Maintaining physique in IB

You can maintain a physique by doing full body 2-3x a week, no excuses here you can workout Friday-Sunday.  
 

Diet and sleep are your most important factors not training. If you’re not sleeping 8 hours a day and not eating enough your physique is bound to fade not matter how much you train. Meal prep your weekly meals in a couple hours and store them it doesn’t take long.

Agree that if your goal is to be SHREDDED you picked the wrong career but being in decent shape isn’t hard; in fact, most of my colleagues are in decent physical health sans sleep. Make smart choices with meals, workout on every off day, keep health snacks at your desk, don’t go too hard on booze and you’ll be fine.

Tbh, the hardest part for me in the past few months has been meal prep. In NYC there are A TON of healthy options on seamless, now I’m back in small Midwest town and subway is the healthiest thing on doordash by far lol

Justcico.com 

Keep it simple

Really depends on if you want to be big or fit. I've had no trouble staying lean - 4 year athlete in college and still maintaining 7-8% body fat on the job. 20 minutes of high-intensity jump roping in the morning + 1-3 lifts a week have been more than enough to maintain physique. Obviously diet plays a massive role as well. If you want to be big on the other hand, that's much harder.

Give up the booze or at least restrict to 1-2 drinks per week. Shakes in the morning, salads for lunch (purchase), healthy dinner delivered to office/apartment. It isn’t easy, but it’s certainly feasible. I see plenty of people going for afternoon lifts/cardio as well.

Good genes helps a ton too

Is it possible to maintain your powerlifting strength while working in IB?

For me it's just about being very disciplined and following a strict schedule. I work out in the morning because no one is usually up yet to fuck up my day, out of bed at 5:30am and in the gym at 6am and workout for an hour. High intensity training works best for me, allows me to give my body good thrashing within an hour and I follow a 3-day on 1-day off schedule (probably not for everyone, really depends on your own ability to recover). One of the main reasons people fall off their workout schedule and can't stick with it is because they allow themselves to view it as optional and don't have a strict schedule so setting a specific time and adhering to a disciplined schedule goes a long way in maintaining that consistency. Working out and being fit definitely has a positive effect on my mood and ability to function throughout the day which is one of the reasons why I have such a no excuses strict schedule. Diet is probably the hardest thing to maintain in IB just because we're always busy and just looking to grab something quick and quick generally isn't the healthiest. Working from home has made eating healthy a lot easier but when I was still going into the office it was meal prep and bringing lunch from home.

Besides finding time to workout and meal prep etc, go for a quick stroll a couple of times a day when you go grab coffee if you have the time. In addition to keeping you somewhat active, 15 minutes of fresh air away from the desk definitely helps clear your head and destress a little. When ordering dinner, try to eat somewhat healthy--fish/steak/chicken + grilled vegetables are usually my go to. If I decide to get a burger once in a while, I'll still swap out the fries for grilled veggies.

I think that getting a standing desk was a great way to keep me from being sedentary while at work and it keeps you in the "active" mentality. Other then that getting a pull up bar in your apartment or setting around an hour after work to get some physical fitness ended up working for me. 

For me, it all comes down to what your priorities are. I think it's important to new bankers to understand that you only get a handful of free time and you have to be really focused on prioritizing what's important to you. If that's working out and staying healthy, then place your extra time and energy into that instead of going to bars and what not (not that you can't do both). I've been in banking for a while, including both being an analyst and associate. I'm still in pretty good shape and most of the people I work with (especially the ones that care about fitness) are solid as well. Here are the main things i'd focus on to stay healthy and work out:

1. You will likely have less time to work out now, but it's important to maximize that time and find ways to get workouts in. If you're struggling to find time, examine how much time you spent at the bar or shooting the shit with colleagues during the day. In my opinion, the best times to workout are Friday evening (before doing something social), the weekend and Monday morning (generally can sleep a fair amount Sunday night and wake up early). I had plenty of friends in banking shift their routine to Friday - Monday for their main lifts and then mix in some other workouts throughout the week if there was time because they had a much better chance of swinging workout those days. The morning or afternoon workout is also my favorite if you can make it happen. I work at a firm that has a pretty relaxed culture with this stuff so once you've proven yourself then you can dip out for an afternoon workout while a VP reviews something or you wait on an Associate
2. You seem like someone that has the food part down, but it's pretty simple. Eat really healthy for lunch and breakfast because you're more likely to slip up at dinner. Also, there isn't a rule that you have to max out the expense limit every day; that's a quick way to overeat. Lastly, keep the booze a bit lighter. Personally, I don't drink at all Sunday - Friday afternoon so that eliminates some extra calories that I would get from nightcaps and extra nights out. This has the added benefit of ensuring that you don't feel like shit that often, which is even more important at my age
3. Sleep is the hard one, but I think it's doable because bankers waste a lot of time (I still do). You'll have plenty of nights where you can't swing a workout and you're going to only sleep 2 hours, but know that it won't be that way every week. As you are moving throughout your day, keep in mind that messing around on instagram or WSO or whatever is taking away from sleep, the gym or social activities so try to limit that

Lol gosh I sound so petty but one of the reasons I was swaying away from IB was because I was nervous I’d gain a bunch of wait and gain about fifteen years on my face haha I guess you gotta be strategic meaning with sleep, skincare, hydration and maybe try a meal ordering service with fresh food or something (I’m not in IB yet but I’m ordering meal kits rn to try them out). I know IBs can have gyms in them too.

Total body workout. You won’t ever need a gym membership. Crunch some reps just before bedtime and in the morning if you can. It’s get you ripped, Bruce Lee ripped.

You can do a lot of good total body fitness with push ups, pull ups, and core in 15 minutes. Add jump rope for cardio. Do sets of push ups and pull ups with different grips (narrow, wide, opposite hand grip, etc). Gets your whole body. For core, all kinds of crunches and planks that get obliques and rip your abs.

- figure out what your goals (aka what you want to look like) and then do that. There's a difference between wanting to look huge/mass monster and just lean. 

- realize that there's the "banking lifestyle" that people think IB is; which is different from what it really is. Meaning its not all bottles and models, you need to do what you need to do to keep yourself sharp for the job. That might mean going to the gym over the bar. As stated above, realize you have limited time and you need to priortize, that's a key beginning step. 

- During the shutdown, I got really into resistance band training. I'd said try to find equipment that you will actually use at home, easier sometimes to get a workout in at home; doesn't have to be the best, but an average workout is better than none. 

Diet is the most important IMO. Only drink water (not even milk) and stick to healthy meals throughout the week, maybe splurge once a week. When you have free time go on a walk along the block. I try to run 2x a week and walk 2x to get out and stay "fit". Also I have noticed sometimes I am just not hungry because maybe I had a big dinner, etc. - if that happens then just skip a meal. Intermittent fasting can be perfectly happy and allows your body to really purge everything. Unfortunately w/ Covid no gyms are open in NYC (yet) so I have definitely noticed my muscle mass decrease, but what can you do? 

Weigh yourself every morning and eat the same thing everyday. If you see yourself getting fatter reduce volume slightly.

I do a push, pull, leg split usually in the morning around 630am and I'll go surf early morning for a few hours on sat or sun regardless the conditions.

My daily diet - 

Breakfast- 5 eggwhites, chicken sausage, 2 pieces of toast

Lunch - 2x sushi rolls, or chicken salad

Snack - protein shake with peanut butter powder

Dinner - dig inn chicken and sweet potato, no sauce take the skin off, and bowl of fruit

I have 2 cheat meals a week usually Popeyes and whatever restaurant friends want to eat at. Also I drink maybe once every two weeks.

Been able maintain muscle mass and stay lean around 10% body fat.

Everyone saying to prioritize sleep which I completely agree with and understand, but people also mentioning that they workout in the mornings (7am-9am timeframe). How can you prioritize sleep and still workout in the morning with banking hours? From my experience at my internship, most analysts were leaving no earlier than midnight to 1am unless they have nothing going on. If you are going to sleep around 12:30am-2am how are you getting 7+ hours of sleep and still having time for a workout in the morning (even if its an hr workout)?

Try intermittent fasting.

I learned from the Kinobody guy through youtube; been easiest, laziest way to lose 20 lbs for me and my lifts are stronger all around.    

I typically workout every morning or around noon and don't eat till 5 or 6.  Obviously you don't want to start out this extreme but I've gotten used to it after the first week.  Still keep it up working 9am-1 or 2am weekdays and of course a few hours on the weekends.   You don't have to kill yourself in every workout session.  30-45 min is plenty of time to do around 10-12 sets of compound lifts, supplementing with jump rope a couple times a week.  

Oh and it's definitely worth investing in home gym equipment; got a squat rack with pull up bar, bench, barbells, door-anchored resistance bands, adjustable kettlebell, bowflex adjustable dumbbells.  

Wake up at  5 am, prepare your food, take a swim/run if you can hit the gym by 5:30 while, drink your pre-workout by 6 you're done, shower, eat your prepared food, head to work.

Repeat this every 2-3 days a week or every 7 days.

Bump

Not Gaining Weight

Not gaining weight takes discipline, not time. This is because as it's often stated in the fitness community, "Abs are made in the kitchen,"  which applies to weight gain at large. To not gain weight, you only have to intake less or equal calories than you burn. Using a calories calculator can help to this regard https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html. If you have a week or two where you don't work out, you'll need to reduce your calories by 200-300 per day (assuming you were working out 2-3 days prior) during that week. This is why most people gain weight while working. If you eat the same amount you were as an active college student, but are sitting 14 hours a day, you will gain weight. You have to adjust for how much more sedentary you will be. Intermitting fasting or certain diets can also be a useful, but remember that all diet or eating strategies are a means to an end and calories in vs calories out is the end-all determinent of weight gain (Of course, calories out can be affected by metabolism which can be affected by food choice, but that effect is minor compared to gross calorie intake). 

Gaining Muscle
Gaining muscle and getting shredded while working long hours is a LOT more difficult.

However, it is not difficult to maintain muscle mass working out 1-2 days a week. So the first tip is to spend this next year gaining as much muscle mass as possible and whatever physique you attain, you should be able to maintain if you eat right and still remain relatively active. Training, eating, and sleeping optimally, you can expect to gain 10-15lbs of muscle for a new trainee, 5-10lbs of muscle for a second year trainee, and 2-5lbs of muscle for an advanced trainee.  

When you actually start work, the main constraint is time. With that in mind, here is how you should approach the three pillars of fitness (Sleep, Nutrition, and Training)

Training
You need to use the Pareto Principle here (80/20 rule) to gain muscle while on the desk. Most of your gains come from a small portion of your reps. In fact, the muscle growth response has been shown to largely come from the 1-5 reps prior to failure (e.g. say you can do 30 reps of a certain exercise at a given weight. Doing the first 25 even 6 days a week would likley not cause any muscle growth; the last 5 are what matter). Training to failure still impedes recovery, but the main takeaway here is that doing short, intense, heavy sets should allow you to produce muscle growth while being short on time.  A 5-3-1 for compound lifts with accessories for smaller muscles (rear and side delts, abs, calves) will be a good starting point here. Of course, you'll still want to utilize the principles of good form and progressive overload as well. 

Nutrition
Not hard to eat well while still working long hours. Avoid unhealthy seemless orders. Keep drinking to a moderate level, especially on weekdays (and use something like Thrive+ after drinking). Intake sufficient protein (1g per lb), and use protein powder if you find this to be difficult. If you stress eat, find some other way to deal with stress. Meditation and journaling are healthy ways, but even if you resort to an unhealthy reliever, make sure it isn't eating ungodly amounts of unhealthy food if you want any chance of having visible abs. 

Sleep

Sleep is definitely an issue. However, most of the physical recovery comes during periods of deep sleep, which you can still get enough of if you are only sleeping 5-6 hours per night. The key is relaxing before bed (breathing, turning off electronics, dimming overhead lights) and possibly using melatonin or CBD to help get deeper sleep. Other tips for deeper sleep involve sleeping at a cooler temperature (63 - 66 degrees) and having a great mattress, sheets, and pillows. 

so many great advices here, love to see it

I am no paragon of health, but I have 2 things that help:  kettlebells in the morning at home, before going to work. One can nearly always squeeze in 15-25 min of KBs. I have a workout buddy that joins me via Whatsapp so I know I HAVE to get up and do them.  The other thing that's worked well in the past was lunchtime workouts. I was lucky and my bank was occupying a few floors above a gym. When I'd go down at lunch I'd see half the bank was there too. You have a solid morning at work, then by lunch people are starting to walk out the door and everyone's energy is sapped. You put in 45 minutes of work, shower, and go back up to hit the desk re-energized. 

Hard to find time in the AM so I workout in the office between zooms. I bench press the 1st year females. It is easier when they first start because well, they are in better shape. After the first few months they get heavier so I do fewer reps. All good. works for me.

I stopped working out. No time and a home gym isn't motivating. thx covid.

Low/ slow carb + IF + fasted workouts in the morning

Just don’t pile shit into your mouth all day long, don’t drink your calories, move a little and throw shit around

It’s not that complex

You have to fuel yourself for the workweek as well as your gym ventures - I felt like dog crap if I didn't eat a ton of fruits / veggies with all of the stress and lack of sleep. I didn't work out much during the week my first year, but walked both ways to work / took the long route to sweetgreen and tried to do a decent amount of strength training on the weekend.  I had a lot of friends who were first years that got up early to work out or go to fitness classes, but we were really expected to be available throughout the entire evening. By the time it was okay to leave the desk, the gym at the office was closed...

On the workout front, I'd recommend a modification on the Insanity/Insanity Max 30 workout by Shaun T. (20-25 minutes of that x 2-3 days a week) + (1-2 days of 100-120 push-ups with or without variations). The most basic of workouts, but highly effective. 

As variations, try 15-20 minutes of jump-rope (as some people have mentioned), or even better - shadow boxing. You'd think punching thin air for 15 mins wouldn't do jack shit, but it's absolute murder for upper body + abdominals.

1) Workout at a gym at least twice a week. Weekends worked for me best during my analyst years as I had zero control of my time during the week. 

2) Try to do at least 100 push-ups and 100 squats every day when/wherever you can. During the day, my favorite spot for this little routine was emergency stairways. 

3) Live close to office and walk to/from work (unless you've decided to live in a really sketchy neighborhood and MUST ride a cab to get home safely at night)

I've been pretty into bulking/powerlifting type working out in college. Obv I don't expect to keep my diet and gym schedule during work, but is it at least possible to maintain with maybe 2-3 workouts per week? I started out really skinny and bulked up quite a bit in college and don't want to completely lose it in 1-2 years.