Drawing up a 3 day full body routine for myself, would appreciate suggestions

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godisworking101

New member
Hi everyone,

In an effort to reduce the number of sets I do, I am creating a 3 day full body routine for myself, and would appreciate some suggestions. I am 32M.

I drew it up bearing in mind that

#1 I workout in my home office so I have access to a bench, a pull up bar, some dumbbells and a barbell.

#2 My Fridays are quite busy so I would be able to do less sets then.

#3 All exercises are done for 3 sets, with 1st 2 sets for 10 reps, the 3rd to failure (usually around the 15th rep)

#4 I do cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays (21 miles on the cycling machine per session), and weekends are off.


Muscle Group
Monday
Wednesday
Friday
Sets (total per week)

Biceps
EZ Curl
Incline Curl
Hammer Curl
9

Triceps
Overhead Extension
Kickback
Overhead Extension
9

Pecs
Bench Press
Flys
Bench Press
9

Delts
Overhead Press
Overhead Press
Overhead Press
9

Traps
Shrugs
Shrugs
Shrugs
9

Quads
Squats
Leg Extensions

6

Hamstrings
RDL
Leg Curls

6

Calves
Calf Raise
Calf Raise
Calf Raise
9

Lats
Chin Up
Chin Up

6

Abs
Hanging Leg Raise
Ab Roller
LL PPT Plank
9

Total Sets on Mondays: 30

Total Sets on Wednesdays: 30

Total Sets on Fridays: 21

As I said, Fridays are busier so I can have less sets in, and so I cut sets on muscles that seem most developed at the moment.

I'd appreciate any suggestions and be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks
 
@godisworking101 I think the advice from the last post was generally “find a predetermined plan that was done by a professional”. This is still too much volume. Again, a preexisting 3 day a week full body program that’s been proven to work will be your best option.
 
@godisworking101 Yes, and if you’re pushing yourself hard and start to get burned remove a few accessory lifts (curls/tri presses) until you get into the groove. Keep the order the way they have it – compound movements first then isolation exercises.
 
@godisworking101 For me, that would be too many exercises in a session and I'd be completely ruined by the end. I can't get past more than 5-7 things.

By the time you've done bench, squat, RDL and chins on Monday you must be pretty toast
 
@antponetteoaks I was actually doing about 54 sets per session, over 3 hours. I guess you are really efficient with your sets.

I tried drawing up a PPL routine a couple days ago, and was heavily criticized for that (though I tried knowing what was exactly wrong with it and was just downvoted), so I tried setting a routine for full body again
 
@antponetteoaks you are spot on

in my ignorance, i kept doing 10 reps and not the 3rd set to failure

i've been doing to failure on 3rd sets recently, and stressed my heart out, i'm resting now, and hence my reasons for cutting back in sets
 
@godisworking101 Generally, you're better off leaving a couple reps in the tank. Going to muscular failure doesn't provide much additional benefit, but it does have a significantly higher recovery cost. There are other variables like the specific exercise and overall volume, but that's a general recommendation.
 
@godisworking101 Yeah, this is a lot, man. You’re in junk volume territory. If you can go three hours per session I can’t believe that you’re pushing yourself as hard as you could be and could just be sabotaging your potential pains. I would recommend checking out Stronger By Science and picking one of their programs. You get a bunch of programs for $10 in the form of spreadsheets focused on strength, hypertrophy, etc. I finished up a 3x a week hypertrophy program three weeks ago and now I’m doing 4x. I have it set for 6 movements per day, but the program would be happy with 3-4. I personally just like to have some accessory work for isolation movements to make sure I’m hitting everything.
 
@godisworking101 Plan looks frenetic to me and agree with other comment that its too much per day. Set/rep structure isn't bad, a progression would be good.

Stock answer:

"Generally all my basic programs are constructed around primary push, pull, hinge, squat with accessory exercises as compliment. In most cases this equals 8 exercises (4 primary, 4 accessory) with a few additional abdominal, bicep, tricep thrown in at the end. Alternate primary and accessory, upper body and lower. This gives every primary lift pattern a break every other session, while maintaining consistent volume to the prime moving muscles. The selection of specific exercises can be swapped out periodically but should be readily identifiable by classification (push, pull, hinge, squat) and role (primary, accessory).

In practice the exercises are arranged over two days, performed 3 times per week, run ABA one week, BAB the next.

Abs and calves can be done every day as a finisher or not at all. Is a good idea to include some walking, jogging or interval training on off days commensurate with fitness level.

Every day is leg day. Push, pull, hinge, squat with shoulder, quads, hamstrings as accessory. Have used the following format with kettlebell, sandbag, barbell/machines, isometrics etc, it works with everything.

Day A
  • squat (primary squat)
  • overhead press (accessory push shoulder)
  • hamstring or Nordic curl (accessory hinge)
  • bent row (primary pull)
  • overhead tricep extensions
  • abs
Day B
  • deadlift or good mornings (primary hinge)
  • upright row or laterals (accessory pull shoulder)
  • quad extensions or sissy squats (accessory squat)
  • bench (primary push)
  • curls
  • abs
ABA, BAB"
 
@godisworking101 Listen to your body first and foremost. I do full body 3x a week with 4 sets per exercise and more exercises than you. I do my compound lifts and big lifts to failure, everything else is like 90% effort per set. Ive been making great gains so far being a newbie to lifting. Im on track to hit 5lbs gained this month and every week I am adding weight and improving my lifts.

Ive tried exercising with the bro splits or only a handful of specific sets/lifts, but my gains are slow or non existent. There are some people who workout/lift and are sore the next day or two, im not that way. Maybe the first time I workout Ill get sore, but afterwards I dont experience soreness or tiredness the day after. I was at the gym last night for 2 and 1/2 hours probably doing 50% more types of lifts then you have here and more sets, but it takes that long for me to actually feel exhausted like I got a good work out in.

Hard gainers are real and it just takes a lot more effort to hit hypertrophy.
 
@godisworking101 I do full body 3x a week with 34, 34 and 35 daily sets. Mostly compounds with 3 sets for biceps, triceps, calves, abs, middle and rear delts each. Every session takes approximately 2 hours at most. My intra shake is 15 g EAAs and 30 g maltodextrine. I‘m in my tenth week and it works perfectly. I just need a lot of sleep 😊👍🏻
 
@primary0 I feel the sleep thing... Full body 3 a week here too... And I average between 15-20k a day... I'm bollocksed after a gym day (especially if I'm working in the morning and evening)
 
@amymine712 Try 15 g of EAA and 30-50 g of maltodextrine intra workout (John Meadows recommends 6 g of aminos and 20-30 g of carbs). It works wonders. I usually train in the evening and therefore I can’t rely on coffeine that much but boy, if I train without my intra shake, the sessions feel much longer and tiring … It‘s remarkable.
 
@godisworking101 Monday - Bench OHP squat - Monday add whatever accessories you want for those three maybe some tricep/quad work

Wednesday- close grip bench /incline bench / deadlift pick some accessories again triceps and hamstring work

Friday - Larsen press bench 5x5 75-85% 1rm / Push Press 120% of strick press 1rm 3x whatever you can do / Heavy RDLs or Rows add accessory work

It’s really not as complicated as you’re making it and yours add a bunch of random garbage that doesn’t have a reason other than I can do this

Make your accessory work after your compounds count they should target some part of the compounds main push or pull muscle

do bicep work at home it’s easy enough to bang out some curls at home it’s a waste in a 3 day full body routine. The triceps make up the main mass of the arms while biceps are mostly just for looks

Your rep scheme is garbage and doesn’t follow any form of programming

For your compounds follow a week to week increase in either reps or weight based on your current 1rms

Week one could be 5x8 at 70%1rm

Week two 6x6 at 75% 1rm

Week three 5x5 at 80%1rm

Week four 5x4 at 85%1rm

Week five 5x3 at 90% 1rm

Week 6 6x2 at 95% 1rm

Then Deload and reset

This is just a example of week to week increases

All weight done before that days working weight 1rm% is just a warmup

Your warmup sets do not count

Your routine is something is see someone do for a year or two and make no progress and wonder why they’ve spun their wheels and wasted two years. Don’t waste your time on garbage get the volume and time in on many sets of the compounds lifts it’s called full body for a reason most of what you’re doing needs to actually hit multiple muscles

For your cardio you might need to eat more if you’re doing that much

Hopefully you’re in a decent surplus for this kind of work and volume. I can’t say it enough if you want to make use of the work you’re putting in you need to eat big to be big. Fat can be dieted off later it’s fine
 
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