My New Full Body Workout-Questions

Hi all. Female, 25 yr old 5'5'' 122 lbs.. Body fat 16-18%

I've weight trained a couple years and I have been doing my first ever full body workouts 3 day/week based on a Chad Waterbury plan for about a couple weeks now. Previously, I did 4 days/ week of upper/lower split.

Here's what I do right now:

DB Flat Bench Chest Press - 30 lbs ea. hand 8-9 reps
T- Bar Row 45lbs 6-7 reps
Shoulder Press 20 lb DB each hand 7-8 reps
Barbell Squat 85x 5 reps or 70 lbs 12 reps
Romanian DL 135lbs 6 reps
Abs- standing side bends with 35 lb DB 8 reps
Ball Crunch 25lb plate behind head-10-12 reps

And then I add 3-4 isolation exercises, switching them up each day, different body parts isolated…

QUESTION: It seems I am having a really hard time lately moving the amount I lift up any.. At most, I might get one more rep occasionally. But sometimes the next week I am having to drop a little weight than what I did the week before.

In this workout, I am supposed to do Day 1 with 5 reps, Day 2 with 8 reps and Day 3 with 15 reps.

Would I be better off to just stay 6-8 reps at EACH workout in order to gain muscle or should I alternate each day’s reps like this workout is written?

GOAL: I am well toned but I want to be CUT and lose more body fat.. My diet is good. I feel like that is not much of an issue here because I know how to eat for metabolism, fuel, protein, all that jazz. I am doing HIIT 3times a week, very high intensity sprints.

Also, Waterbury says to change these exercises as written above every TWO weeks.. so I think it may look like this next week:

DB Incline Press
Bent over DB Row
Military Press
Front Squat
(some form of DL but not sure which one yet. Quads are good, want to focus on Hamstrings A LOT.. I want them to POP :eek: .. Ok, not literally, but you know.)
Abs

Any help is appreciated.. I really try to educate myself with this stuff. JUST started reading “Schuler and Cosgroves “New Rules of Lifting”. I’m not just trying to get help without looking into stuff myself. This weight training is TRULY my passion and will be starting school in January to do Exercise Science major. :D Thanks to the peeps in advance that take time to read this and reply. You guys/gals amaze me with your knowledge! ;) - Emily
 
Two things I'm noticing. First thing, your leg exercises should be first (in my humble opinion). Sencond thing is, when you add reps you gotta drop the weight accordingly so that you can do all of the repetitions.
 
Very nice so far, a couple things:

you don't need 3-4 isolations at the end, if you go back and read cw's program, it calls for 2 at most..your arms are already worked a ton from all of the compounds

Romanian Deadlifts...the other dead you wanted for the hammies, oh wait I just looked and you have those...nevermind, read two lines down

I would pair regular back squats with romanian or stiff legged deads (i almost always do romanian instead of stiff)

And pair conventional deadlifts with a front squat, or barbell hack squat.

I wouldnt do db incline press and military press in a full body because they both hit the anterior delts a ton. I usually pair military with flat bench, workouts that I have DB incline press I may leave it as the only upper body push, or throw in a couple of dips or decline presses.

With the workout you have in there now, I would sub in pullups or pulldowns (or chinups) instead of the shoulder press occassionally. Because you have two upper pushes and only one upper pull.

What I dont understand is that you know the proper rep ranges, but you are doing different reps for different exercises, see what i mean? I think you could get away with two days at lower reps with the middle workout at higher reps. It would be tough on your CNS to do all three at low reps.

Just for future reference if you end up doing conventional deadlifts, theyre better utilized for lower reps, imo of course.
 
ok, I had the same suggestion on legs, but that's already been cleared up.

I don't think you need 3 isolation exercises at the end. 1, maybe 2 depending on what they are. if you do 2 heavy back exercises, probably not much need to work biceps directly.
Same thing if you do a chest press and shoulder press...that works the triceps pretty well.

if you're trying to lean out and on a bit of a calorie deficit, I would stick to the 6-8 range most days. heavy and low reps will 'trick' the body into holding onto muscle mass while cutting some calories...so fat gets used up.
 
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