Full body routines

[Angel Rising]

Just wanted to see what people thought about full body routines.

Do you think two fullbody compound movement routines per week is enough to build muscle?

[Kevin T.]

It's worked for me in the past, for adding poundage to my big 3 lifts (bench, squat, deads-mostly deadlifts). It was my in season lifting plan for baseball, but it was very simple and very low volume, but high intensity.

This was my actual routine:

w/o A:

Squat 3 x 3
Rows 3 x 3
Bench 3 x 3
External Rotations (1-2 x 10 each arm)

w/o B:

Deadlifts 3 x 3
Chins (weighted when necessary) 3 x 3
Dips (weighted when necessary) 3 x 3
Scarecrows (1-2 x 10)

I did each once a week, a few days apart (Mon/Thurs; Tues/Fri; Wed/Sat, etc)

It was basic program, based around core compound lifts: Squats, Deadlifts, Bench, Rows, Chins, Dips. I added the external rotation work to help offset the internal rotation of the shoulder I face with every throw.


You could definitely add more stuff to that, but I'd definitely stick to some main points if you're going to go 2x a week fullbody:

-Separate Squats and Deads; if you don't have fun walking up stairs
-Do the compound lifts first and add accessory lifts afterwards

You could definitely up the volume and drop the intensity a bit; I just did this set-up because I was in-season. I really like how my current program (EC's Ultimate Off-Season Training Manual - I just love telling people about it :p) fluctuate the volume every week. Week one is high, then medium, then very high, then a low deloading week. You could try that every week or 2 weeks. I'm no expert, just someone who's been there and done a lot of different stuff and read a lot along the way, but that might give you some place to start.

[RedLefty]

Angel, you might want to include some type of lunge work and rotational work as well. Kevin didn't need extra rotational work because he was in-season for baseball and swinging a bat a few hundred times every day.

And yes, you can build muscle with this type of program. Almost any program will work for while. No program will work forever. Keep mixing things up once in a while and you'll be fine!

[malkore]

You should be able to do 3 full body workouts per week. emphasis on compound exports, very little isolation work. less volume, more frequency.

this is a good foundation: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031

[Angel Rising]

Thanks. I've written 2 plans using compounds.

Basically it's this:
1 warmup set squats then 1 working set, followed by a set of lunges.
1 warmup set bench press, 1 working set and 1, 3 rep negatives.
(sometimes follow with pushups)
Rows, 1 warmup, 1 working, 1 static hold.
Military press.
Bench dips (1 or 2)

I drop squats and add deadlifts, drop lunges add stepups in workout 2.

That's about it. I am only doing about 12-15 reps at moment so sometimes add in another set for some excercises. Will progress to 10 reps and down to 6 in the progression, or like Alwyn cosgrove says i may do 12-15, then 6-8, then 10-12 to mix it up....

[Kevin T.]

I'm not seeing the need to warm up before every exercise. I'd recommend doing a dynamic mobility warm-up then a few warmup sets before the first main lift (which should always be a compound lift). Then, 2-4 sets of however many reps you want to do. So, maybe 3 x 12, or 3 x 8, 4 x 6, etc. I'd definitely do more than one working set for each exercise too.

[Angel Rising]

Yeah, the plan was that when i get heavier I will only do one hard workout set. That's why i said i do add in a few other sets.

i usually do one 'warmup' set on the first exercise for main muscle group just to check my form etc. But i always do about 5-10 minutes of warming up on the treadmill or bike.

What I am doing now is mainly trying to get really good on form before i hit really heavy which is what i prefer.

Suggestions noted...thanks

[malkore]

just for another idea, this article is how I built my current full body routine
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=508031

i rotate between flat bench press, incline bench/db press, and flat bench db presses throughout the week. squats on two days. 3 types of deadlifts. pullups, barbell rows.
then I'll toss in a couple sets of biceps, triceps, traps...or whatever, but I'm very selective about it. if I do pullups and barbell rows, I do triceps, not biceps for isolation at the end.
but that's how I do it. no need to thrash small muscles like biceps if I hit them with 6 compound sets of back stuff, and 3x week frequency.

and of course, don't forget abs!

[luniz]

Didn't a bunch of people come out and say bench dips could be a potentially dangerous exercise?

[Lisa~]

Bench dips can be problematic for a large number of people because of the stress they put on the front of the shoulder joint. But each person is individual. They do not have to be ruled out for absolutely everyone.