The Working Man's Weightlifting Show
Brothers Nick and Stephen Wiley invite you to The Working Man's Weightlifting Show, a relatable podcast for ordinary people who are committed to realistically incorporating health and fitness into their already busy lives. In an industry crowded by flashy aesthetics, photo-shopped abs, full-time camera crews, and misleading marketing, Nick and Stephen leverage their combined 30+ years of weightlifting experience to help clear the air on everyday fitness issues. Common discussion topics include no-nonsense nutrition, exercise tips for the manual labor workforce, best practices for office workers, building home gyms, recovering from injuries, workout programming, and much more.
The Working Man's Weightlifting Show
How to Train When Time Runs Out
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In Episode 77, the Working Men share tips on how to steer a workout session that's cut short on time. Topics include:
• Discussion on the significance of training efficiently
• Strategies for short, impactful workouts
• Emphasizing the main lift
• Tips for grouping exercises to save time
• Strategies for adjusting workouts when running behind schedule
• Mental barriers and how to overcome them in training
• The role of proper warm-ups in effective lifting
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Training Strategies for Time-Strapped Lifters
Speaker 1Well , hello , nick , here hopping in real quick just to let you know that this episode might feel a little bit out of sync with the others you may have heard recently . If you've been listening sequentially , just be aware that this episode was actually recorded in the past and for some reason we never released it at the time . So you know , I just wanted to say that out loud so that it wouldn't be confusing . If it feels like we're sort of out of sync with the more recent episodes , that's because that's an entirely accurate assessment . So hope you enjoy it . We may pepper a couple more of these in in the coming weeks as we sort of get back on our feet , and I will , you know , notify you ahead of time if anything like that is happening . It doesn't really matter , the topic is what it is , but for some reason I feel compelled to bring people into sort of the story of what this podcast is , especially because we tend to talk about either current events or especially what's going on in our own lives . So at the time this one was recorded , we only had one kid in my family . Now we've got two , and so it's actually weird for me to go back and listen to it and be like wow , that was kind of crazy . So hope you enjoy it and we'll see you next time .
Speaker 1Hello and welcome to the Working Man's Weightlifting Show , the show where working men talk about weightlifting . I'm your host , nick Wiley , and I'm joined today by my permanent co-host and younger brother , mr Stephen Wiley . Stephen , how are you doing ? Doing pretty good . Always got to ask you know I care about you . No , you don't . I always got to ask you know I care about you . No , you don't Care about your well-being . I've always had to look out for you because I was the older brother , had to make sure food was on the table , electricity was working , heat , air conditioning , plumbing I'll stop this now , oh man . Well , back together . It's an early morning . If you've been listening lately , you'll know that we moved our recording time from the evening to the morning , which hopefully you'll find interesting . Otherwise I wouldn't have said it . I'm just waffling here . What are we talking about ?
Speaker 2We're talking about ways to speed up your training sessions if you're short on time .
Speaker 1Yeah , because aren't we all yeah Right Pretty much . I mean so really , this is just like how to be in the world . Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 2I don't know who you are .
Speaker 1If you have a lot of time to be in the gym , who are you really ? I guess those people are out there they are I don't want to be offensive , but , um , I will .
Speaker 1So , wow , very nice , uh , yeah , um , I actually feel like I have a lot to say about this because , uh , you know , I'm excited about talking about it because the I've lived in this , in this world , for a long time and there's a lot of little micro pieces to it . You know , like the whole parenting side of it . There's the you know , self employed , constantly have appointments side of it , which is relevant for me and maybe , hopefully , some others that listen to the show . So , yeah , I'm excited to dig into that and then you can bring in more of the like actual expertise .
Speaker 1Yeah so stay tuned , folks . Up next is that . But before we say that , we got to do a recap how training's been going lately , and before we do that I have a quick message from today's sponsor . And before we do that , uh , if you'd like to support the show , please uh visit our website , workingmansweightliftingcom . There's a lot of resources on there . You can uh visit the shop , buy some merch . You can actually just , um , you know , straight up , just give us money . If you'd like to do that , we'd really appreciate it .
Speaker 1But the single best thing you can do is , you know , just share the show with somebody that has never heard it before . That you think might enjoy it . And it also really helps another like sort of freebie thing that that goes a long way . If you would leave us a review on your favorite podcasting app , that goes a long way towards ranking us in the lists , which , uh , really helps us reach more people . And I think , uh , that I have noticed we've been getting some reviews lately . So we had kind of a dry spell , uh , which I think is very common with podcasts . You sort of have a burst in the beginning and then you just go dry for a while , and now there's new reviews coming in and so I just want to say thank you for that . We really appreciate it . Um , that that really really helps out . So , yeah , thanks for listening and for your support , uh , in moving ahead . Uh , our sponsor for today . You know I can't say enough good things about this this uh group organization , you know llc corporation , you know just all around good guys .
Speaker 1They look a lot like us oh , you don't say they probably smell like us too weird I know , probably are us , yeah , they are they just ? It's just us . You know , if you , if you're new here , um , we don't take money . We do , but nobody gives it . So , um , you know , uh , we get to say what we want , which is the exciting , I think you know . Yeah , I don't like being owned , no man . If that ever happens , if we are ever owned by the man , we'll at least tell you that we are .
Speaker 2Right .
Speaker 1Yeah , Of course . Uh yeah , Forging ahead limited time . What are your thoughts ?
Speaker 2I thought you said we're going to do a recap .
Speaker 1I forgot about that . Uh see , we're so short on time , we're not going to do a recap , just kidding . Here's one . Yeah , we should do a recap , just cut it out . Yeah , so we're moving on , exactly , moving on in the spirit of the topic . Yeah , no , let's do a recap , that'd be good , I thought that was cool to not .
Speaker 2Um , yeah , well , training for me is going pretty well . Um , I have been constantly making some tweaks Uh , I think we talked about on a previous episode . But I've had a lot of back issues that I've started to alleviate , some with some by trying new movements . Some like single leg stuff , single sided stuff , um , and I'm definitely I'm , i'm'm in , I'm in a good headspace to try to get stronger again for a while , just to push strength . But I'm also trying to not really approach it like I have in the past 100 like where , in other words , I'm trying some new movements . Um , for some of my other , like , besides the big lifts , um , I'm , I'm doing the big lifts , but I'm also trying new techniques or new warmups or new other assistance movements , if you want to call them that um , to try to keep my body feeling better . Um , cause I've . I can just definitely tell a difference since I've made some of these changes and they seem like something I want to keep doing .
Speaker 2I don't enjoy hurting all the time , so I try to . I think in the past I've just kind of always just run in through the pain and just continue to do it . I mean , I don't know , that's the smartest step going forward now ? Probably not . Yeah , yeah , don't know . That's the smartest step going forward now ? Um , probably not . Yeah , yeah . So anyway , so far it's going quite nicely .
Speaker 2I don't really have any major updates . I haven't hit any prs in a while , but , yeah , I have been able to uh deadlift again with a straight bar conventional deadlift , which is very exciting because it's probably my favorite thing to do in the gym . It's just , I've always it's always been my best lift . At the moment it is not anything impressive , but I am now back into like the 300s , which , for what I used to do , is significantly low , but it feels really good to be able to do that again and not be in a bunch of pain or anything like that . Um , I think my form is better than it used to be when I was younger and everything , so hopefully I can get back closer to some of the numbers that I used to hit and do so pain-free is the goal yeah , yeah , that's awesome .
Speaker 2I'm hoping this year I will be back into some pretty decent numbers for what I call these and for myself , um , with the main lifts which .
Speaker 1What would that ? Let's just put it out there . What would like ? What would make you happy ?
Speaker 2we get to december 2024 so , yeah , if I was consistently squatting over 300 but like feeling really good about it , feeling really solid for reps you know like I'm not saying it has to be 10 reps , but yeah . So in the past I've done 315 for , like one of the programs I was on , I did like a set of 11 followed by a set of eight . It kind of had this kind of pyramid style to it , but that was 315 . I've done a 415 deadlift , for it was either 11 or 12 reps . It was several years ago , I can't even really remember , um , and my bench has always been pretty bad and it's honestly probably better right now . But I do a lot . I , I , I swap a lot between dumbbells and barbells and I'm not I .
Speaker 1That doesn't really matter to me .
Speaker 2I'm , I'm , I'm more . Do that for the actual muscle building than I do for the strength of it . I don't . If I had to say I mean I would say consistently . You know , a consistent repping bench over 250 , squatting over 315 and um deadlifting over four or five would be my goal for the end of the year . But doing so pain like relatively pain-free . Yeah , and that's for you .
Speaker 1You know any new listeners .
Speaker 1You're a flooring installer and tile installer for uh , your trade yeah and , and so you're talking about doing all that while also spending the entire rest of the day like moving , doing manual labor , yeah , yeah , I feel like that's , that's , uh , you know , something we've wanted to lean into this year was sort of like you know , how these , how weightlifting relates to our jobs , and that's definitely something to keep in mind . If you're listening to the show and , um , you're listening to steven talking about his numbers or me talking about it , like , hopefully it's in the context of like what we do yeah , because my life could not be more different in the , in the , in the day-to-day , you know , literally just sitting in an office chair , yeah , all day .
Speaker 1So the , the , the demons that I have to keep at bay are very different yeah yeah , and let's be real , you , you know less lesser .
Speaker 1You know definitely less of a man . No , I don't know . So , uh , recap for me , let's see . Um , I'm actually feeling pretty good , which is maybe a surprise to anyone who's listened to the last few episodes we put out . I have had the darndest time trying to get back on the horse . Um , for months and months and months , my son I can no longer just use him as an excuse now that he's like almost two , which is mind-blowing it just took me the longest time .
Speaker 1I think it was like a mental thing of like feeling like I can't take weightlifting seriously because I'm now a dad and it obviously is the number one priority . But I think a big part Like I , just that's and it obviously is the number one priority , but I think a big part of it was just like you know , man , like I , I know intellectually that if I get up and work out , I feel better throughout the day , even on less sleep . That's the biggest thing . I would tell myself that I need more sleep and the truth is , you know , I'm not a sleep expert , I'm not a doctor , but I can just say for me personally , like it's actually way more about where I'm at in the sleep cycle than it is how many hours I got . If I get five hours versus eight , I don't . The feeling is quite similar . It's more about where I was at when I woke up in that you know range .
Speaker 1So , um , I'm finding that , uh , I just had to sort of get over that mental hump and so the last um couple of weeks or the is like the first time I've actually done what I said I was going to do weightlifting wise and so I'm making progress . I'm doing the strong lifts five by five at the moment . I was doing starting strength before that , which is extremely similar . Um , the numbers are just a little bit different , but the style of workout is like , um , very , very similar . The only reason I switched is because I rediscovered that I had the strong list app on my phone , which I had paid a lot of money for and I like it a lot . So I just wanted to use it and I don't like , like I'm going to use the app of the program that I'm on , if they have one , just because that feels like the right thing to do .
Speaker 1I don't know why , but I really like the StrongList app . I keep saying that like every episode , but I like it a lot . So , um , in fact I may .
Speaker 1I I've discovered recently you can build a custom uh schedule on there , so I'm thinking um , you know I may continue using it , even if I changed to something else in the future , but , um , yeah , it's going well . I think I got , um , my last numbers were squat was one , 55 for five sets of five . Benches like rough . It's like one , oh , five for five sets of five , I think . And then , uh , deadlift was uh , 200 for one set of five . And , uh , and you know the other big thing for me um , we discussed I don't know if we did this on the show , but , um , I'm trying to really take my shoulder rehab seriously .
Speaker 1Um , people would know who've listened in the past that I had shoulder surgery now nine years ago I think and , um , it definitely was impacting . You noticed watching me . Yeah , my entire body is like now starting to compensate for that
Effective Training Strategies for Limited Time
Speaker 1. So , even if I was doing a squat , which you wouldn't think would really involve your shoulder , it was like leaning on that one side and I think it was causing injuries , like little micro injuries . So I would like finish a workout without doing that much weight and just feel bad , like like I had tweaked something in the wrong direction .
Speaker 1So , uh , I'm using the safety bar for squatting now so that it basically entirely removes the shoulder from the equation and I'm also using the um trap bar for dead lifting . So those two things alone have made a massive improvement . I don't feel like I'm . I feel like I can just lift the weight and I'm not thinking about the shoulder , whereas I used to have to really , really think about it . And maybe , you know , eventually I'll be able to re-engage if I can get it rehabbed . But in the meantime I'm trying to get strength numbers back up without worrying about the injury so much . So that's been a very helpful change . And yeah , bench I'm doing with conventional . I thought about using we have a football bar , or whatever you call it multi-group bar .
Speaker 1It's got spider webs all over it right now . So , I just haven't gotten it out , but for some reason , the way that my arm is on the bench it's not really bothering me right now . So yeah , I don't know if you noticed me leaning , tell me and I'll switch .
Speaker 2But no , you're doing pretty good . I think it's all going a lot smoother for you .
Speaker 1Yeah , anyway yeah , so um good update moving right along . We should have just skipped it . Maybe I'll just delete all this , like you said , um what to do on loan . I'm sweating out in here , dude , I am just sweltering are you hot ?
Speaker 2it's a little warm , yeah , yeah well , 71 , it's too late now .
Speaker 1Once you have headphones on , there's no way to gracefully remove a uh , a hoodie , so I'm stuck . Um , yeah , what to do in limited time ? Um , where do we start on this ? I I guess that we have probably talked before . It's somewhat about like programs , that that are built for limited time , but we could maybe touch on that briefly yeah , I'm more thinking um , you know , tips for helping you in the moment yeah , because that's usually when it strikes .
Speaker 2I don't , I don't think most people . You probably shouldn't , uh , embark on a program . In my opinion , that requires time , if you're just refusing to carve out enough time for it . So , in other words , you shouldn't prepare for failure . You should you prepare to be successful at it .
Speaker 1Um , but with that you've already you not to move past that too quickly . That's a big thing for you . You bring that up a lot yeah , yeah , yeah like don't , don't commit to something that you don't , that you can't do right , yeah , yeah , you really should .
Speaker 2Um , you know , if you look at a program and you're like man , that's a lot of stuff in a day , I don't know that I can do all that then you probably shouldn't in other words is what I would say , I think you should .
Speaker 2you should move to the next program that's a little shorter , or maybe , um , you know . So I mean , this would be a good first thing to say . Like , for an example , I've lately I've been working out three times a week . You've been doing it twice a week monday , wednesday , friday for me , um , that allows me , and it to come out here on tuesdays and thursdays , record a podcast or anything else we need to do for the show , and it also allows me an extra two days of recovery throughout the week with my manual labor job . The only thing about that is is that full body sessions so we're doing full body three times a week they have to be longer . You should not do a full body workout if you're not giving yourself some time on those three days because you're doing less days . Well , they're going to have to be a little longer because you're going to have to hit everything . So there's one way right there .
Speaker 2I think people confuse a limited time with actual time spent in the gym hours hour , hour and a half , whatever it is , 45 minutes to how many days you can go . Well , you might could go every day , but the sessions just need to be shorter because you don't have . Maybe you need more sleep than the next guy . Okay , so if that's the case , but you have the morning free , you simply need more sleep . But you have a certain cutoff time . You have a job to go to or you have a kid to take care of , whatever the obligation is , well then you know , let's move to the next one . Okay , well , up from a full body would be , in my opinion , up or lower .
Speaker 2That's typically Monday , tuesday , thursday , friday . That's how I used to train all the time Monday , tuesday , thursday , friday . That's how I used to train all the time . Um , those sessions a little bit shorter , because now you're just focusing upper body , just focusing lower body . So once you get past , say , your strength work , if that's what you're working on , it could be five , three . One could be like a starting strength or a strong lifts type style . A lot of these programs have four day versions . You can find them online . The reason for that I mean literally the Texas method would be the step up from starting strength . They have in the book a four day method because of the fact that three days a week , once you take on the Texas method , they say that Monday can go upwards of like three hours , wow , and they don't have any sympathy for you if you say that's too long they don't care if that's your opinion .
Speaker 2This is what works . If you want to be strong , here's how you do it . The only sympathy they show you is you can break it up into a four-day program . I believe it's four days in the book . I've not done it because I'm not committing three days or three hours on a Monday to a gym session . I just don't have time for that . I don't want to do that .
Speaker 2So you know that's a good first way . Then , beyond that , you know , you might go to what people call a bro split or push , pull legs or something where you're just really all you're doing is just reducing the amount of your body that you have to hit in one session , and that alone can help you with time . But , like I said , that's more for your planning . I would . I would look at that first with your time and just say you know , okay , what , how many days can I go and how much time each day do I have to do this ? If ? If the time doesn't really matter to you , like for myself , if I'm going to commit to three days , I'm just going to make enough time to be there and get all my lifts in as much as possible , you know . So just look at that days and time , see what you have , and then you can kind of pick a program from there , or you can slightly modify one to make it fit into the schedule , just because I think , like I said , you need to plan for success with the program and you need to follow it as best you possibly can . You can make tweaks , you know , if you need to swap out a lift like in Nick's case , he's got a bad shoulder he's going to need to tweak out a lift like in nick's case , he's got a bad shoulder he's he's going to need to tweak about every program that's out there , because it's not a bad shoulder , like he's just complaining for no reason . He's got like a medical issue in there where it's like you have to make a slight change , yeah , to the program .
Speaker 2Um , so anyway , in the moment you know you're , you're lifting , say you've got , you've committed , you've made the program , like myself , three days a week , full body , you're in there and you're like maybe you slept in a little bit , like you , just for some reason . I think everybody has those days where just you you can't explain it , but somehow like three of your alarms have gone off and you didn't know any of them had gone off . Yeah , um , I've happened to me . You know happens , but you still don't want to just throw away the whole day . You're like you know , I'm committed , I'm going to do this . It just takes you a bit longer to get there .
Speaker 2You , you , you know you're starting late . Maybe you're starting 15 minutes late , half an hour late . Whatever it is , that's significantly cutting into your time Straight off the bat . My , my first go-to is just supersets or even giant sets , which would be three exercises back to back . So superset will be two , giant set will be three . That is an excellent way to dramatically speed up your lifting time but still get in pretty much all of the same quality work . But we've talked about in the past , you need to make sure you are doing I would not go in there and you know , do three types of curls back to back .
Speaker 1Yeah , you have to . You need to choose workouts that are complimentary .
Speaker 2Yes , yeah , and even better . You know if you could do like , say , on your full body session , you've got there's abs in there , there's legs and there's chest . Those are three movements you could easily giant set and they shouldn't really take away from the other um , because you're not . I think windler said in one of his books you know , it's like you're not . If you can't handle doing it shouldn't be an issue . In other words , like you , just you , doing a set of dumbbell bench or say just dumbbell incline bench , right behind a set of squats , you know , other than just being a little bit out of breath , maybe you shouldn't have much of an issue pulling that off . It's not going to . It's not going to negatively impact your squatting . But you know , if you're in a gym and you're doing squats followed by a superset with maybe like a hack squat machine or a leg press , and then you're going and doing like calf raises , well , now it's like , okay , yeah , you're , you're doing a different movement , but your legs are exhausted . So the next time you go squat you might not even be able to squat the same amount of weight . You might actually have to actually take weight off the bar and that's really just kind of negatively impacting your progress .
Speaker 2Even though you're wearing yourself out and you might feel like you're burning the muscle up , it's like I think you would do a lot better to go ahead and get the quality sets in , in other words , working sets , the maximum weight you're going to use . It doesn't really matter how that looks . Like I said , it could be 5-3-1 , where you're working up to one top set , or it could be five sets across , like Nick does , where it's just five sets of the same weight . You're better off to do that than if Nick were to go in there and do five sets of that , but he giant sets it with leg press and calf raises and now , all of a sudden , that second set of five is nearly impossible because he's just burned himself out . Um , and if it's not impossible , you're probably going to barely be able to walk when you get done with the five sets . Honestly , um , but anyway , yeah , I think that is off the bat . That's that's my favorite way to start speeding things up .
Speaker 1The other .
Speaker 1Yeah because you can almost just go , like you can almost go without rest , depending on what weight range you're in . If you're in sort of a low to mid weight range , you can basically do a set of , let's say , a push-style workout . Let's say it's bench press , yeah , and then immediately get off the bench and go do a pull , like you could do a like a like a row , A row , yeah . Against that , like almost basically . Basically , your rest is like how long it takes you to get off the bench and go pick the other weight up .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1And there's no , like you know it's .
Speaker 2You're working such different muscles like your body can do it . You know , yeah , and even that I mean that would be your next best way to speed things up is rest time , um , cutting your rest times back . But what you need to realize is if you do the supersets , well , okay , or even , like I said , a giant set , so you're going to do three movements back to back . Well , if you did squats and you did incline bench and then you did abs or even rows or whatever , well , you don't need to go ahead . Like you know , if your program calls for three minutes of rest in between heavy sets , you don't need to go ahead .
Speaker 2Like you know , if your program calls for three minutes of rest in between heavy sets , you don't need to rest necessarily three minutes after that third movement before you start the next one , because it's a totally different movement , like you're , not your , your lats , from the pulling movement . So so the rows are working , your lats , they're going to get like at least three minutes of rest by the time you actually get back to them from that three-part movement . You know you're squatting and then you're benching . So while you're benching , your lats , your legs are resting a good bit . While you're rowing , your legs and your chest is , or your pecs are resting a good bit , so you're kind of you're reducing rest periods by not resting .
Speaker 1Well , you're almost like layering them on top of each other yeah exactly Like you're starting the timers for each rest .
Speaker 2After as soon as it's done with that one movement , yeah , so it helps .
Speaker 2I think what you'll find like it may be a little daunting at first , you know , and you may even have to pull some weight off the bar to do it the first time , but once you get used to it it doesn't take very long . It's like it's like any kind of cardio . It doesn't take very long for you to get very used to it and all of a sudden it's not that big of a deal to do the thing . Um , once you do , then it's , it's really you , almost , in my opinion , I come to enjoy it . I , I do it sometimes just because I enjoy it . I don't even just do it because I'm short on time .
Efficient Workout Strategies for Busy Schedules
Speaker 2Um , especially with smaller muscles , you know , if we're talking curls for biceps and tricep , any kind of tricep movement and abs , and even , honestly , smaller shoulder movements like lateral raises or face pulls or any of those kind of movements , those are amazing to group together because they're not very taxing . You're like doing a set of curls is not going to wear you out really for anything else . So you know , I pretty much always do that I'll group together curls with tricep extensions or even close grip bench press , curls with tricep extensions or even close grip bench press um , and then , followed by , you know , abs or if I want to do face pulls or any of that kind of stuff , I just group them all together and I pretty much blast through . It doesn't matter how many sets I'm doing . I can do it very quickly because I can pretty much just start immediately with all of them because , like you said , it's the , the rest time is layering itself and it it doesn't really affect me negatively .
Speaker 2Um , so yeah , I mean grouping things together . I think is is probably your best bet . Um , there , there is probably a time where you need , like you , inevitably you're gonna have to cut something out and and like , not do something for that day yeah , I was going to talk about that because that's some .
Speaker 1That's a situation I've run into quite a bit where the um , the nature of my job is is that I have to be reactive to people because I'm I do it . So , you know , if there , if somebody has a major problem and I'm responsible for it , then I may have to respond to that , depending on when the response you know when the request comes in , or maybe I've got an appointment that I need to get to and I got to the gym late , you know . So how do you reconcile that ? I mean , for me I think the biggest things are like Find , like find whatever the primary workout is for that day for the program that you're on , which is going to differ dramatically , but you know , program to program . Or if you're coming up with one on your own , but you know , spend the most amount of time on the primary lift and then start to start to cut after that . So , as an example , right now the program I'm on only has three workouts in a day and it starts with squat every
Speaker 1day starting strength is like that . Um , strong lifts is like that . There's probably others that are like that because you get so much mileage out of the squat . So I put all the attention on the squat and then I start to cut things out after that if I have to . So , as an example , strong lifts has you do .
Speaker 1Five sets of five is the typical thing . That's a lot like it's . It takes a while to get through . Like I say it's a lot . It . It's probably no more than like a workout that has a lot more workouts in it , but it's so many sets like you're just doing . You know , by the time you get to done you're like it's like 15 sets of things . So , um , if you I will make sure I get the five of the squat at like spend 60 percent or if not more , of your effort on the first , the primary lift , once you've checked that box . Like you , you can . You can like rest a little bit if you have to . Like you can not rest that's not the right word but like you can take the pressure off yourself . I think at least I do , you know .
Speaker 2Yeah well , I actually it's funny you say that because I was actually going to bring up a alternative point to that . Um , I think that is . You say that probably because I've told you to do that . Yeah , um , I totally think that's what you should do , but I think it completely depends on the type of program you're doing . Um , so , like you said , you're doing strong lifts . Yeah , it's very limited in itself . There's not a lot going on with different types of movements . Um , so you pretty much have no choice , but you've got to pick some kind of primary movement and hammer it if you're going to show up at all . Um , once you get more into an intermediate program where you're putting more time into other things , like you know , you might , yeah , or you might have just discovered new workouts or new exercises that you really like . They work really well . They make you feel better , um like .
Speaker 2A good example for me is some of the kettlebell movements that I've learned . During COVID , when I got a bunch of kettlebells , I discovered some of them like literally were like taking pain away in the middle of the movement . It was like my back would start feeling better . My shoulder would start feeling better . A good example would be like a kettlebell up , like where the bottom up overhead press very lightweight , but it started . It actually basically rehabbed my whole shoulder from where I had a really bad injury . I couldn't even do any kind of barbell overhead press . That whole pain has been completely gone now for a long time . The windmill really helps my back out . It kind of stretches my hamstrings and my glutes and everything . It stretches me out my hips and everything and I end up feeling better every single time I do it . So what I'm trying to say here is some of those movements . You're not necessarily just doing these very limited exercises .
Speaker 2I think there's some merit to even figuring out ways to reduce the time . So here's the thing If you show up late to the gym and you've got to squat , and now you're pretty dang strong , you've gotten to a point where you're squatting over 300 or know , or even upper 200s , and it takes you a minute to warm up . But you , it might take you 15 minutes really to warm up before you actually feel comfortable to start squatting that weight , and it's gonna , it'd be dangerous to do it right that time increase .
Speaker 2The stronger you get , the more time you need to to warm up . Yeah , um , when that ? I think you actually are better off to not do that main movement if it's going to take you so long that now you've got five minutes to work out and you just started your first working set .
Speaker 1And you've got three or five of them to go .
Speaker 2I would actually recommend pick a different movement . Now it's time to go to the leg press machine instead of squatting . Or now it's time to do lunges . If you're at a home gym you don't have all these machines like us . Okay , it's time to do lunges . It's time to do Bulgarian split squats , maybe goblet squats with a kettlebell or a dumbbell .
Speaker 2Um , pick something that is faster . You don't really have to warm up very much at all . You know you can . You can kind of warm your body up pretty quickly and then you can jump right in . Um , that will speed you up dramatically , because you're not . You're losing all that massive warm-up time you've got to take . Um , is it going to negatively impact your progress ? Not much , you know .
Speaker 2If , especially if you're going to jump back on the horse the next week or the next session , whatever it is or you can even pick up that weight , like if you're doing full body , for example , you're probably doing some kind of leg movement every session . Well , just move that heavy squat . Go to the other day and take the Bulgarian split squats out . Then take those squats and move them to Friday , if that's whatever , and just try to try your best to get up on time and get to the gym on time to do that . Um , but definitely once you get past a certain point where the weight is heavy enough , that just takes a while to warm up .
Speaker 2I had to kind of learn that because I would , all of a sudden , I would look at the clock , I'm like , holy moly , I have 10 minutes down here and I've got , you know , eight different movements to get through and multiple sets of each one , and I'm like what have I done wrong ? And I kind of had to learn that the hard way and and figure out , oh , okay , well , it's because of all this warm-up time and it's not smart , I would not cut your warm-ups out , no At all . Yeah , and I mean honestly , I think almost everybody could probably warm up more than they do and you'd probably be stronger than you even realize . Right , you probably are stronger than you realize . But just allow yourself , wendler talks about that a lot in his book .
Speaker 2You know he never cuts out . He has this whole like jumps and throws before you work out , where you're throwing like a heavy ball or something and you jump and he does the agile eight and he's he's pretty adamant about like you don't work out if you like you don't do the workout if you don't have time to do that . You don't cut that out just to make time . Um , because you're probably going to injure yourself . And older you get , the more you realize people are right when they say that and it's probably because they injured themselves not doing that in the past .
Speaker 2So that would probably be my other side of it . Like I said , just consider not doing something that's going to take you forever to warm up on if you are limited on time and it's like a one-time thing or , you know , happens sporadically but it's not very often . You know , I don't make a habit of it if you want to make progress , but in the moment , if you've just like you're , you've gotten to the gym or you're in your basement or your garage and you're like , okay , I'm behind , but I'm here to do something I would .
Speaker 2I would look at that , especially if you're intermediate or advanced and you've just gotten strong enough that it takes you a while to get through these things , then start looking at how can I chop something out and then move it to another day .
Speaker 1Yeah , so , to summarize all that , if you're on a beginner program , like I am , that's essentially very limited in the number of workouts . Focus all your attention on the main lift , because your primary goal is to get stronger on the main lifts .
Speaker 2And that's about all you're doing anyway .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's essentially what you're doing anyway . But , yeah , focus attention there . If you're on an intermediate program , consider actually doing the opposite and cutting the primary lift of that day and doing you know something , some alternative that's more quick . If you're on an advanced program , you probably don't listen to this podcast , so , uh , yeah .
Speaker 2I mean , you know it , it still would probably apply . But yeah , I mean most , most you're you're probably not You're allotting the time . If you're at that point , most recreational lifters don't reach an actual advanced stage , so it doesn't apply to a lot of people .
Speaker 1Yeah , I think the only other thing I was going to say is if you find yourself this has been me , this is my story for the last two years If you find yourself constantly not meeting your commitment , like you're on a program but you're like never actually doing it to , like you're not like following it at the times when you're supposed to and doing the list you're supposed to , and all that , then consider changing the commitment , which is what I've sort of finally arrived at yeah , and it's finally starting to work a little bit .
Speaker 1I am , hilariously I say that and I'm not actually doing the program that I'm on . I'm skipping a day a week , but uh , cause that's a three-day program .
Speaker 2I'm doing it , for I'm doing it on Monday , Wednesday . But you planned for that , so it doesn't really matter .
Speaker 1But my point being I said to myself this is what I'm doing and I'm doing it . Um , I didn't . I didn't say I'm going to do a three day and then just continue to skip Fridays . I just finally said I'm skipping Fridays because I've got to get up with my son on that day . It's just impossible for me to commit to being able to get over early enough to do the workout , and so that's what I'm doing , and it happens to lay very nicely with either starting strength or strong lifts , because they are AV programs in the beginning , so they're layering . You know you're doing them . It's basically like a Monday , wednesday I'm getting in all the lifts that you would get in in that week anyway . Normally , on Friday you would go back to the Monday's workout and then on Monday you'd go back to the Monday's workout and then on Monday you'd go back to Wednesday . So it's it , it like it . It works out very nicely to do two days and the only cost that I'm paying is that I'm just not progressing as quickly .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Getting that Friday in would mean that I would . I would be getting stronger faster yeah . Which , yeah , would that be nice , Of course , but um , yeah , be nice , of course , but um , yeah , just if you find yourself constantly out of time right , and having to make these changes , this , this , uh , the intention of this podcast was not to tell you what you should do every day , it's more like occasionally , if you find yourself low on time .
Speaker 2That goes with what I said in the beginning about yeah , um , you know finding the right program , picking the amount of days you want to lift and how much time you have for each day yeah , and we've got a lot of content on programs and programming .
Speaker 1Uh , you can , you can scroll back through that if you're looking for alternatives , if you need to make a different commitment . Um , hopefully that that will be helpful to you and um yeah , I think we'll land this plane get you off to the work site son that's right get me to my chair . I used to say I would just ooze over to it like job of the hut .
Speaker 2Yeah , I forgot about that .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's true , it's very true I always try to do a job impression just now and then
Working Men Discuss Weightlifting Techniques
Speaker 1I stop myself .
Speaker 2I saw you took a big breath . Yeah , I was like getting ready . I can't do it .
Speaker 1I can't how does he even sound like ? I can't even think of it right now on my bookie very nice well , I've been Nick , I've been Stephen and we've been the working men who lift weights and talk about it on the show , and we will catch you next time . I'm out .
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