Full-body strength training program for advanced

In the gym, I often see beginners practicing a whole bunch of isolation exercises, one after the other. Internally I say to myself: “  What a waste, this guy is not going to gain tons of muscle by working out like that!”  »

We know that compound exercises require the most muscle mass and lead to greater production of anabolic hormones. Among these “multi-joint” exercises, we find the famous  bench press , but also the  squat  and the  deadlift . Pull  -ups  and  dips  are also included. On the other side, there are exercises like  bicep curls  and  leg extensions , which are isolation movements (which isolate the muscles). These have little effect on anabolic hormone production and overall muscle mass.

Many practitioners have noted, and rightly so, that the periods when they gained the most muscle mass were those when their program mainly contained basic compound exercises - like those mentioned above - for each group, and this repeated several times a week. What to do then?

 

You want muscle quickly, practice the full body!

In light of these data, we can therefore say that the ideal program - if we want to gain a lot of muscle and quickly - would be a routine of 3 sessions per week, each time working  the entire body  with basic exercises.  This is also what is generally recommended for beginners.

For others, you may be saying to yourself: “  Full-body in every session? I'm past that point. Now I’m doing splits, it’s no longer at my level  .”

 

 

But, is your  hyper-complex split routine  , refined to the extreme, allowing you to gain as much muscle as you hope? If this is not the case,  do not hesitate to return to a basic,  full-body routine and focus on basic compound exercises.

The training of our predecessors

Bodybuilding  is  a very intense sporting activity that stresses the body. Always wanting to do more is a bad strategy that will simply slow down your progress. The studies are clear on this point: intense training, but done in moderation, tends to raise testosterone levels. Whereas overdoing it causes exactly the opposite. If the body cannot recover properly between each workout, the gain in muscle mass will not follow. We can even go as far as a reduction in performance and muscle wasting.

If your goal is to  gain muscle mass  quickly, without cheating by using banned products, ask yourself what the strategy was applied by former athletes, those who had not yet used doping products. The vast majority practiced full-body sessions with multi-joint exercises! This was the case for  Reg Park  or  Steve Reeves  for example, two of the best athletes at the time.

Steve Reeves: 1947 Mr. America, 1950 Mr. Universe

A large part of these athletes followed full-body training throughout their entire bodybuilding career and they achieved a physique that many practitioners dream of having, including me.

Obviously, some might say that bodybuilders these days are much more massive thanks to more modern workouts, improved weight machines and also with the help of supplements. But we have to stop lying to ourselves. The only revolution that has changed the physique of bodybuilders is  doping products.

Justin Compton's rapid transformation!

A full-body program is generally made up of 3 sessions per week, with a day of rest between each workout. The most classic way to do this is to train Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which leaves one day to recover each time. The entire weekend is free for total rest at least once a week. This is an ideal pattern since we know that muscles are built during rest phases.

Sometimes, 2 sessions each week will be enough to obtain good results, especially for practitioners who have difficulty gaining muscle mass.

 

This may all seem too easy, even simplistic. This is what those who already have a good level or who are more than satisfied with the split program will think.  But, if you're not one of them, you have nothing to lose by trying or returning to a full-body routine with basic compound exercises.

Advanced full-body workout program

Here is a typical full-body program to be performed 3 times a week, or every other day for the most motivated. You should not spend more than an hour on each session:

ADVANCED FULL-BODY PROGRAM

SESSION A

• Bench press  : 4*10 - 1 minute (rest between sets)
• Rowing bar  : 4*10
• Dumbbell press  : 3*12 +  Incline bird bench  : 2*10
• Biceps bar curl  : 3*10 (optional)
• Front  triceps bar: 3*10 (optional)
• Neck bar squat  : 4*12
• Crunch  : 4*20 +  Plank  3*1 minute +  Lumbar bench  3*1 min
• Standing calves  : 4*12 (optional)

SESSION B

• Dips  : 4*10 - 1 minute (rest between sets)
• Fixed bar pull -ups  : 4*10
• Bar press  : 4*12
• Dumbbell biceps curl  : 3*10 (optional)
• Overhead extensions  : 3*10 (optional)
• Leg press  : 5*15
• Romanian deadlift  : 4*10
• Pelvic raises  : 4*15 +  Side plank  3*1 min
• Seated calves  : 4*12 (optional)

For this program intended for advanced practitioners, alternate sessions A and B, leaving 48 hours between each session. Before each basic exercise, it is recommended to perform 2 warm- up sets  with light loads.

This program requires  few series  per group compared to a split routine, but it is repeated 3 times during the week. The end of these series must be difficult, it must be intense. As soon as you confirm your weight goal, slowly increase the load during the next session. Your rest times between exercises can be 1 minute, or even 1 minute and 30 seconds for the most grueling exercises.

This type of training will produce a strong anabolic response from your body. It will allow you to quickly gain  a lot of muscle  provided you eat correctly and rest well outside the gym. If you stay serious and your diet holds up, your muscle mass and your performance will increase and you will see the difference after 8 weeks of routine.

Obviously, no program is infallible but, for the majority of bodybuilding practitioners, it is this type of program that is the most effective.

Advanced Full-Body Program FAQ

DOES TRAINING YOUR MUSCLES SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK REALLY WORK BETTER?

The more often you train a muscle group, the faster you hypertrophy it.

People who naturally develop a powerful physique, without doing bodybuilding, are those who often work the same movements every day, the same muscles. So everyone knows some really strong gardeners, very muscular heavy equipment installers, and some experienced movers often have powerful muscles, especially huge forearms. Their “thing”? Work the same muscles often, without ever going to muscular failure. Because the real limit of the reasoning is there: the body must be able to recover between two physical sessions and then compensate. And it's clear that muscle failure or charring a muscle are very poor ways to help it recover.

What's funny is that the first bodybuilders naturally found the trick: most trained 3 times a week, with the same full body program, but were careful not to work hard each session, to maintain this capacity. recovery. Make no mistake: the split, with work on a muscle group once a week until death, is a training method born in the 1970s and the widespread use of doping. This is not a natural way to train.

Ask yourself another question: Do you really believe that you can run a 1000m at the pace of a 100m? The answer is obviously no. So when you do 16 sets of 10 repetitions for the same muscle group, you necessarily work on qualities other than those you are looking for: strength and muscle volume.

In short, you will have understood, doing 16 sets of bicep bar curls in the same session is not the best training idea for a normal individual. What to do, then? It's very simple: distribute this volume over several workouts during the week, so as not to burn the muscle in each session, but also to use it as often as possible for faster growth.

A basic rule is to work the same muscle group at least twice a week. But 3 or 4 times would be better in absolute terms, if the body allows it, or if the volume and intensity of training follow.

I DON'T LIKE THE FULL-BODY, IT DOESN'T SUIT ME. WHAT TO DO INSTEAD?

Rest assured, there are also reasons not to do full-body, and many people progress very well with other types of routines. This theme is also addressed in our article:  Full Body = Good for most, Ideal for few!  Basically, a Full Body workout can be very beneficial for almost everything. But something else like high/low split may be just as good, or even better.

What else to do then?  Simple. If you want to separate upper and lower body training, the   4-day half-body program (upper/lower) will be perfect for you. If you want to work your muscle groups separately, i.e. do pure splits, opt for the split push/pull/legs or  PPL  or the  split program for advanced .

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