if you had 4-5 hours a week to spend in the gym over 4 sessions, what would you do?

[mvelis15]

Busy parent here, as I'm sure many can relate to.
I go to the gym 4x and run 2x per week. Currently do an upper/lower split at the gym, with one upper day a push bias and the other a pull bias, one leg day a quad bias and the other a glute and ham bias.

With warm up and a bit of a stretch or a bit of core work at the end I can only really fit in 4-5 solid exercises of 3-4 sets each. I try to focus on compound movements first with some accessory lifts at the end.

Im tracking my progress and progressively overloading. Is this the best way for time strapped 30 something's to spend in the gym? Are there better programs to focus on? I feel like when I research routines most of them assume you have 90 minutes+ at the gym. I get to the gym when it opens at 5am and have to be out the door by 6:15. With warm up/cool down I get around 45 minutes of solid lifting time.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[jely]

@mvelis15 5/3/1. You can easily get a 5/3/1 session done in an hour.

 

[dawn16]

@jely 5/3/1 BBB is quick and dirty gainz.

 

[nylde0705]

@dawn16 And impossible to just do the recommendations. I add so much shit to it it’s ridiculous. I’ve also been on it to long.

 

[dawn16]

@nylde0705 I think if you add too much you are just eating into your recovery and actually making less muscle gains.

 

[nylde0705]

@dawn16 Probably right. Pain is an addiction though.

 

[joeeldridge]

@jely Fantastic basic program that is easy to scale, tweak, customize and gives you a goal each session

 

[sw501]

@mvelis15 45 minutes is what most programs shoot for, any starting or intermediate strength program would get you in and out in 45 minutes. Warm ups would be included in the programming and personally I'd do the core work at home while playing with the kids. You could keep doing what you're doing and just alternate your days a little so one week would look like Push Pull Legs Push then the next week would be Pull Legs Push Pull, next week Legs Push Pull Legs. Lots of ways to make PPL work on 4 days.