Ok this a total body program I kinda half made up, though the template comes from … Mens Fitness (:ducks:). Just hear me out, it’s an interesting idea but I’m just trying to get opinions on how effective you think it might be.
It’s 3 days a week with one days rest between each workout (e.g. Mon, Wed, Fri) and uses the same 5 exercises each day, but with different rep ranges - heavy on monday, light on wednesday and moderate on friday. So a sample of this program may look like:
Monday:
Deadlift 5x5
Flat BB Bench Press 5x5
Bent Over Row 5x5
Standing Military Press 5x5
Weighted Pullups 5x5
Tuesday:
As above but 2x15 for all exercises
Friday:
Same again but 3x10
Other days could be used to bring up lagging body parts which won’t interfere to much with the main program e.g forearms, calves etc. Anyone done anything like this before? Comments, opinions?
Yes, I did similar routines for a couple of years and basically drove myself into the ground, with even less volume than you have there, all the while convincing myself I was making progress because full body routines are sold so well these days.
Yours basically resembles many of Chad Waterbury’s routines, especially TBT. Unless you’re a complete beginner, and I doubt you are judging by your avatar, I wouldn’t recommend it.
The real, classic heavy/light/medium was just that: the reps were kept the same (or very close) but the weight used was 100%/80%/90% of your max. The way you have it structured, you’re still going all out all three days, just in different rep schemes.
I personally think it’s too much. That being said, if you can make REAL progress on it, my words mean nothing.
Thanks, I was thinking it might constitute overtraining as all the major muscle groups are being worked 3 times in 5 days, but does that fact that widely differing rep ranges are used not counteract this?
[quote]MagicJohnson85 wrote:
Thanks, I was thinking it might constitute overtraining as all the major muscle groups are being worked 3 times in 5 days, but does that fact that widely differing rep ranges are used not counteract this?
[/quote]
Some believe so, but I found that pushing the same muscle groups to the limit 3x a week, regardless of rep range, was simply too much. My strength levels kept taking two steps back for every one forward, and frankly, unless you’re doing some super-accumulation program where strength regression is a temporary goal, you should never accept losing strength.
I think most people would acknowledge that lifting whole body three times a work (and even more) would work if the reps and overall volume were kept very low (think singles and doubles) and the gains sought were primarily neural.
If you really want to go full body, 3x a week, I know many on this site enthusiastically recommend the 5x5 routines by Mark Rippetoe (sp?), Glenn Pendlay (again, sp?), Bill Starr, etc, most of which employ a true heavy/light/medium rotation.
Again, just relating my experience. The plan you posted may very well work for you. I’d hate to think I steered someone away from what could have been their ideal program.