Build Muscle and Lose Fat

There are about 956,586 workout routines that you can try. One of the most effective types of routines I have found in my first 14 years of training is total body training.

The Principles of Total Body Training

• Work every muscle group 3 times per week.
• Select one exercise per muscle group, per day.
• Hit each muscle group from a different angle or intensity in each workout.
• Never go to absolute failure on any exercise; leave one rep in the bank.
• Keep workouts under one hour, not counting warm ups and stretching.
• Change everything up after two months.

Why Might This Be the Most Effective Form of Training?

• High frequency (how often you train any given muscle) means more chances to recover and grow stronger/bigger.
• Low daily stimulus (# of exercises and sets per day for any given muscle) lowers your chances of overtraining.
• Avoiding training to failure also lowers chances of overtraining.
• Hitting muscles from all angles each week strengthens stabilizers and is proactive injury prevention.
• Avoid muscle adaptation by changing up the whole routine after 2 months.

So What is the Routine Already?

I will outline a basic routine to follow in a 7 day period, but it can also be shortened to a 6 day period just as long as you see no signs of overtraining.

Your warm-up strategy: Please spend 5-10 minutes warming up your body with some cardio and some light weight lifting. This is your opportunity to do some shoulder rotations and non-hyperextending back extensions to warm up those areas that are prone to injury. For any given compound exercise, you decide if you want to include an initial warm-up set. I recommend it, but for a sissy exercise like bicep curls for example, you don’t really need to do a warm-up set.

Your weight/rep strategy: The first set should be a warm-up if necessary. Middle sets should increase by 10-20% depending on how you feel. Fourth set should be 100% of the max for the given rep range. For example if I can bench 100 lbs x 5 reps, I would do sets of 50 x 5, 80 x 5, 90 x 5, and 100 x 5. Once I set a new 5 rep personal record (PR) I would add the smallest amount of weight possible the next time I did that exercise. Most gyms have 2.5 lb plates, so next week I would use 105 lbs as my finishing weight on that exercise. This is called linear progression. Again, if the rep range is 5, you should be finishing with a weight you can get for 5, but not a weight that causes you to struggle to get 4.

Your exercise selection strategy: Given three workouts a week for each muscle, you must choose three exercises for each muscle group. You should choose one compound exercise and two assistance exercises. The assistance exercises should focus on bringing up weak points, fixing muscle imbalances, or breaking through a sticking point. This strategy was inspired by a training philosophy called the conjugate method.

Your exercise execution strategy: The first exercise of the workout should be done solo, as it is the most important exercise of the day. Rest for a minute or two between sets. All subsequent exercises should be done in groups of two. This is sometimes called a superset. Rest for a minute or two after each superset.

Day 1:
a) Quads - Barbell back squats
reps: 5/5/5/5/5
b1) Chest - Incline dumbbell press
reps: 7/7/7/7
b2) Calves - Standing calf press
reps: 7/7/7/7
c1) Hamstrings - Stiff leg deadlifts
reps: 7/7/7
c2) Abs - (Weighted) decline sit ups
reps: 7/7/7
d1) Back - (Weighted) wide grip pull-ups
reps: 10/10/10
d2) Shoulders - Seated dumbbell shoulder press
reps: 10/10/10
e1) Stretch all your muscles for 10 minutes while sipping your post-workout drink.
e2) If you are still within your 60 minute workout and have gas left in the tank, do a tricep extension of your choice for 2 sets of 5 reps, or as many diamond push-ups as you can do.

Day 2:
Off or light cardio.

Day 3:
a) Chest - Flat bench press
reps: 5/5/5/5/5
b1) Quads - Step ups onto a bench or box holding dumbbells
reps: 7/7/7/7
b2) Abs - Lying leg raises, get your lower back and butt off the floor, try to touch the ceiling with your toes
reps: 20/20/20/20
c1) Back/Hamstrings – Standing bent over dumbbell rows
reps: 7/7/7
c2) Calves - Seated calf raises
reps: 7/7/7
d1) Shoulders - Standing dumbbell raises to the side
reps: 10/10/10
d2) Biceps - Standing alternating dumbbell curls
reps: 10/10/10
e1) Stretch all your muscles for 10 minutes while sipping your post-workout drink.
e2) If you are still within your 60 minute workout and have gas left in the tank, do a hamstring curl machine for 2 sets of 5 reps;or lock your heels under something with the instep of your foot facing down and, starting with your thighs perpendicular to the floor, lower your upper body forward and down a couple degrees then use your hamstrings to pull it back up. I’ll have to see if I can find a picture of this somewhere.

Day 4:
Off or light cardio.

Day 5:
a) Hamstrings - Deadlifts
reps: 5/5/5/5/5
b1) Shoulders - Standing overhead shoulder press
reps: 7/7/7/7
b2) Abs - Standing side bends holding dumbbells
reps: 7/7/7/7
c1) Quads - Alternating barbell lunges
reps: 7/7/7
c2) Triceps/Chest – Decline close grip bench
reps: 7/7/7
d1) Back/Biceps – (Weighted) close grip chin-ups
reps: 10/10/10
d2) Calves – One leg standing calf raise on a 2 inch block or plate holding a dumbbell
reps: 10/10/10
e1) Stretch all your muscles for 10 minutes while sipping your post-workout drink.
e2) If you are still within your 60 minute workout and have gas left in the tank, do two sets of clapping pushups.

Day 6 and Day 7:
Off or light cardio.

So that’s it! Please take this full body workout routine with a grain of salt. At times you might need to skip the e) exercises and maybe even one of the second exercises in the d) superset. This will not kill you. Feel free to change up the exercises if you think you know what appropriate replacements would be. This is just a guide for those that have never experiences total body training before.

This workout should only be done for 2 months max before you either try a different workout, specialize for a certain muscle group, or completely overhaul the exercises and reps.

If I have helped or inspired you, please leave me a message so that I can tell that someone is actually reading this blog. Good luck!