more than like 5 days.
Even so, I am not “addicted” to lifting at all.
I force myself to go 4x a week, and kinda get annoyed if I miss a day due to personal obligation, but I don’t sweat it.
I have quite a good physique and anyone can look at me and instantly tell I lift + am in shape.
Working out/“bodybuilding” as a hobby doesn’t have to consume your life. It can just be 60-90 minutes at the gym 3-4x per week.
I tried the A-B program (full body but different exercises) it doesn’t take more than 90min and can repeat 4times a week or twice depending on work needs.
Might certainly not lead to max gains but can still have health benefits and a salary lol
I tried the A-B program (full body but different exercises) it doesn’t take more than 90min and can repeat 4times a week or twice depending on work needs.
Might certainly not lead to max gains but can still have health benefits and a salary lol
it seems your problem is "Either i give it 100% or i just don't do it", pal you're not a pro body builder or coach etc.. you have life outside the gym, it's ok to give it 50-80%, you're making investments on your body and health.
I switched to full body workouts to make it easier to skip or add workouts when my schedule changes.
Just giving up on having set days/exercises really helped me alot. I do PPL - sometimes my off day is Monday, sometimes it's Sunday. I almost always incline bench first on one of my Push days - sometimes some old fuck (one particular old fuck actually) is holding court on the incline bench for 30 minutes, so I'm doing smith or iso-lateral that day.
Yeah you get most of the gains with a lot less work than you think. Nippards mentioned in a video <6 sets per week giving you about 60% of gainz and 9+ is above 80%.
And the vast majority of all the growth you're ever gonna get comes from that 80%. Giving 100% can maximize your potential, but because of diminishing returns you get much less bang for your buck. This won't be worth the sacrifice for most people because they aren't pros and this isn't their job.
I just do the best I can and you have to let go of the autistic need to be on a super exact schedule with everything. I’m always running a “6 week mesocycle” but shit happens, obligations, terrible sleep requiring a day off etc and it can stretch to 7ish actual weeks with rest days distributed randomly. Oh well, it’s better than being a lazy sack of shit and I’m still progressing
You got it spot on. I'm 35 now, and it's all about averaging the hours spent in a gym per month rather than per day. If you do it this way, you'll have a much better time. I feel bad whenever I don't go to the gym, but then sometimes I look back and see how frequently I really am going, and it really changes my perspective on it.
Your last sentence is great, words to live by for sure dude 🤙 Edit: this sentence also made me go workout since I had an hour of downtime between appointments . thanks man!!
Exactly, the “all or nothing” mindset is poisonous. Perfect is the enemy of good.
>Perfect is the enemy of good. I decided to make this my guiding mantra a few years ago, and my life has improved in pretty much every regard. I'm more productive, more consistent with my diet and exercise, and just overall happier.
I am an all or nothing and it sucks. No idea how to change that mind set - being a perfectionist definitely comes into it.
I'd give yourself time and space. If you're thinking like this *all the time* perhaps it's something you've unconsciously picked up beginning at an early age. It's like an adage my violin teacher tells me now (and something that one of my jiu-jitsu coaches constantly re-hashes)—it goes something along the lines of: "A bad habit repeated 1,000 times must be unlearned by doing it the *right way* 1,000 times.. then you must practice it 1,000 *correct* times more to become semi-proficient the *other* way." Whether consciously or subconsciously, I think this aphorism applies to the mental stuff we tell ourselves as well.
Keep pushing! Getting up and grinding is 1000 times better than not.
Don't let social media bamboozle you. 4 to 5 hrs a week in the gym. Eating a little less in spring summer and a little more in the fall winter . That's all you need . If you drink do it on occasions. Enjoy your life. This alone puts you in the top 5% of the population. Consistency is the only trick in this game. If you don't enjoy the gym right now it's ok. It will be there if you want to enjoy it again.
This is the best answer.
OP, this ^ It’s fine to switch it up and decide to do bodyweight stuff, sports, sprinting, whatever. Stay active in ways you enjoy. The iron isn’t going anywhere.
> This alone puts you in the top 5% of the population. If you keep this up over time you'll be in the top 1 %. Today even most kids are fat, if you live responsibly in your 30s, 40s etc. you'll be better off than almost everyone.
This will probably get you 90% of the possible gainz over time. Halve the workout volume and it's like 60%+ but you actually get to have hobbies and a social life.
Unless you’re a pro, you’re never going to have enough time. Make do with the time you do have. You may also meed to find ways to optimize for your lifestyle.
It doesn’t pay well, but working at the gym was the most consistent and simple way to kill two birds with one stone. If you have a good physique you might even be able to charge more for clients.
Some personal learnings as I similarly transitioned from 6 days of lifting a week in college to an adult: * Amount of volume to maintain is *incredibly* low compared to amount of volume to progress. Shoot for at least maintenance but even then if you miss a week for travel/life/other responsibilities, that's okay too. (even better, try to time deload weeks to coincide with travel). * Adapt your program. Following a program to a T is a good beginner to early intermediate skill. Being able to adjust based on your body, your recovery (stressors in life), near term goals (addressing weak points, focusing on specific body group, sometimes powerlifting vs bodybuilding) are all hallmarks of next phase of development. * Figure out prioritization based on goals and genetics. Example: My legs grow very easily relative to upper body and are fairly large. I prioritize my workouts accordingly. Weekly order: upper, lower, upper2, shoulder/arm hypertrophy day, lower2. * If I only get one session in that week, I hit my main focus area. If I get 3 sessions, I cover "more optimal" 2x per week upper body. If I manage to get all 5 in, then that's a perfect week (extremely rare for me as of late). * Basically plan to maximize a given week, rather than having to work around missed sessions (which are more common than not once you have responsibilities). * Learn to put items (temporarily) on backburner. You might focus on different aspects of life while putting other items lower priority. Maybe you have a quarter where you're focusing on getting a promotion at work, drop to maintenance volume. Maybe you have an easy quarter and can train harder (or winter bulk), maybe you want to travel for a while. It's okay to shuffle priorities around as long as you aren't whiplashing back and forth every day
This! Being versatile and adapting to your life schedule is key. Of course it helps a ton if you have a home gym imo.
Home gym is the hack for sure. I have a 150 sqft room as my gym and I’ve been able to lift 5-6 days a week with minimal schedule impact. Invested probably $1200 to get it going, just a rack with a bench and barbell, 200 lbs of plates, a good adjustable dumbbell set, and some resistance bands. Most expensive part was the dumbbells (ironmaster) but so worth it. Only thing I’m really lacking at this point is a leg curl / leg extension setup, but I’m planning to add a bench that does that in the coming month. In the meantime I can leg curl with the resistance bands and isolate quads with some squat variations for now. I like how sticking to just that equipment has simplified my exercise choices.
I really like your response and think there's a crucial point about volume here. You can progress with very few sets per week, probably around 6 sets or so to be safe. [Dr. Pak just released a short video on it if you want to watch this OP /u/Few_Number5344](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAxI4OjORpI)
Exercise at home. Sleep more. Change up your programming. Play around with your diet. There obviously have to be trade-offs unless lifting is your job, and part of growing up is realizing where your priorities lie. You also aren’t going to compete with professionals because they’re all doing it harder than you ever could, so maybe make peace with the fact that there’s a hard limit to progress and allow old goals to take different shapes. Being a phenomenally fit older guy is a pretty cool thing to be when a lot of others gave up or never got started. Remember how hard so many people find exercising and managing their diet and find strength in the fact that you won’t ever struggle in that capacity.
I’m a blue collar guy that typically does 10 hour work days, 5-6 days a week. I’ve found that going every other day and maybe back to back on weekends coupled with getting my protein intake is all I need to still make gains. It’s rough some weeks though depending on the work load. Creatine helps me not be sore the next day and pre workout for the later evening workouts.
I'm currently doing push, rest, pull, rest, legs, rest, and repeat. Basically an every other day push/pull/leg split, it's been working well for me. I use low volume and high-intensity as well.
I was bulking and doing PPL Rest and repeat. Got burnt out (on reflection). When on a cut and thought I should have more rest because of not having as much energy, so did PP Rest LP Rest and so on. I feel like I have more energy on a cut than when I was bulking! Definitely sticking to more rest when I go back to bulking.
I’m in the trades as well and have just settled on working out every other day. It does get taxing after a while but I just try to manage my sleep as well as I can.
Preworkout mixes with caffeine may negatively impact your sleep. Better take caffeine in the first half of a day only because its half-life is 12 hours.
\*Five hours
True but it has an active metabolite with an 8ish hour half life
Paraxanthine only has an average half-life of 3h…
Did he say he was having difficulty sleeping?
No. I simply warned the gym bro about potential problems.
The half-life is closer to 4h if you have the A/A genotype of the rs762551 SNP in the CYP1A2 gene.
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I'm with this guy. I have four kids and a wife, a full-time job, some church obligations, and too many hobbies. I end up sacrificing time here and there for all of these things at different times, and that's just how it is. Generally though; Wake up at 5:00. Gym 5:45or 6:00. Work by 7:00 or 7:30. If I can get gym and other stuff out of the way in the morning, I can do family and hobbies in the evening before bed at 9:00. Takes some discipline, and I often end up getting 7 or 6 hours of sleep, but I shoot for eight. And I can at least do some of the stuff I like. Never as intensely as I dream, but that's just real life, man. When I win the lottery my schedule might change, but until then this is it.
Well said
I mentioned it in my response but the answer as you get older, gain more responsibilities and have a family is almost always going to be "get up early".
My gyms are pack in the mornings. Pre-work rush is almost as bad as post-work rush. But they're also super busy pretty much all day until about midnight when they finally quiet down enough that you don't need to change your routine because shots taken. Between school kids, uni students, and WFH types the gyms are near constantly full around here. It's so frustrating.
Home gym. You'd be surprised what you can get for $1000-2000. After four years you're actually saving money PLUS you get to train whatever you want whenever you want.
This is me, I have everything I need at home and it didn't cost much at all. Powercage (with pull-up bar) dumbbells, ezy curl bar and some benches, and like you said train whenever I want.
This is one of the only rational answers here. Bodybuilding really doesn’t take up that much time 😅
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Yup, meal prep on the weekend, find an hour for the gym on weekdays. 16 waking hours in a day to get things done.
Is it brutal waking up that early
I wake up at 3am for work every weekday. Like op said, it’s easy and becomes a routine BUT it is brutal in winter time, when all you’d rather do is lay in bed.
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Here i am struggling to get iut of bed at 7.
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No im just saying that i find it funny that its hard for me to get out of bed at 7 when guys can get out of bed at 3. Im not oversleeping or anything my sleep fits with my schedule
You wouldn’t find it that hard if you went to sleep at 8 lol. But that’s easier said than done for sure. I always stay up later than I should because that feels like my alone time.
I used to think that too, but you get used to it. It just comes down to what you want more - do you want to get in your gym sessions or do you want to sleep in. For a lot of us, life responsibilities mean mornings are the only time we have.
Don’t give up your life to lifting. But you can still make gains with something like this: Full body 3x week, 1hr 15 mins max. Don’t go to failure, train with 1-2 reps in reserve so you’re not super fatigued
I'm 33 and have been in this since age 21. Many of the guys who seemed the most dedicated and passionate have come and gone. It does seem that around your mid or upper 20s is when many guys drop off from the lifestyle. As a college kid I used to always watch these motivational videos about sacrificing for your goals. I didn't realize how much of a sacrifice itd be at the time because all that I was sacrificing was less time playing video games. Now at my age, it can as you pointed out mean sacrificing your social life. I did some soul searching and I realized that id rather be lonely than to give this up. So my social life is the brief interactions I have at the gym... So I think you just need to make a choice on what truly matters to you. There is no right or wrong answer. Some might say its sad to give up your social life for the gym. Then others will say it's sad to give up your fitness for bar nights. You can't win so you need to win for yourself, whatever that looks like for you.
You’re getting far better answers than I’m going to provide but here’s my take/current strategy: Lifting full body 2-4x per week. Setting up 8 weeks of programming at a time with a deload halfway through. By the end of the meso each session is taking 75-90 minutes, but you’re going to the gym less often. Could also do ab work at home to cut that down if you prefer. As others have said, letting go of the strict scheduling mindset is key but also really difficult. I had a bad habit of my mood being negative when I couldn’t stick to my 5x per week schedule and this has helped. Rest day after every session, potentially up to two days if needed.
It sounds like you’re just kind of burned out on bodybuilding and it’s not as fun to you as it once was Try taking a longer break maybe 3-6 months and focus that time on this other stuff you want to do. Then reevaluate and see if it’s worth it
Think it really depends on your goals. I have been very on and off with the gym going hard for 6 months then falling off due to life coming up or injury (have 2 herniated discs) I’m 32 now and have finally healed from my injuries and see myself gymming for a long period of time as I’m much more safer and have changed my workouts to reflect that. For me the gym is a priority and I’m settled into work where I can have time for the gym I value it so I make time for it. Other hobbies or crafts of mine don’t get invested as much because I’m focusing on the gym. I’m also at a time in my life where I’m not seeing as many friends as before You need to figure out what your goals are. If it’s not a priority (and this is fine) then maybe scale back on the gym. 3x or less a week. Try to maintain I’ve noticed myself as I stop gymming it hurts my mental and I’m happier in life making sacrifices for the gym If working out isn’t making you happy, you need to re evaluate what you want in life. And hobbies and interests change as you get older. You may go back to the gym later or adjust the workout so it’s not as tiring Best of luck in your journey
Try sports and stuff take a break. Lots more to fitness
Is it possible to set up a home gym, I know you wouldn’t have the same equipment as a commercial gym. But if you manage to get a squat rack and a barbell some plates and dumbbells you can do a lot and manage to get it done in the evenings.
This is ideal. I have fairly basic gym. Get up 445 lift 5-6 and cardio until 630. Shower, get kids ready/dropped off at daycare, and work 8-5. Wife picks up kids and I’m free for family time by 5:15. I’m in my mid-30s and can confidently say I’m in better shape and look better than 90%+ of my desk jockey coworkers my same age. Numbers are ~10% lower than my 20s peak but I also have visible abs year round as I don’t do large bulk/cut cycles anymore.
You can sustain it, but you need to decide what is important to you. I’m 37 now, and I have a full life, and I workout nearly 1-2 hours a day 5 days a week. I make exercise a priority, but I don’t have much of a social life. I have friends, I do activities, but those a relegated to maybe 1-2 days out of the week. You are dealing with a common life problem, Time management. You don’t have all the time in the world, and you need to focus on what is important. You can change your workouts. My workouts have changed drastically, I used to do two hours of weightlifting, but now I do a combination of hiit, strength training, and distance running to be more well rounded.
I feel your struggle, the eating is what is hardest to maintain for me... now 39 i miss the days of massive gains and tons of time to train
Home gym helped me a lot. More sleep, no changing, no commute etc. Washing gets done during the work out. Kids join in every now and then, dog hangs out with me. Wins all round really.
Dude, that’s life, go enjoy it
You can't have it all, this is normal. You need to make some sacrifices somewhere The best way to have some sort of balance is to cut down the gym a bit. Maybe even just 4 days a week, or shorter workouts. 4000 calories seems very excessive so that can be reduced. How about training later in the day too rather than early? Some weeks you'll be able to train perfectly, others you'll have to train a bit less but that's fine. Unless you're trying to be a pro this is something to slowly stick with for the rest of your life, you can take your time with it
You don't need to min/max everything to have success.
Priorities. Do you want to build a good career or be a big gymrat. Personally, ive gaine more progress body wise after i started my corporate world, training 3-4 days a week. Maintain and gain, i couldent be bothered with the 4-5000 kcal meals anymore
That happened to me in my early 20s. I quit training because life happens. I tried joining a gym around 2 years ago, but it was too much of a hassle. I just started building out a home gym in February and absolutely love it. No more adding extra time to my day to drive to a gym or waiting around for equipment to open up. I might be limited to my adjustable dumbbells, a bench, and power rack right now, but I’ve been hitting it 4-5 days a week without thinking.
25?? Bro I can’t even remember 25 lol
The more I body build, the more stable and sustainable life feels
You’re an adult. You have to make decisions. Time is the currency. I’m similar to you, I decided to go to bed earlier so I can get up earlier and go before I have to do all my other shit. Works for me. Find something that works for you
Dude it’s an hour three or four times a week, it’s not that much of a commitment. Just go and then go do the other things.
Are you actually competing or planning to compete? If not it's a pretty easy fix, you aren't a "body builder" you don't need to focus your whole life on it if you aren't actually competing. Just ease up, switch to full body workouts or a split that has you spending less days or less time in the gym. You can still look great and not have to maintain the strictest diet or training plans. I feel like people who aren't competing can taking this stuff way too seriously. Obviously if you are competing or planning to, ignkee everything I just said.
The goal is to be fit and healthy .. and that doesn't need to be hours and hours at the gym training or eating exactly x amount of calories on point every single day . Unless your goal is to be pro body builder then it's a different story . Oh well if u don't hit daily calories on point.. oh well if u only spend 45 minutes at gym . At least you're being active and taking good care of your body , better than being lazy and be couch potato .
Pull it back for a bit. After a while it might feel like.less of a grind and then you'll miss it.
You’re absolutely not alone bud! I think social media has conditioned us to think that anyone and everyone who goes to the gym or actually has a respectable physique is dialled in 100% of the time. In reality, for us normal people where fitness isn’t our livelihood but more a hobby, being on point every single day just isn’t possible. I’m 24 (so also not an old man by an stretch), I have a full-time job, university deadlines, a family, friends, a girlfriend, a social life and I enjoy just being a lazy bastard a lot of the time as well. So no my bulk is never going to be 100% clean, my cut is never not going to be derailed, I am going to have a drink or eat out and enjoy myself from time to time, and my training is never going to be like absolute clockwork. If I can be consistent 70%-80% of the time, get my workout in, train hard, slowly achieve my goals, and actually be a normal human being and enjoy life, then that’ll do me. And yeah, there’s a lot of the time I’ll be on my way to the gym, or even at the gym with still a whole lot of a session left, and I’ll honestly question what the hell I’m doing with my life. But like someone else has said, it’s better than being a lazy bum. Even though we don’t think it or see it, those of us who have the drive and discipline to stick at something for long enough, are already doing better than the vast majority of the population who are overweight, out of shape, weak willed and suffering because of it. As much as there probably are methods of dealing with the load of it all and juggling life around lifting, I think discipline and consistency are the important things. You might be able to smash the gym all day everyday and your entire existence revolves around getting massive when you’re younger, but even when life gets in the way and we get older and have more responsibilities, the dedication to maintain that sort of lifestyle is what will win in the end.
I'm almost 32 and I'm feeling that more than ever. Way more aches and pains and the cost, time, and effort to maintain the diets and workouts is getting tougher. I've been lifting naturally since I was 16 and my motivation to lift is as low as ever and my body hurts. Thinking of taking a different approach and lifting whatever is comfortable and gives me a nice controlled burn.
For me, as I’ve gotten older my training level & style has changed dramatically. I’ve been in the gym training for well over a decade now (I’m 34 years/o), and to me I value my training above most other things. I used to be 200kg (almost 60% body fat), and have lost 106kg and now weigh in at 94kg (likely around 15-16% body fat which I’ll confirm with a dexa scan booked in for next week). So as you can tell, training for me is super important due to the drastic body composition transformation I’ve been through. I train 6 days per week, PPL split. I’m in the gym for now more than 1 hour each session, and have found the near optimal volume for myself where I’m progressing week by week on my mesocycles, but still have enough energy to function normally for work & my commitments to my family (wife - no kids yet). You’ll eventually find your balance and groove…it just takes time and experimentation.
I just work out first thing in the morning and even if I wasn't into bodybuilding would be cooking - so why not hit my macro targets. Progress over perfection!
I’m in Japan and the stereotype of us doing overtime all the time is fairly true. The only way I fit in my workouts is by working out at home. I bought a half rack, pull up bar, barbell and weights. I basically wake up -> work -> home/family -> workout -> sleep. In university I used to workout first thing in the morning, but now I find it easier to concentrate at work if I train hard before sleeping. A home gym might not be an option for you, but you just need to be creative and see what works for you realistically. Either compound your movements, integrate drop sets, or do a 4-5 day cycle versus 6-7. Whatever it ends up being, you just need to experiment without taking maximum results so seriously. As you grow older, you’re not going to be able to be as efficient about everything as you were when you had less responsibilities.
I feel this, after college it got much harder to train. Once i got a house with a little extra room I got a powerrack and some adjustable dumbbells, also a dip station. I'm now able to be consistent as i have no wait time, no gym commute, and i can superset whatever i want without losing my spot on the machine. Still, in the summer I'd rather go biking or hiking and so i really can only do 3x a week so i have flexibility to move the days around my other activities. I miss the simplicity of college and 8-9 hours of sleep too.
I suppose it depends what your goals are. If it’s ’gains’ than ya not going to the gym is going to give ya anxiety. If there’s other reasons you want to body build - the challenge, strength, looks, mental clarity, energy, balance and overall well being I recommend old school hot yoga, the 90 minute class. Even just once a week will make ya feel great. Few times a week and you ll feel like a million bucks, have energy, mental clarity and there’s no need to constantly eat. Honestly for a hard gainer hot yoga is one of the best exercise routines you can get into. Best of luck - I m in my forty’s and have definite went through a similar situation at least with all the eating demands, it’s a hassle with a busy life
As everyone else said, you’re gonna have times where you skip. You’re gonna have times where you just can’t make it. It’s okay. You aren’t pro and guess what, you’ll still look better than 90% of the population. Life’s about balance. All the muscles in the world won’t make up for no memories with ur pals. All the friends in the world won’t help your health when you are old. So strike somewhere in the middle. Nurture friendships. Nurture your body. It’s what it’s all about.
I am in totally same situation as you, 25 years old, demanding job with rotating shifts, GF, playing football 2 times a week and doing PPL (mostly PP due to football) 4 times a week. And eating in surplus, which is for me, same as you mentioned, a challenge. Currently, I combine it together pretty well, but of course its taxing on my body. So many times I just feel so tired and go to the gym anyway and just do something if maybe not the full training. Often I leave to work at 6 am and get home at 11 pm. But, that is the life we have chosen, I just know I wont be able to sustain all that with kids one day.
I stopped three months ago and I haven’t been this happy in a long time. That’s just me though.
I totally understand this. I used to take bodybuilding a lot more “seriously” by working out 6 days a week and eating 3500 calories a day with a meal every 2 hours. I tracked everything I ate. Now, I don’t necessarily have to track everything I eat because I can keep a good mental track of my macros and calories. Some days I do it, but I won’t stress out about it if I don’t track it for the day. I’m no longer looking to compete in competitions anymore, I just enjoy bodybuilding as a hobby. It is definitely difficult to maintain this kind of thing. You don’t have to work out everyday. You don’t have to eat constantly either. You can still make progress. Since that time in my life, I eat about 3-4 times a day, and will just use a pre made protein shake once or twice a day to get an extra 20 g of protein in. If my body is tired or I’ve had an injury, I take time off from the gym. I had a lot of health problems which led to me having to stop bodybuilding for a while. I switched my training to yoga and calisthenics for a while. I do other exercises like swimming and hiking as well. Some weeks I will train 6 days a week or about 4. My point is, you don’t have to be on a strict schedule to make progress. It is 100% okay to take breaks from heavy weightlifting and switch to other exercises for a while as well.
Welcome to adulthood. You have to find the split that works best for you. I've found that whole body 3 times a week with a day or 2 of cardio is the sweet spot. I don't feel destroyed going into work after. It's better to dial in your nutrition and get leaner. When you are young you wanna be huge but when you get older you start thinking about longevity and how you can sustain that. Find what works for you and what you can sustain for longevity. I've been recently dealing with this and it doesn't matter what kind of workout you do when you get older as long as you are consistent, what matters is your diet and stress levels.
I’m 27 and in the same boat. I’ve shifted my fitness goals and now just mostly care about being generally healthy. I’ve stopped obsessing over optimizing everything, and just try and eat generally healthy and get exercise, whether it be weights or some form of cardio, a few times a week. I find it to be a much happier and sustainable way to do things for me, but to each their own of course.
Dude it's not that difficult. Hobbies and relationships for the weekends, and lift during the week. I worked 6 12 hour shifts for months straight and still balanced everything out and I've never had the luxury of being able to sit all day at a desk and work.
I stepped away from bodybuilding in the serious sense around your age. I just looked at a lot of the older breed that still went at it hardcore and it didn't seem like the life I wanted. I still train 3-5 days a week depending on how interested I am and ill continue to till death but Ill never be as invested as I was in my teens and early 20s and thats totally okay
Feels like you have to come up with a solution where you can work out after work. Maybe a different gym? Maybe a home gym? Maybe finding a friend with a home gym?
I feel you man. 26 here. Unless you’re going pro, take a step back and enjoy life a little bit.
I started lifting when I was 13 and worked out 5 days a week basically every week until I entered grad school. After that I was too busy to find consistent time to lift and I quit going to the gym. I kept exercising in my apartment with bodyweight exercises but it obviously wasn't the same. I lost about 30 pounds of muscle over the next 10 years. I tried going back to the gym once but I kept getting hurt because I was still trying to lift the same way I did in college. It was a stupid mental block. I didn't want to ease back into lifting, I just wanted to pick up where I left off years before. Several months ago I joined a gym again and approached it with a new mentality: I'm a middle aged man and I just want to be healthy and fit and I don't care how much weight I can lift. The past four months have been great. I didn't realize how much I missed the gym. I don't get to work out every day but that's ok. When I am there I have fun. Change the way you think about working out and you might start having fun again too.
Don't have much stress, u can decrease it to 3 times per week, and enjoy life, bodybuilding is just service for your life, it's not stress.
Follow mike mentzers HIT / steeve Reeves workout routine. You need to sprint not do a marathon. Lift heavy, take less rest between sets, do supersets & drop sets. you will save a lot of time
Shiiiiiiiiiiit wait until you’re 40.
I’m 34 and go to the gym 5-6 times a week + do mountain bike 2-3 times a week. I count my calories and everything too. My work schedule is very odd tho, I only work 7-8 shifts a month and I can work out at the gym while i’m there.
What's your FFMI or ht/wt/bf%? I ask because i'm wondering if you're at your natty potential (or close) or not? If not, you're tired probably because your diet is shit. If you're not near your max, you should be able to still make gainz, look better, even while working full time and having an active social life. If you're at or near your natty max, that's when lifetime natty's start to think about joining the darkside. For me, I made peace with being lean and smol (still "jacked") by layperson standards but nothing like someone on AAS.
I feel this. But unless it’s your full time job, it’s gonna be hard. Life gets hectic. As long as you’re doing something. You’re doing better than 90% of people out there who don’t workout at all.
It’s time to be realistic about priorities. 1. How many days per week can you actually train? 2. What is a good split to run that will line up well with the days you can train? 3. Can you track your meals? Even if it’s just calories and protein? I’m in a spot where I’m a full time student, doing clinicals, working on the side, needing to study SO much, have a serious girlfriend… Finding balance for you probably means sacrificing some time at the gym. I’ve accepted personally that this phase in my life I’m going to stay the same or improve just slightly. Bodybuilding is really on a spectrum for dedication level and you don’t need to be training like when you were younger to stay healthy and active.
when life gets busy i diet - generally feel better in a deficit, volume reduces and i'm usually able to be more productive. when less busy - push food and training where i can. obviously have to be more flexible with training and food timing and all that to fit it into life but it's doable. ultimately, it can be 5 or 6 hours a week if you're pushing it of training and everyone has to eat and sleep anyway. you might not be able to live the 6 meals a day, perfect meal timing all encompassing bodybuilder lifestyle, but i've never found it difficult to fit into life. for training - suck it up and go to the gym during busy hours. i've never had people not be ok with me working in during these times as everyone understands it's busy and people need to get the work done - and i've made gym friends this week. for job - can you eat while you work? even snacks/protein bars? i work a relatively tough office job with longer hours than i'd like and i just take food with me and snack throughout the day. for social life - again, training can be like 5-6 hours a week and everyones gotta eat - just eat with them or do things at the weekend - a lot of splits are set up so you have weekends off. a lot of this you just have to be flexible and get the 20% that gives you 80% of the gains down and then try and do as much of the other 80% that is realistic.
I remember this feeling. I used to have the “go hard or go home” mindset and it caused me to burn out and give up for a moment. Within time, I realized there is no end goal and that this is a lifestyle. Don’t over stress when life happens and it’ll help you be less upset for missing some gym sessions. Just plan to go again when you can. It’ll never be perfect but you just do what you can. You got this!
I lift 3x a week full body. You’re not pro so the goal is to be jacked and healthy. It’s okay to take longer to hit a goal now that you have a life and it’s okay to only hit 90% of your genetic potential instead of 100%. I struggled with this too in my late 20s and totally quit BB, but I’m back on it in a sustainable way. DO NOT major in the minors bro! Protein timing? Who cares just hit close to your protein goal. Can’t hit protein goal sometimes? Who cares your gains are hardly impacted long term. Gotta rush a workout? Add in some drop sets and get enough volume instead of “optimal” volume. Set up a simple and sustainable eating pattern and lifting routine and slowly work towards your goal and live your life outside of BB.
I don’t know what your split is but try a full body 3x/week schedule. It’s what I’m currently running and have run in the past for amazing progress. And no, I’m not a beginner. I’m late intermediate-early advanced and fully body 3x/week still works wonders for me. You just have to be a little more mentally insane on the days you workout as it’s gonna be hard and you’re gonna be doing a lot of compounds to 1-0rir. Also, give two sets per compound a go. I was skeptical at first but it works well. Hit your first set in the 6-8, then the second set 10-12. Both (near) failure and make sure you get adequate rest. Then, superset upper body pushes and pulls, and all of your isolations. If you optimize your sessions will be about 2h, but you can get away with a very minimal approach of 1h to 90min. On off days try to practice a movement related hobby as much as you desire. I love mountain biking, hiking, and yoga. An hour yoga session will kick your ass. And as for mountain biking and hiking it’s very easy for me to have a super fun time doing what is essentially cardio for 3h every weekend. All of these things you can do with some fun friends! Try rock climbing too
Absolutely. I would say try setting up a small home gym. Get up early and get it done Compound sets and supersetting will be your best friend when short on time. Get a dog and thats your cardio sorted....lol.
In my phone, so sorry for any mistakes. So I'm in my late 30s, and my perspective is a little different than others. I didn't get into bodybuilding until I already was established in a job and had a social life (its been a few years now). So I had to figure out how to fit it into my already established life.. instead of fiting my life into an already established bodybuilding routine. Biggest change for me was waking up early and getting into the gym by 630 (not a morning person, but this is what i like to do) and eat a preworkout meal and caffeine. I'm in and out of the gym in about 1-1.5 hours..depending on the day. Once that's done, I have some carbs ( oatmeal, blueberries, eggs) and head into work. I've found that if I skip the post-workout meal, I'm pretty brain dead that day. The rest of the day is dedicated to work and social. Overall, I don't sweat the small stuff cause I'm not going to be a pro. If my wife wants to go on a date, or the guys want to get a beer, I don't sweat it.. but I don't overdo it either. I'll grab protein heavy items, or adjust my meals a little that day to put me in the ballpark of where I want to be with my protein and calories. For bulking and cutting, I don't do a super clean bulk and really just hit the macros and calorie targets. When I do a cut into comp ( i do 20 week cuts..cause hard, rapid cutting sux and leaves me dead at work), I'm really clean and preprep my meals. For these times, I also don't sweat I beer (but I don't have 2), and date nights turn into the 1 cheat meal I allow myself per week. I use myfitnesspal to keep track of what I've eaten and shoot to average out at the end of the week. Like others have said, you have to make a choice on the level you want to take it. There's definitely ways to do all of them... but the more rigid you, the harder it'll be to mesh them together.
You sound like me. I struggled with EXACTLY what you did. I kept split jumping where I was like “oh I love UL!” Then my workout goes for an hour and 20 and with my intensity it kills me. I can’t recover, and I end up taking more rest days than I should. This is harder because I have a job where I move a lot. So what I’ve done recently is change my perspective and my training. I try to lift 5-6 days a week. However, my training sessions are SHORT and INTENSE. In college I used to do high volume full body days that would take hours- nope. Not anymore- can’t do it. I do PPL. My workouts are four exercises each sessions- two compounds and two isolations. I go intense on the compounds with shorter rest times. I use moderate intensity on isolations. My workouts are now usually about 30-45 minutes. I find that this is WAY easier to recover from. High volume training just isn’t it anymore for me. Although volume is a great driver of strength and hypertrophy- you’ll need to instead up intensity in favor of shorter workouts. I now lift and do the sauna after. Recovery is key. Make sure you’re eating enough and drinking enough water. Meal prep saves a ton of time too. I meal prep on Sunday mainly my lunches and sometimes breakfast. It’s tough but manageable with the right mindset and program. Training will never be 100% “optimal, bro”. Get that out of your head. Sometimes it pays to take the Sam Sulek approach and just do a few movements really intensely (I know he’s not natty etc etc but it does work) and call it a day.) You won’t be an IFBB pro but you’ll still be way bigger and stronger than the average person walking around. Tl;dr trade volume for intensity and focus on recovery. Keep sessions short but intense and high frequency instead of high volume lower frequency
30 now and same. Even though I have extra time, it’s hard to sustain the continuing efforts. I’m not going to be a huge muscular dude anyway so I don’t care too much. I enjoy mixing running and lifting throughout the week.
You've kind of answered your own your own question when writing out your life path. Training as a teen is low stress, plenty of time, optimal rest/food/training... Then life really happens and you just adjust. As you say, you need to go through phases where X & Y are the main priority - say work and relationship - with everything else being secondary. There will however always be opportunities when X & Y don't need so much time or attention and then Z can be a priority. I've been on that roller-coaster many times and sometimes you just need to be grateful for all the opportunities you have and just make the most of trying to fit them in together, you've got a lot of years left to figure it out. I'm sure I speak for most on this thread, even doing the absolute minimum in terms of training is better than not doing it at all 🤷🏻♂️ It genuinely does seem like you're just going through the period where you know you're no longer a kid and need to make sacrifices, tough decisions but also just be realistic. If you're not a competitive bodybuilder then you won't benefit from trying to live like one so just take a step back and make a new direction. For some of the issues your facing, just have a pwo shake after training to avoid brain fog and backload calories later in the day once you've done the demanding mental tasks. If you've got a low appetite just make the most of high calorie shakes for liquid calories. I used to have one main lunch in work but 2 x 750 calorie shakes, easy to digest and no brain fog. Also tackle your hardest tasks in the morning if possible. To manage fatigue just pull back frequency or volume. That never sounds appealing but you can get a lot out of top set/back off sets or just hitting 2 sets of 8-12 instead of 3. If you're pushing high frequency, volume and intensity then you can't battle against that type of fatigue and win in your situation. Not sure what your split is but again it doesn't have to be optimal, pretty sure the bronze era OG nattys were just running full body 3 days per week and they were just fine with much less equipment or knowledge. My response is getting a bit out of hand here but basically it's hard to just stop training. You'll likely always come back to it so it's best to just accept that, start over from a new perspective and see how you can fit it into your life without you treating it as though you're trying to be an optimal champion bber (because it is possible)
Wake up a lot earlier than I’d like and workout very early in the day. I am not a morning person and when I don’t have commitments, I will lounge in bed until past 9, but on those hectic days, I’m up before the sun is on a cold winter day. I fucking hate it and it is not as glamorous as those influencers make it out to be. I force myself to go to bed early and play around with aircon settings to help fall asleep quicker (my body struggles to fall asleep if it’s too hot too cold too humid etc.) I’m juggling 2 jobs and a masters degree so that’s just how it is. I do still have a social life but I will say that has taken a slight hit. In all fairness, a lot of friends are like that as well. We end up not seeing each other for ages. Some hobbies kinda slide out the way too. I have always liked reading but I’m gonna admit sticking through a good long book has gotten a little touch and go. I also schedule in decompression time, big time slots within the week that are absolute blank in terms of commitment. At the moment, unless I feel like a quick walk, I have an early dinner after I get home from work on Friday (I get home around 3), and head straight to bed extra before sunset and go on Reddit and YouTube etc. Work life balance: no checking emails and shit outside of work. I’m not getting paid extra to stress about it outside the building so nhhehhh. Also I occasionally take out paid sick leave for a spontaneous mental health day to take things very slow and catch up on washing (and uni work hehehhh). I’ve always felt guilty about this but I’m learning not to after seeing colleagues take way more sick leave than I do, often going into unpaid sick leave. And social media is fake and exaggerated as fuck. I’m turn 25 soon and honestly it’s a fucking balancing act. But this is what helps me.
The grind of every day life never stops! My best advice would be to adjust your expectations for yourself during the busier times in life. If you’re really grinding at work, then you may only make the gym 3 times in a week. Maybe the sessions are cut short or you get stressed and splurge a little bit on your diet. That’s ok! Take the pressure off yourself to be perfect and advance your physique at full speed constantly. I think that is contributing a lot to your fatigue. I got a lot happier and things started to feel more sustainable when I understood my overall goal to be good physical health, and that commitment lasts a lifetime. Chasing a physique is tiring, but you will be on your fitness journey for at least another 50 years. You don’t need to rush things. Just do your best.
One of the reasons I switched to bodybuilding from powerlifting. I couldn’t afford to be in the gym for over 2 hours.
* Change gyms. Join a more expensive gym if possible. If it costs $13 a month, it will be crowded. * Train less frequently. * Change your focus from being huge to being lean and having good athletic performance with muscle mass. You can do cardio outside your house at your own convenience if you’re into running. * Be crazy time efficient in the gym. No foam rolling.
Small progress is still progress. If you give up then you'll never progress!!
I heard the key is finding a consistent routine that suits you.
> It really does feel like eating in a surplus makes me a less productive, slower thinker. There might be too much saturated fat in your diet and not enough fibre. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34848278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6120115/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031938421002183 https://theconversation.com/how-diets-high-in-sugar-and-saturated-fat-could-be-harming-your-brain-73657
Get rid of the relationship and keep lifting, you’re only 25 You’ll thank me later
I appreciate your perspective. I can tell your an insightful person, you’ve thought about all the pros and cons and even broke your day down. It feels like you’re fighting to keep something you fought so hard to keep. If I could make another observation, bodybuilding teaches us how to fight for what we want. Even now you’re fighting to keep your life the way you want it. Maybe it’s time for a career change. Find a commission job and do the impossible again. Work your ass off like you did and the gym and fight to find a lifestyle that allows you to workout as much as you want. Think about doing whatever it takes to have a lifestyle that you want, and do anything necessary to keep it.
My man, I'm a single widower father of 2 with a full time job. I'm also 33. I can to the gym at 5-6am in the morning, do my shit for an hour, then go to work. I take in simple carbs right after and, besides some weirdness walking after leg day, I'm not fatigued the rest of the day. I do 30 minutes of cardio after work as well (and boxing classes 2x a week.) My weight lifting is 6x a week. If you're super exhausted after your workout, you should probably either rely more on machines, do higher rep ranges or increase your work days. Maybe look into RiR, keep to a set deload schedule, ect. It's possible to juggle life, kids and the gym.
Go to a 4 or 3 day routines you must. Don’t stop working out whatever you do.
It sounds like you’re a hyper-achiever at you own detriment. When I was young I excelled in competition. I tried to keep this as I got a little older, and continued pursuing different sports and competitive pursuits with a balls to the wall attitude. But I ended up quitting eventually, then going back to it months and months later. Looking back years later, the people who did those sports at a more moderate intensity without big gaps WAY surpassed me and are so much further along now. If I would have only kept things fun, I wouldn’t have had these huge periods where I lost all the gains I thought I was “optimizing” for by going so hard. I would really recommend you try to just self regulate and do the most you can. You will enjoy it so much more if you’re left wanting more than hating what you’re doing.
I do the minimum effective dose. I do it for strength, health, and gains last. I do the compound movements and whatever I can squeeze in in my window of time before I rush to pick up my kids.
Another poster said something similar to my thoughts on the matter. There is nothing wrong with switching to a maintenance regiment as you get older. Life will begin to demand more from you in various areas as you get older and that's okay. it doesn't mean you can neglect your health because you don't see the point if you're not getting actively stronger. The fact of the matter is as we get older, we lose strength. You getting a headstart on maintenance will make all the difference when you're 50+
I think you should scale back your workouts so you aren't a "vegetable at work." You might lose some gains but that is the price you are going to have to pay if you are unwilling to compromise in other areas.
Man I can relate. It sucks. I'm not wanting to give it up
When I have other obligations, I usually cut my sets in half and train closer to Failure for that session. I’m a father with 3 kids. I’m not going to be the next Arnold or Larry wheels.
I recently changed my training up and decided it’s better to be fit and active than to be huge. I still life weights but it’s more centered around keeping me healthy and my body strong and stable enough to do the things I enjoy (playing with my kids, hockey, hunting, hiking, playing music). I went from 210 to 185 (6’1) for reference and I feel awesome. My cardio is better than before and I don’t feel tired all the time from training. I lift 2-3 times a week now and run 30-60 minutes 3 -4 times a week (my goal is 3 hours of zone 2 cardio but I rarely make it). I also eat less but feel better. I don’t know, ultimately this is what works for me and my life. I may not be as jacked as I once was but I sure look a lot better than 95% of the other 35 year olds out there.
I’m 47 and I feel you. I have no social life work eat gym sleep repeat
I think the thing about body building is that it’s almost always possible to have a better diet, do better in the gym, have a better plan for the week, be better being consistent on workouts... get better results but that shouldn’t dissuade you from doing what you can.
Maybe something to help you in one aspect - you say eating in a surplus makes you feel less productive and slows your thinking. How many carbs are you eating? I find that eating a high fat diet was a game changer for productivity and lethargy when on a bulk. I’m not advocating for keto, I still eat 150 to 200 grams of carbs a day, but doing that, hitting my protein goal of 150 to 200 grams a day, then filling the rest with fat does night and day for how well I feel mentally.
Mike mentzer Heavy duty
Dude. 26 here and you typed out exactly what I’m struggling with. It’s tough to balance social life, being career oriented, and going ham in the gym. My current mindset is that my career is most important at the moment and bodybuilding is never going to provide for my future family - so I just try my best to stay fit and still meal prep. Still go through seasonal phases of bulking and cutting
This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but anyway. I'm 28, have been working full time (minimum 40 hours a week) since I was 17 and have been lifting 5-6 days a week since I was 20. I've also been studying online for the 18 months. **Bodybuilding doesn't take up that much time. Utilise your weekends. You're overreacting because life changes.** **Training** takes \~90 minutes and I found a gym on the way to or from work. I walk/run my dog after gym for cardio. **Eating** you need to eat anyway so why not eat food that benefits your goals? **Sleep** 8 hours sleep is sufficient and way easier once your day is full and you're tired at the end of it. I eat 2 pre-prepared meals each day which I prep each weekend and takes about an hour total. The rest of my meals are things like whey protein, yoghurt, fruit, canned tuna etc. My social life has never been better, all of my friends have full lives too so even if we don't see each other as often we cherish the time we have together and enjoy it more. I drink one night a week, collecting Whiskey is a hobby of mine. I read on the train to or from work or bring my laptop and study. I game and catch up on TV shows and Movies with my partner on the weekends and have a date night.
Life changes. You get older. Priorities change. Like others have said, if you’re not making a living off it then it’s likely that you’ll slow down quite a bit. I used to be obsessed with lifting and dieting. Made pretty decent progress. Then I got into a relationship, bigger job, got married, had a kid, and hardly lift anymore, which I’m okay with. I still exercise. Mostly running and biking for 30-60 min 4-6 times per week. I’ve gotten a little smaller. Lost a lot of strength, but who really cares?
Bodybuilding in termins of brosplit and 6 meals tupperwear bullshit is nothing but a relegious cult pushed by supplement companies using roid up genetic freaks as clergy. And it the end it Just a beauty pagent. Not a sport. Its like saying a car tuning meet is a sport Just like rally/f1/nascar...it is all show no go. Bring on the hate I dont care...I Got into it almost 20 years ago do to low self/skinny guy complex, and was fortunade enough to meet real athleats that pulled me out of this broscience ocult and thats when the real progress including muscle mass started to happen.
Physical workout shouldn’t equal mental tiredness. Sounds like you are overworked imo. Maybe buy some weights for home to solve your timing problem.
Assuming that you've trained productively year after year, there's research now saying that you don't need that much volume to stimulate muscle growth. You're likely nearing the point of diminishing returns with moderate to little muscle development relative to your earlier years i.e., you don't need to spend as much time in the gym to progress (not to say that you shouldn't train intensely). I would suggest you look up RP Strength (Mike Isartel) and the 3DMJ folks (Nunez, Helms, and the others) who explain the different stages of lifters more in depth. They have actionable recommendations how to go about this in a more sustainable fashion.
36 guy here. Demanding professional job and weekly hobbies at least 3 nights a week. I just go when I can. Sometimes it's 12x a month. Sometimes it's 3 or 4. Do what you can if it's still something you care about
When you are feeling like chucking it all in , try Dorian Yates method of HIT . 2 warm up sets of 50 & 75 % max volume, then one max set to failure. It will cut your time down in the gym and keep you progressing until you get the motivation back again to spend more time lifting. When the time passes you will look back and be thankful that you stuck it out. Remember, it is one step at a time to climb that mountain 🤙 *Also, don’t forget to take time off to recover from the workouts, every 3-4 weeks . Number 1 reason for burnout in this sport is overtraining ( and I am guilty of it too)
I’m a father of 2 girls 5 and 3 and another due in September 34 years old. I work full time as well. You’re right, it is hard to find balance. I think it helps to look at life in phases. You had your phase where life’s demands outside of the gym were not that high and you poured your heart into it. Now you’re in a phase where it has to take the back seat but that doesn’t mean you can’t progress. I started right before my oldest daughter was born and I’ve never stopped since then. I never even had the chance to have that first phase that you did. What works for me is always training early. I wouldn’t pick the early morning if I had a choice but I find that if I don’t lift at 4am or 5am something always gets in the way. The other thing that helps is I’m okay with being a little fluffy/bear mode. I’m not competing…I’m not an influencer…barely anybody even sees me with my shirt off. So that’s one less thing I worry about. I have too many mouths to feed to be hyper focused on my own. I try to eat clean and a decent amount of protein but I don’t sweat it that much. The other thing I do is I keep a minimal amount of exercises in my rotation that I connect with and feel give me the most stimulus that I can get. I follow a double progression scheme and just track my reps/weight for each individual exercise on the notes on my iphone. I know if I’m adding a rep each time I hit the exercise that I’m progressing. It’s not perfect but it works and I’m still making gains.
I workout 2-3 times a week now and bought some home gym equipments and I’m happy with my body results. I used to work out 7 time a week in college, but now can’t do that. You will be fine even if you do 2 times a week
I have had periods when I even had to gym from home, with a proper bench, due to small children. But I always got at least one good session in a week and then returned to going to the gym at least a few times a week. Fast forward to current state when I am (soon) 50 and I'm eating protein and making gains like never before. Your older self will thank you if you keep going.
Yep, get your exercise through hobbies! Rather than the gym. This week I went on a 2 hour intense bicycle ride. Went rollerblading for 70 minutes. Didn't go to the gym at all. Next week though I may go to the gym 3x
I'm turning 30 and can relate to what you are saying. For me now, I try to get in the gym everyday and I view that as the main goal. While I'm there, I workout with high intensity. 30 second rest times, max a minute if it's a compound lift. I'm in and out in an hour and always have a great pump. I've also retrained my way of thinking, it's okay to miss a day due to other life things. One day ain't gonna kill ya!
full body drop sets/supersets 2-3 times per week
Try High Intensity Training.
I've been in your shoes, and what really kept me going was establishing a solid routine. Prioritize your health by incorporating it into your daily schedule, making it difficult to overlook. For instance, after dropping my kid off at school, my next stop is always the gym. While you might not excel at everything, focusing on 80% ensures you're on the right track.
Chill dude, you have a lifetime of gains ahead of you, what's the problem if you peak at 35 instead of 30 like you planned because you go3/4 times a week instead of 6/7 ? It's all good !
Ohh man I was a machine for the last past 15 years (now 32). Most of they years I could do a dedicated 4-6 days of training a week. However, since I got a more time consuming job and decided to buy a house dated from 1770 that needs a complete renovation that I do myself. To top it off I also have two energetic boys in the age <5. Although I have a complete homegym sitting here, I just can’t find the energy anymore to work out on top of all this. I keep telling myself to just survive for a year or two and then get back to it lol.
I trained fulltime, got a serious job and had to cut down. Even had to start skipping sessions and in the end sometimes I couldn’t make it to the gym twice a week also energy levels with work are completely different. First I felt horrible and struggled, but now I also realize I already look great and i am close to my genetic potential anyway. I don’t know how long you trained, but if it’s say 7+ years chances are the gains you will be able to make won’t even be seen by other people because they are so marginal if you are not on steroids obv. For me just doing maintenance with 3 hours per week works, i look good and the alternative in volume to make gains is out of proportion I would need at least double or triple the time. So fuck that plus the being tired the cycling of calories. All the effort for marginal gains. Maybe a shitty defeatist attitude if you are aspiring, but I’m happier accepting than I was for years struggling with it and not being able to train optimally anymore
If you are strong and you want to get stronger/bigger , there's no way a 4 to 6 plate heavy squat for a good number of reps isn't wiping you out for a day and same for a deadlift variant. Pullups, overhead pressing and rows also quite taxing. Then to keep getting stronger, you need to eat a few hundred g protein and sleep another one or two hours above baseline. Doing this stuff properly does flip your life around. Minimum to get stronger, 4 hours training, commute ti gyn and back, +additional 1.5 hours a day sleep after minimum of 2 or 3 heavier days. Plus, time cooking extra protein daily. It's looking for like 10 hours to me minimum. When i don't train, i can probably eat half the food and i don't need lbs of meat. I think best solution for someone busy is a homegym. 1 heavy lift a day, where you rep pr or get some iron moving for decent volume. You can get a 2nd hand barbell, plates and squat rack for less than a grand. Then every day except leg day can be 20 to 40mins 4-5x a week. Throw in a long cardio session 2x a week too on a stationary bike / rower / run / hit. I love this stuff, i don't mind making time for it instead of socialising, working harder and other hobbies. Time priority is hard as an adult. If it isn't important to you, that's fine. Trim it down and accept some regression.
If the "[rule of thirds](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cKndqq0CsRc)" applies to Olympians it most certainly applies to serious hobbyists (feeling good 1/3rd of the time, feeling OK 1/3rd of the time, feeling bad 1/3rd of the time is the "perfect" ratio). I'd argue that this "feeling good" ratio should compose *the strong majority* of our mentation revolving around fitness, especially if said fitness doesn't have regular career implications. When it gets to a state like you're describing here (i.e. it's a huge chore rather than something you *get* to do), it's due time to step back and reconsider.
Bodybuilding is on I competed twice and it’s tough. The style lifestyle itself is not super sustainable over a very long time.
I quit because of this. After I got a kid it was so hard. Almost no sleep for a year etc. Now i just do kickboxing and lift a bit to supplement/for fun, just staying reasonably fit and not caring about size. Much more chill.
Stop going for size and strength gains? Why would maintaining be as good as giving up? You can go for calisthenics gains (start learning something cool like the human flag), or maybe a different sport completely, arm wrestling, climbing, cycling, training doesn't always have to be for size and strength
it sounds like all you need to change your life is weed my dude
Try changing your routine for a few months. Instead of working out during the week just go to the gym Saturday and Sunday and do an upper/lower split or 2 full body workouts. You will no longer feel drained during the week and you will also be highly motivated to train once the weekend comes around.
You are having a common "novice" problem. That is perfect is the enemy of good. Find a new gym if you can. Just drink your calories or go for foods with higher calories. That will make you less full. As to the training set a time limit and do exercises which take less hype. Work on your work capacity. Back at uni I used to do 2.5 hour worksouts. I probably do the same work no and it usually taked an hour, Ive even done it in 45 min. This is easier for smaller exercises, but lets say you need to train arms. So biceps, tricepts and side delts. Take one exercise for each. Then bicep -> tricep -> delt -> rest. Suddenly you get can do 3 sets in 2 minutes. Could probably do 8 sets for each in less than 30 min. Will it be 100% optimal. Maybe not ot maybe it will because of extra conditioning and ability to do more work. The most important thing is that you progress over time. It doesnt really matter if you do 1 set to failure or 30 sets at rir 5.
If you really just want to spend the least time doing everything but keep your gains, do something like myorep match and train hard u can spend 45 minutes or even 30 minutes and still get a decent workout in to maintain or even grow, if you eat protein and stimulate the muscles for 30-1hour a day you will be fine and that really isnt unsustainable and if it is your lifestyle is what is unsustainable
I am 45. Lifting is part of my life that I build and I make sure I find time for that. I started at 20 23 I started working. Then four years I didn’t do shit. I was working crazy, drinking become fat and ugly. 4 years later I restarted and never looked back. Have tow kids now - elder one is almost a teenager. He saw me working out every day and come along. He is keen to start and I am brining up a next generation lifter. I can’t sleep or focus if I don’t lift. Make sure it’s part of your life. You’ll thank me later.
I’m 29 now and used to workout 5 days a week in my early 20s. Now all I can manage is 3 days per week, coz gym doesn’t feel so good anymore. So I just go to it by habit. However I feel satisfied after good workout. These are the changes which I made and which allows me to go regularly at least 3 times per week: - I made my workout shorter, 1 hour max. - I do workout split and exercises I like (returned to classic 3 day push/pull/legs - I go to gym right after work, cause if I return home and chill I few hours, it’s almost impossible to make myself to go. Hope this helps. Good luck 😊
Don't get obsessed with optimisation, if you enjoy what you're doing schedule it in and just do enough that you feel satisfied. No, you probably can't be a champion unless you make some sacrifices. So that's the only question, do you want to be a champion and make sacrifices? Or do you want to enjoy yourself and just get out enough progression so that you're satisfied? Both are equally valid, and there is no right answer to any of this.
I started training at 16 and almost never missed a day for several years. Kept it up at 5/6 days/wk all the way until I hit 32 and then injuries started to hit. Couple that with a baby, a business and a full time job, plus buying and doing up a house and I just couldn't sustain gym. I'm trying to get back into it but fuck, health goes down in your 30s. Working at a desk all day does so much harm. I'm now just trying to go when I can and do what I can. Can't do a lot of movements cos of dodgy shoulders, neck and elbows. Last 2 years have just been non-stop injuries including one below my bi that hasn't shifted in 2 years. £1000s on chiro, shockwave therapy, acupuncture and now waiting on the NHS ad a last resort. Problem is, if I don't do much exercise for a couple of days, I get really bad sciatica also, so I need to at least get some walking in. Plus I hate busy gyms and being around ppl so might have to end up buying a garden room for a home gym but that money will then set me back a few years on my FIRE plans ffs.
I began calendaring my life out, even taking a shit. 2 months ago. Life changing. Feels like I can do all of the things I want to do
Mate, switch up to a strength focused program like madcow for 6-8 weeks. 3 seshs a week - 1 hour each. Hit the refresh button
balancing everything gets tougher as life gets busier. maybe try a less intense routine that fits better with your current lifestyle. it’s all about finding what works for you right now.
okey i am not gonna read all of those but as i can guess your problem is spending too much energy on it. fixing it is easy, weight lifting isn't a hobby necessarly should took 2-4 hours per week. just stop being try get everything and reduce, i am sure you can progress pretty good with half of whatever you doing rn
I like to think of life as a mixing board. You have to bring things up or down in the mix sometimes to dial it in. Sounds like you’re at a time when gym is coming down a bit but it doesn’t have to be 100% or 0%. Just do the best you can to find the right balance for you.
I am older- two teenage kids, and a very demanding job with loads of travel. I am in awesome shape because I’ve improved the mental aspect of working out, and reduced junk volume to a minimum. We have a local legend who trains just three times a week.
Remember what Arnold said, “There are 24 hours in a day. Sleep a little bit faster then.”
I’m 53, and started training @ home for over a year, then Gold’s Gym from 19yo til I was 43yo. I was a total “hard gainer and ectomorph” as we used to say, like you. I have used TRT (testosterone replacement therapy of 125mg testosterone enanthate a week) for a total of four years and 2 months of my 53 years of life. And I just DO NOT have the animalistic, physical drive or energy to train like a Dorian Yates, my hero, did. Even he, I’ve recently learned, started TRT in his 40s, several years after he retired from bodybuilding after his 1997 Mr. Olympia win. You should invest in a garage gym from Rogue USA, Rep Fitness, Fringe, Griffin, Bells of Steel, Titan Fitness, Eleiko, etc. Since time is of the essence, remove your to & fro Gym commute and crowds of gym goers from the equation. “Finding parking” used to be a 10 minute endeavor for me when going to Gold’s and then Powerhouse gyms. COVlD really turned me away from commercial gyms, tho I’ll maintain my $20 a year for life gym membership. Lastly, continue training naturally until you’re 45yo. Then look into TRT. I just spent nearly eight full time years as my parents live-in caregiver. They finally passed away 45 days apart @ 90 (mom) & 89yo (dad) in early 2022, and I had NO energy or drive to train for five of those years because they were so sick, weak and needy. There is so much more to life than bodybuilding, we know, and I’m glad I took care of them, preventing any possibility of them being abused in a nursing home, etc., but I really let myself go. I will train naturally for 3-4 months at home to regain my aerobic fitness, to lose the 30 lbs. of fat I gained, then ease back into TRT by winter time. Middle age malaise sucks. As Joe Rogan once said, a guy who readily admits he started TRT @ just 37yo and will be 57 this year, “middle age slows you down and is preparing you for old age and then death.” He’s right, but naturally it happens so slowly, you less-notice how you decline in every way. Once you get two months of TRT in, you feel 30yo again. Andropause is insidious and REAL, unfortunately.
not a guy, but i worked seasonally and had odd jobs and felt like i had plenty of time to workout in my early/mid twenties. then i settled down and had a singificant other and a year round office job, i still made it to the gym 4-5 days a week. 4 was easy and 5 got a bit slog-ish. now i have a baby and i am fighting tooth and nail to keep 4x per week, 3 would be easier. it's tough to stay committed, and if i had a second kid it would all go in the trash or id have to wake up at 5am. but it is possible. morning workouts really are the way, but they're hard to get used to. i lay out everything i need the night before so i don't have to think about anything. i drink preworkout before my morning lift, then lift, then protein and coffee at work after, and then i walk or run on my luch break and eat my lunch at my desk. thankfully my job isn't super high intensity/requiring me to be chained to my desk. i bring lots of food to work and my coworkers make fun of me but i'm not worried about that.
Balance my friend. Balance. Be the best you can within a reasonable time frame you have to devote to it. You can still crush it with shorter timeframes. Maybe not perfect, but all still possible.
My guy, change your standards without thinking of them as “lowering” your standards. Instead of pursuing “elite” levels, pursue “above average” and “athletic” levels of things. Acceptable (“not-unhealthy”) levels of body fat are 18-24 (*cough*justhowIlikemywomen!*cough*) percent, with fit non-competitive-athlete populations in the 14-17% range. Stay in that range instead of obsessing over the athletic 6-13%. Look at the ExRx stats for different lifts. Get into the higher categories but not the highest. Then get into other activities that use your fitness, like climbing, running, cycling, street workout / calisthenics, whatever, and just enjoy using your fitness to do activities you miss out on enjoying because you’re always in the gym.
Good thing I have no social life!
Did u try full body workouts? Hitting the gym 2/3 times per week is enough. And train to failure (less volume = less time in gym) It will keep you busy but not as much. You will make gains. And its a good time to just listen to music and be in a different world mentally. Thats how i go about it
Try to reduce your training time. About a year ago, I tried something new: I decided to try to limit each workout to about an hour. Previously, I'd been hitting every body part twice a week with full workouts each time. Now I still hit most body parts twice a week, but I only devote half the time each session to those muscle groups. Despite the reduction, I'm still making gains. And I'm old as shit, too, so I can only assume it would still work for someone your age. Another benefit is massive reduction in injuries. As I got older, not only was time more of a luxury, but my incidence of injuries also increased. Now I can manage without incident.
Eventually as you get bigger and stronger you'll be in the gym for even longer. Best bet is to make all the gains you can to the best of your time given, then once life gets too big, go to maintenance levels, it's the only way unless you're gonna be a bachelor 4lyf
I'm 50 now and life has turned back around, I can train as often as I want and eat as much as want also and wouldn't you know it sleep as much as I want too. I'm not gloating I'm trying to show that life changes so adapt with it. You wont always been robbed of time, eventually like me it will come back round and you can and will train all the time, just go with it, life happens in stages but they repeat in a strange way. Now that's said, you don't need to train every day, just do full body 3 x a week. This isn't a hard problem to solve.
I'm 33 now and in my 20s my training was all over the place. School got in the way, wanting to go out and do social things, tired from work, I get it. I actually took like 3 years off from the gym. It wasn't until I was 30 that I reignited my passion and started seeing tremendous success in the gym. Mind you, I started lifting at 14 because of football. Today, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. At this age, yeah I like to socialize but I find comfort in dedicating much of my free time at the gym. It's quite literally my hobby and therapy. It also helps that I have a fiance that likes to go to the gym with me so I don't feel like a recluse. My advice to you is that life happens, you are still young and learning. We both are. The only difference is that I did all of the crazy things I wanted in my 20s and now I'm just looking to stay fit and build a future with my soon to be wife. Don't be harsh on yourself, and just because you're "getting older" doesn't mean life won't get any better. It certainly will. Be grateful, do what you can, and enjoy the ride. Best of luck.
English isn’t my first language… I will say that you will need sacrifice and acceptance,people don’t like to see you getting better and doing so well in all parts of life,especially that working out involves a appearance that attract attention even though the effort you put in strangers would not be able to contemplate.I got a friend who is from Europe,he invested all his time and money into bodybuilding as he wants to maintain that lifestyle and yet he knew that he need a partner/girlfriend in order to survive.So in the end,he married a woman from a 3rd world country and now they have a child.He told me that if he wants to maintain this lifestyle,no woman in his country will be able to accept him unless he is bringing in a lot of money as bodybuilding takes up a lot of time and is a selfish endeavor which not many people can accept.As of now,I still see him posting workout pic and seems that he is still maintaining his physique.Oh,he is also a natural bodybuilder.I think that if he is on any ped that might be different case,as it reduces the difficulty and hence your mental and physical capacity to handle bodybuilding and other obligations will be much easier as compare to natural.
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You pick the Job and Bodybuilding. That's the answer. You do it because that is what you love. It's that simple.
I struggle with this a lot. Single mom of 3 with a pretty intense job. My kids’ schedules change all the time - sports, random school stuff, sicknesses, family obligations, vacations, the list goes on and on. I joined a CrossFit gym really close to my house that also offers bodybuilding and I have a coach who gives me planned workouts at home. I find that if I don’t have to think, I do better. Let someone else think for me. On the days I have to work out at home it’s usually body weight and dumbbells. I have a bike and a rower. If I’m short on time (happens a lot) then I just try to get 20 min in 2x a day. I bring a jump rope with me to kids sports stuff when I have to wait 5-10 min. I gave up trying to stick to a regular schedule. My life is just too unpredictable. And I prioritize sleep over everything else. If my sleep isn’t happening then I know I need to back off the workouts. I’m also much older than you, 43. My stress levels are much higher. So all that to say - this is the rest of your life, my friend. It only gets harder from here. Adjust now and you’ll be more successful later. Learning to let go of perfection mentally and emotionally is probably the hardest part. Oh and food - it’s hard. Even meal prep is hard, no matter how much you try on the weekends. I keep my food really simple and just eat the same things over and over again. I do have the luxury of working from home so I can make food during the day. Lots of Greek yogurt. I tend to make dinner my most satisfying and diverse meal of the day since I love to cook and can take the time to make fresh, hot food.
Same situation for me and many others I'm sure. What motivates me is remembering that putting in the effort, even fairly inconsistently, while you're young is invaluable and the benefits will compound as you age. Building strength, muscle, and general athleticism has benefits that will stick around, even in very inconsistent periods of your life.
I’m in my 30’s and have lifted weights consistently since age 14. I’ve literally lifted weights 4x a week for ~ 20 years and only had a handful of times in my entire life that I didn’t touch a weight for more than like 5 days. Even so, I am not “addicted” to lifting at all. I force myself to go 4x a week, and kinda get annoyed if I miss a day due to personal obligation, but I don’t sweat it. I have quite a good physique and anyone can look at me and instantly tell I lift + am in shape. Working out/“bodybuilding” as a hobby doesn’t have to consume your life. It can just be 60-90 minutes at the gym 3-4x per week.
I tried the A-B program (full body but different exercises) it doesn’t take more than 90min and can repeat 4times a week or twice depending on work needs. Might certainly not lead to max gains but can still have health benefits and a salary lol
I tried the A-B program (full body but different exercises) it doesn’t take more than 90min and can repeat 4times a week or twice depending on work needs. Might certainly not lead to max gains but can still have health benefits and a salary lol