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The Weekend Strength Warrior

 Only Have Time to Train on the Weekend? No Problem.


     Yesterday, I received an email from a reader who had a question about setting up a “weekends-only” strength program.  I have had similar questions asked before.  The most commonly similar question is when lifters only have a couple days of the week to train, and so they want to know how to set up a minimalistic training regimen.  If that’s you, then check out this program I wrote last year entitled “Maximum Mass, Minimum Training.”  Anyway, this particular reader said he had been doing a full-body workout, 3-times-per-week, alternating between heavier and lighter sessions.  He said that he has a new job that is going to make it very tough for him to get to the gym during the weekdays, so he wanted to know if there was a way to train on only Saturday and Sunday, but still do full-body workouts.  The program below is the one that I gave him, and the one that I recommend for you if you are in the same, or a similar, boat.

     First off, if you want to attempt this program, as well, you can’t really train your full body the same on a weekends-only program as you would on, say, a Monday, Wednesday, Friday program.  Instead, the best bet is a “full-body split” program.  With this program, you will train both your lower body and your upper body on each day, but Saturday will be a “squat and press” day and Saturday will be a “pull and biceps” day.  This will allow you to get the benefits that come with full-body workouts while still allowing you to train hard on Sunday.

     The second thing that I recommend to do is a bodyweight-only workout in the middle of the week, on Wednesday.  The problem with only training on the weekends is that you probably need a little more stimulation than what can be provided by just training those two days.  By doing a workout of bodyweight squats and push-ups on Wednesdays, you are able to mitigate this issue.  It also provides an easy “active recovery” workout to prepare you for the coming weekend while helping you recover from the previous one.

     Here’s the program.  Afterwards, I’ll outline a few tips that may help you get the most out of it.



The Weekend Strength-Warrior Program

Saturday - Squat and Press Day

Squats: 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps; 2 sets of 8 reps.  Work up over 5 progressively heavier sets until you reach a tough—but not completely all-out—set of 5 reps.  After that, drop down in weight to, perhaps, the weight used on your 3rd set of 5, and do 2 back-off sets of 8 reps.  The back-off sets shouldn’t be all-out, either.  You should have several reps left “in the tank” after the sets of 8 reps.

Bench Presses: 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps; 2 sets of 8 reps.  Same methodology as the squats.

Standing Barbell Presses or One-Arm Dumbbell Overhead Presses: 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  If you have access to dumbbell heavy enough, then I prefer the one-arm overheads just to balance out between barbell and dumbbell work, but the strict barbell military press is fine, too.  Unlike the previous two exercises, don’t do any back-off sets.

Sled Drags: 1 set, close to all-out.  If you have access to a sled, then do these going backwards.  Dragging the sled while walking backwards engages your quads over your hamstrings, which makes it a better choice on this day.  If you don’t have access to a sled, you can pretty much tie a rope to anything heavy and drag it—or you can always push a truck or car, just make sure someone’s inside steering it.  Make this one hard set, but don’t go until exhaustion.

Ab Wheel: 1 set of 8-10 reps.


Sunday - Pull Day

Deadlifts (conventional or sumo, you choice): 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  Unlike our two big movements from Saturday, don’t add any back-off sets to this movement.  Deadlifts of all types respond better with reps of 5 or under.

Power Cleans or Power Snatches: 5 progressively heavier sets of triples.  Cleans, snatches, and other derivatives of quick lifts work best when the reps are kept at 3 or lower.  Work up to a heavy, but not entirely all-out, triple.

Chins: 3 to 5 sets of 3 to 5 reps.  For this movement, don’t worry about doing progressively heavier sets, however, if you are really strong, then you may need to do these with added weight.  Depending on your strength, you can do as little as 9 reps total, by just doing 3 sets of 3 reps, or you can do as many as 25 reps, by doing 5 sets of 5; or, of course, anything in between.

Barbell Curls: 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps; 2 sets of 8 reps.  Do these in the same manner as the squats and bench presses from yesterday’s session.

Farmer Walks: 1 set, close to all-out.  As with the sled dragging from Saturday’s workout, do one hard set, but make sure you still have a little something “in the tank” when you’re finished.  You could also do stone carries, sandbag carries, or suitcase carries for alternatives.

Hanging Leg Raises: 1 set of 15-20 reps.


Wednesday - Bodyweight Day

Bodyweight Squats: 100 reps.  It doesn’t matter how you get 100 reps.  You can do 2 sets of 50, 10 sets of 10, 5 sets of 20; heck, you could do 20 sets of 5, as ridiculous as that sounds.

Push Ups: 50 reps.  Once again, simply get 50 reps any way that you want.

Sit Ups: 50 reps.  Make sure that these are “full” sit-ups, and not just crunches.



Some Additional Tips

  • If you have a hard manual labor job Monday through Friday, such as any sort of construction job, then feel free to not do the Wednesday workout.

  • Do not add more work to the workouts—at least, at first.  As you adapt to it, then at some point you can start doing more than one hard, near-to-limit set of 5 reps, or you can even add another exercise or two.  But don’t start off by doing more.  It’s plenty of work as is.

  • If you are an advanced athlete, then you can try some more “intense” set/rep variations.  For suggestions there, check out my recent 5x5 Training Variations article.

  • If you want some additional work during the week, then do the Wednesday workout on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of just once on Wednesdays.  But this is in no way necessary.  Some lifters will get better results by only doing the Wednesday session during the week.

  • Make sure that you get plenty of calories and protein on the weekends and during the week on your off-days.  Shoot for a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily.


     Don’t let minimal time to train during the week hold you back from getting great results.  Maximum mass, strength, and power can still be yours even when you only have the weekends.
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