Full body workout (questions)

[Virv]

So I switched from doing just arms to a full body workout. My main focus is arms, but I really need to do it all to balance my body. I go to a gym with a lot of machines and a large lifting area, pretty much everything. I go every two days and I like to keep it about an hour, since I go after work which is late.

I've only done one full body workout since I switched, and that seemed to go pretty good but I think it could be way more efficient. I basically just did one machine for every part of the body, biceps, triceps, abs, back, shoulders, chest and legs. Is this the right way to do it? Are there certain machines I should be doing, or ones better than others? Should I mix up my order and how much weight I use everytime?

Thank you, any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[bran]

Here's an excellent full body routine:

Squats (high-rep, low-rep, it depends on what you want, but squats all the same)

Then a circuit of these three exercises:
Chin ups
Dips
Decline situps

The circuit here is to do each exercise till failuire, with a 1 minute rest inbetween, 3 times around. So it looks like this:
chins
dips
situps
chins
dips
situps
chins
dips
situps

with a 1 minute rest inbetween. This will not only get you stronger, but will increase muscular endurance and cardio capacity as well.

Whatever your goals are, I'd say squats are a must, and the other three exercises I mentioned pretty much cover the rest. Simplicity is your best friend in a gym (despite what anyone trying to sell you something will say), but simplicity also requires more motivation amd dedication.

 

[soycd_2007]

quick question, -> bran

how many reps do you do, cuz i have a bench at home and do 30 reps of something, then rest ... i dont know how many time i should be lifting, my aim is making my arms/biceps bigger strength etc, i do all of what you just said bran.

 

[bran]

Or if you wanted a larger volume, more weight-oriented workout:

The upper body can be broken down into push, pull, vertical, horizontal, resulting in 4 exercises. The following are my favorites:

dumbell press (horizontal push)
barbell military press (vertical push)
seated cable row (horizontal pull)
wide gripped chin ups (vertical pull)

The great thing about the two major "lower body" exercises is that they affect so much more than the lower body:

squat
deadlift

Both of these exercises are total body developers, and thus must be present in any workout that calls itself a "full body workout".

I've always considered ab work separately (probably an old weight lifting bias), but that separateness also allows a specific focus. My favorite ab exercises are the plank and various other crunch-type things with added weight.

Auxiliary exercises:
I consider the following to be auxillary because the focus should be on the preceding exercises. I believe that unless you're already lifting big on big lifts, the detail work isn't going to help much. Nevertheless there are some I recommend:

weighted dumbell calf raises
dumbell/barbell shrugs
specific types of forearm training

 

[jsb]

Truthfully I would always advise avoiding goign to failure every session and especially when you are doing total body workouts.

Generally with full body workouts I would drop the weights slightly compared to if I was doing a split programme as you need to give your body time to recover and going to failure will result in overtraining and you not gettign the best results. However compared to a split programme with a full body workout you hit the muscles more often and this makes up for the fact that you aren't pushing yourself to the limits.

Also I would say that a squat variation (ideally I would mix between back, front and OH and dumbell thrusters from session to session) should be in nearly every session however deadlift I don't think needs to be in every session instead put soemthing like good morning in some sessions instead.
Also in realtion to ab work I generally think that it doesn't need to be in a full body workout that often as if the rest of your programme is up to scratch it will be hit in quite a few of your other exercise