Too Busy to Train!? Not Any More! – Beast Over Burden

Too Busy to Train!? – How it Happens

How does someone get so busy that they can no longer train?

This happens for different reasons for different people. Some may come from new life challenges, but sometimes this arises from reasons within the gym.

Toward the end of LP or during advanced training, lifters may creep the time between reps, intentionally or otherwise.

Lifters may deliberately decide to increase the rest, having heard that this is what serious lifters do. You’re not doing the program if you’re unwilling to rest at 8, 10, or even 12 minutes.

The lifter then gets emotionally connected to driving the weight up on the bar, but if he or she shortens the rest time, the weight must come down. This can lead to 2+ hour workouts.

Too Busy to Train!? – Not Any More

If lengthening rest times have have caused workouts to grow, then rest times need shortened. This may mean reducing weight on the bar. This comes with a changed mindset – have to realize that the price of the PRs is too high, and that the extra-long workouts are unsustainable.

Don’t let the perception of the workout be what keeps you from doing it. 

Lifters will need to be strict about the rest times, using a timer and not going down cell phone wormholes.

Workouts may need time caps as well. For example, Niki sometimes commits to 45 minutes of focused effort, but at 45 minutes she stops the workout. Get some meat and potatoes main lifts done, then complete as much accessory or conditioning work as you can in the remaining time.

Lifters may need to stick to one or two lifts per workout.

Or, fewer, longer, full body workouts may be needed.

Giving lifters options to do more if they feel good allows more ambitious days on those days where the lifters are feeling good and have more time.

Keeping lifts simple to reduce setup time is important too. This isn’t the time for bands, chains, or maybe even pins – keep things simple and look for how you can reduce time that is not critical to adding more stress in less time.