Press Template and Field Sports

Hello coaches,

I am now starting the last week of my first HLM cycle which I blatantly chose over the bridge. I have been making decent progress (SQ +30lbs, DL +20lbs, PR +17lbs, BP +25lbs) while shrinking my waist from ~36" to 33" and really enjoyed the program. Now I would like to run the press template directly after it, I am however struggling with workout scheduling.

So far I have been training M/W/F and began to do rugby training on Tuesday. As is to be expected, this worked rather flawlessly with the HLM program. With the press template, my preferred schedule would be M/Tu and Th/F. Training on the weekend is hardly an option for me since my gym is in the city where I work and study and to say that public transport connections are poor on weekends would be a gross understatement. This means that I would be doing the workout for day 2 at Tuesday morning and attend rugby training in the evening. I fear that I might be too exhausted to properly commit to the training under these circumstances. Or maybe I am overthinking this and it is just something to adapt to? I found a liking in the sport but progress in lifting definitely has the higher priority.

I assume that you have experience with scenarios like these and would like to hear your opinion. I have already considered doing the 3-day version of the template but I feel like missing out on something that way.

Thank you for taking the time. I sincerely appreciate it.

Hi there,

This really just comes down to where your priorities lie, and what your schedule will permit.

If you really want to train 4 days per week, and training on the weekends is NOT an option for you, then you’re just going to be stuck with a day where you train on the same day you perform your sport. And it sounds like your priorities are tilted towards lifting over rugby. So if you’re training Tuesday morning and playing rugby in the evening, your morning training should go just fine, and you’ll adapt to the overall workload with time. You’ll also learn about your response and recovery abilities by doing this, and can adjust things as needed.