Accountability - how do you manage yourself?

[Poetic Justice]

Id say aim for that but the key is that if youre feeling a bit cooked on a day (say Friday for example) and dont want to do the Bi/Tri day, still try to do something, go for a walk, run, do 10 minutes on the rower or skipping or whatever. At least until the habit sticks, just force yourself to do something so that time is still being used for your wellbeing rather than just crashing out on the couch.

Yeah, I see your point.

I'm off on a week off with another family from Friday and when I get back I am planning on jumping in to 'Feb Fast' as a bit of a test to see if I can make a few solid changes.

No booze for 28 days, aim to cut out bread and ensure that I get min 30 minutes exercise of some sort pretty well every day - even if the rest days are just a 30 min dog walk

 

[phantom13]

Yeah, I see your point.

I'm off on a week off with another family from Friday and when I get back I am planning on jumping in to 'Feb Fast' as a bit of a test to see if I can make a few solid changes.

No booze for 28 days, aim to cut out bread and ensure that I get min 30 minutes exercise of some sort pretty well every day - even if the rest days are just a 30 min dog walk

Febfast is great, i usually do 2-3 months of the year booze free and Feb is always a good one after the December-Jan silly season.

 

[GROTTO]

Yeah, I see your point.

I'm off on a week off with another family from Friday and when I get back I am planning on jumping in to 'Feb Fast' as a bit of a test to see if I can make a few solid changes.

No booze for 28 days, aim to cut out bread and ensure that I get min 30 minutes exercise of some sort pretty well every day - even if the rest days are just a 30 min dog walk

Maybe cut one vice down at a time.

Sometimes trying to do too much can take its toll, ie no alcohol, no bread, exercise 7 days.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Maybe cut one vice down at a time.

Sometimes trying to do too much can take its toll, ie no alcohol, no bread, exercise 7 days.

I've already done that, drastically reduced alcohol intake since 2/1.
The bread thing has been happening for a fair while but this is just a confirmation to remove altogether for that month
And the exercise thing is still nothing new - my issue has mainly been around consistency. I have quite a few bouts of laziness where I just decide not to bother and justify doing nothing etc

 

[go you pups]

I think I'm feeling along these lines

I do cardio stuff generally in the morning but want to do some weights stuff in the evening and was thinking of just doing a simple 5 day split
MON - CHEST/TRI
TUE - BACK/BI
WED - LEGS
THUR - SHOULDERS
FRI - BI/TRI

This means I'd only train around 30 minutes but it would be an everyday bar weekends type thing.

Should this work?

For a 5 day split fitting in short sharp sessions

I would go

Mon: Back
Tues: Chest
Wed: Cardio/rest
Thur: Shoulders
Fri: Legs
Sat: Arms and abs

This split while you'd have to train on a Saturday, it will give your upper body some breathing space, but also look after your back as back into legs is alot of pressure on your core, lower back and hips, particularly if you're barbell rowing/Tbar rowing, deadlifting, leg pressing and squatting across the 2 days. I'm not a fan of training triceps a day after shoulders or chest, it's pretty taxing on the elbows and you will work triceps out as a secondary muscle group when pressing, so spread the days out imo or have a longer session and train them together.

Back before chest will help your shoulders out and not tighten you up there, also as long as you don't bench like a powerlifter it shouldn't tax your stabilsing areas around your scapula too much, though whatever feels better for you then you do that.


The other split you could do would be about 45 minutes a day across 4 days

Mon: Chest/tris
Tues: Back/bis
Wed: Cardio
Thurs: Legs
Fri: Shoulders/arms

This 4 day split is similar to what I do though the differences with my routine is I always train back before chest and I normally train on a Saturday and my workouts are normally about an hour long

My current routine for example

Week 1 (higher intensity/volume week)

Mon: Back and bis (row focused)
Tues: longer steady state cardio or HIIT, whatever I'm feeling up for I do
Wed: Chest and tris (volume heavy, will hit the dumbbells and cables more here)
Thur: medium duration cardio/mobility
Fri: Legs (heavy sumo deadlift day, probably the most taxing day of the fortnight)
Sat: Shoulders and arms (arm focused, will build session around close grip presses, CNS occasionally stuffed here from day before so an easier session normally, will probably do some mobility or some cardio here too to aid recovery from day before)
Sun: off


Week 2 (geared towards maintenance so I'm not burning myself out)

Mon: Back (pulldown focused, fairly easy on the body and lower back)
Tues: Chest and arms (will build around high volume barbell bench, then throw in a few supersets of everything else, normally the lightest volume day this particular week)
Wed: medium duration cardio/mobility
Thur: Legs (maintenance session, won't be as hard as week 1)
Fri: medium duration cardio/mobility
Sat: Shoulders and arms (will build my session around barbell OHP here, can be a longer one/hardest session of the week but a good day to muck around and experiment as I'm not as taxed as the week previous)
Sun: off


Hope this helps

 

[Poetic Justice]

For a 5 day split fitting in short sharp sessions

I would go

Mon: Back
Tues: Chest
Wed: Cardio/rest
Thur: Shoulders
Fri: Legs
Sat: Arms and abs

This split while you'd have to train on a Saturday, it will give your upper body some breathing space, but also look after your back as back into legs is alot of pressure on your core, lower back and hips, particularly if you're barbell rowing/Tbar rowing, deadlifting, leg pressing and squatting across the 2 days. I'm not a fan of training triceps a day after shoulders or chest, it's pretty taxing on the elbows and you will work triceps out as a secondary muscle group when pressing, so spread the days out imo or have a longer session and train them together.

Back before chest will help your shoulders out and not tighten you up there, also as long as you don't bench like a powerlifter it shouldn't tax your stabilsing areas around your scapula too much, though whatever feels better for you then you do that.


The other split you could do would be about 45 minutes a day across 4 days

Mon: Chest/tris
Tues: Back/bis
Wed: Cardio
Thurs: Legs
Fri: Shoulders/arms

This 4 day split is similar to what I do though the differences with my routine is I always train back before chest and I normally train on a Saturday and my workouts are normally about an hour long

My current routine for example

Week 1 (higher intensity/volume week)

Mon: Back and bis (row focused)
Tues: longer steady state cardio or HIIT, whatever I'm feeling up for I do
Wed: Chest and tris (volume heavy, will hit the dumbbells and cables more here)
Thur: medium duration cardio/mobility
Fri: Legs (heavy sumo deadlift day, probably the most taxing day of the fortnight)
Sat: Shoulders and arms (arm focused, will build session around close grip presses, CNS occasionally stuffed here from day before so an easier session normally, will probably do some mobility or some cardio here too to aid recovery from day before)
Sun: off


Week 2 (geared towards maintenance so I'm not burning myself out)

Mon: Back (pulldown focused, fairly easy on the body and lower back)
Tues: Chest and arms (will build around high volume barbell bench, then throw in a few supersets of everything else, normally the lightest volume day this particular week)
Wed: medium duration cardio/mobility
Thur: Legs (maintenance session, won't be as hard as week 1)
Fri: medium duration cardio/mobility
Sat: Shoulders and arms (will build my session around barbell OHP here, can be a longer one/hardest session of the week but a good day to muck around and experiment as I'm not as taxed as the week previous)
Sun: off


Hope this helps

Very helpful, thank you.

The only issue is I have an issue with the notion of training on a Saturday. I work 8am-6pm so generally I'm going to be less inclined to workout in the morning after a Friday night and I definitely cannot consistently commit to a Sat evening session

 

[phantom13]

FWIW (and go you pups set up is probably "better") work at something that you worked out and own.

The more personalised and intrinsic it is the better it will work.

 

[go you pups]

Very helpful, thank you.

The only issue is I have an issue with the notion of training on a Saturday. I work 8am-6pm so generally I'm going to be less inclined to workout in the morning after a Friday night and I definitely cannot consistently commit to a Sat evening session

Fair enough

Go a 4 day split with slightly higher volume then, should be more than enough

 

[go you pups]

FWIW (and go you pups set up is probably "better") work at something that you worked out and own.

The more personalised and intrinsic it is the better it will work.

Yeah I feel having total ownership of my training, like training out of my garage and watching a heap of training videos, reading a few articles etc to get info on what successful trainers worldwide are doing and how I can implement things that have worked for them into my own routine sees me more committed to my training and determined to see results as the commercial gyms just hasn't worked out for me post back injury, be it time management, peak hour rush affecting workout efficiency, gyms changing equipment/environment regularly, poor advice etc, so going it somewhat "alone" sees more responsibility on myself to get it done.

Last year it was all about strength, I put on about 5kgs in the process, but I did a PB bench on Xmas eve (145kg) and that was post injury too (PB preinjury was 140kg) and I had never sumo deadlifted before in my life, so to go from 60kg in March to 120kg in Spring and find a good maintenance working weight at 110kg was good signs my body strength was coming back to similar levels preinjury.


But this year it's all about fat loss

Since last Wednesday I've been on a high protein but 500 calorie a day deficit and I'm easily going under that most days (averaged 600 last week, already at 700 this week, but today will be a higher calorie day), I'm measuring everything that I'm eating at the moment, though the only numbers I care about are what are my total calories and protein content for the day, so I'm just adding the numbers as I go on my phone notes, I know when I'm eating too much fat or too many carbs, so I cycle them in and out every day depending on my training, recovery and calorie intake. New years goal was I first had to get into good eating habits before gradually feeling good enough to then start counting the calories and be disciplined wit it, the only unhealthy snacks I had since NYD was on my niece's birthday party 2 Saturdays ago and I started having protein shakes or bars late at night when I had the munchies (boiled eggs will be an option here too)

But probably the most satisfying thing so far is I am finally starting to figure out when to eat carbs and fuel up properly, I totally burnt out of glycogen stores on Friday night from my best leg session in months and boy Saturday was a tough one. Had a higher calorie, high carb/fat steak and home made chips dinner Saturday night (3 large potatoes in the air fryer), boy I felt amazing on Sunday, but I probably should've had carbs on Friday night so I wouldn't have been as pooped on Saturday and would've got in a better workout in that day, so I know next time after a gruelling workout to top up. So I then proceeded to have a low carb day on Sunday as I was about 200 calories over deficit from Saturday's steak chips, then I had my next large serve of carbs for lunch on Monday which I put there to use as fuel for my back workout later that afternoon, boy that chicken and rice never tasted so good, the workout later on wasn't too bad, but yesterdays chest workout was harder to navigate, so will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow after a bit of cardio this afternoon.

End of the day it's all trial and error still, but I feel I'll be successful this time around compared to the last 2 I attempted over the last 5 years as I'm more organised, better educated, know my body better and have a good strength base coming into the phase.

 

[The hands of stone]

I think I'm feeling along these lines

I do cardio stuff generally in the morning but want to do some weights stuff in the evening and was thinking of just doing a simple 5 day split
MON - CHEST/TRI
TUE - BACK/BI
WED - LEGS
THUR - SHOULDERS
FRI - BI/TRI

This means I'd only train around 30 minutes but it would be an everyday bar weekends type thing.

Should this work?

The shorter sessions work great for me, I just make sure the intensity is there and its very effective.

I would say since Ive been doing that (18 months ) I get better results at 42yo , then I did between 18-25 in a high level elite training program eg 4 x 10 etc

Give it a go , everyone here is great for fantastic adive too

 

[GROTTO]

I think I'm feeling along these lines

I do cardio stuff generally in the morning but want to do some weights stuff in the evening and was thinking of just doing a simple 5 day split
MON - CHEST/TRI
TUE - BACK/BI
WED - LEGS
THUR - SHOULDERS
FRI - BI/TRI

This means I'd only train around 30 minutes but it would be an everyday bar weekends type thing.

Should this work?

Would love to hear what others think about this point, as I think its the most important.

With regards to your program, do what you have fun and enjoy, importantly what you believe you can stick too, day in and day out for month after month. Consistency and discipline.

As was stated earlier, being consistent and having a routine is what will always win, basically what phantom13 stated earlier.

Also listen to what go you pups stated earlier too, another resident expert on here. CNS being taxed is a real thing, so pay attention to your body and learn to understand when to train and when you need rest.

Pay attention to your elbows as go you pups stated, I had screwed mine up when I did home work outs due to covid in 2020 and paid a price, ie terrible pain and needed multiple injections in my elbows. The upside of that, is that my arms are now stronger than ever as I learnt to make my elbows bullet proof.

My preference is for PUSH/PULL/LEGS cycle, but really it has to be a program you enjoy and have fun with. The moment its a burden and tiresome, is the moment you will give up.

The other piece of advice I would say is pick compound movements over anything else as a priority on your given days, pound for pound, if done with correct technique and progressive overload, they will bring the best bang for you dollar.

Just on your Friday workout, go you pups and phantom13 may want to add their thoughts here, but I would look at doing instead of BI/TRI day, I would look at chin ups and dips as your main exercises and priority of the workout. Again these compound movements and hitting multiple muscle groups as well as hitting your bi's and tri's hard.

One last point, correct technique is more important than any exercise you chose. Many many good youtube videos on how to perform any exercise. Watch a variety of sources, so the general message sinks in. Try also to never ego lift. Lifting heavy is great with good technique, but also a great way to snap city if you do it incorrectly.

 

[go you pups]

Yeah I guess what's most important is sticking to a routine you can manage week in week out but most importantly listen to your body

If you need a day off, have one, if you need a lighter day but still want to get a workout in then do something different like cardio, mobility or maybe jump on a few machines to get the reps in or drop the weight/volume down

Plenty of things you can control and alter to get through your workouts

When I was a 16-17yo starting out at gym I thought I had to do everything my assigned trainer who wrote up my program did, alas some days it hindered rather than helped (trying to get high reps in with heavier weights was one, form was poor or I'd need a spot regularly), eventually I twigged just do what's right for myself.

 

[phantom13]

I’m making the assumption that Poetic Justice is relatively new to the gym rat life so I’d say the structure is way way less important than the intent and as you get the habit and discipline down you can start to look at what structure you want based on what you want to achieve. Fwiw my days are usually Mon, wed, fri - arms, core, boxing
Tues, thurs - chest, shoulders, legs, rower/run
Saturday is either a big 90 minute all body or a short sharp functional weight with a 30-40 cardio (run/rower sesh) but I’m all about optmising my time now so it’s circuit work.
The principles of compound movement, bigger muscle group focus is spot on but it’s also not the most important thing just yet.

Completely agree on technique, get that right cause injuries will mean your habits get stuffed.

 

[phantom13]

I’d also say if you’re looking for advice on specific exercises etc. the weights anything etc. thread is a goldmine, that crew in there are really knowledgeable and very friendly.

 

[Kram]

Yeah, I see your point.

I'm off on a week off with another family from Friday and when I get back I am planning on jumping in to 'Feb Fast' as a bit of a test to see if I can make a few solid changes.

No booze for 28 days, aim to cut out bread and ensure that I get min 30 minutes exercise of some sort pretty well every day - even if the rest days are just a 30 min dog walk

Counting the exact amount of days with no booze hehe.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Counting the exact amount of days with no booze hehe.

What's that say about me? hah

I'm new but also not new to weight training phantom13 - have been doing training on and off for years but never with anything that resembles great consistency or measurable results outside of 2013 where I dropped 25kg and won a $10k weight loss challenge. Several times from 22-33 dropped 20kg only for it to go back because self control is the issue - hence the OP discussion was along the lines of how do you maintain consistency and keep yourself accountable to yourself. A big issue for me over recent years is that I work roughly 50-60 hours and have two little girls <5. Once work hours are out of the way, focus on the fam and only having the single day off per week means that I choose to value my personal time ahead of getting in exercise. Particularly socialising and drinking and eating shit food - my mentality has been that I will always put socialising and 'enjoying myself' ahead of anything health & fitness related.

I have vowed, however, to change that attitude this year and work on a better balance between all of it. I'm working towards a more stable work environment that will hopefully allow me to drop down to 5 days per week and free up more time but that continues to be a work in progress.

In terms of weight lifting I've done enough to understand acceptable form etc. My wife & I have a recently purchased home gym set up that cost me a decent packet so it certainly needs to be used. The only thing I'd probably miss training on my own is a training partner that will push me to train hard and improve strength. I love my wife dearly but she isn't that person

 

[go you pups]

What's that say about me? hah

I'm new but also not new to weight training phantom13 - have been doing training on and off for years but never with anything that resembles great consistency or measurable results outside of 2013 where I dropped 25kg and won a $10k weight loss challenge. Several times from 22-33 dropped 20kg only for it to go back because self control is the issue - hence the OP discussion was along the lines of how do you maintain consistency and keep yourself accountable to yourself. A big issue for me over recent years is that I work roughly 50-60 hours and have two little girls <5. Once work hours are out of the way, focus on the fam and only having the single day off per week means that I choose to value my personal time ahead of getting in exercise. Particularly socialising and drinking and eating sh*t food - my mentality has been that I will always put socialising and 'enjoying myself' ahead of anything health & fitness related.

I have vowed, however, to change that attitude this year and work on a better balance between all of it. I'm working towards a more stable work environment that will hopefully allow me to drop down to 5 days per week and free up more time but that continues to be a work in progress.

In terms of weight lifting I've done enough to understand acceptable form etc. My wife & I have a recently purchased home gym set up that cost me a decent packet so it certainly needs to be used. The only thing I'd probably miss training on my own is a training partner that will push me to train hard and improve strength. I love my wife dearly but she isn't that person

What's your home gym set up look like?



This is mine from about October

I've since added a weight tree, the cable tower attachment for the rack, a couple extra pairs of hex dumbbells and a heap of cable attachments

Will get a proper flat bench next in autumn to give my adjustable bench a bit of a breather so I'd only really use it for incline stuff (will also be a 3 inch height difference if I get the bench I'm targeting to buy in 17 inches vs 20 inches, so more leg drive for benching)



This hits all the basics well enough for me, just wish I had a few specialty barbells for more training variety and more plates so I wouldn't have to use my bumpers all the time (annoying to unload off the floor after deadlifts)

But yeah, using the rack/cable duo does a good 60-65% of my training (would be higher if I was squatting), the pin pipes are good for band exercises too as I can move them up or down to suit.

Will later in the year add another row of mats and move the bike to where that seat is, then I'll buy a proper storage rack for the bumpers and dumbbells and slowly fill up my weight tree with proper trigrip plates as they'll be easiest to move around/loading the cable tower.

I've learnt to train alone over the years, particularly when I was doing shift work, so not having a proper training partner doesn't bother me too much (though family members come over and use it too)

 

[Poetic Justice]

What's your home gym set up look like?

Work in progress - this is a rental and we are waiting for a house to be built where I’ll add decent flooring and mirrors

 

[go you pups]

Work in progress - this is a rental and we are waiting for a house to be built where I’ll add decent flooring and mirrors

Nice man

I'm in a rental too, so have to be careful with some things, hence all the weights except my Ironmasters are rubber coated/made from rubber

 

[Kram]

What's that say about me? hah

I find when you 100% quite booze you have a lot of extra free time on your hands that you need to fill with something..

Exercise is a good choice.

 

[BrockBlitz]

OP

A few ideas for you....

1. Do what's possible, not what's optimal. Most people if they can't do what they set out to do throw the baby out with the bath water. If all you can get done is 3 mins of bodyweight squats before you get in the shower - do it, it's better than not doing anything and it keeps the HABIT of training - which is probably more important than doing the exercise in the first place.

2. Minimal effective dose. You can make big inroads doing very little if you're smart about it. If you need preworkout before each session and mid way through the day you get a little anxiety about 20 sets of legs coming your way that arvo something is wrong. I'm coming back post surgery and running the 1x20 program. All I do is 1 set of 20(close to failure) over about 7 exercises. This week I hit 20x90kg on an RDL. This doesn't take much mental fortitude, time or any warm up - in and out in 30 mins.

3. Print out a photo of Jocko or Goggins and frame it next your bed.

EDIT: Essentially, set the bar low enough that you will actually do it consistently. Build from there and do it friggin slowly, Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[Poetic Justice]

OP

A few ideas for you....

1. Do what's possible, not what's optimal. Most people if they can't do what they set out to do throw the baby out with the bath water. If all you can get done is 3 mins of bodyweight squats before you get in the shower - do it, it's better than not doing anything and it keeps the HABIT of training - which is probably more important than doing the exercise in the first place.

2. Minimal effective dose. You can make big inroads doing very little if you're smart about it. If you need preworkout before each session and mid way through the day you get a little anxiety about 20 sets of legs coming your way that arvo something is wrong. I'm coming back post surgery and running the 1x20 program. All I do is 1 set of 20(close to failure) over about 7 exercises. This week I hit 20x90kg on an RDL. This doesn't take much mental fortitude, time or any warm up - in and out in 30 mins.

3. Print out a photo of Jocko or Goggins and frame it next your bed.

EDIT: Essentially, set the bar low enough that you will actually do it consistently. Build from there and do it friggin slowly, Rome wasn't built in a day.

I like that.. makes sense, start small but be consistent

 

[Shaxx Attaxx]

Every time I got told to write down my goals I scoffed at the idea since I thought it was just pure wank.

Finally gave it a go this year and it’s worked well so far. Having them in front of me keeps me accountable. I also wrote down why I want to achieve the goals and what I need to do. Worth a shot.

 

[Alberto_Magnifico]

Variety is what works for me. I get bored after a few months of anything so with trial and error I have found that a varied routine keeps me motivated.

Atm I run outside twice a week, go to the gym twice, and have a spin bike and kettle bells/TRX ropes at home which I use twice. I never do two days consecutive of anything. The change of environment and activity keeps me excited

 

[Tadpole]

How do I manage myself? I don’t - that’s the problem.