Looking for Advice – Training Only Friday and Saturday (Conjugate? Upper/Lower?)

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1

Hey everyone,

I’d really appreciate some input on how to best structure training when the only two days I can lift are Friday and Saturday.

  • During the week I could do some resistance band work (pull-aparts, pushdowns, curls, etc.), but no barbell training.

  • I’ve thought about Upper/Lower or Push/Pull/Legs, but after reading some of Chris Beardsley’s work I’m not sure that band work is really enough to stimulate all the fibers. Honestly, his stuff kind of threw me off track — I’m not sure who to follow anymore.

  • What I do know is that training should be both fun and effective. That’s why I was thinking about some kind of Conjugate-style template — for the variety and the chance to rotate lifts.

Here’s a rough idea I had (inspired by conjugate training):

Friday

  • Overhead Press

  • Dynamic Effort Bench Press

  • Max Effort Squat

  • Wide Grip Pull-Ups

  • Accessories

Saturday

  • Max Effort Bench Press

  • Max Effort Deadlift (I tend to pull pretty stiff-legged)

  • Upper Back Row

  • Accessories

Has anyone here run something similar — two consecutive days per week, conjugate or otherwise?

What would you recommend for exercise order, how to balance volume/intensity, and how to make the most progress with only 2 full days?

Thanks in advance!

2

Jacob,

We have a few 2-day templates available, e.g. our Time Crunch program comes with a 2-day version, as does Powerbuilding 1.

I do not think conjugate-style training is a great approach for most people.

-Jordan

3

Thank you for your reply, Jordan.

I’ve looked at the programs. Time Crunch is less focused on hypertrophy than Powerbuilding I.

Is the Powerbuilding I 2-day option also made up of two longer sessions?

And in your view, would it be feasible to run PB I back-to-back? At least for a limited time?

4

I’d say they both would produce similar results in hypertrophy. Yes, both are 2-days per week of lifting with longer sessions.

If you got good results from either program, I’d definitely encourage you to run them back-to-back. I build them to work for a wide swath of the population, so I’m optimistic they’d work well for you too.