How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?

TOPIC: How can a bodybuilder manage their time?

The Question:

A bodybuilder's schedule can be hectic, especially if they are an amateur with a full time job.

Working, going to the gym, eating 6 meals per day, getting 8-10 hours of sleep per night- if only there were 40 hours in a day would it be easy.

How can a bodybuilder manage their time?

How can eating 6 meals per day be more convenient?

Bonus Question: What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?

Show off your knowledge to the world!

The Winners:

Blap Blaow View Profile
ho_124 View Profile

Prizes:

1st place - 75 in store credit.

2nd place - 50 in store credit.

3rd place - 25 in store credit.

1st Place - Blap Blaow

Introduction

A daily schedule can be hectic. Finding the time for work, education, family, food, a social life, and some sleep at the end of it often requires a lot of planning and working to a plan. Add an intense and time consuming activity such as bodybuilding into the mix and time management seems to go out the window.

However, for a lot of people, there is enough time in the day. The problem is using this time efficiently in order to take care of everything. There are several tips you can take on board to help you keep your life in some kind of order, and you'll be a better bodybuilder for doing so.

How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?

There is one simple key to help you manage your time better; organization. Organization covers a multitude of angles, all of which fit together to help you arrange and live a more balanced and less hectic lifestyle.

Write It Down

From here on in you will write down everything! Writing stuff down can be a major aid in helping you manage time and reach goals. By writing things down you can:

Help sort out conflicts in scheduling.
Remember what you are supposed to do and when.
Help yourself get motivated by knowing you have a schedule to follow.
Plan a balanced lifestyle incorporating everything you want to/need to do in your daily routine.
Prove yourself by making that first positive step toward leading a proactive lifestyle.

An old work colleague used to say to me ...

"If you can't be bothered to write it down,
you can't be bothered to do it."

... and this is still a piece of advice I hold on to. It may seem like a pain in the ass now but writing stuff down, especially when planning your daily routine, is a huge help in helping you manage your time efficiently.

Your first step towards managing your life better should be to take a piece of paper and mark out one week - 7 days, 24 slots per day.

Goals And Priorities

This is the place to start when looking at rescheduling your daily routine. What exactly are your goals? What are your priorities?

For most work or education there is a priority in terms of a daily routine. Their life revolves around fixed hours at work/college and so their daily routine must be planned in accordance to this.

Therefore the best place to start with our new managed daily schedule is to take our piece of paper and fill in all the slots which are unavoidably full due to work/education/travel and other commitments.

This is what we must now work around.

Gym Time

The next thing to consider is the gym. How many times per week do you want to go to the gym? 3, 4 or 5? This is a personal choice and entirely dependent on your training experience and goals.

Time at the gym.
It is usually recommended to spend no more than 1 hour at the gym. Physiologically the first hour is the most optimum for muscle gain and mentally more than one hour can be plain boring for some. This applies to most people unless they are advanced athletes with reason to spend more time in the gym.
Time for the gym.
When do you want to go to the gym? Is your gym available at those times? You must find a compromise between these two issues. For most, their gym is open to suit their needs; for those people that can only train late at night or early in the morning. They must either come to a compromise or rethink their choice of gym (or train at home).

The next step is to allocate slots on our sheets for time at the gym. Remember to include shower/changing/travel time.

Rest

Adequate rest is one of the staples of a healthy lifestyle, bodybuilder or not. Rest time for us health nuts allows us to recuperate mentally from time at the gym, recover physically from our workouts and basically provide some essential off-time. Rest time is as important in a well balanced lifestyle as your workout. In this context, rest will be time.

Ideally, a bodybuilder will spend at least 8 hours per night sleeping. This is just a rough rule, however, and you must do what works best for you - whether it's more or less.

Fill 8 hours per night with time dedicated to sleep.

This may seem pointless but often knowing you should be in bed will get you under the covers a lot faster. It is easy for anyone to get distracted before bedtime with a movie or a book. By penciling in dedicated sleep time you are making sure you are doing the best for your body.

Food

Meals. Food is imperative to life and just as important to muscle growth, development and recovery. Planning in time for food may seem like a waste of effort but planning where your meals go in relation to the rest of your day can be of great benefit. As a rough guide, bodybuilders look to take in 5-7 meals per day. By planning these in your daily routine you can:

Ensure you don't miss a meal.
Ensure you are getting the calories you need.
Ensure you are getting the macronutrients you need.
Plan ahead for meals in the upcoming days.
Make sure you are eating often enough.

As I will discuss later, not all meals need to take an hour to prepare. Efficient planning and preparing can cut the preparation time of your meal dramatically and by utilizing alternative you can ensure that you maintain your required food consumption without too much fuss.

Allocate time for breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout and a pre-bedtime meal. Fit in the rest of your meals around these staples. If there are meals in the day which you must prepare from scratch allocate the time for them. If you are responsible for preparing food for others then allocate the time for preparing, serving, eating, clearing up etc.

Flexi-Time

The rest of your time is essentially free - in the bodybuilding sense. You may have other commitments to take care of, or other activities you would like to get done. For a lot of people social/family is an important part of their daily routine and, in terms of priorities, is up there with exercise.

For some, a social life is a luxury to be fitted around other factors. For some, the occasional off day may provide an opportunity to cheat a little on their diet and have an indulgent meal or two. This is a highly personal topic go cannot be generalized upon here. Whatever it is you chose to do in your free time, enjoy it!

How Can Eating 6 Meals Per Day Be More Convenient?

Getting in the right number of meals per day to meet your dietary requirements can, quite frankly, be a pain in the ass sometimes! However, by following the primary rule for time management (that of ORGANIZATION) there are some ideas you can use to help you keep on top of your diet.

Diet Plan

Before you can possibly know what to buy, how much to prepare or how often you need to eat you need to arrange a meal plan. This involves calculating your basic caloric requirements (taking into account exercise and goals) and consuming the necessary calories and macronutrients accordingly. Again, with everything else I have gone through, remember to write it down. This will help you really see what need to eat and adjust your diet accordingly.

The Bodybuilding.com forums are a great place to find advice on a diet plan to suit your goals after you've done your research.

Shopping List

The next step to making 6 meals per day more convenient also comes before any meals have been prepared. By making a list of your requirements for the next week/fortnight/month you can ensure that the kitchen cupboards are stacked with enough food to keep you going.

Why make a list though? Surely you can be trusted to remember it all! Well, by arranging your diet and making a list before you shop you can:

Avoid impulse purchases.
Make sure you have enough food.
Not forget any food.
Cater for your meals well in advance, giving you more time in your week for the rest of your life.

Put It On Ice

beef

This takes a lot of the hassle out of food preparation and can help significantly with your diet plan. Similarly, food can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days and consumed as required.

Meal Replacements

meal replacement powders

drinks

bars

While many varieties are available commercially many that want to avoid the highly processed nature of these products go about making their own. Homemade meal replacements also offer a great opportunity for you to control exactly what goes into them and what you get out of them.

A great idea for a meal replacement shake would be:

Bananas
Peanut butter
Rolled oats
Chocolate protein powder

Stick the ingredients in a blender and enjoy! Protein bars offer a fantastic alternative to shakes and a huge number of tried and tested recipes can be found at the Bodybuilding.com forum.

Prepare For Tomorrow

This is an important tip I've picked up from experience. Look at your day tomorrow. Look at your schedule for the rest of the week. Is there anything out of the ordinary? Will you have to be out of the office or your home more than usual? If the answer is yes then you must plan in advance. Pack some food for yourself the night before, or make up some protein bars.

The last thing you want to do is find yourself reaching for a Big Mac when you're caught short.

Tips

After writing this there are some tips, many of which I have developed from personal experience, which I would like to share:

Hang Around With Like Minded People.
This may seem odd but it makes a lot of sense. If you have friends that are into bodybuilding and fitness they will understand why you're not drinking in your spare time or why you've chosen something boring for dinner.

This makes it a lot easier for you to maintain your diet plan as peer pressure is minimized. This does definitely not mean you should ditch your other friends. Instead try to make them aware of your lifestyle and goals. Hopefully your diet will benefit as a result.
Be Realistic.
While trying to figure out your schedule some may be a little too ambitious for their own good. You must plan for minor things like travel, showering time, stopping at the shops or a little scheduled laziness.

These little things add up time-wise and a tightly packed schedule may be a little unrealistic to actually achieve. If you find, with your basic schedule, that you have a few more free hours in your day than you anticipated - great!
Be Consistent.
Try and be as consistent as you can with your diet, workout and recovery pattern. This way you'll form great habits and preparing and putting away those 6 meals per day will become second nature in no time.
Try To Life A Well Balanced Life.
By this I mean try to devote as much time and effort to resting, socializing, being with your family, etc., rather than being in the gym or worrying about your diet and training regimen. This will not only help avoid (the dreaded) overtraining but also ensure that you are living a balanced, healthy and harmonious lifestyle.

Bonus Question


	Question: What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?

My diet is pretty much set in stone! This way I can easily prepare for meals in advance and can make sure that all of the cupboards are full enough to cope with the demands of my lifestyle. It also means I know when and how much to eat without having to worry about fluctuations in my routine.

A Typical Training Day

I try to stick to whole foods as much as possible during the day, but since I workout early (usually) I stick to liquid meals in the a.m. as I find solid food hard to stomach just after I get up.

Meal 1 (pre-workout): rolled oats, whey shake
Gym Time
Meal 2 (post-workout): dextrose/maltodextrin/whey shake
Meal 3: rolled oats in a whey shake
Meal 4: whole eggs, rolled oats, banana, peanut butter
Meal 5: chicken breast, brown rice
Meal 6: lentils/lamb/chicken (whatever's for dinner!)
Meal 7: casein shake, fish oil

I've normally had my first 3 meals by midday so lunchtime offers a great opportunity for a great whole food meal. In the afternoon I either eat the food I've prepared the night before (if I know I'll be out) or make up something fresh.

After a bit of practice I've found what works best for me, and now I have a diet which I can both handle and which is giving me great results. Planning is always the key. Good luck and thank you for reading!

2nd Place - ho_124
How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?

Of all the things in bodybuilding, this is probably the thing that beginners overlook and fail to consider. They just say to themselves "I'm going to start lifting weights, eating right and I'm going to get huge!" Then maybe they would get someone to make them the most "pro" training schedule and diet plan but when it comes time to actually hit the weights four to five times a week and eat six meals per day, they fall apart.

Commitment

I see it all the time at my school, guys who come in the gym without knowing what they're getting into. Most of them don't realize the commitment and time you have to put in and the discipline you have to have to make serious gains. It's funny, you can always tell which are the guys who will just fail and who will keep with it.

The guys who just come in all happy-go-lucky and think it's so easy and maybe a week or two later just quit it with a grim face because they aren't ready to take on the commitment. It's like this, almost everyone you see on the football team is truly committed and wouldn't miss a practice even if they had S.A.R.S. They go to every game and they don't take football as some little thing on the side of their lives they can go to whenever they want.


	What Does S.A.R.S. Stand For? Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

They know its not some huge joke and that it's all going to be easy, and they know it's going to take a lot of their time and almost all the players sacrifice something important to them. The same thing should apply to bodybuilding. You have to know that your going to make sacrifices, like maybe not going to your friends after school or wasting your spares in school d!cking around with your friends eating junk food and having snowball fights.

And you have to be prepared for the time commitment and not just be a lazy guy and quit halfway into your training because you're just a little busy. So basically the more time you put in and the more sacrifices you make to be sure your training and doing your diet is right, the better your progress will be and the happier you will be with your results.

Remember, as the saying always goes, the good things in life are hard to get and as far as I've heard bodybuilding isn't an exception.

Time Management Challenges

Managing your time while bodybuilding is hard especially if you play another sport or your in school with a job. If only you could just lift weights, doze all day and somehow for no reason get fifty grand a month then maybe it wouldn't be hard, but life isn't like that.

I can almost bet 99% of people's lives are busy, so sometimes fitting in a weight lifting schedule and making all that food seems impossible. But there are things you can do to manage your time better. Don't worry it won't be IMPOSSIBLE to do UNLESS ...

... you are studying medicine in a university, you have a job that works you late into the night, you live in a house by yourself so you cook, mow the lawn and take care of all the maintenance yourself, the closest gym is 500 miles away and the Quickie Mart is 100 miles away, you have a 10-year-old scooter and no car.

Maybe you're broke and have just one 10-pound dumbbell and a bent in half bar with one 5-pound plate. Or your friends make you go to the bar every Friday and you always get a hangover. Maybe you HAVE to visit and take care of your mom every weekend and yea, I think you got the picture.

Steps To Successful Time Management

1. Commitment, discipline, priority, and if you're a beginner know what you're getting into.

This is huge even though you've probably heard it like one hundred times and think it isn't important. Like anything in life, if you want to get a great body, feel good about yourself, become strong and fit you have to work hard and be focused, put lots of time into it, and make sacrifices.

If your not prepared to take all this stuff on then there is no point in getting into it. If your just going to lift for one week then stop for four weeks then do it again then your not going to be happy with your progress. You have to realize that your life is going to be a lot busier. Stick with your program and be able to accept that you're going to miss a few things that you want to go to.

Like all the guys on my school's football team miss the dances when they go away for games. You've got to be ready to discipline yourself to not waste time when it's really tempting too, if you're a guy who does that a lot then you can forget reaching your goals.

I remember a time when I was working out with a few guys in the school gym when we were in grade eleven and the grade nines were playing dodge ball. Now I don't know about you, but when the gym teacher lets us play with the lower grades I love taking out grade nine with volleyballs let alone even playing dodge ball.

Everyone rushed out to play and was like "Come play dodge ball with us, grade nine! Come on, it's grade nine!" It was SO tempting to go out and play but I stayed in the gym and kept working out. Think about it, if you can't even stay in the gym because of grade nine dodge ball then how are you going to stick with it for maybe three months or even a year or two?

"This brings me to the next point ...
... you have to set your priorities straight."

Is playing a game of dodgeball really more important than bodybuilding to you? If so then just stop lifting and start some dodge ball league. You have to ask yourself how important it is to you. If you keep getting distracted by little insignificant things that won't make a difference in your life (like a game of dodge ball won't be a highlight in your whole life, but getting a better body will and getting fit will) then it will be impossible to manage your time.

If you do distract yourself with those things and complain about being super busy then it's like complaining about a bad mark in math when you didn't do your work. And now for the people who are thinking of starting or have just started. Please know what your getting into, don't just look at a picture of what you would like to be and say I'm going to be like that guy without meaning it and being willing to put the work into it.

Trust me you will get frustrated if you come in with an attitude like "this will be easy to do." Why do you think there is so much information on lifting weights and diet? Why do you think there are personal trainers and dieticians? Because it's not all super easy to get big! So unless your goal is to gain only 1 cm on your arms, chest and legs then I guess it will be easy.

2. Spend at most one hour in a gym lifting and take shorter rests between sets.

That's right, spend at the most one hour in the gym. That's the general rule right now. There are a couple reasons for this. First since the context is about saving time, it does save time. A lot of people pump iron for an hour and 30 minutes to even two hours! Now I can even be on crack to tell you that's too much.

Also if you train over one hour you run the risk of overtraining. Trust me overtraining isn't pretty, if you overtrain for a little while then you could probably recover in one week or two of rest. But if you overtrain for one or two months or even without knowing, then it could stop you from doing ANY TRAINING anywhere from two months to a year, to get back to normal.

Trust me I fried my legs one time training too much for 3 months and I couldn't train them for a long time, I mean like half a year. It was the worst training setback in my life. So yea basically try to stay under an hour because it saves time and prevents overtraining. Also if you train too long, your intensity goes down and you won't gain as much on the muscle being worked.

Short intense workouts are best since they provide the muscle with the best workout rather than doing a lot of groups over a long period of time. Also your workout load should be placed evenly throughout the week so that each workout you're not doing too much training. Rests should be anywhere from 30 seconds to at the very most 2 minutes, maybe even 1 minute and 30 seconds.

Shorter rest between sets promotes hypertrophy (muscular growth) and it saves time. If you don't believe me that shorter rests promotes muscular growth, well powerlifters, which don't want big muscles but maximal strength rest from 2-5 minutes between sets to PREVENT muscle growth. So basically to save time keep workouts under an hour and rest from 30 seconds to MAX 2 minutes between sets which also have other benefits.


	Hypertrophy Vs. Hyperplasia Hypertrophy refers to an increase in muscle size, due to the enlargement of the size of the cells, as opposed to an increase in the number of cells (by cell division, a.k.a. Hyperplasia). Hypertrophy is most commonly seen in muscle that has been actively stimulated, the most well-known method being exercise.

3. Take advantage of spares if you're in school.

I get, on average, two spares every day in school. A lot of people, I mean a lot of uncommitted gym goers I see almost every spare fooling around in the cafeteria eating junk. I mean come on! Don't be stupid, those spares are there for a reason, so you can get things you need to get done, done!

If I need to workout that day and I have a spare I use those spares to go to the gym, not just to waste my time chasing butterflies, picking flowers and blazing. Spares are so important, if you waste them, then you have to spend time after school when time really counts to get your workout in. Think about it, it's a given you will have to be in school for 8 hours or so. So then why not get stuff done so you don't have to worry about it.

4. Have a good training split.

If I had all the time in the world and someone offered me $100,000 a month to just train and diet and do whatever I want for the rest of the day, then of course I would make an amazing training split. Most people would love to just go to the gym and focus and train one body part super intensely or two smaller ones.

The thing is, we don't have the time to do that, you have to compress your workouts into reasonable splits that fits your schedule. Having one that fits as much as possible into a reasonable workout will save time. Think about it, if you had a training split that had you work one body part of two smaller parts every time, then that means a lot more trips to the gym when you can do it with less trips to the gym. And this means, you guessed it, wasted time.

5. Mornings.

This only applies to morning people. If you are totally not a morning person and never will be because you look like and feel like a dirty ragdoll then this isn't important to you. But if you can wake up in the morning feeling energized and ready to train then this is for you.

If you live close to school, a university, or even work then this is ideal for you. You can wake up do your cardio or training then go to whatever you need to go to. Then all you have to do is diet for the rest of the day and you don't have to worry about getting your training done.

6. Choose a good gym and go at non-rush times.

Choosing a good gym is important. Choose a gym that is close to where you work, live or study. Choosing the time to go is even more important. For example, if you go to a gym at time rush hours then you will be waiting in line to use a machine or equipment. This doesn't save time. Going at non-rush times lets you get all you need to get done fast so you don't waste time.

7. Plan and have a routine and get into it.

You have to have a good routine made ahead of time and you have to plan for things. If you just go about your day without a routine or plan then you will definitely get screwed over. Think about it, you would probably forget you had to workout if you didn't have a routine. It would save you more time than waste if you just had a good routine.

Getting into a schedule is important also. When you get into a schedule then you know what you have to do and your not likely to forget. You also know what you're doing so you won't waste time.

How can eating 6 meals per day be more convenient?

Eating six meals a day isn't easy unless your family is like some stereotypical 70's family where the wife just stays home all day, cooks, cleans the house and when you come home she puts a newspaper on your lap and gives you coffee. But I'm sorry life isn't like that. Cooking six times per day sometimes isn't an option because you're at work, school or what not. And eating at McDonald's isn't the best post nutrition food. However there are things you can do to get your six nutritious healthy meals.

Meal Replacements - MRP

Two words: meal replacements. These are amazing if you need a quick meal in a crunch. They are easy to make, convenient and can be carried around in a backpack or even a pocket. All you need is a liquid to mix it in. They have slow release carbs, protein, and a bunch of vitamins and minerals.


	What Does MRP Stand For? Meal Replacement Powder.

They are great if you're bulking. You just mix with 2 cups of milk and that's probably 550 calories right there if you need that much that is. If you think its expensive, well then where else can you get a meal for three dollars that is nutritious and helps you build muscle?

Chicken breasts would probably cost more than that and take more time to cook. However don't rely on meal replacements for every single meal. Remember if its not right after a workout, natural food is the best food, that's why God made it, I don't think he made meal replacements and protein powder.

Good meal replacements.

1. EAS Myoplex Deluxe (New Formula) - Has 53 grams of protein and 28 grams of quality carbs - Has a bunch of vitamins and minerals - Has a good calorie number, if your bulking just add one or two cups of milk. Each cup of milk contains 150 calories about so yea ...

2. AST Ny-Tro Pro-40 - Has 40 grams of protein and 22 grams of quality carbs - 250 calories, good if your cutting - Has a good blend of vitamins and minerals

3. EAS Myoplex Lite - 25 grams of protein and 18 grams of quality carbs - has only 190 calories excellent if your cutting - Has a bunch of minerals and vitamins - The only thing that I don't like is the high sodium content. Its 500 and it promotes water storage which lessens definition, which isn't good when your cutting.


	Note: You have to watch out for 'bad' products. For example, you only want fast-absorbing carbs after a workout. A lot of products have bad ingredients that aren't good for you, so read the labels and be sure it's a good product. Read every ingredient and find out about it. Remember this is the product you will be using for a while, so you might as well spend time researching about the ingredients.

Protein Bars

Protein bars are great. Like meal replacements they can be carried easily and they are basically no hassle and sometimes taste good. They provide protein and carbs we need in our 6 meals per day. They are basically almost the same as meal replacements but in a bar form that is more enjoyable. For some reason I would rather be eating a bar than drinking a shake.

Good protein bars:

1. Organic Food Bar Omega-3 Flax Bar This is an amazing bar. It has 8 grams of fiber, which is a good slow absorbing carb which you want during the day. This bar also contains a full 2000 mg of essential Omega-3 fatty acids per bar.

2. Strength Systems USA Tri-O-Pro Cookies Another amazing product. This isn't a bar but a cookie, but whatever its still good. It has 13 grams of fiber and 12 grams of slow absorbing carbs from oats which is great.

It has 21 grams of protein. The only thing I don't like is the sugar alcohols. It has 9 grams of it, which they don't list as carbs but they actually are. It is only 9 grams though, which is alright since they are slow absorbing.

Almost all other bars have high sugar content or high sugar alcohol content. Sugar isn't good during the day since it promotes insulin spike which makes you a fatty. And sugar alcohol's aren't good if your cutting and lowering your carbs. Companies don't list them as carbs even though they are.

Canned Foods and Others

Canned foods are another great way to save time, all you need is a can opener and maybe a microwave. Now when you see me saying canned foods your probably like isn't that unhealthy? Well no, there are healthy canned foods. For example the best thing is probably canned sea food. This is actually healthy.

Canned salmon has a bunch of protein and the essential fats you need with minimal bad fats. It also has about 300 calories per can. Just add something else with it and your set to go. There are also canned sardines, tuna, and what not that is good for you. There are also those shrimp rings that are ready to eat with some sauce and smoked salmon which comes in a package you just have to defrost.

All of these a good sources of protein and are healthy for you. Just don't become a canned food guy. Eat a variety of foods. There are probably other good and healthy canned food items, just make sure you read the ingredients and check that it actually is healthy for you.

Eat easy to make foods

Things you can just toss in a microwave for a minute and they're ready are great. For example, for the oatmeal I eat, all I do is just put some water in it and heat it up. Sandwiches are also easy to make. Just stuff some meat, veggies and two slices of whole grain bread and it's a healthy meal. Just make sure it's actual meat and not sandwich meat since sandwich meat isn't healthy for you.

Salad is also really good. Just buy some vegetables, toss them into a bowl or container and add some fat-free dressing or dressing that is healthy. Remember, there are probably tons of other easy to make foods you can eat like fruits, milk, and cottage cheese.

Make food in the bulk

Making tons of food in bulk so it last you like 2-4 days is a good way to conserve time. So get someone to make a healthy lasagna or make it yourself, then freeze it and when you need a portion cut it out and warm it up. You can do this with other things too like pasta, chicken, beef, and soup.

Bonus Question


	Question: What does your day consist of? How do you fit all the training, meals, work, etc. into your schedule?

Since I'm in school, my day looks something like this:

7:00 a.m. - Wake up, eat breakfast; like oatmeal and fruit for quick and sustained energy. I also might eat a little protein like bread with some peanut butter and nuts or milk.
8:00 - Go to school.
9:30 - Eat another meal on spare or break: MRP or protein bar in between classes.
11:30 - This is the time my school has lunch so I eat lunch here.
1:00 p.m. - Workout on spare and have a post-workout shake.
2:00 - Eat post-workout MEAL.
3:30 - Get home from school and do school work.
4:00 - Eat another meal.
5:00 - Play basketball or do homework.
6:30 - Eat supper.
7:30 - Hang out or do what ever I want.
11:00 - I have milk or cottage cheese before I go to bed.

Since I'm in school, I can easily fit my training into the 1 hour spares I have. I have at least one spare everyday so the training is taken care of in that way. If I have to use a spare to study for a test or something then I can bump everything back and go to another gym on the weekend.

Meals are also easier for me since I get meal replacements and protein bars sometimes, not every single day and every meal. I also make easy things like soup, sandwiches, salads, milk, low-fat cheese, cottage cheese, oatmeal and canned seafood. But since my parents are home a lot of the time and they can cook meat or whatever for me, I get a lot of that stuff too.

If I need something I might also make it myself like eggs, or a chicken breast or a piece of fish. I used to work in the summer at Wendy's fast food but I quit the job because it sucked since they had me working till 3 or 3:30 in the morning. This was tough to do. I would have to bring two or three meals with me and something you may not have thought about was resisting the temptation to eat the food there.

With all that food in front of my face all day it sometimes got tempting to grab a few fries or grab a burger. Obviously you can't train while in work, so you have to do your training after or before (in my case before) then eat your meals during breaks in work.

Review Of Other Articles
Or "Why Wasn't Mine Picked?"

perldog007

Pro's

Good ideas.

Con's

Mostly applies to the writer himself. The article was based more on improving the writer's schedule, rather than the average bodybuilder.
Poor grammar. There were numerous grammar mistakes throughout the article.
Comments
This article had some good ideas, but wasn't fully direct to the main question. It would also be a good idea to review the article before submission to check for grammar errors.

mivi320

Pro's

Good information.

Con's

Limited ideas. The writer could have went more into depth on other priorities that bodybuilders may face, outside of just work and school, such as family affairs, social time with friends, etc.
Little detail on how to properly diet. This article contained the ideas of preparing your food, and eating every 6 hours when possible, but never went into detail on things such as how to find, and take advantage of, the gaps to eat meals. They also mentioned training, but never really emphasized on when weights and cardio can be incorporated into a schedule while saving time.
Comments
This article was written good, but some of the suggestions above were ways to expand and add creativity to the article. The article was good, but the winners hit on more points involving time management, not just the eating, training and sleeping.

taffer

Pro's

Good organization.
Workout routine was a good addition.

Con's

Poor grammar. There were numerous grammar errors throughout the article.
Never hit cardio straight on. The writer discussed how cardio can be incidental to us in our daily lives, but didn't describe when or how cardio can be incorporated purposely. Weights are important, but cardio can also play an important role for a bodybuilder.
Comments
Overall this article had some solid ideas, but was full with bad grammar. It seemed as the article progressed, the grammar became worse. Grammar can play a vital role when grading an article.

How Can A Bodybuilder Manage Their Time?

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