You’re busy, you’re stressed, training is at a standstill and you’re still “skinny-fat”.
On top of all that, you still haven’t cleaned your apartment or taken your car to the shop because you’re “just too busy”. Welcome to adult life.
We all have stressors, bills to pay, and most imortantly, our lives. You’ve probably missed some workouts because of life commitments, and your gains in the gym have been stalled for a while.
Either that, or you’re making good progress in the gym but you don’t have a life. You’re missing out on quality time with friends and family. Regardless, you’re stressed out, frustrated, and don’t feel like you’re moving forward in the gym or life. Here’s how to claim it back and make gains on your own terms.
You Don’t Find Time, You Make Time
Whether you’re chasing a new deadlift PR, or building the body of a god, your training means the world to you.
There is no way you’d give it up. Unfortunately, life commitments tend to get in the way sometimes.
You’ve got a date with the girlfriend, or you’ve got to pick up some groceries. The little responsibilities just seem to pile up. So what’s a fellow to do? Make the time for what’s important to you and ditch the rest. By getting up earlier and shifting your training to the morning, you’ll free up time in the evening for everything else in your life. You will develop laser-like focus on your training goals. You’ll actively take control of your daily schedule and, ultimately, your life.
By getting your training done in the morning (before you go to work) you’ll have accomplished more by 8:00 AM than anyone else you know. That’s one reason to feel good, and that’s just the start. Training in the morning will free up your evenings to do fun things like hang with friends, have a dinner date, or see a show. Alternatively, you’ll also have time for not-so-fun things like chores, errands and life’s everyday responsibilities.
Your Current Schedule
Right now your daily schedule looks something like this:
7:30 AM – Press snooze on the alarm clock.
8:00 AM – Roll out of bed in a haze.
8:30 AM – Scramble to get to work and probably arrive late.
9:00 – 5:00 PM – Work.
5:00 PM – Head to the gym. Your energy is zapped after a long day.
5:30 – 6:30 PM – Train. The gym is packed and you have to work in with someone on bench and wait for equipment between exercises.
7:00 PM – Grab a post workout meal either at home or on the go and pick up some groceries for the family.
8:00 PM – Finally get home. Do the odd chore then sit and stare at the TV because you’re too tired to do anything else.
12:00 AM – Go to bed late because you stayed up watching bad TV shows.
As you can see, this routine needs to be changed a bit in order to free up some stress in your life so that you can make gains in the gym.
How to Train in the Morning With the Perfect Morning Routine
Let’s re-work that morning routine and optimize it for maximal gains. It’s time to try something new if you want to improve your progress.
6:00 AM – Wake up. You should feel refreshed after a good 7-8 hours of deep sleep, thanks to taking a dose of ZMA and getting to bed early the night before. Make a strong coffee. The caffeine will give you extra energy for training in the early morning hours. You want to start drinking it now so you’ll be amped by the time you step on the gym floor.
6:30AM– Start sipping a pre-workout shake as you head to the gym. It should include: 1 scoop whey protein, 5g Creatine, 40g of fast acting carbs
This shake will give you the right blend of fast acting protein, quick carbs, and creatine to help with set-to-set recovery. The caffeine from the coffee is a vasodilator (gives you massive pumps). Along with the sugar and protein in your shake, you’ll ensure that you have enough energy to get through any workout. Save your money and leave the pre-workout supplements for the wishful thinking pre-teens.
7:00 – 7:45 AM – Time to work out. You keep your head down and work. The morning crowd has a quiet intensity. They’re dedicated and efficient. See the “Get a Life” Workout below.
8:00 – 9:00 PM – Shower, eat a meal with some protein and healthy fats that will keep you till lunch, and head to work.
9:00 – 5:00 PM – Work. You feel refreshed after a good training session. More importantly, you know that nothing else you do today will be as hard as your morning workout. A relaxed sense of freedom leaves you feeling more productive and fulfilled as you work.
5:00 – 10:30 PM – Whatever you need or want to do. Make those dinner plans, get those chores done, or see some friends. Fulfill your obligations to yourself and those you love. You’ll thank yourself later.
10:30 PM – Take ZMA, unwind and get to bed because you’ve decided that progress in the gym and real life experiences are better than stalled gains and trash TV.
Benefits of Training Early
When you train early, you’ve done more by 8:00AM than anyone else you know.
You have somewhere to be after your session so you develop laser-like focus on what needs to get done in your workout. You stick to what you need, and then get out.
You also don’t have to wait for equipment at the gym and can get in and out quickly. The morning crowd is usually pretty slim and they’re all go-getters like yourself. They won’t waste your time talking about nonsense.
On top of this, your evening is now free to enjoy life outside the gym (or if you don’t have a life outside the gym, you’ll now have time to get one).
The “Get a Life” Workout
Since you have somewhere to be after your morning session, you need to be brutally efficient with your time. To do this, your training should revolve around full body movements that build size and strength effectively and efficiently.
Workout A:
| Order | Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| A1 | Front Squat | 8 | 3-5 |
| A2 | Chin up | 8 | 3-5 |
| A3 | Half-Kneeling Halo | 8 | 3-5 |
Workout B:
| Order | Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| A1 | Deadlift | 8 | 3-5 |
| A2 | Bench Press | 8 | 3-5 |
| B1 | Ab wheel Roll-out | 8 | 3-5 per side |
This system is designed to be used 3 times a week.
Alternate between workouts A and B. When you get to the gym, set a timer for 45 minutes and start working your ass off. For the barbell lifts and the chin up, start with your 10RM for sets of 3. Keep your workout within the 45-minute range and add reps as you can until you work up to 8 sets of 5. Once you’ve reached 8×5, add 5-10lbs to each lift and repeat the cycle (I recommend +5lbs for upper body lifts and +10lbs for lower body lifts).
Take rest periods as needed but they will naturally need to be a little short because of your 45-minute workout window. Be sure to include some ramping sets to get to your working weight. Don’t just jump up to a heavy front squat and wonder why your back hurts.
How to Avoid Plateauing
If you plateau, one of three things has happened:
Your Recovery Sucks
Make sure you’re getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night and eating enough to maintain your weight or grow at a rate of 0.5-1lb per week. A good starting point is 16 calories per pound of body weight.
Your best course of action after reaching a plateau is to analyze your recovery and stress levels.
- Are you eating enough?
- Are you getting enough protein?
- Are you sleeping enough?
- How is stress (work and personal)?
There is no shame in taking a deload week to deal with other areas of your life or dropping back to training two days a week for a period of time. You have to keep your life in balance. That said, training is important to you so get to the bottom of why you aren’t making progress.
You Are Too Ambitious
Be patient. Prioritize good technique over speed or weight on the bar. You’re in this for the long haul. If you only add 5lbs to a lift every month or two, that’s 30-60lbs on your working weight for a lift in a year. This is great progress.
You Have Poor Technique
I can’t address this unless I’m coaching you in person. My best advice is to listen to your body, acquire as much quality information as you can, and if possible, get a knowledgeable coach or trainer.
Once you’ve figured out what’s causing you to stall, make one correction at a time. The body of a god was not built in a day.
Good training doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re taking care of recovery (meaning you eat and sleep like it’s your job) and you focus on maintaining good technique before adding weight to the bar, you’ll be able to follow a progression like this for a very long time.
Considerations for Training in the Morning
When training in the morning, there are a couple things you need to consider.
Eric Cressey has some great outlines for getting ready for a morning session. Firstly, he recommends you do an extended warm up and take about 30 minutes to stand up and move around before you start training. It’s important to let the intervertebral discs in your spine compress a little bit with gravity before you load them up. Also, if you know anyone else brave enough to wake up at the same time as you, recruit them as a training partner. It’s harder to press snooze when you know someone will be waiting at the gym for you.
Consistency Above All Else
Regardless of what time you train, make that time sacred.
Consistently dedicate that hour to smashing through your goals, and don’t let anything get in your way. On the other hand, don’t let training make you a recluse. There’s no joy in being the iron hermit who spends all his time at the gym and doesn’t have any friends. Training in the morning, before the rest of the world is awake gives you a chance to make consistent progress towards your gym goals. Also, it opens up the rest of your day to do the things you want to do.
You can grasp control of your life and your routine. It’s easy. Set your alarm clock, jump out of bed, drink your coffee, and train.
It might be a challenge at first but once you get a feel for it, it’ll be one of the best training decisions you’ve ever made.
About the Author
Francis Nitsch
is personal trainer operating independently in Toronto, Canada. He empowers his clients to be badasses through barbell, kettlebell, and bodyweight training. In his spare time, you’ll find him training for his sport of powerlifting, reading personal development books, or sharing laughs over a glass of whiskey with friends.
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