Workout Schedule Flexibility

To accomodate a wife, 3 kids and 2 jobs, I've had to create a pretty flexible workout schedule. There's a million things to worry about to make the most efficient progress lifting weights: morning or evening workouts, eating before or after, training certain muscle groups on certain days, etc. When I try to stick to any of these restrictive theories, it just gets in the way of what's important... exercise! So've I've quit worrying about all the fine-tuning, and concentrated on just moving the iron.

I can't plan to do certain exercises, certain days, because I never know if I'll have free time on those days, and then missing a day feels like failure. And in the past, the more closely I stick, to a routine, the more quickly I get bored with it. So here's what I do:

I don't plan days or exercises, I just do what I can, when I can, and I summarise the result after every 10 workouts. I don't work out in 2 or 4 week blocks or 30/60 day blocks. I do 10 workouts, and try my best to take only one day off between workouts. For example, last session my 10 workouts took 23 days. So most times I did have just one day off, but a few times I had a 2 day break. It doesnt' matter when or why they happened. I never had to to squeeze another workout in by the end of the week or month, I just did what I had to do to get 10 workouts and then reviewed my results at the end of the session.

Same thing with exercises. In my log book, I have about 9 different exercises that I might do, but I normally only do 5 or 6 per workout. I can pick and choose whatever I want, rather than feeling forced to do my not-so-favorite exercises every single time. I do curls and tricep press every time because I like them. But I probably only do rows and lat raises every other time.

I track workout intensity by the number of sets I do. I keep workouts to 30-35 minutes (don't have too much time you know), and recently I've been able to get 15-18 sets done in that time. And I'm not too rigid in what constitues a set either. Anything over 8 reps is a set, some sets go to 14 or 16 though.

The whole point of the thing is to not let the details get in the way of what really matters. The more rules, restrictions and peculiarities that work their way into a routine, the more likely I am to abandon the routine. I'll probably not see progress as quickly as someone who trains more religiously and tracks the more intimate details of their workouts. But for me that's not realistic. If I worry about all those bits and pieces I'd never get anything done.

So that's what works for me. I'm curious to know what everyone else does to work around spouses, kids and jobs. How much effort to you go to record every rep, set, and weight used in a workout?

Many times I don't record anything or I wouldn't get my workout in that day.

I have had days where I only had 20min or less to try to fit something in. I will kick off my heels, go to the workout room barefoot and work out in whatever I am wearing because if I had to change clothing it would eat into my time.

I am known to start dinner on the stove or oven and check it and prepare sides during rest periods.

I have not had time to do a full out routine and instead of not doing anything at all, I'll workout until my time is up.

I workout whenever I can find a moment during the morning or evening, although I much prefer evenings.

Lastly, I do cut myself off by 9PM, I no longer workout past that time as I found it effects my sleeping.

If you have a contest that has a deadline, this type of training doesn't always work the best. But if you don't, I think it is a great way to go as long as you listen to your body to ensure you don't overtrain your favorites and neglect the stuff you don't care for too much. I've made good gains following this type of training style in the past.

Regards,

Sensless

Yeah intuitive training is best. Just experiment around, change things up a lot, and listen to your body. It will tell you when to workout and when to rest