I’ve been hitting the gym 3 times a week for about two years now and seen pretty good results. Well, life happened and I can’t really find the time for that anymore, so I’m trying to adapt my routine for twice a week. Was wondering if anybody has an opinion on it.

For most of my fitness journey I’ve been doing GZCLP with variation exercises for tier 2 and the rep range for tier 1 modified to 3x5, then 3x4, then 3x3, because who even has the time to do 10 sets of 1 rep? Now that I will only be going to the gym twice a week my genius idea is the smash the 4 GZCLP days into 2, while following a similar progression scheme to the original. Something like this:

Day 1:

  • T1 Barbell squat
  • T1 Overhead press
  • T2 Romanian deadlift
  • T2 Incline dumbbell bench press
  • T3 Lat pulldown

Day 2:

  • T1 Deadlift
  • T1 Barbell bench press
  • T2 Split squats
  • T2 Dumbbell shoulder press
  • T3 Lat pulldown

So far I’ve done one week of this and feeling ok. I tried to superset the T2 lifts, but the general fatigue is getting a bit too much that way so I’ll probably stop. Any thoughts on what I can change or do you guys think this is a balanced enough workout?

  • zitronenschnitte@feddit.orgEnglish
    3·
    17 days ago

    I am in a similar situation. I am only able to go to the gym 2 times a week and do the GZCLP routine. I did not adapt the workout itself at all. I just go 2 times a week instead of 3 (and sometimes I am lucky enough to get the 3rd on in anyway). I am still able to make progress, but of course it is slower than 3 or even 4 times a week.

    Is there a reason you superset the T2 lifts? You did that before or is it a change to save more time? If you already feel the fatigue now, it might be too much. Especially with two T1 lifts before that I can imagine that it is very tiring. But it still might work for you. I think you will just have to give it a try and adapt as you go. I think my main change would be switching Lat pulldown with a row variation for a T3 on day 2 to work the upper back.

    Personally, I stick to one T1 and prefer to add T2 and T3 lifts. Especially because I need more pauses for the T1. So time wise I can do more T2 or T3 lifts than T1. One day looks like this then for example:

    T1 Bench press
    T2 Bench press inclined
    T2 Squats
    T3 Lat pulldown
    T3 Butterfly
    T3 Reverse Fly

    It works for me and it’s fun enough to keep me motivated, which is my main goal. I kinda hope someone else chimes in to give their opinion because I am really interested how others make it work.

    • klisurovi4@midwest.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      16 days ago

      I’ve read that muscles grow better if they are stimulated multiple times per week. That’s why I wanted to get essentially two full GZCLP workouts in one day, so I hit each muscle group twice per week with similar intensity. If I were to do normal GZCLP there would always be some muscle group that’s only exercised once in the week.

      The idea of supersetting T2 was to save time, yes. I haven’t done it before and decided to give it a chance, but it’s definitely too fatiguing.

      Honestly, thinking about it, it might be worth it to drop the second T1 and replace it with T2 of the same exercise, so all the muscles are still stimulated but it’s not so generally fatiguing and time consuming. Something like this:

      Week 1:

      Day 1:

      • T1 Barbell squat
      • T2 Dumbbell shoulder press
      • T2 Romanian deadlift
      • T2 Incline dumbbell bench press
      • T3 Lat pulldown

      Day 2:

      • T1 Barbell bench press
      • T2 Split squats
      • T2 Dumbbell shoulder press
      • T2 Romanian deadlift
      • T3 Dumbbell row

      Week 2:

      Day 1:

      • T1 Deadlift
      • T2 Incline dumbbell bench press
      • T2 Split squats
      • T2 Dumbbell shoulder press
      • T3 Lat pulldown

      Day 2:

      • T1 Overhead press
      • T2 Romanian deadlift
      • T2 Incline dumbbell bench press
      • T2 Split squats
      • T3 Dumbbell row

      I might add some more T3 for legs or arms if I’m not feeling too exhausted at the end. I’ll try it out for a week or two and think about it

      • zitronenschnitte@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        16 days ago

        I think this looks good. Give it a try and see how it feels. I can imagine by dropping one of the t1 to a t2 the fatigue should be better to handle.

        And as you day, you hit the muscles two times a week. And when you still feel like you have something left in the tank after a workout, you can add another T3 according to the T1. But with 3 T2 lifts, even without additional t3, I think you have a good volume already.

      • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        15 days ago

        I’ve been doing two “T1” lifts per workout, 2 workouts per week, for about 4 or 5 months now. I have a bench/squat day and a OHP/deadlift day. I also do barbell rows on the bench day and pull ups on the deadlift day, and a few other accessories.

        I also do 2 cardio days per week, and sometimes a stretching/mobility day on top of that.

        I haven’t gained much in the past few months but I also don’t think I’ve lost much strength since September (when I tested myself at 1100 lbs/500 kg on my powerlifting total between squat/bench/deadlift) while I’ve focused on other fitness goals besides strength.

        It seems like a good routine for me, and I like doing the same thing every week.