*I am not a medical professional and hence you should take these as a general guideline. Consult a medical professional if you wish to decide whether the information given below is appropriate for you.

While we would all love to hit the gym regularly, we might not always be in a situation to do so. And that is completely alright!

Life may often throw unexpected things at us and this might stop us from hitting the gym as often as we would like to. In such a situation, we have two options:

1. Stop hitting the gym till we get stuff sorted out.

2. Adjust our training according to our new schedule.

While the first option sounds relatively simpler, it isn’t always the best way to go about this as sometimes such situations can persist for a prolonged period of time. Hence, the best option is to adjust and do what you can in the limited time you have. If you wish to make and maintain good results, you have to understand that this will have to be a lifestyle. Without consistency, you will not be able to make more progress or maintain your hard earned progress.

Who Does This Cater To?

Before anything else, let me clarify that this isn’t targeted towards anyone aspiring to maximize strength or hypertrophy. This simply means that you can’t expect to win competitions using this program. The people who can benefit from this are the ones who are very busy and have several other commitments which don’t allow them to hit the gym more frequently.

Also, since this is very basic programming, someone who hasn’t built a strong base yet will see much better results than someone who already has. What this program aims to do is help people incorporate training consistently into their lifestyle and help them to achieve the best body they have ever had even if they can’t put much time into it.

Breaking Down The Split

The training split is very simple.

You will have two full body workouts per week.

You don’t need to have fixed days and this will allow you to be flexible with your routine.

The only rule is that the two workouts CANNOT be performed on consecutive days.

I would recommend spacing them out with at least a 2 day gap between the sessions.

On your rest days, if you find some spare time, you can throw in some cardio (by going for a walk outside) or do some ab work (1-2x a week) at home.

The Workout

*Ramp up to the main set of 5 reps with 3 progressive sets of 5.

Example:

Warmup 1 - 50% of main set x 5 reps

Warmup 2 - 70% of main set x 5 reps

Warm up 3 - 85% of main set x 5 reps

Main set - 1 set of 5 reps.

(These numbers are arbitrary but you can start at 50% and see how much of a jump you prefer for yourself between sets.)

^Rest Pause involves a main activation set followed by cluster sets. Proceed by performing an activation set of 12-15 reps followed by 3 mini sets of 4-6 reps with 10 seconds rest between each.

Example:

12-15 reps

10 seconds rest

4-6 reps

10 seconds rest

4-6 reps

10 seconds rest

4-6 reps.

This will just be performed once.

For Tricep A and Bicep A, select any barbell or dumbbell movement and stick with it for at least 6-8 weeks before changing it. Example:

Tricep A - Skull-crusher

Bicep A - EZ bar curl

For Tricep B and Bicep B, select any cable or dumbbell movement and stick with it for at least 6-8 weeks before changing it. Example:

Tricep B - Cable Rope Tricep Extension

Bicep B - Cable Rope Hammer Curl

Note - Perform 2-3 warm up sets for the first 4 exercises in both workouts A and B.

*Deadlift will be using the ramp up sets as mentioned above and hence no additional warm up sets are required.

(Warm up sets can be performed for the remaining exercises as well if you have the time. Also, feel free to add more warm up sets if needed. Prevention is better than cure. Just make sure you don’t exhaust yourself in the warm up sets.)

Click Here To Download The PDF Version Of The Workout

How To Progress?

Add weight when you hit the upper limit of the rep range for each exercise. Progressive overload is key for building muscle.

To read more about progressive overload, click here https://www.bodymindquotient.com/home/progressive-overload-the-key-to-muscle-gains

If you find yourself plateaued at a certain exercise for 3-4 weeks, swap it with an alternative.

Example:

Bench press -> DB bench press

Overhead press -> seated DB press

Chin-ups -> pull-ups

Since you will be training just 2 times a week, planned deloads are not 100% compulsory. But this statement is very generalized and factors like age and genetics tend to vary the recovery abilities from person to person. If you feel under-recovered or too beaten up, feel free to take a few extra rest days every 4-6 weeks.

Conclusion

Giving up can never be an option. No matter how busy you are, you should always try to maximize what you can in your given situation. A two-day full body split can be a great way for busy people to incorporate consistent training into their lifestyle and achieve their goal physique. You can run this program either till you build a solid base of strength on the exercises or just whenever your schedule doesn’t leave you with enough time to train. In the end, to get satisfactory results with any program, the principles of progressive overload need to be followed.

Click Here To Download The PDF Version Of The Workout

Find the content informational? Share it with your friends and pin the image below on Pinterest!