Designing a Full Body Routine

[CANIBALISTIC]

Properly implemented, it can be beneficial to everyone. Use my template and design a routine. Give it a try before you totally discount its effectiveness.

Not interested. Will never try and would only recommend it to someone who has no time and just wants to look fit but I want to be HUGE! My Goals are different than yours. Your full body routine is best suited for a non bb member. I have put on over 30lbs in the last year and I'm not finished until I'm at 240 @ 10%bf.

 

[CowPimp]

Not interested. Will never try and would only recommend it to someone who has no time and just wants to look fit but I want to be HUGE! My Goals are different than yours. Your full body routine is best suited for a non bb member. I have put on over 30lbs in the last year and I'm not finished until I'm at 240 @ 10%bf.

You're not going to shrivel up and die if you try one. If you hit a plateau, then give it a whirl. You never know, your body may respond well to the high frequency.

 

[CANIBALISTIC]

ok...G*d damn it! lol

 

[CowPimp]

No that's not the "pump" I'm talking about I'm talking about the one when your eye's are watering and your about to throw up and your skin feels like it was stretched. You want to keep it together but you manage to walk out with your head down with out falling down. Not that little pump from 45lb dumbell curls.

If you want that then do a full body routine in a circuit at a high level of intensity. It will make any split routine seem like child's play. Here's something you can try that will get you that feeling:

One set 20 rep squats with your 10RM. Rack the bar at failure, but unrack and goto failure again after about 10 deep breaths. Repeat until you hit 20 reps.

One set of bench presses at your 10RM. Do 2 sets of rest-pause repetitions.

One set of 25 chinups. Rest-pause until you hit 25.

One set of leg raises until total failure. Upon hitting failure, proceed with a static hold for as long as you can.

One set of farmer's walks to failure. Walk these babies until you drop the DBs out of your hand. Once you hit this point, take some deep breaths and turn around to return to the DB rack. Pause as necessary on the return trip.

One set of Turkish getups to failure. Follow with 2 sets of rest-pause repetitions.

Tell me if you don't puke from that. No rest in between exercises, so make sure to do a thorough warm-up before hand.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I dig the full body routine. My old routine was a slight variation of one. I worked every muscle every day, not to failure but to where I knew I worked out. I also targeted a two different muscle groups every day and trained that muscle to failure. Lets say I trained chest on Monday to failure, I'd still hit it a little every day until chest day rolled back around. I made huge strength gains, I could clean and press almost one and a half times what people bigger than me were doing. It used to freak them out.

Anyways, great post. I think the strength gained from a full body routine can help every one.

 

[Adamjs]

See also:

Designing a routine
Designing a split routine

 

[P-funk]

I wrote some stuff on another board that also applies to the topic of total body workouts and setting them up and some of my views on the compared to a "bodybuilder" split. I will dump them here since they apply and some may benefit from them:

Total body workouts can take on a lot of different dynamics then just work on body part till you kill it at the begning of the workout and then everything else takes a back page.

The most important thing is how you break up the intensity and the work load over the week. If you aren't typically used to training this frequent (ie, you usually train like a bodybuilder) then you may be missing out on a chance to grow or improve since metabolic recovery has already taken place with in 48hrs. To add to that, the more frequent times you work out your body will adapt and become more effecient at frequent training sessions. This can be a very powerful thing when you then apply it to a periodized program such as acclimation/intensification or the fitness fatigue model.

Anyway, some ways you can do break apart a total body workout would be:

1) train one body part as your main lift and then accessory lifts for your other body parts:

mon- main work- legs...accessory work- upper body push and pull
wed- main work- upper body push....accessory work- upper body pull and
legs
fri- main work- upper body pull...accessory work- lower body and upper
body push

2) train a differnet element each day:

mon- power
wed- hypertrophy or endurance
fri- strength

3) alternate training dynamic effort and max effort lifts for your upper body and lower body and do aux work on the other days...this would have to be cycled over 2 weeks:

mon- upper body dynamic effort/lower body accessory
wed- lower body max effort/upper accessory
fri- upper body max effort/lower accessory
sat and sun- off
mon- lower body dynamic/upper accessory
wed- upper body max effort/lower accessory
fri- lower body max effort/upper accessory
etc.....


4) train one of the BIG three as a specific main lift each day and then accesory for everything else....

mon- squat
wed- bench
fri- dead

etc....there are a lot of ways to break up the intensity and work load and provided you balance out the volume to work with the higher frequency you will come out on top....ofcourse, you could also just say screw it and do something like high intensity training...haha

Training movements or even movement planes (horizontal push pull, vetical push pull, quad dominant, hip dominant, etc..) is in my opinion a much more methodical way of training. I put very little emphasis on my single joint work. The multi joint exercises need to be the prime focus.

Another point about training single bodyparts that I think gets over looked a lot (also a good case for training movement planes) is that when you train body parts it is broken into 5 days of training:

chest
back
legs
shoulders
arms

looking at that I see....

shoulders
shoulders
legs
shoulders
shoulders

Since all the upper body muscles that you are working cross the shoulders I would think it is a lot of overkill on those muscles....another way I see that traditional bodybuilder split is:

anterior
back
legs
anterior
anterior

not very much balance in the upper body is there?

Maybe this is why so many bodybuilders have sholder problems or that terrible slopped shoulder/upper cross syndrome to them.

 

[CowPimp]

Good points there P. I particularly like the second portion of the post. So many routines lack balance it is ridiculous. People focus way too much on their showy muscles and neglect the entire posterior part of their body. Not only is this a bad idea from a strength and asthetics standpoint, but it is very important in minimizing the chance of injury.

 

[fufu]

I'm using this right now to make a routine for my friend who is beginning.

 

[CowPimp]

Just wanted to bump this thread because I updated it to include some examples as well as an alternate template. I also touched up some of the things I said in it.

 

[BulkMeUp]

2) train a differnet element each day:

mon- power
wed- hypertrophy or endurance
fri- strength

I always get confused between these two. What kind of training would you set up to distinguish between the two? say, if i was setting up a 3x fullbody routine.

To put it all in perspective, Hypertrophy would be in the 6-12 rep range and Endurance 12+ rep range.

 

[P-funk]

I always get confused between these two. What kind of training would you set up to distinguish between the two? say, if i was setting up a 3x fullbody routine.

To put it all in perspective, Hypertrophy would be in the 6-12 rep range and Endurance 12+ rep range.

strength would be working on limit abilities in a rep range of say 1-5 reps working with the corrosponding intensities of the rep ranges (ie 90-100%).

power would be working within the same rep rage as strength (1-5) but working with intensities around 60-70% of the 1RM. Power is basically work (force x distance)/time. You are trying to move as quickly as possible. This is neurological training. Power training is about working on a certiain force output in a short amount of time.

does that answer your question?

 

[BulkMeUp]

It sure does. Thanks P!

 

[GirlFRED]

Apprieciating every word CowPimp... course my printer is going to be needing alot more ink!.. but hey.. if I got to workout it can as well!

 

[BulkMeUp]

power would be working within the same rep rage as strength (1-5) but working with intensities around 60-70% of the 1RM. Power is basically work (force x distance)/time. You are trying to move as quickly as possible. This is neurological training. Power training is about working on a certiain force output in a short amount of time.

I'm on a cut and as I'm not eating to grow, I'm working on improving neuroligical efficiency.

Trying to calculate todays routine. E.g. Todays heavy lift is ATG Squats, I can do 190 @3x3 with a 3min RI. So if i were to work it for power (say 3 reps), the calc comes out to ~140 (70% of 190). Does that sound right, coz it seems a bit light? or should i just leave it as 190 3x3 with a 3min RI?

What RI would you suggest for the power wo?

 

[P-funk]

I'm on a cut and as I'm not eating to grow, I'm working on improving neuroligical efficiency.

Trying to calculate todays routine. E.g. Todays heavy lift is ATG Squats, I can do 190 @3x3 with a 3min RI. So if i were to work it for power (say 3 reps), the calc comes out to ~140 (70% of 190). Does that sound right, coz it seems a bit light? or should i just leave it as 190 3x3 with a 3min RI?

What RI would you suggest for the power wo?

well, I think you are going about it the wrong way. It isn't like you just wake up and say "oh, I need to start training power." I would come up with a program and learn with specific increases and make it fit into your overal program.

if 190 is your 4RM (since you are doing it for multiple sets of 3) that would make your precieved 1RM is 210lbs (rounding down).

So, if 210lbs is your 1RM, 50% of that would be 126lbs. I usually take that and do doubles for 8-10sets for 2 reps with 45sec rest. It seems light because it is......the whole point is bar speed! It is all about power.

But, this is dependant on your goals. If you are trying to increase more power endurance you could raise the intenisty to 80% (you 8RM) and go for 3-5 reps x 5 sets and work on bar speed over a great period of time.

This stuff is really goal dependant. That is why you need a specific program to follow.

 

[camarosuper6]

best way to train for power is 17 mile runs with no protein shake post workout.

 

[BulkMeUp]

This stuff is really goal dependant. That is why you need a specific program to follow.

Ok, i've created a thread. Would appreciate your feedback.

 

[depaul]

Great thread

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, especially the discussion about the usefulness of the full body workout. I think it is a common misconception that full body workouts are only useful for beginners and one cannot get results from them after the first few months of training.

The best results that I've ever gotten have been with full body workouts - maybe my body is in a minority that just responds better to that form of training, or maybe the programs were just designed better - and whenever I do the customary splits I feel like I am falling prey to the anterior/shoulder overtraining that CP and pfunk commented on. (The next time I try a split, hopefully I'll be able to avoid that using the info on other threads )

Anyway, today I worked out with a new program designed using advice from this thread about volume and exercise balance and selection (it also included a little more core training for basketball and more exercises w/fewer sets/exercise, umm, just for my personal enjoyment of variety ). The friend I trained with, who is in decent shape, was completely beat, and I was definitely feeling it like I haven't in a while...felt great though! So thanks for the great sticky, CP, and discussion, all.

A couple questions: CP (or anyone who knows), would you mind elaborating on the significance of alternating vertical push/pull with horizantal push/pull? (I can start another thread if you want, but I thought it was directly relevant here.) What I mean is, I've always thought, especially with the pulling movements, that they were basically just variations of "back exercises," so I didn't know that there was a need to distinguish between horizantal and vertical. I am guessing it just boils down to anatomy and creating proper muscle balance.

Finally, I am still getting used to the idea of thinking of exercises in terms of movements and not body parts; quite honestly this was a new concept to me before joining this forum. Could any of you direct me to some resources that elaborate on that - why it is superior, what concepts and studies are behind it, etc?

Thanks again, all.

 

[P-funk]

A couple questions: CP (or anyone who knows), would you mind elaborating on the significance of alternating vertical push/pull with horizantal push/pull? (I can start another thread if you want, but I thought it was directly relevant here.) What I mean is, I've always thought, especially with the pulling movements, that they were basically just variations of "back exercises," so I didn't know that there was a need to distinguish between horizantal and vertical. I am guessing it just boils down to anatomy and creating proper muscle balance.

a) the lats are a big broad muscle and serve many functions. The fibers move in different ways and it can perform both horizontal extension, sagital plane extension and even adduction of the humerus. It is important to train the many functions of the muscle to build stability.

b) With regard to the scapula and the muscles that attach and stabilize it.....you would want to focus on both vertical and horizontal rowing movements. While yes, they are both training your "back", the movement at the scapula is different....with horizontal movements leading to adduction of the scapula (as well as retraction) and vertical movements leading to depression and downward rotation of the scapula.


So, although they are all back exercises. The way that movement occurs during these exercises is totally different and should be considered. Bringing us back to the mantra "train movements, not body parts".

 

[depaul]

Thanks, p, that was helpful. So the theory is that between horizantal and vertical push/pull and lower push/pull, you are working all (or most) of the articulations of each main muscle group in a balanced fashion?

 

[mike456]

Thanks, p, that was helpful. So the theory is that between horizantal and vertical push/pull and lower push/pull, you are working all (or most) of the articulations of each main muscle group in a balanced fashion?

the whole point of training movements and not bodyparts IMO is so that you can easily balance your training, because if not it can lead to improper posture, injury, etc.
for every horizontal push do a horizontal pull. for every vertical push do a vertical pull, etc.
I bet in the gym you see alot of guys with rounded shoulders. It is because they bench so frequently without doing an equal amount of rowing. Think about it as the pressing muscles over powering the scapular retractors and pulling them apart. This can happen when the pressing muscles are stronger than the pulling muscles, or if they are tighter. When they get stronger they want to get tighter if you don't train the scapular retractrors equally.

So yes it is all about balance, that is the key thing I look at when someone posts their routine.

 

[CowPimp]

Thanks, p, that was helpful. So the theory is that between horizantal and vertical push/pull and lower push/pull, you are working all (or most) of the articulations of each main muscle group in a balanced fashion?

That's kind of the idea, yes. Also, some muscles are emphasized more depending on the movement. For example, your scapular retractors are going to get a lot of work during a row, but they aren't getting nearly the same work during a chinup (Although some scapular retractors also depress and rotate the scapula, so there is some crossover, but you get the idea; the lats are an example of a muscle that does all of those things). So, it's not just training the various functions of specific muscles, but trying to get a good balance of stimuli for the various muscle groups involved in different kinds of pulling movements.

 

[depaul]

Great - thanks for all the input, guys, I appreciate it

 

[KarlW]

Whilst I am a big fan of FBW's and push/pull etc does all this stuff about balance necessarily mean that the balance must occur in the same workout? i.e If I train pulling movements today and pushing movements in 2 days time have I still achieved balance in the long haul?

 

[P-funk]

Whilst I am a big fan of FBW's and push/pull etc does all this stuff about balance necessarily mean that the balance must occur in the same workout? i.e If I train pulling movements today and pushing movements in 2 days time have I still achieved balance in the long haul?

yes. you can balance them (movement patterns) out over the week.

 

[buening]

I will be starting Rippetoe's Starting Strength, which is very similar to how you have it set up here. I do have one question, i have noticed that Rippetoe has the squat (or lower push in your case) always before the deadlift. I've been told it is a bad idea to do deadlifts before squatting because it will tax your lower back, and then you load a barbell on your back and try to squat it with a greater tendency for injury. What is everyone's take on deads before squats? And if you are curious, the link to Rippetoe's stuff Guide to Novice Barbell Training, aka the Official Rippetoe-Starting Strength FAQ - Bodybuilding.com Forums

 

[jasoncscs]

Love the template.

 

[Braden101]

I saw a template supposedly by CowPimp on another forum. But it is slightly different to what you have here. What do you think of it? it really caught my eye, i have been on a fullbody 3x a week and think splitting it into an a/b type workout would really help me.

Workout A:
Lower Body Quad Dominant
Upper Body Horizontal push
Upper Body Horizontal Pull
Choice of 4 other lifts.( I would choose 3, calf work, tri and bi iso)

Workout B:
Lower Body Hamy Dominant
Upper Body Vertical Push
Upper Body Vertical Pull
Choice of 4 other lifts ( Again i would target same muscles as workout A but slight variations of each lift)

 

[user19]

You going for a workout 3x a week,? im trying to develop a workout routine along those same guidelines.. i thnk it looks prtty good but better wait for someone who knows what they're talkin bout to chime in