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Full Body Routines?

Chris_Befoul

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Jun 5, 2012
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I have been training for about 5 years or so, natural for the most part. Made decent gains within that time even after dealing with ulcerative colitis. Decided I want to mix things up a bit and try something new. I'm thinking about "The Waterbury Method" but curious if anybody else is doing a full body routine and what kind of results you have gotten?


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i built my foundation on the following: (got up to 300+bench/400+squat/300+ row,etc)

-barbell bench 2sets
-shoulder press 1set
-tricep dips 2sets

-barbell squat 2sets
-leg curl 2sets
-calf press 2sets

-barbell row 2sets
-close grip pulldown 2sets
-dumbbell curl 2sets

always 10-15reps on everything, 0-2 warmups depending on movement

M-W-F


it took quite a bit of food and adaptation, but it worked and my lifts were skyrocketing as a beginner. i know by 3 years of training or less, I was benching 340-345.

PS: I don't suggest full body training at all. Despite what I got out of it, I think lower frequency is much better. I don't believe in 3x/week or higher frequency whatsoever for optimal muscle building.

also, i had extremely dominant shoulders as a result, and i still haven't recovered from the imbalance. my delts and triceps are way too big in comparison to chest and biceps. also, my hamstrings were way too big and quads sucked. this was really because I kept listening to people saying "You have to squat, you have to bench" etc. if i would have picked movements like incline db bench/cable flye....and hack squat/leg press instead, i would have done much better.

to give you some real-life numbers, i literally added +5 inches to my chest in a span of 6-8 months when I got off the full body routine.

Just my 2cents
 
Last edited:
Most of the time if I hit a plateau I'll switch to a full body routine 3X a week based around olympic lifts/strength exercises. A Typical routine looks like this:

Snatch X 4
Bench press or flat dumbell press X 4
Bent row X 4
Deadlift X 3
Military press X 3
Cable row X 3
Squat X 3
Arms X 4 (superset push/pull)

Those are work sets, typically 1-2 warmup sets prior to work sets. 10 target reps per set, you should be struggling but with good form by the 10th rep of the last set. I don't rest more than 1-2 minutes between sets. Don't do abs.

This is set up to hit each major muscle group and build functional strength. You can do something similar with heavier weight if you want to max out/work to exhaustion, but you would need to reduce exercises/sets.

I like this style of training because it works a lot of muscles that don't get attention, but use it purely to shock my body when it gets into a routine. Like Trinity's issue with dominant muscle groups this type of workout may give you some features in your physique that you aren't trying to build.
 
Well right now I am very torso dominant aside from subpar medial delt development. But I have massive traps thick as hell chest and back (at least I feel for someone my size). So this might actually be what I need to do.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
lower body is interesting, i think it responds much better to higher frequency than upper body. i cant pull out any scientific evidence, only lots of anecdotal experience. this doesn't mean that i think 3-4x frequency > 2x frequency for legs, but i'm just saying the results will definetly come regardless.

have you ever heard of smolov squat routine? i added several inches to my legs running that back when I did PL.... (unfortunately most all of it went exclusively to hamstrings, but still it def worked). that routine has you squatting ~4x a week. felt like death though. would never do it again, ever.

i think phil hernons 3x a week routine for legs is pretty good tbh.
if it were me, i would do something along the lines of :

1x squat
1x leg press
1x leg extension
1x lying curl
1x stiff dl

3x/week
 
I have been training for about 5 years or so, natural for the most part. Made decent gains within that time even after dealing with ulcerative colitis. Decided I want to mix things up a bit and try something new. I'm thinking about "The Waterbury Method" but curious if anybody else is doing a full body routine and what kind of results you have gotten?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I used The Waterbury Method years ago and I liked it a lot. I do recall adding some thing to it, but that was about 7 or so years ago and I don;t have my logbooks on me at the moment.

Right now I am doing Fortitude Training and that is essentially a full body routine with different set/rep loading schemes for different body parts on different days. Several guys on the forum are using this system and really liking it...
 
I always liked doing the Arnold spilt routine. Pretty time consuming but a good change of pace and its somewhat of a full body routine
 
I used The Waterbury Method years ago and I liked it a lot. I do recall adding some thing to it, but that was about 7 or so years ago and I don;t have my logbooks on me at the moment.



Right now I am doing Fortitude Training and that is essentially a full body routine with different set/rep loading schemes for different body parts on different days. Several guys on the forum are using this system and really liking it...


Yeah I have a copy of Fortitude Training and gave it a try but with my gym is really crowded at the time I'm able to get in there so made it pretty difficult to do it as recommended.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not a big full body guy. I believe focusing on one muscle is a lot better and u don't have to spend as much time in the gym. That's just my opinion. Everyone is dif. This way has always worked for me.
 
HONESTLY.....

I only train using full body workouts 2-3 days a week. I just enjoy a full body pump. These workouts can be brutal though. Although my routines are never the same I still rely on the same basic foundation. A normal workout for me is the following:
1) a basic back exercise (row,pulldown,chin,etc.): 4 sets
2) a basic chest exercise (flat, incline or decline bench with bb or db): 4 sets
3) bb squat, smith machine squat, squat machine or leg press: 4 sets
4) leg curl or stiff legged Dead's: 4 sets
5) some type of curl: 3 sets
6) some type of pushdown: 3 sets
7) calf exercise: 3-4 sets
8) 20 minutes cardio
 
My grandfather swears by full body routines. He was built back when nobody was in the 40's. Owned his own health club and trained people back before it was really known. He kept himself in sick shape and ate right... The full body training served him well. This pic was before AAS and even protein powder or creatine.
 

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A full body routine is awesome to employee once a week.
Train the rest of the week as you normally would.
 
Yeah I agree. If you can do your full routine a nice total body circuit on Saturday is cool.

Only once in my life did I ever really do total body training. My grandfather kept bugging me so I was like screw it ill give it a try. Of course I got good results because it was a complete change from what I had ever done. Basically did all the major movements for upper body one day, and then lower body the next. I started it after new years and did it until March when I went to Miami that year. I leaned out nicely and looked pretty good, was sore all the time though.

Would never switch to it full time, but might try it again sometime for a short run.
 
my full body routine

https://www.professionalmuscle.com/...lar-size-what-worked-best-you.html#post617054

I could not find the ‘permalink’ to my full body routine which was fortunately
for all of you ;) somehow included in the link above and therefor, cut and
pasted below, which saved me a ton of typing.

Hope you find this informative. I wrote this, posted this, back in 2009.

“I believe we have all experienced a time or two in our lives when we just
grew. And we grew fast when all the conditions for growth were met. Your
first growth spurt, when most people gain the most amount of muscle is
when, obviously, they are starting out. Perhaps not from day one, or
perhaps not even during the first year because if you were anything like
me, you fumbled along trying different things, trying to figure it out. But
once you dialed it in, started paying attention and training really hard,
became consistent and serious, you probably grew like a weed. And
I believe that most, if not all people gain 90% percent of their size in the
first 4 - 5 years of training, if not sooner, during that initial growth spurt.

A second growth spurt occurs when anabolic substances are added
to the equation.

The third growth, and perhaps final growth spurt occurs among the very
rare, genetically gifted, who can grow and perhaps even survive, on
even greater and greater doses anabolic substances with the addition
of perhaps insulin and growth hormones (I'm speculating, do not know,
on the last two).

Now, as for my training experiences . . .

I must go back in time for this one as it was years ago when I made the
best progress in my life (I was 22 years old at the time) training in a friends
garage using only the most basic of equipment. We trained incredibly hard
and fast using a very simple pre-exhaust routine, whole body, to failure
3 times per week with zero supplements of any kind.

My workout partner and I grew so fast that we both were simply amazed.
We couldn't believe it, and neither could the people that saw us during that
time. They accused us of many things but they couldn't accuse us of not
training hard. We trained harder, faster, and briefer than anybody I had ever
seen before or since. Or such is my recollection.

Here is what worked best for me:

Vertical leg press / leg extension / barbell squat 1 cycle of one set each
to failure These were performed one after another with as close to zero
rest as possible.

Deadlifts 1 set to failure
Performed only once a week on Friday

Donkey calf raises, 3 sets to failure, 50 - 100 reps.

Bent arm pullovers with a cambered bar / weighted chins using a V bar
handle thrown over the chin up bar.
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible.
After I got as many reps as possible chinning with weight, I lost the weight
and performed more, as many reps as possible with my bodyweight.

Lateral raises / barbell upright row / barbell press
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible.
We used the same weight for upright rows as we did for presses.

Flys / barbell bench press
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible.

Incline dumbbell curls / weighted chins with supinated grip
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible.
After I got as many reps as possible chinning with weight, I lost the weight
and performed more, as many reps as possible with my bodyweight.

Lying triceps extension / close grip bench press / weighted dips
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible.
We used the same weight for triceps extensions and close grip bench press.
And after I got as many reps as possible chinning with weight, I lost the
weight and performed more, as many reps as possible with my bodyweight.

wrist curls: palms up / palms down
2 cycles performed one after another with as close to zero rest as possible

I don't recall exactly for how long we did this, I want to say 4 - 6 months, but
unfortunately, this experience did not last as long as I would have liked it to
as my workout partner, for a variety of reason bailed on me and our little gym
had to be disbanded and the pieces of equipment sold off. I did join a gym
shortly thereafter and have since joined and quit a wide variety of gyms, but
I was never able to duplicate the results I achieved during that first serious
go-around. To this day, I don't know what it was that made that time so utterly
productive. My age, the intensity, the fast paced workouts, the selection and
order of the exercises? I really don't know but what I do know that during that
time I was able to achieve a level of intensity that I have never been able to
duplicate. Nor have I trained in gym that had all the equipment set up exactly
in the right place at the right time to do what I did as they say, back in the day.

As for my diet at the time (unfortunately I kept no nutrition notes but I was
meticulous in documenting all my workouts), all I can remember doing different
in addition to a well-balanced diet, and this may sound silly, was eating a huge
raw goats milk cheese sandwich on the drive home after each workout.

I'll talk about my second (and final) growth spurt in another post on my HRT
experience.”


I just turned 60 years old this year and still look as I do in my avatar, photographed
about 5 years ago. I vacillate between an ‘abbreviated’ full body routine (not
as much pre-exhaustion for a variety of reasons) and an every-other-day routine,
alternating upper body and lower body with a day’s rest in-between.

I still believe that a full body routine is superior to just about anything if properly
performed and supervised; supervision being key. But it needs to be very intense
and very brief; two things most, if not all bodybuilder’s are not physiologically,
(not physically) equipped to accept or deal with. My opinion. And what I find
most amusing is that with the current wide assortment of PEDS (anabolic steroids,
insulin, HG, etc . . .) it actually make a full body routine more ‘ideal’ and attractive
but few, if any real bodybuilders will actually give it a fair trial but will continue
to spin their wheels in sands of time, resorting to ‘site injections’ to cover a multitude
of errors in an attempt to look like everybody else when in fact that was never the
goal, the ideal, and in fact just makes most people look ignorant and unnatural,
to say nothing of insane drug regimes people post and talk openly about today.

Again . . . my opinion.

I’m going to quit while (I think) I am ahead.
 
Appreciate all the input figure I can give it a go for at least six weeks. Also when I first began training at about 16 I was benching three days a week and my chest is one of my most developed body parts even after years of altering training.


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Sorry i was at work earlier i should have been more specific. So i decided to do the total body routine about 7 years ago, and i asked my grandfather what i should do. Surprising to me he said to do as much of it as i could on a smith machine, he thought that was a great piece of equipment even though they didnt have it back when he trained seriously.

Day 1 i would do flat bench, incline, close grip bench, dips, shoulder press, upright row, barbell curls. 4 sets of each, believe me after it you are beat !!

Day 2 was just back and legs, pull ups, bent over barbell rows, hack squat, stiff legged dead lift, leg press, calf extensions.

Then you are supposed to just repeat it every other day so you do each workout 3 times a week. I was sore continuously... The first week or 2 i needed to take days off in between as i was just to sore to repeat the workout.

Like i said earlier it got me in shape. I started it right after the holidays and i was slightly out of shape i had taken some time off in the fall. All i did was 50 mg of anavar per day and my diet was spot on and when i went to Miami in late March i was shredded. I wouldnt make something like this a staple of your routine, but no doubt it worked for me for a short period of time, i think it shocked my system. It was definitely the biggest change in my routine ever as it was totally different than anything i had ever done.
 
I dont consider that full body.
I consider full body when you literally train everything in 1 day.

This is an A B A split with high frequency imo
 
Last edited:
I have been training for about 5 years or so, natural for the most part. Made decent gains within that time even after dealing with ulcerative colitis. Decided I want to mix things up a bit and try something new. I'm thinking about "The Waterbury Method" but curious if anybody else is doing a full body routine and what kind of results you have gotten?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can definitely make gains with a full body routine if done right.
 
Simple

What would you consider done right if you don't mind me asking?


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Pick one exercise for each of the following and do 2 x sets to failure (5-8) (9-12) - or whatever numbers you want:

Chest
Delt
Tri
Back w
Back t
Trap (optional) - not needed if you do a heavy pull
Bi
Quad (optional) - not needed if you do a deep squat
Ham
Calf

That would be done M-W-F with a different exercise for each day
 

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