Concerned about maintaining current physique

Curious to see what your current shape is

Become like Jocko Willink and wake up at 3am

How long have you been training, if you've been doing it for 5+ years, the progress you make from here on out won't be mind boggling, you should just focus on maintaining. I've never worked in banking, but am somewhat serious about working out. I pretty much focused on getting myself in shape before age 22 so that the rest of my life can be more about maintaining it and focusing on other priorities. I think you'll be surprised about how little you care about missing meals, PR's, your abs when you are getting slammed with work. This genuinely isn't super helpful, but unless there's a specific reason you want to be in outrageous shape, you should accept that you are going to sacrifice optimising your training/sleep etc. if you're working a super demanding career. Counting calories stringently, tracking macros, checking your weight consistently, working out 3 times a week should be enough for you to stay looking in shape and is doable even with IB hours.

If you use the search function then there's a decent amount of threads on this. In each thread there's always like 10 people saying it's not possible with 1-2 saying they made it work. I think it comes down to discipline and how much of a priority it is to you. I make it work with my hrs (~80/week). I haven't done a bulking cycle since starting banking bc I'm scared I won't be able to cut as effectively and don't want to end up fat. So I've just maintained the muscle mass I have and stayed ~10% body fat. It definitely takes more effort. I meal prep my lunches for the week on sundays example. There's definitely weeks where it sucks but at the end of the day it's a priority in my life. I think most groups go and wfh at 6pm so you could definitely squeeze a workout in during that time. Even on days where I'm slammed, I'll find time to get a quick mile or mile and a half in. It only takes like 10 min for 1.5 miles so idk how anyone can say they didn't have a spare 10 min from 6pm to 2am.

You're going to have to clean up the diet though. This is paramount to maintaining the body you want. I still will have a drunk meal on Fridays or Saturdays that's unhealthy but I eat clean during the week.

I was/am you. I lift Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday morning. I try to go one other time during the work week besides Monday morning and Friday night.You will have to focus on faster workouts with larger compound movements and fewer specialty finishers. I am able to make it work. My group is not a total sweatshop. I usually work from 9-12/1. Signing off at 11pm is possible occasionally (on those nights, I get up at 7 the next morning and go to the gym. We work almost every weekend, but usually only like 4 or 5 hours off work each day, so can go to the gym then. 

Like above poster said, I’m going to emphasize never bulking. You won’t be able to keep a consistent schedule (eating sleeping or lifting) enough to justify eating that many excess calories (you might have to skip several days or some meals not to mention sleep) that will just be fat. You don’t want to be ‘caught out’ on a bulk. Especially doing much less cardio overall (I try to do a lot on weekends like 20k steps)

You can make it work, and your main priority should be maintaining with some basic attempt to improve strength gains. I get 1-2 weekdays right now (and things have been pretty light) with 2 days WFH (often can swing a workout on both WFH days) and every single weekend day (so far, but I’ve definitely skipped when I’ve been super tired). But you have to do it when you can e.g. 11 AM or 8 pm, which is weird.

In previous jobs or tough situations I’ve been able to wake up at 6 am or workout at 1-3 am and wake up at 8 the next day because it’s not just about motivation, but the difference was I knew I could sleep the next day (predictable schedule that I had control over).

You do not have any control over your schedule starting out (for the most part) which made it tough for me to justify waking up early (sacrificing guaranteed sleep) and the gyms close early AF in NYC (like 10 pm what the fuck am I paying all this money for…)

Been able to do 1 hour workouts and trying to keep a somewhat consistent diet staple wise (basically keep 2 meals the same everyday and weekends eat whatever else I want without going too overboard). I’m pretty experienced with knowing what my maintenance is and how to dial it back etc etc and always make sure to kill it in the gym when I go out or eat a lot (massive pump). It works pretty well. Opt for protein shakes / salads / veggie based things during the weekdays for lunch and when ordering dinner. Pretty easy to stack the calories with the add-ins (nuts etc) on the salads to fill macros along with protein bars and stuff. But sometimes you can’t eat when you want dinner (too busy) and have to skip lunch and just eat a protein bar or something. That’s why it’s so tough.

That’s what I do, pretty simple and it works. I’m not as big or strong as when I had a consistent schedule (sleeping eating lifting) but I’ve also tracked macros and did all that stuff way back when and don’t bother now, to whatever minor difference. Also I skipped legs for like 2 months straight but I just started back up again.

NEVER stopped stretching it out / foam rolling etc tho. Super important cause you sit all day

Like above poster said, I’m going to emphasize never bulking. You won’t be able to keep a consistent schedule (eating sleeping or lifting) enough to justify eating that many excess calories (you might have to skip several days or some meals not to mention sleep) that will just be fat. You don’t want to be ‘caught out’ on a bulk. Especially doing much less cardio overall (I try to do a lot on weekends like 20k steps)

You can make it work, and your main priority should be maintaining with some basic attempt to improve strength gains. I get 1-2 weekdays right now (and things have been pretty light) with 2 days WFH (often can swing a workout on both WFH days) and every single weekend day (so far, but I’ve definitely skipped when I’ve been super tired). But you have to do it when you can e.g. 11 AM or 8 pm, which is weird.

In previous jobs or tough situations I’ve been able to wake up at 6 am or workout at 1-3 am and wake up at 8 the next day because it’s not just about motivation, but the difference was I knew I could sleep the next day (predictable schedule that I had control over).

You do not have any control over your schedule starting out (for the most part) which made it tough for me to justify waking up early (sacrificing guaranteed sleep) and the gyms close early AF in NYC (like 10 pm what the fuck am I paying all this money for…)

Been able to do 1 hour workouts and trying to keep a somewhat consistent diet staple wise (basically keep 2 meals the same everyday and weekends eat whatever else I want without going too overboard). I’m pretty experienced with knowing what my maintenance is and how to dial it back etc etc and always make sure to kill it in the gym when I go out or eat a lot (massive pump). It works pretty well. Opt for protein shakes / salads / veggie based things during the weekdays for lunch and when ordering dinner. Pretty easy to stack the calories with the add-ins (nuts etc) on the salads to fill macros along with protein bars and stuff. But sometimes you can’t eat when you want dinner (too busy) and have to skip lunch and just eat a protein bar or something. That’s why it’s so tough.

That’s what I do, pretty simple and it works. I’m not as big or strong as when I had a consistent schedule (sleeping eating lifting) but I’ve also tracked macros and did all that stuff way back when and don’t bother now, to whatever minor difference. Also I skipped legs for like 2 months straight but I just started back up again.

NEVER stopped stretching it out / foam rolling etc tho. Super important cause you sit all day

I think this discussion is a lot simpler than people make it out to be. It all depends on whether you are WFH/hybrid or not. WFH? No reason you can’t run down for 10 minutes to use an apartment gym or knock out some push ups or something even indoors if desperate. Also makes cooking whatever you want whenever wayyyyy easier. In the office? Maybe some of you are more disciplined, but good luck with that unless you can leave the office early

Don't work in banking work in strat fin so can still be grindy but def not banking type. I think if you can ensure you lift Fri-Sun, that's key. Then, if possible, do 1 more workout at some other point in the week and I think you'll be covered. If you want to be aesthetic, look into FST-7 workouts. Incredibly efficient. Workouts can be literally ~30 minutes. If you're WFH, what I do is keep my laptop with me and walk to the gym. Lift. If I get comments / anything comes up, I just hop on and get to it. Once that subsides, get back to your workout. Not ideal but as others have said you'll make it work if you want to. Eat clean, stay hydrated, train HARD even when you feel like literal shit, and you'll be more than in the clear. For me, my two priorities are lifting and work, so I can make it work. I've had to trade off so many social events but ultimately time is a finite resource and if we assume that banking consumes some majority % of time then those remaining hours are incredibly delicate. Use them how you will but understand that each way you use any given hour has an opportunity cost. In my example, lifting on a friday night after getting crushed > getting fucked up with friends. It can suck, but, again, what can you do? I've learned in this life - specifically for those of us who want to work hard / get forced to work long anyways lol - we have to pick and choose. Unless you are some anomaly and can thrive off some suboptimal sleep, your hours per day are very limited. Just don't burn time, please.

Pick a time to workout everday and try your best to stick with it (understanding that life & work will sometimes get in the way). I still work out 7 days a week, just gotta make time for it. Going and having a mediocre workout because you're tired or not feeling it will always be better than not going at all.