So, the previous article that I published was about the importance of frequency in your training. I talked shortly about full body workouts, but mostly in the context of the frequency that they have you train at. Now i'd like to expand on them and give you guys a few examples of full body programs. And if you want to know why i recommend utilizing full body training programs in detail, when you should read my post about the importance of frequency that i just mentioned.
So for short I recommend full body training programs because of:
They have you activate muscle protein synthesis, stimulate strength and also rest often (which is good both physiologically and psychologically).
They have you train certain movement patterns and it's easier to get stronger and therefore bigger, faster.
It's very hard to overtrain on them, but they are just enough to get most of what you can get out of your training.
And now the good part - actual programs. There is one more thing that i'd like to mention. Training programs that have a specific purpose behind them can be relatively simple and, more or less, generalized. The more training experience, the more sports that the person is trying to exceed in and just the more goals he is trying to achieve, the more complex and the less general the training program has to be. What i am going to do is give a few examples of different versions of full body training programs to give you something to choose from and also i'll explain the logic behind them.
Full Body Program #1:
Bench press (whether incline, decline or flat is up to you) or dips - 3 x 6-10
Deadlift - 1-3 x 6-10
Pull ups (whether wide, medium or narrow grip and whether pronated, supinated or neutral grip is up to you) or bent over rows or (i recommend alternating between these two exersises every - 3 x 6-10
Back squats - 3 x 6-10
Over head press - 3 x 6-10
Upright Rows - 3 x 6-10
Bicep Curls (EZ, straight bar, preacher or whatever variation of bicep isolation exercise is up to you) isolation 3 x 6-10
Tricep Extentions (Rope pushdowns, skulcrushers, french press or whatever variation of tricep isolation exercise is up to you) 3 x 6-10
Russian Twists - 3 x 6-10
Do this program every other day.
Example:
Monday - Train
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Train
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Train
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest
For those who are new to the gym and maybe don't understand what, for example 3 x 6-10 means, i'll explain it to you. First number before x means the sets that the program has you do. The number after x means the number of reps that the program has you do. So 3 x 10 means that you do and exercise 10 times, then rest then do it 10 times again, then rest again and do the exercise for 10 times again and that's it.
And as far as rest in between sets, it's best to keep it around 45 to 60 seconds. Now that can differ based on the exercise that you do. If you do large compound movements like like bench press, pull ups or especially squats or deadlifts you might want to rest a bit longer (maybe 1.5 to 2 minutes) in order to recover for your next set. And also if you do low reps and heavy weight (around 1-5 reps) that will tire your central nervous system, and your body in general, then you might want to rest even longer (2-5 minutes).
Tips
I'll give you guys a few tips regarding the program itself. It starts off with big compound movements for entire body and finishes with arm focused isolated exercises and an ab exercise. The thing is that doing upper body pushing exercises will work your triceps, doing upper body pulling exercises will work your biceps and doing heavy squats, deadlifts, overhead presses and different heavy compound movements that have you activate your core in order to stabilize and handle the weight that you're using , you work your abs, obliques and many other different core muscles.
Also, even overhead press and upright rows, while being compound movements that will help you more than isolation movements that mainly focused on training your deltoids, are somewhat optional because your first pressing and pulling exercises will work your delts already and especially if you are a beginner and it's hard for your body to handle all of this, or you don't have the time, or you are simply exausting yourself mentally too much, you don't have to necessarily do them, but they are recommended and will help you. So overhead press, upright rows, bicep curls, tricep extentions and russian twists are optional. As far as other exercises go, you should do them and only thing you should alternate is maybe the the number of reps and especially sets. One exercise that this is especially relevant to is deadlifts. They are taxing to your central nervous system and and involve all of the muscles in your body, and since the program has you do them three times a week reducing their volume is definitely recommended if you feel like you should. That's why i wrote 1-3 for the number of sets for your deadlift. And also back to the isolation work.
You can do bicep curls, tricep extentions and russian twists and also you can add other isolation exercises for other muscle groups, like calve raises for the calves, or shrugs for the traps if you feel like you need to. And as far as the pull ups, if you can't do them, you might want to do them with weight lifting bands to help you, or on a pull up machine (if you have one in your gym) or just do lat pulldowns. And also, you can change the order of days that you workout and rest to fit your lifestyle, and you can do full body every other day on non consecutive days if you want to.
Conclusion
And there you have it, folks. I gave you a good, simple yet effective full body program and expanded on it as far as the tips about it. So now you can go and make some serious gains.