Full body workout

Boston

Ok, so I've been going along with a 2 day split, 4 days a week mostly focused on arms and legs. I think I've done as much as I can with the routine and now its time to move on to something more taxing. To that end I've trawled exrx.net and put together the attached PDF. Its the product of everything I learnt to date about how to put a plan together.

The idea is to do one, and only one, exercise from each of the muscle group listed(ten in total), three days a week. I've listed alternatives as often equipment is busy and also doing the same thing gets boring. I'm also of the opinion that proper stretching is as important as the actual exercise.

I'm basically put this up to see if people have any opinions or criticisms (I'd rather be told I'm about to do something stupid, than actually do it). Also it may be of help to others.

Workout PDF

Al_Fernz

Hey OP,

What set and rep range are you going to use? Also what are your goals?

Boston

3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise. Goal wise I don't really have one I just want better results then I'm currently getting. The only goal I would have is to do these exercises as quickly as possible, so its not to improve strength but rather endurance. Aiming to spend a minute at each set with an additional 90 seconds between sets.

brianthebard

I'm not the most knowledgeable on the whole reps sets question, but perhaps dropping the number of reps and going heavier would have a bigger impact, especially if you have been doing 3x12 for the last while? Hanley or someone else who knows more than me will be able to explain better.

Boston

As I understand it, fewer, heavier sets are for when you're aiming for strength gain. Thats not a primary aim for me.

Al_Fernz

For strength gains it is appropriate to do many of sets at low reps. Check out the powerlifters journals for proof of this.

My general rule of thumb would be:

1-5 reps - Primary focus: Strength, Secondary: Hypertrophy

6-12 reps - Primary focus: Hypertrophy, Secondary: A mix of strength and endurance

12+ reps - Primary focus: Muscular endurance, Secondary: Hypertrophy

Obviously, the lines will be somewhat blurred in between the rep ranges - but this should give you a general idea.

As for the exercises, I like most of them. Make sure to do the compound exercises first as these should give you the most "bang for your buck". I would say that doing a 3x12 would allow you to reach your goal.

crotalus667

first off I have not looked at the pdf reason why , well it's your opening post , going from a 2 day split to a 1 day split is not a good idea (imo) the split should be getting bigger 3-4 day split not a 1 day'er 3-4 exercise's per body part hitting about 12-16 working sets per body part, you rely need to research this more try Arnolds encyclopaedia of modern bodybuilding there is a recent thread on it here ,I could recommend a load of books but his is a good book to start with

Boston

So you recommend splitting each muscle group into a separate day and doing a large number of sets on single groups.

crotalus667

Boston wrote: »

So you recommend splitting each muscle group into a separate day and doing a large number of sets on single groups.

yes, you dont need to only do one group per day , day one you may do leg's and ab's, day 2, bi's and tri's , day 3 back and cheast , day 4 shoulder's traps and fore arms day 5 rest and start over an day 6 ,

It may take you a while to find a split that suits you , but it's worth finding out ,

brianthebard

Boston wrote: »

As I understand it, fewer, heavier sets are for when you're aiming for strength gain. Thats not a primary aim for me.

I don't think you can get stronger and not get bigger, unless you are eating wrong. If you look at Al's breakdown of set/reps, there's only one rep in the difference between putting hypertrophy first or second in your goals.

rubadub

brianthebard wrote: »

I don't think you can get stronger and not get bigger, unless you are eating wrong.

but many will train specifically trying to get stronger with minimal muscle gain- e.g. most athletes who compete in weight divisions,

While some will not care about strength and go mainly for muscle volume, BBers, or people like me looking to increase muscle mainly as a way to increase my metabolism, allowing me to eat and drink what I want without getting fat. I couldnt care less about symmetry like a BB might, so I go for efficient compound lifts that will increase the most muscle for the lowest amount of effort on my part. I still do not know the OPs goals.

Goal wise I don't really have one I just want better results then I'm currently getting.

what results?

The only goal I would have is to do these exercises as quickly as possible, so its not to improve strength but rather endurance. Aiming to spend a minute at each set with an additional 90 seconds between sets.

You want endurance? are you competing at something?

If you look at Al's breakdown of set/reps, there's only one rep in the difference between putting hypertrophy first or second in your goals.

but he also said

Obviously, the lines will be somewhat blurred in between the rep ranges - but this should give you a general idea.

Hanley

brianthebard wrote: »

I don't think you can get stronger and not get bigger

Of course ya can!! Check out the discussion in the one rep max calculator thread.

brianthebard

In fairness we're not talking about using 1 rep maxes as the basis of a training programme. But I take your point.

Hanley

brianthebard wrote: »

In fairness we're not talking about using 1 rep maxes as the basis of a training programme. But I take your point.

Improving CNS efficiency doesn't just mean getting better at one rep maxes tho....

Froot

brianthebard wrote: »

I don't think you can get stronger and not get bigger, unless you are eating wrong. If you look at Al's breakdown of set/reps, there's only one rep in the difference between putting hypertrophy first or second in your goals.

Another good split is Chest, shoulders and triceps on day 1. Back and biceps on day 2. Legs and abs on day 3.

+++++++++++++++++++

Yeah, definitely buy Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia of modern bodybuilding.

Its about 27 euro at most, that's what I paid and apparently it's half that in Dublin.

Speaking of which, I bought mine last week after holding off for the revised edition for months. Waterstones got about 10 copies in, I went in there today, all sold out. Shows you how popular it is.

Colm_OReilly

going from a 2 day split to a 1 day split is not a good idea (imo) the split should be getting bigger 3-4 day split

I have to disagree with this. We've no idea of the efficacy of the original 2 day split or a training history before that.

The fact of the matter is that the majority of people are novice lifters (i.e. can make linear gains) and may have stalled due to poor/inefficient/ineffective programming in the first place.

Splits become necessary "when enough progress has taken place that the amount of work that can be administered during one workout is insufficient to stimulate further progress, and when the amount of work that would stimulate progress cannot be recovered from between two workouts." (Mark Rippetoe, CFJ Jan 07)

Of course, all this is largely academic as the OP hasn't stated training goals, so we can't really judge any programming without an outcome in mind.

Colm

Boston

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

I have to disagree with this. We've no idea of the efficacy of the original 2 day split or a training history before that.

The fact of the matter is that the majority of people are novice lifters (i.e. can make linear gains) and may have stalled due to poor/inefficient/ineffective programming in the first place.

Thats pretty much where I'm at. Things where just slowing down and I was getting in fairly bad practices of hitting the same muscle groups over and over and never hitting others. So I sat down and decided I needed to re-do my entire approach and settled on a one day split. I felt, as you have outlined, that I should really get a solid one day program in place before I started to spread it out, rather then spreading it out to at the start and missing stuff.

Of course, all this is largely academic as the OP hasn't stated training goals, so we can't really judge any programming without an outcome in mind.

Colm

To a large degree I've achieved the original goal(which never included doing weights, I just fell into that) and now I'm at a loss regards new goals. The reason I'm focusing on endurance because although I've gain a fair amount of muscle and lost a lot of weight, I still very quickly become out of breath and basically "bollixed" when I try to do long intensive things.

I tried the one day split this week, and it worked very well. A lot of the exercises I don't have proper on yet, but I'm sure that will improve.

rubadub

Boston wrote: »

To a large degree I've achieved the original goal(which never included doing weights, I just fell into that) and now I'm at a loss regards new goals. The reason I'm focusing on endurance because although I've gain a fair amount of muscle and lost a lot of weight, I still very quickly become out of breath and basically "bollixed" when I try to do long intensive things.

I am still curious about what your goals were and what these new ones are, what activities are you up to? If you gave a history people could advise better. What are these long intensive things you do? Do you really want/have to do them?

For instance I already said

While some will not care about strength and go mainly for muscle volume, BBers, or people like me looking to increase muscle mainly as a way to increase my metabolism, allowing me to eat and drink what I want without getting fat. I couldnt care less about symmetry like a BB might, so I go for efficient compound lifts that will increase the most muscle for the lowest amount of effort on my part.

The bolded print is my main goal, short & sweet. Other things- I do not run, I don't enjoy it and see it as an inefficient form of "transport", I also feel it personally has a higher risk of injury than other cardio exercises I could do. I do cycle everywhere, faster than driving these days in dublin traffic. You talk of long intensive things -if I went for a marathon cycle with some mates of mine I would be out of breath, but I would not care! I have no real need/desire to be able to do it. I could probably outrace these same cyclists mates to my workplace, sprinter vs marathon runner really. I have mates who do sports to stay "fit", some people need a team or incentive to keep going, they have to show up each week or they let the team down. I have no problem exercising on my own, and need no push or incentive, I like the freedom hometraining gives me- many of my mates miss out on things/events because of commitment to teams (e.g. I can't head out to the pub, I have a match in the morning). Also these mates are getting injured on the pitch all the time! puts me off big time- but it suits them, not for me. I value functional exercise, get more enjoyment with an end result, why pay gym membership to cycle on a static bike when you can cycle to work instead and end up with more free time and a lot of saved money.

As for weights my training is haphazard, which is probably good, body gets all sorts of stuff thrown at it. I am not interested in getting much bigger or stronger, which some here may not understand, in some posts people talk of constant progression as though they could not understand why you would not want to continually get better, and go all out to do so. I do what I enjoy, I eat what I enjoy, I will not eat or exercise in ways I do not enjoy, I see no need to for my goals.

johhnysk8r

as much as i read,some facts are true(1 or 2) !
Boston,good luck mate !

Hanley,please enlighten me how can you get stronger and not get bigger ?(except gaining muscle and loosing fat)

i laughed about some things some of you wrote !
good luck to you lads,because you are realy lost !

a bit annoying to read false statements !

Hanley

johhnysk8r wrote: »

as much as i read,some facts are true(1 or 2) !
Boston,good luck mate !

Hanley,please enlighten me how can you get stronger and not get bigger ?(except gaining muscle and loosing fat)

i laughed about some things some of you wrote !
good luck to you lads,because you are realy lost !

a bit annoying to read false statements !

Your post is quite hard to follow so I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or not?

Anyway, it's a function of neural adaptation. Get back to me and let me know if you're being serious and I'll explain more. Hell if you just fancy being argumentative then please bestow your knowledge on us lowly minions.

crotalus667

johhnysk8r wrote: »

i laughed about some things some of you wrote !
good luck to you lads,because you are realy lost !

Of course he is lost he's only the world jr drug free power lifting champ under 100kg :rolleyes:

While I dont agree with Hanley 100% of the time I dont think I could ever call him lost :rolleyes:

WHIP IT!

crotalus667 wrote: »

Of course he is lost he's only the world jr drug free power lifting champ under 100kg :rolleyes:

While I dont agree with Hanley 100% of the time I dont think I could ever call him lost :rolleyes:

Pretty hard to lose him anyway - f*cker's huge!

Mikel

johhnysk8r wrote: »

....please enlighten me how can you get stronger and not get bigger ?

LOL

crotalus667

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Pretty hard to lose him anyway - f*cker's huge!

:Dlol:D

Boston

I've got bigger in places and smaller it others. (that sounds very wrong) Actually If Anything my arms and legs are now smaller in diameter as I've lost 2 stone and become more toned.

johhnysk8r

i`m dead tired today !
i`m no trying to insult anyone !
i can give some advices which helped me and the lads from the gym !
i dont think that i know everything etc.
everyones body is different !

Hanley

johhnysk8r wrote: »

everyones body is different !

While this is true, neural adaptation and increased strength without increased weight is also very real for everybody.

Think of it this way, when you first started in the gym you got alot stronger very quickly. Most people are really uncoordinated and unstable looking when they first start with free weights. After maybe 2 weeks their movements have become solid and controlled. They've probably increased strength alot in this time too. This is an absolutely prime example of neural adaptation and probably the most common see one in gyms. You might say they've "got used to it" or learned how to "balance/stablise" the weights, and while this is true you have to think abit deeper as to what's controlling all these movements, and it's the central nervous system!!

Neural adaptation and improvement is the absolute core belief being the Westside methods of conjugate periodisation, and they've produced some of the best powerlifters in the world.

A.S Prilepin did a huge amount of research into this whole area with a large sample of trained athletes and devised what is know as Prilepin's Chart. It basically states the upper limit number of reps that can be performed in anyone intensity zone on any one training day before CNS adaptation is retarded and regression occurs.

The CNS is overtrained much quicker than the muscles, 3-5 singles in the 90+% range on any given lift for 1-3 weeks depending on the skill of the trainee is about the most you can get away with. Think about it this way, if you went into the gym and worked up to your max bench press 3 times in one session, how many weeks could you do that for before your strength started to dip? Certainly no more than 4 weeks.

I've gone on a bit of a tangent but I just wanted to clarify a few things. And hey everyone, look, I can be all "sciency" about this stuff when I need to be too!

Mikel

Do I understand this right? You can go for 3 weeks full out on a lift?
So what do PLers do, do they rotate the lifts around or are they stuck on a 3 week cycle?

Hanley

Mikel wrote: »

Do I understand this right? You can go for 3 weeks full out on a lift?
So what do PLers do, do they rotate the lifts around or are they stuck on a 3 week cycle?

It depends what training system you prescribe to. For the sake of simplicity lets say there's only 2; western periodisation and conjugate periodisation.

With the western method intensity starts low and volume high with an inverse relationship as the weeks go on. So in week 1 you might be doing 70% 3x10-12, then after 5 or 6 weeks you might be down at 90% 1x3. So even with this method you're only really gonna spend 2-3 weeks at 90%+ anyway, and it's generally used coming up to competitions to "peak". It's how I've trained for the last 2 years and got great results with it.

At the moment I'm trying out the conjugate system (conjugate refers to the combined training of max effort, dynamic effort and repetition method but the latter two can be discounted for the sake of this). With max effort workouts the key is to get 3-5 lifts in above 90% to train the neural system with max weights. Of course you can't just bench every week and expect it to go up so you need to cycle the movements. The idea is to use lifts that closely mimic the traditional lifts, but are far enoguh away so that you don't hit the exact same movement pattern too frequently. Depending on skill level you may need to rotate every 1-3 weeks. I'm using a two week rotation at the moment and my lifts for the bench are; close grip bench, 2 board press, floor press, bench press w/ mini bands. I just did my second week of close grip benches today so it'll be another 7 weeks before I come back to them. If I can't do more in 7 weeks than I did today then something about the cycle's not working and needs to be changed.

So basically, yes you're right, we rotate the lifts so we don't go baackwards.

Hope that makes sense. If you want any further clarification then feel free to ask!

Boston

I don't really follow whats being said in this thread.

Mikel

Hanley wrote: »

Hope that makes sense. If you want any further clarification then feel free to ask!

I'd be afraid to after that!
Must be a hassle keeping track
I can picture a load of huge powerlifters crouched over their laptops in the gym scrolling through excel spreadsheets.

BaZmO*

Boston wrote: »

I don't really follow whats being said in this thread.

Ah don't worry,it happens a lot in the Fitness Forum. It's like asking someone "What's on TV tonight?" and then being told how to build a TV from scratch. Interesting though it may be it generally doesn't answer the original question. Speaking of which, what exactly are your goals? You've been asked a few times now and have been very vague.

Boston

I had a goal, I achieved it, and now I go to the gym. I just want a better workout that will improve endurance, loose more weight and build more muscle mass. I don't really know why.

Hanley

Mikel wrote: »

I'd be afraid to after that!
Must be a hassle keeping track
I can picture a load of huge powerlifters crouched over their laptops in the gym scrolling through excel spreadsheets.

Haha it sounds alot more complicated in theory than it is in practice really.

BaZmO* wrote: »

Ah don't worry,it happens a lot in the Fitness Forum. It's like asking someone "What's on TV tonight?" and then being told how to build a TV from scratch. Interesting though it may be it generally doesn't answer the original question. Speaking of which, what exactly are your goals? You've been asked a few times now and have been very vague.

Haha sometimes we get tired of giving the same advice out all the time and need to pounce on any opportunity for more in depth discussion on things.

Boston, tbh it sounds like you've no direction. Pick a goal of some sort and work towards that. Something like run a mile in < 6 mins. Or bench your bodyweight for 3 reps. Maybe deadlift 1.5 or 2x bodyweight for one rep. It's alot easier to stay focused and make improvements if you have specific goals to work towards!

Boston

Hanley wrote: »

Boston, tbh it sounds like you've no direction. Pick a goal of some sort and work towards that. Something like run a mile in < 6 mins. Or bench your bodyweight for 3 reps. Maybe deadlift 1.5 or 2x bodyweight for one rep. It's alot easier to stay focused and make improvements if you have specific goals to work towards!

Ok, they are targets, I have time targets I'd like to achieve. So far people have been asking the whys, and I don't really have an answer to that.

Hanley

Boston wrote: »

Ok, they are targets, I have time targets I'd like to achieve. So far people have been asking the whys, and I don't really have an answer to that.

"Because I want to"

Boston

Thats pretty much it actually. That and its makes me feel healthier, less stressed and all round better.

BaZmO*

But you have to have a specific goal if you want something to actually aspire to achieve. If you're not actually specific in what you want it's very difficult for people to offer advice.
It's like asking someone directions and when asked "where to?" just saying "not sure tbh!"
How can people answer a question if they don't know what the question is?

nesf

Hanley wrote: »

"Because I want to"

That, honestly, is the about the best reason you can have tbh.

Boston wrote: »

Thats pretty much it actually. That and its makes me feel healthier, less stressed and all round better.

Could it be that you're just getting bored with the same routine week in week out and need a change?