Thread: Single Exercise workouts?

Why don't you try it, take before and after pics, and let us know what you think. Similar to GVT.

newbies to resistance training can pretty much look at heavy weights and grow as long as there is a caloric excess in the diet for an extended period of time. the body is in it's highest most untrained state when new to the sport so muscle growth during this period should be maximum. the longer the time in the sport the slower and less gains come.

I say go for it...just keep a good training log and use progressive resistance and you will grow with a sound diet

I have been training on and off for about 8 years...Have never been able to stick with it for more than 3-4 months at a time before I lose interest.

I was hoping to simplify my workouts to make it more appealing when I go to the gym.

One thing that always bothers me is waiting on equipment/space. So this would certainly help in that area.

I'll give it a go and start a journal....


Any other thoughts?

Yes. If you are quitting at the 3-4 month mark then you need to find a routine you love doing. Take all your favorite exercises, and build your program around those. Make sure every session has one of your favorite workouts, to give you something to be excited about going to the gym for.

Building a perfect program with all the exercises and variables is great, but its shit if you quit after 4 months. You are better off doing a mediocre program that you like and sticking with it for a long time. One year later you will look much better on ANY program that you can stick with.

I hate deadlifts, and once I accepted that and removed them I love all the exercises in my routine and working out is always fun now.

Originally Posted by ebn2002

Yes. If you are quitting at the 3-4 month mark then you need to find a routine you love doing. Take all your favorite exercises, and build your program around those. Make sure every session has one of your favorite workouts, to give you something to be excited about going to the gym for.

Building a perfect program with all the exercises and variables is great, but its shit if you quit after 4 months. You are better off doing a mediocre program that you like and sticking with it for a long time. One year later you will look much better on ANY program that you can stick with.

I hate deadlifts, and once I accepted that and removed them I love all the exercises in my routine and working out is always fun now.

Thanks for the advice...That makes a lot of sense.

OCD runs in my family, and I probably have spent as much time planning my workouts in the past, as actually DOING them. Just because I always want to feel it's "perfect".

If you get bored, I don't see how a workout with 1 lift will keep you entertained. Maybe do only that lift and variations of that 1 lift? I don't know, just spitballing here. So maybe on deadlift day you do deadlifts, 1 legged deads and Romanian deads?

Originally Posted by Cork

If you get bored, I don't see how a workout with 1 lift will keep you entertained. Maybe do only that lift and variations of that 1 lift? I don't know, just spitballing here. So maybe on deadlift day you do deadlifts, 1 legged deads and Romanian deads?

Yes, I've taken this into consideration.

Not sure what I want to do yet.

If it works good for you I will probably try this....Try it and keep us informed!

Originally Posted by Thee_One

I have been training on and off for about 8 years...Have never been able to stick with it for more than 3-4 months at a time before I lose interest.

The first real workout I did was from The Bodybuilding Bible, and the routine changed slightly every 2 weeks. Never got boring.

Find the basic exercises you enjoy, and occasionally change up the number of reps and sets you do to keep it interesting!

You're absolutely right, training movements gets you best results so the lifts you mention are excellent compound lifts however you're missing over head presses for shoulders. You should get decent results if you do each exercise once weekly but I think you'd be cutting yourself short, you can squeeze out more than just 5 sets of bench or 5 sets of squats in a workout. And if your arms are lagging, don't forget to throw in a nice 5 sets of deep dips to your routine. Having said that I think you're better of pairing up at least 2 of these major exercises and executing them together per workout once or twice a week or better yet come up with a split like upper/lower, push/pull (those would be x2) per week, or upper(compound lifts)/lower(compound lifts)/accessory day.

needs an overhead press and vertical pull (weighted pullups) imo

I think most people here base their routines around compounds which is the same concept pretty much. Personally I tried a compound only routine for over a year and found that it was great for growing my chest/back/legs but arms and shoulders needed some isolation to keep up. I haven't changed my routine a whole lot except for adding front/side/rear laterals, curls and skullcrushers/tricep extension. That plus all the basic compounds has worked really well for me