Maximum Strength: Can You Adjust Your Schedule?

Written on May 13, 2008 at 3:25 pm, by Eric Cressey

Q: I purchased your new book Maximum Strength, and am really enjoying it – and looking forward to the programs. One question, though: are there any general recommendations you would make if someone, due to schedule restrictions, needed to modify the lifting portion program (i.e. not the recommended energy system work) to fit into a 3x/week rather than 4x/week schedule? While I can change up the days of the week, including weekends, I find that my job and family responsibilities limit me to 3x/week at the gym. I realize that going to 3x/week means I’m no longer really on the program, but I would like to keep to its other parameters as much as possible.

A: As a general rule of thumb, I’d simply drop some assistance work from each day and then blend them as well as possible. For 3x/week, I prefer:

Monday: Heavy lower body movement (including a dynamic single-leg movement), assistance upper body

Wednesday: Heavy upper body movements, static unsupported single-leg movement (generally a one-leg squat to bench or one-leg Romanian deadlift).

Friday: Lower body speed or volume emphasis (such as speed deadlifts or front squats for 4×6), assistance upper body.

You should be able to pick and choose from each phase to get to where you want to be.

Eric Cressey

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