How to Fit a Full-Body Workout Into a Busy Schedule—and a Packed Gym

On paper, full-body training can look like the worst possible match for a crowded commercial gym. You have to train chest, back, legs, shoulders, and arms, and more—and every bench, rack, and cable station seems to be occupied. Add a hard stop because you have to get to work or pick up the kids, and the workout can feel doomed before it starts.

Neither situation is a reason to bail.

These are two questions I’ve gotten about full-body training in general and my Daily Grind program specifically: How do you complete all those exercises when the gym is packed? And can a busy parent—or anyone else with a tight schedule—finish the workout in under an hour?

The answer to both is yes. You just need to know which parts of the workout can bend without compromising the entire plan.

A Full-Body Workout Doesn’t Require the Whole Gym

The first misconception is that full-body training has you bouncing all over the gym or tying up multiple pieces of equipment at once. It doesn’t.

Say barbell bench press is the first exercise in your workout. You go to the bench, complete your three sets, and move on. Then you do three sets of bent-over barbell rows. After that, you head to the squat rack for squats. You’re still using one station at a time.

Full-body describes the muscles you train over the course of the workout. It doesn’t mean taking over the entire gym at once.

That’s no different from a chest workout where you start at the bench press, move to the cable crossover, and finish at the dumbbell rack. A body-part split may keep the focus on one muscle group, but you still move from station to station.

Full-body describes the muscles you train over the course of the workout. It doesn’t mean taking over the entire gym at once.

When Equipment Is Taken, Change the Order

A workout program gives you a plan. It doesn’t require you to stand around for 15 minutes waiting for the next exercise on the list.

If the squat rack is occupied by a powerlifter who looks like he’s settling in for the afternoon, move to shoulder presses or another exercise and circle back to squats later. In most full-body workouts, changing the order of a couple exercises won’t cost you results.

You can also go into the gym with a backup exercise for each major movement. If the bench is taken, use dumbbells or a chest-press machine. If the squat rack is unavailable, a hack squat or leg press may work. You don’t need to rewrite the

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