Fullbody 3 Times A Week ?

I have read the set/rep bible and just want to make sure I am clear. I dont want to undertrain, or overtrain.

My workout is fullbody 3 days a week.

I want to get the most hypertrophy as possible. I have been following 24-36 rep principal. However according to Waterbury minimal reps for growth are 36.

So if I follow the set/rep bible and I do say 4 sets of 12 reps for bench, Rows, Squats, Shoulders that comes to 192 reps per workout and 572 reps per week. Not counting Arms work.

Its this too much overall volume for a 3 day routine?

Thanks,

[quote]Joe.Muscle wrote:
I have read the set/rep bible and just want to make sure I am clear. I dont want to undertrain, or overtrain.

My workout is fullbody 3 days a week.

I want to get the most hypertrophy as possible. I have been following 24-36 rep principal. However according to Waterbury minimal reps for growth are 36.

So if I follow the set/rep bible and I do say 4 sets of 12 reps for bench, Rows, Squats, Shoulders that comes to 192 reps per workout and 572 reps per week. Not counting Arms work.

Its this too much overall volume for a 3 day routine?

Thanks,[/quote]

I think 4 sets of 12 for those big movements isn’t going to elicit the growth you are looking for. You may want to try a few sets with less reps, heavier weight, and then a few sets with lighter weight and more reps. Sticking to one rep range through all of your sets will lead to a plateau fairly fast.

[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
Joe.Muscle wrote:
I have read the set/rep bible and just want to make sure I am clear. I dont want to undertrain, or overtrain.

My workout is fullbody 3 days a week.

I want to get the most hypertrophy as possible. I have been following 24-36 rep principal. However according to Waterbury minimal reps for growth are 36.

So if I follow the set/rep bible and I do say 4 sets of 12 reps for bench, Rows, Squats, Shoulders that comes to 192 reps per workout and 572 reps per week. Not counting Arms work.

Its this too much overall volume for a 3 day routine?

Thanks,

I think 4 sets of 12 for those big movements isn’t going to elicit the growth you are looking for. You may want to try a few sets with less reps, heavier weight, and then a few sets with lighter weight and more reps. Sticking to one rep range through all of your sets will lead to a plateau fairly fast.[/quote]

Not really…are you talking about wave loading?

[quote]bruinsdmb wrote:
BIGRAGOO wrote:
Joe.Muscle wrote:
I have read the set/rep bible and just want to make sure I am clear. I dont want to undertrain, or overtrain.

My workout is fullbody 3 days a week.

I want to get the most hypertrophy as possible. I have been following 24-36 rep principal. However according to Waterbury minimal reps for growth are 36.

So if I follow the set/rep bible and I do say 4 sets of 12 reps for bench, Rows, Squats, Shoulders that comes to 192 reps per workout and 572 reps per week. Not counting Arms work.

Its this too much overall volume for a 3 day routine?

Thanks,

I think 4 sets of 12 for those big movements isn’t going to elicit the growth you are looking for. You may want to try a few sets with less reps, heavier weight, and then a few sets with lighter weight and more reps. Sticking to one rep range through all of your sets will lead to a plateau fairly fast.

Not really…are you talking about wave loading?[/quote]

I’m not sure as to the term, but using a high rep range for all movements won’t allow for use of near maximal loads. You need to do some exercises heavy and few reps to build strength, which will aid in muscle growth. You will find that staying with high reps isn’t as productive as incorporating a low rep, heavy weight/high rep, light weight scheme.

i agree sorry for the confusion.

that was just one example of ae range, the most extreme example b/c the rest of my workouts would be with heavier weight equalling less total reps per week.

Just note how your muscles feel at the end of the workout, and once any DOMs kicks in. If you’re working out the entire body 3 times a week, you really can’t be blasting every muscle in each workout. That allows only an average of 2 1/3 days of recovery, when a thorough blasting requires about 4 days before the muscles should be trained again.

Too much intensity, and you’ll be likely overtrained in a matter of only two or three weeks. If you want to go more intense, you’ll want to train less often.

Why not use an ondulating system, where you do 3x12 or 4x10 or 5x8.

I guess my main question guys is this.

If I am doing a 3 day a week full body routine, on MOnday Wed Friday.

Should I stay closer to the rep guidelines of 24-36.

Or the guidelines of 36 to 50…which is for hypertrophy.

Hypertrophy is what I am looking for…but I am afraid 3- to 50 reps per muscle group per workout 3 days a week would just be too much???

I just cant see doing 6 sets of 6 reps for chest back shoulders and legs…then with only one day rest doing 5 sets of 10 reps? Wouldnt this just be too much volume over 3 days a week?

I just want to get the workout down for hypertrophy!

You don’t NEED to be between 24-36 or 36-50 reps. Those are probably just optimal ranges for most people, but they aren’t the bible. Some people can probably grow off 10 singles per workout with near max loads. That definitely ain’t in the 24-36 range.

I agree with trying undulating periodization!

Do a 2x15 day (active recovery?), a 10x3 day (strength day?), and a 4x6 day (hypertrophy day?) or something like that. If you rest just the right amount of time, progressively overload (via rest times, more weight, etc.), do some good compound movements, and stay consistent along with eat plenty, you should pack on some meat!

I doubt he means 36 reps per movement, rather it is 36 repetitions per muscle, which will be a good base for getting enough TUT for hypertrophy. That is the purpose of the recommendation.

Find out what works for you.
How about this progression.

Strength/Hypertrophy > Strength > Hypertrophy

i.e.

5x5 > 10x3 > 3x10

I’m in the 5x5 phase and I use 1 upper/ 1 lower compound lift, Mon Wed Fri.

So far so good.

Good luck. Train hard.

Joe, you can either follow Waterbury or follow HST. It is quite obvious from all the answers except for one, that the well intentioned responders do not understand the basics of HST. Why confuse the two? Do one or the other.

Clustering reps is fine which is really what you are doing. Most HSTers stick in the 15 to 30 range. I stick to 15. Doing 36+ reps at max stimulation will lead to muscle adaptation pretty quickly.

I think the “36 to 50” thing is per muscle group per week…

If you’re following a split program, you’re working your chest once per week, so you have to cram it all in one session. With the 3-day a week, full-body workouts, you’re doing say 3 sets of 10 on bench, just for example, that’s 30…then Wednesday, you’re doing 3 sets of 6 on incline bench, that’s 18, then Friday you’re doing 3 sets of 12…etc…so it adds up to the same amount, but you’re allowing your muscles to be worked more frequently by not destroying them.

That being said, someone mentioned DOMS…I’ve noticed that I’ve pretty much got one bodypart or another still sore 48 hours after I workout and I’m ready for my next workout…I remember reading something that said 48 hours is optimal as far as recovery goes in most cases…the soreness may linger, but the repair work, for the most part, is done.

So don’t be afraid to work through a little soreness as long as you are following the program properly, keeping your nutrition in check, and definately not losing numbers on your lifts.

Hope that helps.

According to Waterbury, it is per training session:

“Key Point: Aim for a set/rep volume of 24-50 for each body part during each session.”

He also says:

“Key Point: Train each body part 2-4 times per week.”

The minimum (48 reps) would be okay for me (I do 45 now) but the maximum (200 reps) would be way too much for me.

Avoid Roids.

What you just said is exactly my question.

I love HST…but I am trying Waterbury b/c its mixes it up more.

But again my question is on 3 days a week what kind of set rep volume.

I mean all of his routines call for around 24-36 rep…with the exception of maybe 2 workouts over a 8 week period the rest of workouts are within that 24-36 guideline.

Therfor that would lead me to believe to keep it in those guidelines…however he says for hypertrophy you have to do at least 36 reps…so I dont want to fall short either?

See my question now?

With hst most of the guys dont even get close to this many reps.

So even I should use the lower end that he recommends which is what I think I should do for 3 days a week…or this routine just has a lot more volume?

Looking at Waterbury method and TBT…most of his hypertrophy programs ar set up 3 days a week at 24-36 reps per session.

Set Rep bible just seemed to contradict his routine on volume a little bit for hypertrophy?

Joe

Try it and see how you react. You’re young enough to possibly get away with it. However, I would suggest starting at the low end of Waterbury’s recommendation for hypertrophy. It’s easier to increase the volume later than it is to reduce it, at least psychologically.