WEEK FORTY-FIVE :: How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time? [Archive]

Solaxun

10-08-2005, 11:07 AM

Fitting in time to work out is the easy part, when you get off work, before work, whatever it takes. Eating is the part that i find most challenging, seeing im on campus from 9:00 a.m. until 3ish, then i go straight to work every night.

NEVER skip breakfast, its the one meal you know you have time to prepare, so get up and make it count. Try to grab healthy snacks to go, IE fruits, nuts, beef jerkey, protein bars, anything to keep you anabolic. If your a college student that works like i am, your always on the move. Most of us have small breaks in between classes, or a small gap before work, etc. Realistically i have time for 3 - 4 meals a day, if i utilize those gaps in my schedule, if i can make time for that , anybody can. Whenever i get up for the morning, i pack a ziplock bag with two scoops of whey, grab some type of protein bar/snack etc as explained earlier, and a bottle of water. It's kind of a 'survival pack' if you will, eat walking to class, in class, whenever.

There are times when you just can't get to work/school in time and still eat. This is what i use sunday for, its my one day off per week, and everybody out there has at least a couple of hours off one day a week. Ill fire up the grill, cook six chicken breasts or so, make alot of rice, and boom, theres a good meal for almost every day of the week ahead, freeze the chicken and cook it when your ready, keep rice in the fridge and microwave. Box the stuff up in tupperware, throw it in your bag, and theres a portable meal. Small things like an apple, banana, rice cakes, these are all things you can add in easily to go. Another easy one is fish, buy tilapia (cheap as it gets), cook a few pounds of it with rice, and do the same thing as above. Occasionally if i just didnt have ANY time, just make healthy choices, I work right next to subway, so i do the jared thing (despite the fact that this guy annoys the hell out of me), and get a six inch tuna sub on wheat. Its not perfect, but it sure beats the alternative of eating nothing, you get complex carbs and high quality protein this way.

Thats about it for now, im hungry and at work all day so its time for me to grab my tupperware and chow down :)

perldog007

10-08-2005, 05:40 PM

There are many types of Bodybuilders, and accordingly many different approaches to time management. I am bodybuilding for medical reasons;
Namely being a morbidly obese 44 year old type 2 diabetic (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr68.htm) suffering from blurred vision and hypertension.

Using effective time management for the past 90 days this newbie has lost roughly 40 lbs, added muscle (a full 1/2 inch to each of my flaccid middle aged arms), taken 5 inches off of my waist, regained most of my eyesight (ditched my reading glasses!), achieved a resting heart rate of 53 BPM, 120/80 BP, and cardio recovery of > 30 BPM, abstained from alchohol, and quit smoking (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/quitsmoking.htm).

I work as a car salesman, five or six day weeks filled with 12 hour shifts, seven hour shifts that tend to grow, and days off that tend to melt away. Understandably, eating six times a day and doing enough cardio to lose fat and enough resistance training to preserve muscle is a daunting task.

The motivation of the individual under consideration, their goals, and their level of knowledge all can shape the approach to time management.

I started by reading Bodybuilding.com.

Two ideas lept forward;
1. Bad food is better than no food. Whole food is better than powders, but
an MRP bar or powder beats a blank every time.
2. Irregular exercise, or any type of exercise that does not cause injury is
better than no activity. Like, you know, unless you should be asleep or
driving a car or something...

There are some absolutes in my crazy world. The dealership does not open until 9:00 a.m.. Fasted cardio is recommended by some and seems to work for me. With cardio taken care of we only have to worry about resistance training and nutrition. If all else fails, I will walk the lot at work until my pedometer indicates an extra two miles or so.

The Dealership Being closed from 9:00 at night until 9:00 in the morning also gives me a twelve hour block to fit my sleep in. If your world does not have such a time period, you will have to find one. Even being new at this I must have read "you grow in your sleep" about a thousand times.

One or sometimes two meals can be had before the job can start placing demands on my time. A small refrigerator under my desk holds shaker bottles and there are always plastic bags with pre-measured portions of whey protein (www.bodybuilding.com/store/whey.html) and/or Muscle Milk (www.bodybuilding.com/store/cs/milk.html) in the freezer. My colleagues know that anybody who experiences a sudden need for tuna fish can find some in my file drawer. (No takers so far) Boiled eggs will keep well in the fridge and can be consumed without yolks for very lean protein, or whole for some saturated fat. Foods like grilled chicken breasts, cooked brown rice, salads and the like will hold for a day or two if a meal replacement has to be consumed due to time constraints (read: customers). Ron Harris (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ronharris.htm) recommended coffee mugs (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ronharris38.htm) filled with protein drinks for his car selling protege.

Having cooked professionally for years, I like to cook "fresh" for one or two days at a time. The fact that my wife is very supportive, even when it comes to cleaning the kitchen probably has alot to do with me not cooking ahead for the week. As a bachelor I most probably would.

A good multivitamin helps cover the bases in the nutrient department. Knowing that key nutrients are "in" reduces stress when modifications to an ideal meal plan have to be made.

On days off, day shifts, and night shifts (one of each per week) there are blocks of time to work out in. On twelve hour days, we can get away with a two hour lunch and I live fifteen minutes from work. On days that I cannot get away, there is a set of 45lb powerblocks (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/planet14.htm) and a bench bought years ago for a 500 lb salesman who never used them. A bit of trial and error has led me to believe that short focused workouts concentrating on a single body part work best for me at this stage of the game.

A stationary bike, jumprope, swiss ball and dumbells, bench with leg machine, and a Bowlflex in my home negate the need for a gym at the moment. All other debates aside, not having to go anywhere to work out can be a huge timesaver. While perhaps not the ultimate in musclebuilding technology, the bowflex allows me to work without a spotter, saving more time.

None of this works without focused goals. This beginner has found writing goals down (often) and reading them out loud at least twice a day mandatory for staying on schedule, and for recovering when (not if) the crazy world of automotive retail disrupts my routine. A meticulously maintained diet and exercise log allows the enthusiast to constantly review their program, guage effectiveness of a workout or nutrition regimen, and make adjustments in a deliberate manner. This should prove much more efficient than random acts.

So let's take a look at a typical day, we will go with October 7, 2005. A friday 12 hour shift shorthanded (off site sale in progress) so no leaving the dealership will be allowed. Here is how the day went -

read goals out loud, then

fasted cardio - schwinn 112 upright - calorie goal 300 - ride in the park, level 8, 33:16 minutes e.t., 130 avg hr ( 73% of age adjusted max)

recovery test - Heartrate after cardio 149 BPM ,after 1 minute rest, 116 BPM

meal one - 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 6 oz lean eye of round steak - 0830

0900 - Workday begins.

meal two - 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2 slices fat free cheese, 3 oz albacore tuna - 1040

meal three- 2 slices whole wheat bread, 2 slices fat free cheese, 3 oz chunk light tuna in sunflower oil, 1 tbsp mayo - 1315

snack - GNC MRP sports meal - 1445
**NOTE: having a "snack" here gives us some flexibility in our next meal time, we just downed 24 grams of protein, so we could go 3 hours until the next feeding if we get a customer **

meal four - Wawa Chef salad/FF italian dressing - 1600

meal five - Wawa Chef salad/FF italian dressing - 1800

quick workout without leaving dealership ( finding a spare shirt and a bodybuilding.com towel (www.bodybuilding.com/store/towel.html)in your bag is a happy little accident indeed should chance as this befall the harried fitness enthusiast)

powerblocks - incline db bench presses (www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jmace13.htm) 8 reps, 3 sets (2 seconds up, 1 count hold, 2 seconds down)
incline db flys 8 reps 3 sets (super slow, 4 count down, 2 count hold at bottom, 3 count up)
seated db calf raises 3 sets 15 reps (3 count up, 2 count hold, 3 count down) completed by 1900

post workout shake- one GNC MRP - 1915

off from work @ 2100 (9:00 p.m.)

post meal blood glucose 120 mg/dl @ 2137

meal six - 8 oz lean eye of round steak - 2145

fiber, cinnamon, glutamine and then....

Asleep by 2230 after reading goals out loud (10:30 p.m. for all you long haired tree hugging civillians) and naturally awake by about 0530 .

Whenever I sleep less than eight hours I do some relaxation techniques before rising to meet the day. This adds critical recovery time if the sleep cycle has not been long enough.

So will my time management techniques have Ron Coleman waking up in a cold sweat at 3 a.m., reaching for the synthrol panicked about my 16.5 inch arms gaining another 1/2 inch? Maybe not. That's fine with me, I'll probably catch his big butt napping in the masters class some 10 years or so hence. On the other hand, will the pharmaceutical companies and medical folks making money off of type 2 diabetics and obesity surgery break a sweat of their own if this lifestyle and method of time management become popular? Most definitely!

In Summation - There will always be things that you can do and things that you cannot do. Which you will choose to focus on may have a dramatic effect on your results. Stay positive, focus on what you can do and the door to greater achievement will have been opened.

mivi320

10-08-2005, 07:57 PM

How can a bodybuilder manage their time?

The Bodybuilding Lifestyle

Living the bodybuilding lifestyle can aid you in accomplishing your health and fitness goals at a speedy rate. As bodybuilders, we center our lives on proper training, recovery time, and nutrition. Day in and day out, these factors (proper training, recovery time, and nutrition) must be abided by consistently. The only way to do this is to simply realize that accomplishing these factors is not a chore, but rather a part of our everyday life. Living the bodybuilding lifestyle is not easy. Training, eating 6-8 meals daily, preparing those 6-8 meals, and getting in 8-10 hours of sleep nightly can surely make your schedule hectic. Work, school (or both), responsibilities, and social activities can interfere with living the bodybuilding lifestyle also. However, budgeting your time wisely, setting your priorities straight, and balance will allow you, as a bodybuilder, to manage your time much more effectively!

Budgeting your time!

In a perfect world, you'd have all the time you need to get to the gym for your workout, prepare and eat 6-8 meals, get a good night’s sleep in, and enjoy oodles of leisure time on top of all that! Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. That's why it is imperative to set your priorities straight and budget your time. Budgeting your time is the secret to managing a busy schedule, or lifestyle for that matter. Below, effective methods are listed to help you budget your time!

Meal Planning

As bodybuilders, it’s vital that we consume 6-8 meals throughout the day to keep our bodies in a “fed state,” boosts metabolism, and provides us with an overall sense of well-being. We must also take the time to plan our meals. This can easily be incorporated into your busy schedule. The main idea of meal planning is to ensure that a meal is to be eaten every 2-4 hours. Eating frequently, believe it or not, can be made simple even with the addition of school and/or work. It’s all about time management and planning accordingly to your schedule. Use lunch breaks, morning and afternoon breaks, and time in between classes to your advantage!

Meal Preparation

After planning when your meals are to be eaten, take the time to actually prepare your meals. One of the best methods that I like to use is simply cooking up a large amount of brown rice, vegetables, and chicken breasts over the weekend, and the placing a serving each individually into Tupperware containers. Put the containers in the fridge, and you’ve got your lunch made for the next 3 days! Don’t forget to pack a fork and napkins! Cooking in bulk is ideal because by preparing all meals that are needed for the day, where access to cooking devices are nonexistent , cuts a tremendous amount of preparation time out.

A high quality shaker cup, protein powder, or MRP (meal replacement powder) are always handy to have around when you’re short on time to eat an actual meal. These shakes involve absolutely no preparation time, and can be consumed rather quickly when time isn’t on your side.

In short, it’s a great idea to cook in bulk! That way, you know that you’ve got a meal waiting for you when cooking devices aren’t present. This also cuts back on the time you were to spend if you were to cook each meal individually, and clean up afterwards! A MRP, shaker cup, and protein powder are also great to have around. I usually keep a MRP in my car or backpack at school. That way, if I somehow miss one of my meals, I’ve got a back up plan!

Gym Time!

Most folks have a set time of day that they perform their workouts. Analyze your schedule, and find out what time is best for you to workout! Keeping a specific time of when you perform your workouts allow for a much more structured schedule. Also, know just what specifically you are going to do in the gym that day to cut back on wasting time. Spending over 90 minutes in the gym is unnecessary and counterproductive, as cortisol levels are at their highest by now. Decreasing the time you spend in the gym will allow more time for food preparation, sleep, studying, leisure time, and any other activities you may have planned!

In conclusion, working out at a set time consistently will allow for a much more structured schedule. Cutting back on unnecessary time spent in the gym will also allow for more time to get done what you need to get done! Besides, nobody wants to live in a gym anyway!

Getting a Good Night’s Sleep!

Sleep is often the most neglected aspects of living the bodybuilding lifestyle. Sleep is by far one of the most important factors correlated to muscle growth and recovery. Like planning your time in the gym, it’s vital to plan your time of when you hit the hay each night! Establish a pre-sleep routine, and avoid stressful activities before sleep as much as possible. A natural sleeping cycle is always best, but if you have trouble sleeping, supplementation of Melatonin, ZMA, or Valerian will ensure a deeper sleep.

In short, sleep is crucial for maximizing our potential as bodybuilders. It should not be neglected! Setting a bedtime regulates the body for a much more natural sleep. Establish a pre-sleep routine, and avoid activities or situations that cause stress before bed. If necessary, supplement with sleep aids to ensure a peaceful and deeper sleep!

Summary

• Budgeting your time is the secret to successfully living out the bodybuilding lifestyle.

• Meals are made much more convenient with meal planning and meal preparation.

• By setting a specific time for when your workouts will take place, a structured schedule is formed.

• Decreasing your time spent in the gym allows for more time to carry out other activities and responsibilities you may have.

• Setting a bedtime ensures a healthy sleep pattern, and allows for a well-regulated schedule.

What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?

I am currently training for a future competition, and effectively manage my time between work, school, and social events with the help of budgeting my time. I take time to prepare meals in advance, plan my meals, eat 6-8 meals daily, go to the gym four times a week, and sleep 8 hours nightly on top of my school and work schedule! I’ve realized that this sport takes quite a bit of planning, but the results are well worth it! By following the above guidelines regarding cooking in bulk, sleep, and gym time, I am able to fit all the factors correlated with living the bodybuilding lifestyle into my schedule! Below is an example of what a typical day looks like for me when I have school and work on the same days:

6:30: Wake up, eat first meal, get ready for school.
7:40: School begins.
10:00: Eat second meal during break.
12:00: Eat third meal during lunch break.
3:00: School gets out, eat pre-workout meal, drive to gym. Begin workout.
4:00: End workout, Drink post-workout shake, drive to work.
4:35: Work begins.
6:00: Eat post-workout meal on break.
8:00: Work ends.
8:15: Eat dinner, study, do homework assignments.
10:00: Eat last meal, go to bed.

Good luck with all of your bodybuilding and fitness goals!
Mike

taffer

10-09-2005, 09:44 PM

The bodybuilding mindframe
All or nothing

Heres where alot of people start off going wrong with time management, they think its all or nothing, extreme thinking, usually leads to an extreme backlash. Obviously dedicating insane amounts of time towards bodybuilding, will leave you with little or no time for anything else, of course we are going to think its impossible to fit it in, if we are too obsessive about it. Everything can be achieved through a smarter way of thinking, eating and training.

Exercise

Step 1: How long do i workout?
This, I believe is a very important question to ask yourself. How much time do you really have to dedicate inside of the gym to get results?
The answer is probably alot shorter than most would expect, there are a few tricks you can use to decrease your training time, and increase efficiency.

-Use big compound movements
Such as Bench Press, Close grip bench press, Bent over Barbell rows, Deadlift, Squats to hit a number of muscle groups at one time.

-Time your sets
Not only will this cut down on time in the gym, but it will allow you to reflect on your training protocols more accurately. See how long it takes you to recovery between sets efficiently, what rest time gives you the best results?

-Less volume, more frequency, more volume!
Ok so that may not have made sense, first glance, but let me explain. Having an effective split can mean you can seriously cut down on workout time, increase recovery and results.
Splitting your workout into 2 upper-body and 2 lower-body days, using the compounds movements, you can easily stimulate alot of muscles in a short amount of time, several times a week, and because you are not seriously overloading the muscle with large amounts of sets on only 1 day, this will allow for a faster recovery time, so you can hit the same bodypart again in the same week.

An example workout.

Day 1: Upper body
Bench Press, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Incline Bench, 2 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Bent over Barbell row, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Close Grip Bench Press, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Hammer Curl, 2 Sets, 6-8 Reps

Day 2: Lower body
Squats, 4 Sets, 10-12 Reps
Leg Press, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Leg curl, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Standing Calf Raise, 3 Sets, 15-20 Reps

Day 3: Upper Body
Decline bench, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Lying Tricep extention, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Pullups, 2 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Shoulder Press, 3 sets, 10-12 Reps
Bicep Barbell curl, 3 sets 6-8 Reps

Day 4: Lower body
Deadlifts, 3 Sets, 4 Reps OR Hyperextentions, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Glute ham raise, 3 Sets, 6-8 Reps
Leg press, 2 Sets, 10-12 Reps
Decline Crunches, 3 Sets, 10-15 Reps

Step 2: When can I workout?

Now alot of people will say get your diet in order first, after all is it more important, but its much easier to get a workout in, than to get 3-6meals sorted everyday.

Take a look at your schedule, can you workout before work? after work? on your lunch break? on your day(s) off? All you need to do is find 4 hours a WEEK in order to goto the gym

Incidental Exercise

We all hate cardio, right? There are a few exceptions, but I assume most of us would rather be lifting heavy weight than watching TV on the stationary bike!
So what better way to incorperate cardio into your day, is figure out ways to incorperate it into your daily lives.
For me, by far the best form of cardio I do, is riding to work on a pushbike. There are lots of other ways to get extra activity into your life though, walking to the train/bus stop, getting off a few stops early and walking to work, parking further away in the car park, going for a walk on your lunch break, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and so on.

Nutrition

Healthy eating
Does it take any extra time to eat healthier? or does it cost more.
Whats easier to do, unwrap a candy bar or pick up an apple?
Of course good, quick nutrition is a little more complex than that, but even if you arent meeting all the exact bodybuilding "standards" for protein/carb/fat intake, a positive change in diet, is still a positive change. It will lead you on a better path towards not making excusing about time, or money, to avoid eating healthy foods.

3vs6 meals, does it really matter?
Can you gain/lose quality weight on 3 meals, of course you can!
Once again what we are trying to achive here is positive change.
If you only have time for 3 meals a day, dont stress, all is not lost. Aim to get a mixture of good whole foods in at all meals.

Alot of people believe it is necessary to time your meals perfectly 3 hours apart, usually this level of detail is the one that consumes the most amount of time, and can even create additional stress if you happen to miss one of your meals.

Preparation

Preparing meals is insanely easy and quick to do, you can even make it fun by experimenting with different flavours and tastes. Healthy eating, doesnt have to be boring.

- Stock up your fridge
Most foods will last up to 7 days in your fridge, anything else you can freeze (meat products in particular)

Frozen vegetables and fresh fruit are an great quick, easy source of nutrition.
Dairy products are one of the best sources of protein available, and good carbs too!, open and eat, very easy, and cheap too.
Canned fish, Tuna and salmon provide a great protein and fat source, add carbs for a easy powerhouse of nutrition

- Cooking in advance
Everything is done faster when done all at once, you may like to dedicate 1 or 2 days a week to cooking base foods, it doesnt even have to be a whole day, 2-3hours is enough to produce alot of food.

Equipment that is useful for cooking includes...
-Foreman grill
This is the protein machine, heat it up, add meat, store! It can also be used to grill vegetables

-Steamer
Steaming is the easiest, most nutritious way of cooking vegetables, its another throw in and leave item. You can even steam meat!

-Microwave
You can cook anything in a microwave in minutes, alot of packaging has microwave instructions for cooking

Using the right equipment, you should have no problems creating quick balanced meals.

Fast food

No im not going to talk about "healthy" option at Mcdonalds, or Subway. But rather food that take about 10seconds to prepare and is considered 100% clean.

-Oats
By far the easiest and healthiest of all the instant foods.
Mix oats, with milk and cottage cheese, optional fruit and nuts, and you have a great quick, easy snack

- Bread
Sandwiches are the easiest way to transport a number of foods in 1 package. If your preparation is solid, a sandwich can take no more than 5minutes to make, 30seconds to wrap, and another 30seconds to put into a bag, a great meal on the run.

- Milk/dairy
Not only is dairy a great source of protein and carbs at home, but you can usually find a supermarket when you are out and about, where you can easily buy a liter of 2 of milk, or a tub of cottage cheese. As more people start living closer and closer to work, supermarkets are popping up in business districts more often.
Another benefit of Dairy is the casein protein in it, which releases slower than all other proteins, meaning if you dont get around to eating for a while, the protein can still be circulating.

- Fruit
You dont even have to unwrap most fruit, and you dont have to refrigerate it

Supplements

With todays increasing work hours, sometimes you just have to resort to a little more supplementation than we would like, however it is better than eating junk, or nothing at all.

A few supplements i recomend are...

Fish oil (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/fish.html)
This one may not save you time but its the #1 supplement in my books, it provides so many benefits, and its very easy to take

Whey protein (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/whey.html)
Quick, easy protein, a staple supplement for anyone

So all up?

-Plan ahead, you wouldnt go out to sea without a map or directions
-Details are just that, as long as you are doing well overall, no need to go into the little details which often restrict time the most.
-You dont have to train for several hours a day to get results, train smart and hard!
-If you have to miss a workout/meal because of one of life's little complications, dont worry about it, just dont make it a habit.
-Enjoy what you are doing, it will be easier to make time, if you really want to to do it

How I fit in training/nutrition?

Well exactly how i just said. Currently im working 60hours a week, and get to the gym whenever I have a morning/night/day off. Sometimes you cant always make your workout days static, but just getting there is enough!

As for nutrition, i will always eat as often as possible without making myself sick of course!, because there are some times when it is simply impossible for me to sit down and have a meal.
On workout days, I will get up, have a big breakfast including oats, fruit, milk, cottage cheese and whey protein then its off to either work if im doing a morning shift, or the gym if im doing an afternoon shift.
I simply workout in the morning if I have an afternoon shift, or straight after work if I have a early start.
I count days where I work literally all day as a rest day, and cycle to work on those days as my exercise, and always hit the gym on my weekend.
My work is pretty easy with taking 5-10minute breaks. So there is never any trouble with me going to my bag, grabing a sandwich or anything I have prepared and eating it.
Of course since I work as a chef, there are cirtain times that I cant be eating. Does this effect my results? absolutly not!

beerman_420

10-10-2005, 09:52 AM

Bodybuilding While Working Full Time
Zach Bashore
September 28, 2005

Many of us don`t have the luxury of being able to focus all of our attention on bodybuilding. Unless your getting paid by a sponsor or making some serious cash doing bodybuilding shows, you almost have to have a stable job to afford the necessities that are needed to having a good body. Assuming most of us work the typical eight hour job, how do we achieve balance between work, bodybuilding, and all the other things we deal with on a daily basis. This article was written for the bodybuilders who want to bodybuild as well as work a full time job.

When we come home from work, most of us feel to tired to even cook dinner, let alone exercise. Not only do we have to motivate ourselves to put down the remote and hop on the treadmill, but we also have to sacrafice some things for the sake of bodybuilding. We have to develop a balance between our jobs, bodybuilding, family, and our social life. Who wouldn`t rather go to a club with a group of friends instead of going to the gym putting yourself through an hour of torture? This is when dedication becomes very important.

When we bodybuild we already create a bit of discipline for ourselves so making sacrafices is just a part of the game. It`s going to become tougher to maintain that discipline when working a job full time because of all the added stress a job can do to you. You have to be able to persevere through all the obstacles. Once you do that, you will feel on top of the world once you achieve your fitness goals. Just don`t get cocky and have to restart the process all over again. Set yourself up with a goal to improve on the goal you just met and never become satisfied.

So how can you accomplish any of your fitness goals when your locked up a job eight to ten hours a day? It`s very simple! Get organized. Write down everything you can do to achieve your goals. You also need to write down everything that gets in your way of achieving those goals and always look for a way forward. If your job is manual labor where it is physically demanding then you should consider work as part of your training routine. That way you kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Find out how many calories you`ve burnt throughout the day working and replenish your glycogen stores during and after work. Then you can exercise some of the muscle groups you didn`t hit at work and you will feel good about yourself for making an attempt to better yourself.

You are going to have days where you feel overworked, stressed, and feel that everything in the world is coming down on you. These are the days when you should treat yourself to something out of the ordinary like a cheat meal or consider going out to the club with a group of friends. Just keep everything in moderation. You can can accomplish anything you want in life if you stick to your plan of attack and stay focused. Good Luck.

MmmmChicken

10-10-2005, 11:45 AM

How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?
By Michael Apprich

Probably one of the most prevalent excuses given as to why someone can't work out is ..."Well, I just don't have the time...". And rightly so. Unless you're a professional bodybuilder that actually gets paid by some big time supplement company as their spokesperson or something like that, it's pretty safe to say you have a full and hectic schedule. But lets face it, most of us, if not all of us, reading this article are on the amateur level and have jobs, school, kids, a wife and maybe a few other important issues that come before the gym. I myself am in the Army and I have had a pretty hectic schedule to say the least between being home and being deployed to Iraq for the past year. This is just going to help give you a basic out line on some good methods to assist with managing you time more efficiently. Because who wants to read a long drawn out article telling you how to live your life? Not me! And I sure as hell don't want to right anything that long!

Discipline and Dedication

Bodybuilding (Or just staying fit!) is not the easiest of sports! If it was, everyone would do it! Think about it! We sit in a sometimes smelly building, lifting heavy weights over and over again with a bunch of other guys doing the same thing, just to get results that take years to achieve. Our diet? Well, it may be normal for us, but for others its a rather boring routine of grilled chicken, beef, fish, rice beans and pasta. All whole grain foods, low-fat foods ... no McDonald's hamburgers on a daily basis. No group trips to Pizza Hut for the lunch time only pizza buffet that your friends might attend everyday at their lunch break. Choosing to drink water over the 12 pack of Pepsi that some people tend to drink in a day. Sometimes our meals come in a packet and we just add water. So if you actually do sit and think about it, people either idealize our discipline and dedication or they view it as some sort of insanity. Either way you look at it, we are different from the normal Joe, no doubt about it.

Getting down a routine

Now, you may be saying,"Oh great! Another workout routine?! Man!". Before you stop reading let me just say that this section is not about workout routines and such. This article is about time management, not throwing another workout routine at you to try. Bodybuilding.com already has plenty outstanding articles on that subject. This is about getting your day into a routine, or maybe 2 or 3 routines you can rotate. Sometimes you may work the morning shift, the next week you may have the afternoon or night shift or even the dreaded graveyard shift. And maybe, if you're lucky, you have a work schedule that is pretty much set in stone. Which is great but not all of this have this luxury.

Ok, now to my method of getting down a routine. While I was in Iraq this was the hardest thing to do. Everything out there is so unpredictable it makes it near impossible to get a daily routine down. So this is what I would TRY to do.

6 AM Wake up
6:30 AM Walk half a mile to breakfast.....I'm serious!
7:30 AM Prep for missions
9 AM Mission #1
12 Noon Return from Mission #1, go straight to lunch.
12:30-1:30 PM Workout
1:30-3:30 PM Chill out. Trust me you need to.
4PM to 7 PM Mission #2, go straight to dinner.
Any time after dinner I would use to call family or my wife until 10 PM which was usually bedtime.

A great thing that I used to my advantage was the fact that our Chow Hall allowed us to take food with us for later. So I would grab some tuna or some turkey with some salsa on it with along with some beans or broccoli and some shelf stable milk to bring with me on my missions to eat.

But not everyone is deployed to Iraq. I would take a week and just go through my work week noting my schedule. What do I do? When do I do it? How long do I do it for? Do I do it everyday? These are all questions you should ask yourself about your weekly schedule. Your workout should probably and hour ro about two hours max of yourday. Now I know you read you should workout for more of less time, but that is just an average window a person would work out in, not a workout tip. But, if your workout is around an hour or maybe a little less then that's great and will definitely work in your favor. But don't drastically cut your workout short to fit your time needs unless you absolutely have to do to major time constraints or an emergency. We don't want to sacrifice results for time but anything is better then nothing. If I could do it in war, I'm confident you can do it!

Prioritize

Get your priorities straight! Something you Dad might have told you when you were younger right? Well he was right, in a way. Take some time a sit down and just think about everything you do during the day. If you're like me, get a notebook and write it down so you can visually inspect what you are working with. The most common places you will probably see time to fit in your workout will most likely be in the morning, after work or during lunch if time permits. The Army pretty much decides what my priorities are....work now everything else later! So I usually take my time after work to head to the gym now that I'm home. Some of us have different factors in our lives. My family would definitely be number one to the gym. But if I was short on time and I had to choose between working out and going to the bar for a few beers while watching the Phillies game or something, I would probably go to the gym. But only if I was short on time for one reason or another. Don't go abandoning your friends for the Iron. You'll be a lonely dude! We don't want that!

Nutrition on the Go!

Fast food companies know we are busy. That's why it's called fast food! To entice the good old working man or women and say,"HEY! LOOK OVER HERE! WE COOK HAMBURGERS REALLY REALLY FAST!!! DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW! JUST HURRY BEFORE YOU HAVE TO BE BACK TO WORK!". So we say sure why not, I don't have the time to eat right today. I'm not going to say that Ronald McDonald is evil but his smile should say it all! Just kidding! But with all seriousness eating healthy can be very easy. Honestly what is faster? Waiting in the long line a the Burger King drive in? Or grabbing that pear you packed before you left home. It's the pear right? Of course it is. And what is more healthy for you? A big fat burger or a pear and a tunafish sandwich that you made the night prior because you knew you were going to be on the go? Sure a Big Mac will build some muscle with the protein it provides. It will also build a whole lot of fat along with that too, if you make it a daily occurrence. The point I'm trying to make is that nutrion on the go starts the night before, or when ever you get the time to make you food. No one usually has time to cook every meal right before you eat it. Pick a day out of the week and cook a whole bunch of food that will last you. Grill a bunch of chicken breasts, boil a bunch of sweet potatoes, grill some small steaks, boil some rice and toss it all in the fridge. Tuna is relatively cheap and come in little water free packets these days. Convenient as ever! It may take some time to do but it will save time in the long run and it will definitely help you remain on your path to a leaner, more muscular body. Another thing I like to do is keep a couple supplements in the trunk of my car and a gallon jug of water with me throughout the day. Just stash some whey powder and some creatine and maybe some amino acids or even some MRP shake mix in your car. And just mix it when you need to. That simple. Just don't do it while you're driving. That will save you time in the hospital and the bills that come with it. I have read that instant foods are higher on the GI then their regular counterparts. Foods such as Instant oatmeal, grits etc. But once again, Instant oatmeal or those greasy fries? Take some regular instant oatmeal, add some hot water, some whey powder. BAM! You have a quick meal!

Summary

Well that's my article on time management and the bodybuilder. I tried to keep it as short and to the point as I could and I hope I did. I hope it saved you some TIME as well! In a nutshell, figure out what you need to do and do it! Don't say I can't, because you can! And bring your food with you! If I did it at war you can do it! I know you can! And good luck to you in fulfilling your bodybuilding goals!

Dallas68

10-10-2005, 02:04 PM

lol :)

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A bodybuilder's schedule can be very hectic, especially if they are an amateur with a full time job.

Working, going to the gym, eating 6 meals per day, getting 8-10 hours of sleep per night- if only there were 40 hours in a day it would be so much easier.

How can a bodybuilder manage their time?

A true bodybuilder by now should have a very good idea on how to get the right meals at the right time to stay anabolic and to keep metabolism fired up. For those individuals coming up in the ranks you may need some more guidance into this tough lifestyle.

Society today always talks of how little time there is…if I had a nickel for every time I heard I don’t have enough time…id be a rich and happy young guy anyhow….there is always time no matter how tight you must be the guy with the chicken rolled into packets in the middle of the meeting to get that 30 grams of much needed proteins and nutrients, you must be the guy who downs his tuna can when you about to head off to some family function.

You have to be committed is the key rule.

So you wake up, climb out of your bed and you wipe away the sand in your eyes your mind must be on the clock you must already be on the idea that your body has been catabolic for a few hours and you need food so right in the morning you need to be “managing” your body think of your physique as an investment the more TIME AND EFFORT you put into it the more rewards you shall receive! So it makes sense to get to your muscles genetic limit you need to plan your day, week, months, years all your goals must be set out neatly.

So get a lined paper or get onto a word program and type breakfast, snack, lunch ,snack , supper ,snack along with pre and post workout proteins and carbohydrates. So in this method you will be able to prepare yourself and the foods and other supplemental products to be ready in their shakers, plastic containers, packets to be eaten, drunk, swallowed, or injected.

Remember to think of any opportunistic times that you shall be able to get the necessaries in. Make sure if people don’t know already that you are serious about what you’re doing and that you need your food/supps even if the boss is talking about the new stock portfolio or the teacher is going on about some algebra.

Management is hard to stick to!

But if you want to succeed in anything at all then you need to make sure your on top of your game all the time remember its lonely on top but you’re the best

So you started your whole regimen and plus/minus two weeks in to it the monotony of the program gets to you

This is the fight stage you really have to stick to your mentality whenever you crack. This is the point where you’re either a fad dieter or a real bodybuilder you have to stick to your program at all costs you have to feed your body more than six times daily and always train so that your body stays anabolic. I mean you started it may as well continue you will reap the rewards stick with it!

Remember just keep the mantra that you’re the best but don’t let your ego get to you!

No schedule is really to exciting but that’s how you will have to manage your life around your lifestyle so basically to manage efficiently stick with your program for about 2/3 months see if it is working then change and make adjustments learn before compromising

Dallas68

10-10-2005, 02:08 PM

How can eating 6 meals per day be more convenient?

Well for starters you get to eat more which is personally very uplifting when you eat more and look better than those who eat three large meals and expect better results. So it’s more convenient in the fact that it works to keep you revved up and that you eat smaller meals which means less time spent eating more free time.

You can quickly down your protein shake along with some tuna and boom!! You’re finished! That’s one meal easily done no fanciness no long hours at the table eating a mound of food supposedly to last until like supper, and that was breakfast, so you definitely need six meals minimum

Eat!

Chicken
Tuna
Oatmeal
Potatoes
Vegetables
Fruits
Cottage cheese
Fat free milk
Natty peanut butter
Yoghurt
Whole wheat breads
Avocados
Bananas
Whey protein
Casein protein or milk

Those are all very good to eat

BONUS QUESTION: What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?

Hmmmmm

my daily routine is more free yet coordinated due to my self bulking for now cleanly.

I have gone from about 154 pounds to 162 pounds in about two weeks so im not doing badly.

The above foods are what are mainly incorporated in my diet

I eat as much as I can minimum six maximum depending on hunger.

Breakfast I eat cereal or oatmeal depending on time

School I have tuna, bread with cottage cheese, chicken, lettuce, yoghurt and water or juice. This is a lot of food considering

When home I eat either some more chicken or depending on carbs consumed have more whole wheat with avocado or chicken

Later I have some milk and yoghurts and any solid foods I can find

Post workout protein containing carbohydrates

I may have had supper before workout so that’s my energy

And then before bed may have bananas so that’s about six to seven smallish meals yet I have been gaining solid muscle and am very happy with my weight gains

Sometimes I have 5 minutes walk overtime between periods so I chomp my food quickly between lessons and while I do homework I grab good foods to eat

My sport is not too bad with squash being once a week, yet I am on a plyometrics course which I do every Sunday and this along with training at night definitely adds up to a larger me!  after school sometimes my mom buys me chicken or meat to eat in car this is good because by time school ends im already hungry.

Thanks hope you learnt something and have a better idea as to how easy it is to fit everything in!

Peace out ye’all

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failuretogain

10-10-2005, 03:49 PM

hey this is a great topic . im glad that someone thought this one up. I need some help getting all my **** together. I'm having a hard time even finding enough time to sleep latly

ho_124

10-11-2005, 06:14 PM

How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?
Of all the things in bodybuilding, this is probably the thing that beginners overlook and fail to consider. They just say to themselves “I’m going to start lifting weights, eating right and I’m going to get huge!” Then maybe they would get someone to make them the most “pro” training schedule and diet plan but when it comes time to actually hit the weights four to five times a week and eat six meals a day, they fall apart. I see it all the time at my school, guys who come in the gym without knowing what they’re getting into. Most of them don’t realize the commitment and time you have to put in and the discipline you have to have to make serious gains. Its funny, you can always tell which are the guys who will just fail and who will keep with it. The guys who just come in all happy go lucky and think its so easy and maybe a week or two later just quit it with a grim face because they aren’t ready to take on the commitment. It’s like this, almost everyone you see on the football team is truly committed and wouldn’t miss a practice even if they had S.A.R.S. They go to every game and they don’t take football as some little thing on the side of their lives they can go to whenever they want. They know its not some huge joke and that its all going to be easy, and they know its going to take a lot of their time and almost all the players sacrifice something important to them. The same thing should apply to bodybuilding. You have to know that your going to make sacrifices, like maybe not going to your friends after school or wasting your spares in school dicking around with your friends eating junk food and having snowball fights. And you have to be prepared for the time commitment and not just be a lazy guy and quit halfway into your training because you’re just a little busy. So basically the more time you put in and the more sacrifices you make to be sure your training and doing your diet is right, the better your progress will be and the happier you will be with your results. Remember, as the saying always goes, the good things in life are hard to get and as far as I’ve heard bodybuilding isn’t an exception.

How can a bodybuilder manage their time?
Managing your time while bodybuilding is hard especially if you play another sport or your in school with a job. If only you could just lift weights, doze all day and somehow for no reason get fifty grand a month then maybe it wouldn’t be hard, but life isn’t like that. I can almost bet 99% of people’s lives are busy, so sometimes fitting in a weight lifting schedule and making all that food seems impossible. But there are things you can do to manage your time better. Don’t worry it wont be IMPOSSIBLE to do UNLESS…….. you are studying medicine in university, you have a job that works you late into the night, you live in a house by yourself so you cook, mow the lawn and take care of all the maintenance yourself, the closest gym is five hundred miles away and the Quick E mart is 100 miles away, you have a ten year old scooter and no car, your broke and have just one ten pound dumbbell and a bent in half bar with one five lb. plate, your friends make you go to the bar every Friday and you always get a hangover, you HAVE to visit and take care of your mom every weekend and yea, I think you got the picture….

1. Commitment, discipline, priority, and if you’re a beginner know what your getting into
- This is huge even though you’ve probably heard it like one hundred times and think it isn’t important. Like anything in life, if you want to get a great body, feel good about yourself, become strong and fit you have to work hard and be focused, put lots of time into it, and make sacrifices. If your not prepared to take all this stuff on then there is no point in getting into it. If your just going to lift for one week then stop for four weeks then do it again then your not going to be happy with your progress. You have to realize that your life is going to be alot busier and stick with your program and be able to accept that you’re going to miss a few things that you want to go to. Like all the guys on my schools football team miss the dances when they go away for games. You got to be ready to discipline yourself to not waste time when it’s really tempting too, if you’re a guy that does that a lot then you can forget reaching your goals. I remember a time when I was working out with a few guys in the school gym when we were in grade eleven and the grade nines were playing dodge ball. Now I don’t know about you, but when the gym teacher lets us play with the lower grades I love taking out grade nines with volleyballs let alone even playing dodge ball. Everyone rushed out to play and was like “Come play dodge ball with us, grade nines! Common it’s grade nines!” It was SO tempting to go out and play but I stayed in the gym and kept working out. Think about it, if you can’t even stay in the gym because of grade nine dodge ball then how are you going to stick with it for maybe three months or even a year or two? Things brings me to the next point you have to set your priorities straight. Is playing a game of dodge ball really more important than bodybuilding to you? If so then just stop lifting and start some dodge ball league. You have to ask yourself how important it is to you. If you keep getting distracted by little insignificant things that wont make a difference in your life (like a game of dodge ball wont be a highlight in your whole life, but getting a better body will and getting fit will) then it will be impossible to manage your time. If you do distract yourself with those things and complain about being super busy then its like complaining about a bad mark in math when you didn’t do your work. And now for the people who are thinking of starting or have just started. Please know what your getting into, don’t just look at a picture of what you would like to be and say I’m going to be like that guy without meaning it and being willing to put the work into it. Trust me you will get frustrated if you come in with an attitude like “this will be easy to do.” Why do you think there is so much information on lifting weights and diet? Why do you think there are personal trainers and dieticians? Because its not all super easy to get big! So unless your goal is to gain only 1 cm on your arms, chest and legs then I guess it will be easy.

2. Spend at most one hour in a gym lifting and take shorter rests between sets
- That’s right, spend at the most one hour in the gym. That’s the general rule right now. There are a couple reasons for this. First since the context is about saving time, it does save time. A lot of people pump iron for an hour and thirty minutes to even two hours! Now I can even be on crack to tell you that’s too much. Also if you train over one hour you run the risk of overtraining. Trust me overtraining isn’t pretty, if you over train for a little while then you could probably recover in one week or two of rest. But if you overtrain for one or two months or even without knowing, then it could stop you from doing ANY TRAINING from anywhere to two months to EVEN A YEAR to get back to normal. Trust me I fried my legs one time training too much for 3 months and I couldn’t train them for a long time, I mean like half a year. It was the worst training setback in my life. So yea basically try to stay under an hour because it saves time and prevents overtraining. Also if you train too long, your intensity goes down and you wont gain as much on the muscle being worked. Short intense workouts are best since they provide the muscle with the best workout rather than doing a lot of groups over a long period of time. Also your workout load should be placed evenly throughout the week so that each workout you’re not doing too much training. Rests should be anywhere from 30 seconds to at the very most 2 minutes maybe even 1 minute and 30 seconds. Shorter rest between sets promotes hypertrophy (muscular growth) and it saves time. If you don’t believe me that shorter rests promotes muscular growth, well powerlifters which don’t want big muscles but maximal strength rest from 2-5 minutes between sets to PREVENT muscle growth. So basically to save time keep workouts under an hour and rest from 30 seconds to MAX 2 minutes between sets which also have other benefits.

ho_124

10-11-2005, 06:15 PM

3. Take advantage of spares if your in school
- I get on average two spares every day in school. A lot of people, I mean a lot of uncommitted gym goers I see almost every spare fooling around in the cafeteria eating junk. I mean come on! Don’t be stupid, those spares are there for a reason, so you can get things you need to get done, done! If I need to workout that day and I have a spare I use those spares to go to the gym, not just to waste my time chasing butterflies, picking flowers and blazing. Spares are so important, if you waste them, then you have to spend time after school when time really counts to get your workout in. Think about it, it’s a given you will have to be in school for 8 hours or so. So then why not get stuff done so you don’t have to worry about it.

4. Have a good training split
- If I had all the time in the world and someone offered me $100 000 a month to just train and diet and do whatever I want for the rest of the day, then of course I would make an amazing training split. Most people would love to just go to the gym and focus and train one body part super intensely or two smaller ones. But the thing is, we don’t have the time to do that, you have to compress your workouts into reasonable splits that fits your schedule. Having one that fits as much as possible into a reasonable workout will save time. Think about it, if you had a training split that had you work one body part of two smaller parts every time, then that means a lot more trips to the gym when you can do it with less trips to the gym. And this means, you guessed it, wasted time.

5. Mornings
- This only applies to morning people. If you are totally not a morning person and never will be because you look like and feel like a dirty rag doll then this isn’t important to you. But if you can wake up in the morning feeling energized and ready to train then this is for you. If you live close to school, university, or even work then this is ideal for you. You can wake up do your cardio or training then go to whatever you need to go to. Then all you have to do is diet for the rest of the day and you don’t have to worry about getting your training done.

6. Choose a good gym and go at non-rush times
- Choosing a good gym is important. Choose a gym that is close to where you work, live or study. Choosing the time to go is even more important. For example if you go at gym time rush hours then you will be waiting in line to use a machine or equipment. This doesn’t save time. Going at non rush times lets you get all you need to get done fast so you don’t waste time.

7. Plan and have a routine and get into it
- You have to have a good routine made ahead of time and you have to plan for things. If you just go about your day without a routine or plan then you will definitely get screwed over. Think about it, you would probably forget you had to workout if you didn’t have a routine. It would save you more time than waste if you just had a good routine. Getting into a schedule is important also. When you get into a schedule then you know what you have to do and your not likely to forget. You also know what your doing so you wont waste time.

How can eating 6 meals per day be more convenient?
Eating six meals a day isn’t easy unless your family is like some stereotypical 70’s family where the wife just stays home all day, cooks, cleans the house and when you come home she puts a newspaper on your lap and gives you coffee. But I’m sorry life isn’t like that. Cooking six times a day sometimes isn’t an option because you’re at work, school or what not. And eating at McDonalds isn’t the best post nutrition food. However there are things you can do to get your six nutritious healthy meals.

1. Meal replacements – MRP
- Two words meal replacements. These are amazing if you need a quick meal in a crunch. They are easy to make, convenient and can be carried around in a backpack or even a pocket. All you need is a liquid to mix it in. They have slow release carbs, protein and a bunch of vitamins and minerals. They are great if you’re bulking. You just mix with 2 cups of milk and that’s probably 550 calories right there if you need that much that is. If you think its expensive, well then where else can you get a meal for three dollars that is nutritious and helps you build muscle? Chicken breasts would probably cost more than that and take more time to cook. However don’t rely on meal replacements for every single meal. Remember if its not right after a workout, natural food is the best food, that’s why God made it, I don’t think he made meal replacements and protein powder.

Good meal replacements
1. EAS Myoplex Deluxe (New Formula)
- Has 53 grams of protein and 28 grams of quality carbs
- Has a bunch of vitamins and minerals
- Has a good calorie number, if your bulking just add one or two cups of milk. Each cup of milk contains 150 calories about so yea….
2. AST Ny-Tro Pro-40
- Has 40 grams of protein and 22 grams of quality carbs
- 250 calories, good if your cutting
- Has a good blend of vitamins and minerals
3. EAS Myoplex Lite
- 25 grams of protein and 18 grams of quality carbs
- has only 190 calories excellent if your cutting
- Has a bunch of minerals and vitamins
- The only thing that I don’t like is the high sodium content. Its 500 and it promotes water storage which lessens definition which isn’t good when your cutting.

Note: You have to watch out for bad products. For example you only want fast absorbing carbs after a workout. A lot of products have bad ingredients that aren’t good for you so read the labels and be sure it’s a good product. Read every ingredient and find about it. Remember this is the product you will be using for a while so you mise well spend time researching about the ingredients.

2. Protein bars
- Protein bars are great. Like meal replacements they can be carried easily and they are basically no hassle and sometimes taste good. They provide protein and carbs we need in our 6 meals a day. They are basically almost the same as meal replacements but in a bar form that is more enjoyable. For some reason I would rather be eating a bar than drinking a shake.

Good protein bars
1. PBL Pure Omega 3 Protein Bar
- This is an amazing bar. It has 11 grams of fiber, which is a good slow absorbing carb which you want during the day. And in case you didn’t know fiber prevents colon cancer so yay we killed two birds with one stone. It also has 17 grams of other slow absorbing carbs.
- It has 20 grams of a quality protein blend with calcium caseinate and it has omega 3.
2. Strength Systems USA Tri-O-Pro Cookies
- Another amazing product. This isn’t a bar but a cookie, but whatever its still good. It has 13 grams of fiber and 12 grams of slow absorbing carbs from oats which is great
- It has 21 grams of protein
- The only thing I don’t like is the sugar alcohols. It has 9 grams of it which they don’t list as carbs but they actually are. It is only 9 grams though, which is alright since they are slow absorbing.

Almost all other bars have high sugar content or high sugar alcohol content. Sugar isn’t good during the day since it promotes insulin spike which makes you a fatty. And sugar alcohol’s aren’t good if your cutting and lowering your carbs. Companies don’t list them as carbs even though they are.

ho_124

10-11-2005, 06:17 PM

3. Canned foods and others
- Canned foods are another great way to save time, all you need is a can opener and maybe a microwave. Now when you see me saying canned foods your probably like isn’t that unhealthy? Well no, there are healthy canned foods. For example the best thing is probably canned sea food. This is actually healthy. Canned salmon has a bunch of protein and the essential fats you need with minimal bad fats. It also has about 300 calories per can. Just add something else with it and your set to go. There are also canned sardines, tuna and what not that is good for you. There are also those shrimp rings that are ready to eat with some sauce and smoked salmon which comes in a package you just have to defrost. All of these a good sources of protein and are healthy for you. Just don’t become a canned food guy. Eat a variety of foods. There are probably other good and healthy canned food items, just make sure you read the ingredients and check that it actually is healthy for you.

3. Eat easy to make foods
- Things you can just toss in a microwave for a minute and its ready are great. For example, for the oatmeal I eat, all I do is just put some water in it and heat it up. Sandwiches are also easy to make. Just stuff some meat, veggies and two slices of whole grain bread and it’s a healthy meal. Just make sure its actual meat and not sandwich meat since sandwich meat isn’t healthy for you. Salad is also really good. Just buy some vegetables, toss them into a bowl or container and add some fat free dressing or dressing that is healthy. Remember, there are probably tons of other easy to make foods you can eat like fruits, milk and cottage cheese.

4. Make food in the bulk
- Making tons of food in bulk so it last you like 2-4 days is a good way to conserve time. So get someone to make a healthy lasagna or make it yourself, then freeze it and when you need a portion cut it out and warm it up. You can do this with other things too like pasta, chicken, beef, and soup.

BONUS QUESTION: What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?
Since I’m in school my day looks something like this
7:00 AM – Wake up eat breakfast like oatmeal and fruit for quick and sustained energy. I also might eat a little protein like bread with some peanut butter and nuts or milk
8:00 AM – Go to school
9:30 AM – Eat another meal on spare or break: MRP or protein bar in between classes
11:30 AM – This is the time my school has lunch so I eat lunch here
1:00 PM – Workout on spare and have a post workout shake
2:00 – Eat post workout MEAL
3:30 – Get home from school and do school work
4:00 – Eat another meal
5:00 – Play basketball or do homework
6:30 – Eat supper
7:30 – Hang out or do what ever I want.
11:00 –I have milk or cottage cheese before I go to bed.

Since I’m in school I can easily fit my training into the 1 hour spares I have. I have at least one spare everyday so the training is taken care of in that way. If I have to use a spare to study for a test or something then I can bump everything back and go to another gym on the weekend. Meals are also easier for me since I get meal replacements and protein bars sometimes, not every single day and every meal. I also make easy things like soup, sandwiches, salads, milk, low fat cheese, cottage cheese, oatmeal, and canned sea food. But since my parents are home a lot of the time and they can cook meat or whatever for me, I get a lot of that stuff too. If I need something I might also make it myself like eggs, or a chicken breast or a piece of fish. I used to work in the summer at Wendy’s fast food but I quit the job because it sucked since they had me working till 3:00 or 3:30 in the morning. This was tough to do. I would have to bring two or three meals with me and something you may not have thought about was resisting the temptation to eat the food there. With all that food infront of my face all day it sometimes got tempting to grab a few fries or grab a burger. Obviously you cant train while in work, so you have to do your training after or before (in my case before) then eat your meals during breaks in work.

live4this13

10-12-2005, 04:24 PM

How can bodybuilders manage their time?

Living the bodybuilding life.

As you all know bodybuilding takes up most of your life. It is not a hobby, but a lifestyle. Bodybuilding requires tons of time preparing food, driving to the gym, warming up, stretching, actual workouts, post workout meals, and the list goes on and on. How can we plan these things around our jobs and school so that we can get the best results and live less stressful and healthier lives.

Time can make or break you, especially when it comes down to missing workouts and meals. Getting big and lean is all about eating and workouts. If your missing meals or workouts you will not be able to meet your goals. This will crush momentum and maybe even steer you away from bodybuilding all together. So whether or not you’re the next Mr. Olympia or the soccer mom next door this article can help you budget your time to meet you goals.

Tips on making the best out of your time.

We all can use some tips on how to best save time. Time wasted is less time used for eating or working out. So here are some simple tips to help you best save time.

1. Buy a planner/journal.

This is significant. How many times do you spend 30 minutes driving to the gym then when you arrive have no idea what your doing today. So you have to sit down and think….”hmmm was I supposed to be crushing the chest today with some bench, or pounding the legs with squats?” If this sounds familiar you could save some time by buying a workout planner. A planner could also help you time your workouts, and make sure your fitting them in during your 45 minute break. The whole idea of going to the gym is to lift, not to have to think about what your supposed to be doing. Bodybuilding.com’s planner will be sufficient: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/worklog.html. It gives you 12 weeks worth of space. Places to log workouts and track time. Also provides you with successful workout tips. Definitely a must buy if you struggle with time.

2. Plan out your diet.

Planning your diet could save you an hour each day. It can do this by you simply knowing what your eating when. If you already know that at 1:30 your to eat 8oz chicken breast and a baked potato you can already have it prepared. You don’t have to wait to 1:25 and then be rushing around having to cook food 5 minutes before you need to eat it. Planning out your diet allows you to cook your food in the morning or the night before. Due to the fact you already know what you are eating when.

3. Precook your food.

Cooking your food the night before or in the morning can save time. For instance if you know you need four 8oz chicken breast for the next 3 days you can cook them all Sunday night and refrigerate them. This provides you lunch for Mon. Tues. and Wed. Saving you time all three days. Do this with all your meals that need cooked. Cook on Sundays and Wednesdays and then wrap up your food and refrigerate it. Spending an hour, two days a week will save you time cooking and cleaning pans everyday. Again it may not be much, but with the hectic lifestyle of today every minute counts.

4. Limit your gym time.

Limiting your gym time by not socializing between sets and by cutting down rest time. I see it way too often, people have an hour to hit the gym. They come in do a few sets of bench and are talking between sets. They look up at the clock and realize they’ve just spent 45 minutes doing 3 sets of bench now their hour of working out is almost gone. This is a waste of gym time. I understand you don’t want to be rude and turn down a conversation. However, you should remember that you are at the gym to lift, and get bigger. Simply explain that you have only a short period of time to workout and that you’d be more than happy to give the person trying to talk to you a call later. Not telling you to be rude, just explain your situation. Most people will understand.

Cutting down your rest periods will help as well. The average person doesn’t need 2 minutes to recover between sets. Track your body in the fitness log above, and note rest times. Soon you will realize your ideal body rest time. Most will fall between 45 seconds to 1 minute. Once you find your ideal rest period optimize your time and results by sticking to the set time.

5. Avoiding the gym rush.

While this is not always possible, it is best to avoid big gym “rush hours.” You do not want to spend half your workout waiting for the right dumbbells or in line to use the squat rack. I understand everyone is not a morning person, but some gyms offer special hours for business workers. If at all possible wake up early and hit the gym in the morning before work, this will save you time from waiting and leave you refreshed throughout the day. If it is not possible for you to workout in the morning try to go during your lunch break instead of after work. As it will be generally less crowded. This will save you from long waits in line.

live4this13

10-12-2005, 04:28 PM

Other tips to get the most out of your time.

Getting the most out of your time is not always how you plan. A lot of your results will come from your attitude. Remember to stay focused and motivated. Moping around and wasting time trying to decide whether you even want to workout or not will result in losing time. Keep a positive outlook and always keep pushing forward in order to get the best results.

Do not skip workouts.

You should have no reason to skip workouts. Why not? Well because you should

a) have your workout planner so you will always know what you are doing.

b) be limiting your gym time so you wont have to rush.

c) be motivated and ready to meet your goals.

Time is probably one of the leading causes of failure in bodybuilding. Missing workouts and meals can not exist. Budgeting your time is crucial. Remember bodybuilding is not a hobby it is a lifestyle. Not only hardcore bodybuilders should benefit from this but also the soccer mom’s next door trying to get in shape while Johnny is at practice. Now that we have the basics of saving time down, we will move on to the burning question……

How can I make eating 5-6 meals a day more convenient?

We all know to be successful in diet and training that we must feed our bodies. It is not easy to digest five to six meals a day between meetings and classes. While fast food is simple, it is not optimal. Remember to plan out your meals and precook your food this should save you some time. Also look into some of the MRP’s or meal replacement powders I suggest in this article. Here are my tips to help best feed your body.

1. Always eat breakfast. Meal 1.

This is extremely important. You need a solid breakfast for your first meal. This has to last you to your second meal. It should consist of egg whites, toast, EFA’s, and oats or wheat cereal. This will give you the energy to make it to meal two.

2. A MRP or protein bar. Meal 2.

Meal two can consist of a MRP or protein bar. This is simply to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to make it from breakfast to lunch. It should be consumer an hour and a half to two hours after breakfast.

3. Lunch. Meal 3.

Lunch should be your third meal. It should consist of a whole food protein source along with carbohydrates. A good lunch would be an 8oz chicken breast and 2oz wheat pasta. This would give you the energy you need to stay focused at work or school. It should be simple as your food should already be precooked.

4. Pre workout Meal 4

Your pre workout meal is important. It lays the foundation for your training and muscle building. It needs to consist of complex carbohydrates to fuel the workout and an average amount (25-35 grams) of protein. It can contain a small amount of fat if it is being ate more then an hour before lifting.

5. Post workout. Meal 5.

Meal 5 should be your post workout meal. It should contain 45 grams whey protein and 50 grams of complex carbohydrates coming from pasta or oats.

6. Dinner Meal 6.

Meal 6 will be dinner. It should contain your last carbohydrates for the night and an average amount of protein. I suggest lean meat and brown rice. It should be ate around three hours before bed.

7. Pre bed meal. Meal 7.

Your last meal of the day will be right before bed. It should consist of 2 tbsp’s of cottage cheese or natural peanut butter. This will provide your body the nutrients it needs to make it through the night.

Quick food choices that won’t hinder your gains.

1. MRP or meal replacements provide your body with a large amount of calories. These calories are extremely helpful to build muscle. They also fill you up pretty well, allowing them to replace meals. Some good MRP’s are:

VPX Micellean: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/vpx/micellean.html

AST Ny-tro Pro-40: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/ast/ny-tro.html

CytoSport Muscle Milk: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cs/milk.html

2. Protein bars allow for a quick snack on the go. They can fit in a desk cabinet or in a purse. They have almost unlimited possibilities. I suggest the following bars:

Chef Jay’s: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/cj/tri.html

Labrada: http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/lab/cookie.html

3.Quick whole meals.

You should invest in some Tyson’s canned chicken or tuna for quick on the go meals. These allow you to get tons of protein from the ease of a can or pouch. This saves time cooking and cleaning dishes. Just grab a fork and you can eat straight from the can or pouch.

Final tips on meals.

Remember if you cook all your food a few days in advanced like above, and invest in some good mrp’s, protein bars, and canned foods. Eating all your meals should be a breeze. Remember eating is half of your goal and planning it out will save tons of time in the long run.

Bonus Question: What does my day consist of? How do I eat all my meals.

I try to keep my schedule consistent as it allows me to save time by knowing what I am going to be doing every day.

6:30 breakfast
7:30 school
9:00 MRP meal 2
11:30 Meal 3, lunch
1:00 pre workout meal
3:30 post workout meal
5:30 dinner
8:00 pre bed meal.
9:00 bed time.

I try to follow this every day as it provides me the schedule I need to save time. I eat my meals during my breaks in class. My workout is a class so it is easy to get in. I just plan my pre and post workout meals around it.

live4this13

10-12-2005, 04:31 PM

good luck all

mike15prepster

10-12-2005, 04:55 PM

Some people may ask"How can those bodybuilders live alife when they just bodybuild?"Well it's not like that.A bodybuilder routine days is mostly 5 day of pure lifting and everyday except of 2-3 is a strict diet.But every bodybuilder has a life to live.I remember a story on this website that talked about a guy who bodybuild every second of his life.He quit his job left his wife and children and only lived bodybuilding.But later on when he got older,he notice that he wasn't getting the results he wanted to get after quitting his job and leaving his family.Soon he was living a life of failure.Bodybuilding doesn't need to run your life.Here is what a bodybuilding weekly workout should look like.

Sunday-Bicep,legs

Monday-forearms ,neck

Tuesday-Triceps,abs

Wednesday-Free Day or Day off

Thursday-Legs,traps

Friday-Delts,back

Saturday-Day off

As you can see,you have 2 days of free time,although you may have to eat your 6 meals,you can still watch a movie,go to the park,go buy new cloths,anything else you would love to do.And you can still do minor stuff on the workout days.Bodybuilding is a hobby,not a life,so don't turn it into it.

***Bonus Question:What does your day consist of,Workout,diet,etc?
Well as I have posted what my week consist of.I'll post my diet

Morning-8 egg whites,skim milk,banana,protein bar

Pre-lunch-Protein Shake

Lunch-Chicken salad,Skim milk,apple,protein bar

Pre Dinner-Protein shake

Dinner-Steak,chicken or tuna,rice or noodles,fruit,skim milk

Pre workout-protein bar

After workout-water

bedtime-protein bar

Mostly high protein,low carb,and extremely low fat.

,mike15prepster

Blap Blaow

10-12-2005, 05:36 PM

A daily schedule can be hectic. Finding the time for work, education, family, food, a social life and some sleep at the end of it often requires a lot of planning and working to a plan. Add an intense and time consuming activity such as bodybuilding into the mix and time management seems to go out of the window.

However, for a lot of people, there IS enough time on the day. The problem is using this time efficiently in order to take care of everything. There are several tips you can take on board to help you keep your life in some kind of order, and you’ll be a better bodybuilder for doing so.

HOW CAN A BODYBUILDER MANAGE THEIR TIME?

There is one simple key to help you manage your time better; ORGANISATION. Organisation covers a multitude of angles, all of which fit together to help you arrange and live a more balanced and less hectic lifestyle.

Write It Down

From here on in you will write down everything! Writing stuff down can be a major aid in helping you manage time and reach goals. By writing things down you can;

i) help sort out conflicts in scheduling
ii) you can remember what you are supposed to do and when
iii) you can help yourself get motivated by knowing you have a schedule to follow
iv) you can plan a balanced lifestyle incorporating everything you want to/need to do in your daily routine
v) you can prove yourself by making that first positive step towards leading a proactive lifestyle.

An old work colleague used to say to me

“if you can’t be bothered to write it down, you can’t be bothered to do it”

and this is still a piece of advice I hold on to. It may seem like a pain in the ass now but writing stuff down, especially when planning your daily routine, is a huge help in helping you manage your time efficiently.

-Your first step towards managing your life better should be to take a piece of paper and mark out one week- 7 days, 24 slots per day.

Goals and Priorities

This is the place to start when looking at rescheduling your daily routine. What exactly are your goals? What are your priorities?

For most work or education is their priority in terms of a daily routine. Their life revolves around fixed hours at work/college and so their daily routine must be planned in accordance to this.

-Therefore the best place to start with our new managed daily schedule is to take our piece of paper and fill in all the slots which are unavoidably full due to work/education/travel and other commitments.

This is what we must now work around.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark19.htm

Gym Time

The next thing to consider is the gym. How many times a week do you want to go to the gym? 3? 4? 5? This is a very personal choice and entirely dependent on your training experience and goals.

i) Time at the gym. It is usually recommended to spend no more than 1 hour at the gym. Physiologically the first hour is the most optimum for muscle gain and mentally more than one hour can be plain boring for some. This applies to most people unless they are advanced athletes with reason to spend more time in the gym.

ii) Time for the gym. When do you want to go to the gym? Is your gym available at those times? You must find a compromise between these two issues. For most their gym is open to suit their needs for those people that can only train late at night or early in the morning must either come to a compromise or rethink their choice of gym (or train at home).

-The next step is to allocate slots on our sheets for time at the gym. Remember to include shower/changing/travel time.

Rest

Adequate rest is one of the staples of a healthy lifestyle, bodybuilder or not. Rest time for us health nuts allows us to recuperate mentally from gym time at the gym, recover physically from our workouts and basically provide some essential off-time. Rest time is as important in a well balanced lifestyle as your workout. In this context rest will be sleep time.

Ideally, a bodybuilder will spend at least 8 hours a night sleeping. This is just a rough rule, however, and you must do what works best for you- whether it’s more or less.

-Fill 8 hours a night with time dedicated to sleep.

This may seem pointless but often knowing you should be in bed will get you under the covers a lot faster. It is very easy for anyone to get distracted before bedtime with a movie or a book. By pencilling in dedicated sleep time you are making sure you are doing the best for your body.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/md33.htm

Food

Meals. Food is imperative to life and just as important to muscle growth, development and recovery. Planning in time for food may seem like a waste of effort but planning where your meals go in relation to the rest of your day can be of great benefit. As a rough guide, bodybuilders look to take in 5-7 meals per day. By planning these in your daily routine you can;

i) ensure you don’t miss a meal
ii) ensure you are getting the calories you need
iii) ensure you are getting the macronutrients you need
iv) plan ahead for meals in the upcoming days
v) make sure you are eating often enough

As I will discuss later, not all meals need to take an hour to prepare. Efficient planning and preparing can cut the preparation time of your meal dramatically and by utilizing alternative you can ensure that you maintain your required food consumption without too much fuss.

-Allocate time for breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout and a pre-bedtime meal. Fit in the rest of your meals around these staples.

-If there are meals in the day which you must prepare from scratch allocate the time for them.

-If you are responsible for preparing food for others then allocate the time for preparing, serving, eating, clearing up etc.

Flexi-Time

The rest of your time is essentially free- in the bodybuilding sense. You may have other commitments to take care of, or other activities you would like to get done. For a lot of people social/family is an important part of their daily routine and, in terms of priorities, is up there with exercise. For some, a social life is a luxury to be fitted around other factors. For some, the occasional off day may provide an opportunity to cheat a little on their diet and have an indulgent meal or two. This is a highly personal topic go cannot be generalised upon here. Whatever it is to chose to do in your free time, enjoy it!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/hardgainer22.htm

Blap Blaow

10-12-2005, 05:38 PM

HOW CAN EATING 6 MEALS PER DAY BE MORE CONVENIENT?

Getting in the right number of meals a day to meet your dietary requirements can, quite frankly, be a pain in the ass sometimes! However, by following the primary rule for time management (that of ORGANISATION) there are some ideas you can use to help you keep on top of your diet.

Diet Plan

Before you can possibly know what to buy, how much to prepare or how often you need to eat you need to arrange a meal plan. This involves calculating your basic calorific requirements (taking into account exercise and goals) and consuming the necessary calories and macronutrients accordingly. Again, with everything else I have gone through write it down. This will help you really see what need to eat and adjust you diet accordingly.

The bodybuilding.com forums are a great place to find advice on a diet plan to suit your goals after you’ve done your research.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek41.htm

Shopping List

The next step to making 6 meals a day more convenient also comes before any meals have been prepared. By making a list of your requirements for the next week/fortnight/month you can ensure that the kitchen cupboards are stacked with enough food to keep you going. Why make a list though? Surely you can be trusted to remember it all! Well, by arranging your diet and making a list before you shop you can;

a) avoid impulse purchases
b) make sure you have enough food
c) not forget any food
d) cater for you meals well in advance, giving you more time in your week for the rest of your life

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/south19.htm

Put it on Ice

Ok, so now you’re ready to make some food! But sometimes it can be serious effort preparing 6 different meals everyday. The simple solution is to make your food in bulk! Things like chicken, lamb and beef can be prepared in advance, made in bulk (for, say, a week) and frozen for future meals. This takes a lot of the hassle out of food preparation and can help significantly with your diet plan. Similarly, food can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and consumed as required.

Meal Replacements

Sometimes, even after all your preparation, you just can’t find the time for a whole meal. Or maybe you just don’t have the appetite for it- after all 6 meals a day can be quite filling! A simple and effective solution is to use meal replacement powders, drinks or bars. These can easily be taken in coffee breaks or spare time and offer a great alternative to whole meals.

Whilst many varieties are available commercially many that want to avoid the highly processed nature of these products go about making their own. Homemade meal replacements also offer a great opportunity for you to control exactly what goes into them and what you get out of them.

A great idea for a meal replacement shake would be;

bananas
peanut butter
rolled oats
chocolate protein powder

stick the ingredients in a blender and enjoy! Protein bars offer a fantastic alternative to shakes and a huge number of tried and tested recipes can be found at http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=346329

Prepare for tomorrow

This is an important tip I’ve picked up from experience. Look at your day tomorrow. Look at your schedule for the rest of the week. Is there anything out of the ordinary? Will you have to be out of the office or your home more than usual? If the answer is yes then you must plan in advance. Pack some food for yourself the night before, or make up a some protein bars. The last thing you want to do is find yourself reaching for a Big Mac when you’re caught short.

TIPS

After writing this there are some tips, many of which I have developed from personal experience, which I would like to share;

a) hang around with like minded people.

This may seem odd but it makes a lot of sense. If you have friends that are into bodybuilding and fitness they will understand why you’re not drinking in your spare time or why you’ve chosen something boring for dinner. This makes it a lot easier for you to maintain your diet plan as peer pressure is minimized. This does definitely not mean you should ditch your other friends. Instead try to make them aware of you lifestyle and goals. Hopefully your diet will benefit as a result.

b) be realistic

Whilst trying to figure out your schedule some may be a little too ambitious for their own good. You must plan for minor things like travel, showering time, stopping at the shops or a little scheduled laziness. These little things add up time wise and a tightly packed schedule may be a little unrealistic to actually achieve. If you find, with your basic schedule, that you have a few more free hours in your day than you anticipated- great!

c) be consistent

Try and be as consistent as you can with your diet, workout and recovery pattern. This way you’ll form great habits and preparing and putting away those 6 meals a day will become second nature in no time.

d) try to life a well balanced life

By this I mean try to devote as much time and effort resting, socialising, being with your family etc than in the gym or worrying about your diet and training regimen. This will not only help avoid (the dreaded) overtraining but also ensure that you are living a balanced, healthy and harmonious lifestyle.