Thread: Full body training routine

I really enjoyed prrs and put on more muscle with that program than with any other I've tried. It is hard to get bored with it. I have gone back to that as my training program even now as I am on a cut. And will continue with it thru my next bulk.

Out of curiousity RH, do you do a split or full body using p/rr/s?

Eric posted this a while back....

IM's Bodybuilding Mass Routine II

I can appreciate the full body workout, but appreciate the more efficient use of energy during workouts and the longer recovery time between muscle groups when I split things up.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

Eric posted this a while back....

IM's Bodybuilding Mass Routine II

I can appreciate the full body workout, but appreciate the more efficient use of energy during workouts and the longer recovery time between muscle groups when I split things up.

Thats a good point. I've done both now. Always did splits in the past. Just prior to using UD2, I used a program Cowpimp designed and like it. The full body workout UD2 prescribed went against everything I enjoyed but after doing it for the last 6 weeks.. it's really kinda grown on me.
As for recovery time.. the lighter days, designed as depletion don't really do much breaking down of the muscle, at least not in a way that requires much recovery, IMO.
Granted, the last two days could use a bit of rest but I do get a day in between those each for rest.
I guess I can do a 4 day split that allows me to work groups twice a week instead of three and still periodize the reps, sets and weights.
Good link though Mayor. Looks like a cool routine. Is that what you're doing?

Theoretically, just about anything will work if diet and rest is in check.

I've honestly never tried the whole power, rep range, shock thingy. Likewise, I've never tried any of that Westside stuff. Maybe some day. Call me old-fashioned (though I AM only 22..) but I value simple training. I incorporate periodization, but I don't take it too far. I follow different intensities each week with a full-body 3-day split, and I find that works wonders. However, I'm sure so do the complicated programs.

I do think a lot of people focus too much on incorporating all sorts of fancy techniques and training styles that they can lose sight of what they're trying to do. Like P-Funk said, keep it simple.

Variety is good, but too much is unnecessary, IMO. Push something, pull something, and do something for your legs. That's the meat'n'potatoes, right there.

As for full-body, I love it! FMJ -- I would highly suggest continuing it. I did a 4-day push/pull split for upper/lower and horizontal/vertical for a while and had great results, but I always felt that after my first major lift for each plane of motion that the workout just didn't keep the same thrill. The training was quality, but the supplementary lifts didn't excite the same passion for me as did the first one...the big kahoona!

How I designed my full-body was basically a bodybuilding all-star workout of the best exercises converging in one high-quality session. Six compound lifts -- one for each plane of motion. It's the best of the best. I won't include really obscure lifts while I'm doing this. Down the road I plan to do push/pull again, and when I do I'll bring back lifts like Zerchers and supine rows, etc. In the mean time, I focus on staple lifts and consistency.

The nice thing, as you said, is feeling the muscles trained all week. I never liked having to wait a whole week to do deadlifts or pullups.

The downside is you don't get the luxury of experimenting with as many lifts.

Originally Posted by FMJ

Good link though Mayor. Looks like a cool routine. Is that what you're doing?

Nah, I just remembered GoPro's post. I'm on a much simpler plan.

Open Peanut Butter Jar
Curl Spoon
Flex Masseter Muscle at the top of the rep
Open Cereal Box.....

Originally Posted by Phineas

Theoretically, just about anything will work if diet and rest is in check.

I've honestly never tried the whole power, rep range, shock thingy. Likewise, I've never tried any of that Westside stuff. Maybe some day. Call me old-fashioned (though I AM only 22..) but I value simple training. I incorporate periodization, but I don't take it too far. I follow different intensities each week with a full-body 3-day split, and I find that works wonders. However, I'm sure so do the complicated programs.

I do think a lot of people focus too much on incorporating all sorts of fancy techniques and training styles that they can lose sight of what they're trying to do. Like P-Funk said, keep it simple.

Variety is good, but too much is unnecessary, IMO. Push something, pull something, and do something for your legs. That's the meat'n'potatoes, right there.

As for full-body, I love it! FMJ -- I would highly suggest continuing it. I did a 4-day push/pull split for upper/lower and horizontal/vertical for a while and had great results, but I always felt that after my first major lift for each plane of motion that the workout just didn't keep the same thrill. The training was quality, but the supplementary lifts didn't excite the same passion for me as did the first one...the big kahoona!

How I designed my full-body was basically a bodybuilding all-star workout of the best exercises converging in one high-quality session. Six compound lifts -- one for each plane of motion. It's the best of the best. I won't include really obscure lifts while I'm doing this. Down the road I plan to do push/pull again, and when I do I'll bring back lifts like Zerchers and supine rows, etc. In the mean time, I focus on staple lifts and consistency.

The nice thing, as you said, is feeling the muscles trained all week. I never liked having to wait a whole week to do deadlifts or pullups.

The downside is you don't get the luxury of experimenting with as many lifts.

Hey Phin,
Yeah, My full body WO's were very similar. All compound stuff with a couple iso's for arms. Nothing fancy. Usually 60 minutes max. Inclines, declines, bent rows, pullups, mil press, squats, deads and some skulls and curls. Quick and effective. Really started diggin that routine!

Since we're all sharing, I'll share mine:

Day 1:
Squat
Military press
RDLs
Pullups

Day 2:
Deadlift
Bench press
Front squat
Pullups

With some minor assistance work like farmer's walks and possibly dips.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Since we're all sharing, I'll share mine:

Day 1:
Squat
Military press
RDLs
Pullups

Day 2:
Deadlift
Bench press
Front squat
Pullups

With some minor assistance work like farmer's walks and possibly dips.

Nice.

Fullbody programs are pretty much all i ever do now, i just find them so superior to other methods of training its not even funny. You can work each plane/mechanic/bodypart 3-4 times a week, you rarely get DOMS because you aren't destroying any particular muscle in a session, and hitting that much muscle in a session has great benefits to general fitness and conditioning.

The one gtbmed posted is awesome. Very similar to the way i like to do things, especially with farmer's walks and tire flips and things thrown in. Will be buying a huge 180-200lb capacity sandbag soon so i'll be doing fireman's carrys and bear hug walking and things too soon.

This is mine at the moment:


Workout A:
Bench Press
Pullups
Squats
Tire Flips
Planks
One Arm Shoulder Press

Workout B:
Deadlifts
Military Press
Hang Cleans
Single Shoulder Squats
Supermans
Dumbell Rows


Have also put Burpee Pullups and Farmer's Walks on my grip workouts to add some fullbody stuff there, too. You could probably replace the core work in the above two workouts with farmers walks and burpees to get those into a 2 day split.

I'd put farmers walks into workout b instead of supermans, and burpee pullups into workout a instead of planks.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Since we're all sharing, I'll share mine:

Day 1:
Squat
Military press
RDLs
Pullups

Day 2:
Deadlift
Bench press
Front squat
Pullups

With some minor assistance work like farmer's walks and possibly dips.

I like this one too. It's no-nonsense, simple and effective.

I think I'm going to keep my day 3 and 4 routines the same as what I did on UD2. It basically hits the majors with two moves each. A total of 8 exersices, it gets me in and out in less than 90 minutes.
The thing I'm dickin' around with now is what to do on days 1 and 2.
I wanna put the "assistance work" on these days. Keep the moderate weight/high rep flavor but different exercises than I do on those later days.

Gaz, do you think rows are really worth it?

I used to do them, but IMO they just don't really hold a candle to deads or cleans in terms of back development. That's why I just repeat pullups twice per week. I'm thinking about swapping pullups on one day for cleans.

IMO if you're doing farmer's walks, deads, cleans, squats, and pullups there's no need for rows. You're getting a ton of back stimulation already.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Gaz, do you think rows are really worth it?

I used to do them, but IMO they just don't really hold a candle to deads or cleans in terms of back development. That's why I just repeat pullups twice per week. I'm thinking about swapping pullups on one day for cleans.

IMO if you're doing farmer's walks, deads, cleans, squats, and pullups there's no need for rows. You're getting a ton of back stimulation already.

Theres definitely a lot of truth in this for sure! They are the bottom of the pile for me in terms of back training, i'll take pullups, cleans, and deads over them any day.

The way i've been doing this program needed another back exercise that could be easily put into a tri-set (last 3 exercises in each of those workouts are done as a circuit). I also like unilateral work now and again, so rows seemed a fair choice. Thats pretty much the only reason they're in there, tbh.

I'm doing all those other exercises already, anyways. I'd never pick rows over deads, cleans, or pullups in a million years, lol.

Swapping in Cleans on one of your days is a great idea, i think. Cleans are amazing.

So just to clarify, you are suggesting doing full body workouts, but within a given mesocycle (Week, in this case) you are doing a light, medium, and heavy workout? Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

So just to clarify, you are suggesting doing full body workouts, but within a given mesocycle (Week, in this case) you are doing a light, medium, and heavy workout? Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Exactly. Days 1 and 2 are peformed back to back and split up into upper and lower for the sake of getting done within a reasonable time. But the volume and intensity are the same, high vol, low intensity.
Day 3 is moderate for both volume and intensity and day 4 is low volume, high intensity.
The only difference is now I'll be using it with a caloric surplus to gain instead of a deficit.

FMJ,

You can use UD2 for mass gains as well. Before I banged up my shoulder that's exactly what I was doing. It's a great way to gain lean mass...although it is slooooowww.

Key changes you'd need to make:

Diet -- up cals on days 1 - 3.5 to just below maintenance while keeping carbs around 100g; rest of UD2 diet remains pretty much the same although I tended to push the envelope on carbup and ate over maintenance on days 6 & 7 to encourage an anabolic response.

Workouts -- Really just adjust depletion workouts to be more like tension -- lower reps to around 12 (instead of 15-20) and reduce the volume. I also made the tension workout a little more like power workout -- aimed for reps around 8ish.

I think I gained 4 lbs of muscles before the sh*t hit the fan with the shoulder...and zilcho for fat gain.

Like I said, it's slow going, but if you're patient you gotta love the partitioning power of UD2 for lean mass gains.

KY

Originally Posted by kyoun1e

FMJ,

You can use UD2 for mass gains as well. Before I banged up my shoulder that's exactly what I was doing. It's a great way to gain lean mass...although it is slooooowww.

Key changes you'd need to make:

Diet -- up cals on days 1 - 3.5 to just below maintenance while keeping carbs around 100g; rest of UD2 diet remains pretty much the same although I tended to push the envelope on carbup and ate over maintenance on days 6 & 7 to encourage an anabolic response.

Workouts -- Really just adjust depletion workouts to be more like tension -- lower reps to around 12 (instead of 15-20) and reduce the volume. I also made the tension workout a little more like power workout -- aimed for reps around 8ish.

I think I gained 4 lbs of muscles before the sh*t hit the fan with the shoulder...and zilcho for fat gain.

Like I said, it's slow going, but if you're patient you gotta love the partitioning power of UD2 for lean mass gains.

KY

Hey KY,
Hows it going man? Yeah, I read the mod on using UD2 to gain but I did really well (I think) on ud2 for fat loss so I figure I'll just bulk with a 500 calorie surplus till I've hit around 15% bf again and just jump back on UD2 for a cut cycle.

Sounds like a plan.

I was so paranoid I'd gain fat on a bulk post UD2 fat loss I stuck with UD2 for mass.

KY

Originally Posted by FMJ

Out of curiousity RH, do you do a split or full body using p/rr/s?

Sorry for the late response. I do a 4 day split.
Mon-chest/bi's
Tues-legs
Wed-off
Thurs-delts/tri's
Fri-back

I feel this split works best for me and even though I am only targeting each muscle group once a week, some get hit on other days as well, i.e. target tris on thursday but get hit again on monday

sounds tough

Mon-chest/bi's
Tues-legs
Wed-off
Thurs-delts/tri's
Fri-back

chicken legs...