A Real Example of My Plan A, B and C Workouts
The last few weeks, training-wise, have been a real mixed bag for me. But they've also given me some good real-life examples of Plan A, Plan B and Plan C workouts. I outlined these types of workouts in my previous blog, as well figuring out which is more beneficial for you on any given day. You can check that post out here
For context, my current goals are a bit mixed. I'm looking to:
Compete in my first bodybuilding show next year, so maintaining and hopefully growing muscle is important.
Improve my cardiovascular health, particularly with my family history of high blood pressure and heart issues.
Maintain a healthy body weight.
I'm currently following a three-day bodybuilding split.
Over the last three weeks, I've managed to have a pretty good example of a Plan A, B and C for the same workout, my day 1 session, which focuses on legs and shoulders.
I'll be writing another article about how to split up your training week and will link it here once it's finished if you need some help organising your own training days.
Plan A — Legs and Shoulders
This was a good day. I had the time, felt good and was able to train as planned.
Seated leg extensions — 3X 15
Hack squat — 3X 10, 10, 8
Barbell squat — 2X 15
Glute extension machine (single leg) — 3X 10 each side
Seated calf raises — 4X 15
Seated DB shoulder press — 3X 10, 8, 8
Side raises — 4X 15, 12, 12, 12
Cable rear flies — 4X 20
As you can see, there's plenty of volume and reps in there, and the weight was nice and heavy. I was generally finishing around 1–2 reps short of failure on each exercise.
This was Plan A doing what it was supposed to do. I had the time and capacity to get plenty of good-quality work in.
Plan B — Do Enough to Stimulate, Not Annihilate
Today I wasn't feeling crash hot.
Two of my three kids had just gone back to school after being sick for about a week. I was tired and a little lethargic from the lack of sleep.
I still wanted to get the main benefit of my strength training without walking out of the gym feeling like I'd been hit by a truck.
So I decided to use my "2 Hard Sets" method, which you can read about here if you'd like to know more.
Leg extensions — 2X 15
Hack squat — 2X 10
Single-leg press — 2X 12 each side
Standing calf raises — 2X 20
DB side raises — 2X 15
Cable face pulls — 2X 20
The whole session took me about 45 minutes.
I managed to get enough good-quality work in without feeling completely spent afterwards.
One of the reasons I like the 2 Hard Sets method is that it makes me concentrate on getting as many good reps as possible out of those sets. The second set was almost always taken to within one rep of failure, or occasionally to complete failure.
Less overall work than Plan A, but still a productive training session.
Plan C — Get In, Move and Feel Better
I got to the gym... but barely.
I had less than 30 minutes, I was tired and I was still sore from the previous day's workout.
I had to be realistic. I wasn't going to be building much today, and trying to force my normal session probably wasn't going to achieve much either.
For me, the main goal of a Plan C workout is simple:
Feel better walking out than you did walking in.
So I did:
Leg press — 3X 15, 12, 10
Machine shoulder press — 4X 15, 12, 10, 10
Stepper — 5 minutes
Backwards treadmill walking — approximately 10 minutes (I had an ache in my knee and walked backwards on the treadmill until that pain was gone)
I chose exercises that I enjoy, that felt good on the day and were still relevant to what I was supposed to be training.
The cardio was reasonably tough because I didn't have much time, but overall I walked out feeling better than when I walked in.
How to Adjust Your Own Workout
So what can you actually do when you get to the gym and realise Plan A isn't happening today?
As a rough guide, this is how I would approach it.
Dropping from Plan A to Plan B
You still want to train and get some good-quality work in, but you don't have the time, energy or recovery for your full session.
Try:
Dropping 1–2 exercises from your normal workout, or
Dropping 1–2 sets from each exercise.
Do whatever makes the most sense for your workout and gets the session down to a manageable length.
I've found that cutting the total session time by roughly one-third is a pretty good starting point. If your normal workout takes 90 minutes, aim for around 60. If it usually takes an hour, try to get it done in around 40 minutes.
Dont overthink this. The idea is simply to keep the important parts of the session while reducing overall workload.
Dropping to Plan C
Plan C is different.
At this point, I'm less concerned about getting enough volume in to progress and more interested in getting some useful movement in and feeling better when I leave.
I'd generally recommend:
Pick 1–2 relevant exercises that YOU enjoy doing.
They don't necessarily have to be part of your regular routine, but keeping them relevant to what you were planning to train makes sense. For example, doing a dumbbell incline press instead of your usual flat barbell bench on a chest/pushing day.
Add 10–20 minutes of cardio if time and energy permit.
That's it.
You don't always need to choose between doing the perfect workout and doing nothing.
Sometimes you just need to adjust the plan.