Med school, time, and routine

[DOTizzle]

Does anybody have any recommendations on where to find (i haven't the audacity to ask someone to design one) a really effective routine (small size gains ok) i can do in 30-45 minutes. I'm used to having as much time as i want to work out but I'm now in the 2nd year of med school and any time is pretty nice to have. I keep missing days when i have to allot 1.5h to train.

thanks
matt

 

[mad dipz]

just make yourself a simple fullbody workout with squats, press, and deadlift. how many days can you go?

 

[fortunatesun]

It's listed in the Cardio section of the training info sticky, but you could try Bar Complex This would cover all the essentials of a full body workout and you can easily modify it to suit your needs once you get the hang of it. Slightly heavier with less intensity would make it more of a traditional workout or if you wanted to change exercise selection.

The selling point is that you can be finished in 15-20 min. which should give you enough time for curls, calves or whatever else you wanted. And, you've done your cardio.

 

[Tatyana]

I was reading in Ironman mag this month, that once you are used to HIT (high intensity training), Mike Menzer style, all that is required is to train ONCE A WEEK.

It was a study that has been done.............

If you train with enough intensity, it will be a great stress buster while in med school, keep your diet fairly clean (I have seen what a lot of the junior doctors get from the hospital restaurant OMG), it doesn't need to take ages, and you will not put on all that 'uni' weight.

 

[roy2]

I do the ever popular 5x5 workout that everyone else on this forum does. I am able to train my whole body in right around 45 minutes (give or take, depending on the circumstances). If you lift three times a week, that's just over two hours in the gym per week.

In the past I tried HIT but I could never get decent results out of it.

 

[guest username]

Good luck with your workouts. Mine were non-existent during medical school and residency. (Worked out more during residency than during medical school, but it was still only twice/week at most.)

 

[skullcrushin22]

You can maybe do a simple push/pull routine

 

[Maks]

I second the mad dipz guy. Full body workout, the big lifts. Best time/gain ratio. Esp. if you cant train regularly.

I dunno where you live, but ... if weightlifting is really important to you, try to specialize in a field where you can leave the hospital if you want and get your own place, so you can make up your own working hours.

Im an anaesthesist and cant do that without really going out of my way, and it really hurts your training to work in shifts/ being on call every other day/ working 36 hours without break.

 

[SportsBiker]

Hey - another med student! There's a few of us here.

I spend about an hour per workout, 3 or 4 times a week and concentrate on lifts that work as many muscle groups as possible to keep the time down. I don't do much leg work, but I jog two or three times a week too.

I do stuff like Dips, Chinups, Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Bench Press, then a few specific muscles like biceps and triceps if I have time.

Joining a gym that's in your hospital/campus is a must for time constraints too.

It's going pretty well so far - I'd like to do more but there's so many kegs to go to

 

[BiggT]

I'm a second year law student. It is a time crunch for sure. My workout time is limited and training has to take a back seat right now, but I make the workouts count.

So, 2nd year.....you're done with all the math and science you've been doing your whole life and now it's on to the real world stuff??? A couple of my friends are in/went to Med school and they all said 2nd year is when they felt the time constraints. Law school nailed me on day 1 with all the readings.

I'll do bench 5x5 with a straight weight to get lots of volume in, squat 5x5 with a straight weight, and either deadlifts or cleans followed by rows during my training week. I squeeze in some accessory work for the arms and do some decline situps. I can make in to the weight room 2-3 days a week (usually 3), and I am pretty pleased. It's about quality.

You can make better progress working the basics and making them count than wasting 3 hours in a gym doing something totally worthless like a curl and pressdown-fest.

I also prioritize. School first, then workouts. I don't drink or go out or anything because the time I am not putting into school, I want to get in some training and being drunk not only takes up a night, but ruins the next day if you planned to workout. I'm a little older though (28....worked for 5 years before law school), so I got all the partying out of my system long ago. Lifting is kind of my outlet/drug of choice.