I have decided to try a total body workout routine. Due my schedule I will be able to get 2-3 workouts in each week. I have picked good compound exercises, but have some questions on sets and reps. My goal is to keep the muscle I have while losing fat. I plan on cleaning up my diet and doing some cardio about 3 times week.
What kind of set/rep scheme would be optimal for this goal. Once I lose some fat, I may specialize on my arms because they do not tend to grow without more direct work. Thanks for the input.
Current program:
Back Squats full ROM.
“Romanian” deadlift
dips (weighted)
Pullups (weighted)
Military press
Calf raise - I have real skinny calves
Seated cable row-for scapular retrac.
preacher curls-
tricep extensions- (overhead or lying)
Standing forearm curls (behind the back)
reverse grip forearm curls or hammer’s
rear delt on cable cross-small rear delt vs front due to years of heavy benching
If you are going to train 2 times a week make sure you choose exercises that will hit everything each week. You can do it all in superset fashion which will make for very short workouts or you can do every exercise with rest in between. I’ve tried both and they are very hard. I’ve been doing a heavy day 3-5 reps on each and a 12-15 day and alternating them on each day.
No direct chest work? That’s a first. Is your chest really that overdeveloped?
You may want to check out some of Chad Waterbury’s articles, they will give you some good direction as far as full body routines.
You said you were planning on cleaning up your diet…do it. Regardless of your goals, if you think it needs cleaning up, it probably does. Dr. John Berardi has some great diets and tips.
My chest is really big, also, when the poundages get up there, it tends to aggravate an old shoulder injury. I have found that this is not the case with dips. The dips also hit my tris harder (depending on your form) and my arms need a little more size on them.
My pecs are a little bottom heavy. Losing fat may help with that. I may also add some inclines to help with the mythical “upper pec area”.
After reading the above link from Scott aka Rice. It got me thinking about alternating exercises for the same body part. Like for your back, on monday chins, on thursday some type of row. You would still hit your back twice that week, just from a different angle with a different move. I would still stick to compound moves for the major muscle groups.
Regardless of whether I am doing full body or split training, I always try to choose different methods of training the same muscle groups within the same week.
DB’s instead of barbells
Inclines instead of flats
Deadlifts instead of squats
Rows instead of pullups
Cool, I will have to search for Waterbury’s stuff and see what I find. I have a feeling that for me, losing fat is going to make a bigger impact on my fitness/looks than pure size or strength gains anyway.