is it possible?

[weaksauce]

due to my summer work scedule, im pretty much limited to working out twice a week (mon and thurs). my question is, is there any routine that is effective for building strength that is done only two days a week?

i already have something in mind, which is basically taking the madcow 5x5 (http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm )and adding military presses from the wednesday workout into my monday workout. i made it 3x5 to decrease volume. i need some experienced advice and feedback on this

monday:

(all weights are ramped to top set)

squat 5x5
bench 5x5
bb row 5x5
military 3x5

thursday:

(the triple is 2.5% above top set of 5 from monday)

squat 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
bench 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
bb row 4x5, 1x3, 1x8


does this look okay? or should i scrap it? if so, help me develop an effective 2-day a week program.. im aware it wont garner results as much as working out three days a week but hey, its all i can work with right now..

 

[Assertive Guy]

Your probabily best off PM a Moderator about this stuff because it's slow around here these days, but you definitely want to add some deadlifts!

due to my summer work scedule, im pretty much limited to working out twice a week (mon and thurs). my question is, is there any routine that is effective for building strength that is done only two days a week?

i already have something in mind, which is basically taking the madcow 5x5 (http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm )and adding military presses from the wednesday workout into my monday workout. i made it 3x5 to decrease volume. i need some experienced advice and feedback on this

monday:

(all weights are ramped to top set)

squat 5x5
bench 5x5
bb row 5x5
military 3x5

thursday:

(the triple is 2.5% above top set of 5 from monday)

squat 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
bench 4x5, 1x3, 1x8
bb row 4x5, 1x3, 1x8


does this look okay? or should i scrap it? if so, help me develop an effective 2-day a week program.. im aware it wont garner results as much as working out three days a week but hey, its all i can work with right now..

 

[Bald Gorilla]

Your plan looks good, but I agree about the deads... need to add them...

I believe that it is possible. I'd focus on all 3 lifts for both workouts, but one workout focus on ME and the other focus on DE/speed. I'm no expert, mind you, but if I could only work out twice a week, it might look something like this:

Day 1:
Squat - work up to 1RM or something above 90%
Bench - speed work
Deadlift - good morning or an ancillary movement
Abs, triceps, shoulders (maybe 2 X 12 or something low volume...)

Day 2:
Squat - box squats speed work 8 x 3
Bench - ME day (1RM)
Deadlift - off platform 4 x 3
Abs, reverse hypers, supported rows, biceps

You'll have to be careful about the total time of the workout. Time between sets will obviously be reduced. That's alot of work per workout, and some may advocate dropping the deads on one of the workouts, but I like doing them.

An alternate method would be to squat and bench (heavy) on day one and deadlift and bench (light) on day two, with other exercises added...

You'll have to adjust your priority for supporting muscle training in order to keep the total volume manageable. I was forced to keep my workouts to FRI, SAT, SUN for a while and it worked out OK.