Feasibility of this Total Body Routine?

[menorah]

Background: I'm a soon-to-be 31 year old, 5'8", roughly 190 lbs male. I have been consistently working out, but not powerlifting, for the better of 9 years. I have decent musculature now, but a bit of body fat, as well. I got into exercise through the mythical legend of home workouts that is Tony Horton. I initially did P90x3, followed by P90x, and then by a bout of powerlifting at the Y. Ever since, I've been mixing things up and sort of just cycling through weird personal workouts and programs on BODi. Recently I've been following Athlean-X's "Perfect PPL" routine - 3 days on, 1 day off.

Intended Goals:

• Maximize efficiency of workouts
• Free up additional time for mobility and cardio work
• Maintain, if not increase, strength/musculature levels
• Improved overall well-being (shed some fat while improving flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and maintaining if not improving strength/muscle mass).

Proposed Means:

• I'd like to shift to three strength workouts per week (M/W/F) and use the alternating "off" days (T/Th/Sat) for some cardio/endurance, yoga, and mobility work.
• I would utilize a series of 4 rotating total body workouts (A/B/C/D). Each workout would attempt to hit the same muscle groups, albeit with different means.
• The (perhaps foolish) rationale is that, while I would still be stimulating the same muscle groups approximately every 48 hours, I would be doing so without grinding on the same exact movements/lifts too close together, and thus allowing for more rest time and less chance of injury. I have a few lingering pains in my shoulder, lower back, and hip . . .
• The idea of adding a fourth workout, instead of sticking with three, is to 1) decrease boredom, 2) add more rest time between performing hard sets of the same lifts (like flat bench). So, instead of performing A on Mon, B on Wed, and C on Fri, the cycle would rotate: A on Mon, B on Wed, C on Fri, D on Mon, A on Wed, B on Fri, C on Mon, D on Wed, etc. -Note: Every exercise would be performed for 3-4 sets of varying rep ranges, but each of which would be taken (except corrective work) to at least form failure by the end of the 3rd/4th set. I also have been focusing on slowing down my rep movements lately to careful counts of 2-up, 2-down. I don't lift quite as heavy, but the extra time-under-tension and squeeze seems to pay dividends.

Available Equipment:

• Pull-Up/Dip Bar; Bench; Med Balls; Stability Ball; 90# adjustable Powerblocks; 50# Weighted Vest; Various Bands

Question:

• Do you think my proposed means/routine would be effective in contributing toward my goals? I'd welcome any and all critique (including on exercise selection, accessories, split plan/rotation, etc.)

Routine:

A:
B:
C:
D:

Leg:
- Squats; - Hip Thrusts
RDLs
Bulgarian Split Squats
- Deadlift; - Calf Raises

Chest:
Flat Bench
Incline Pushups
Incline Bench
Pushups or Dips (possibly weighted)

Back:
Weighted Chin-ups
Bent Over Rows
Wide Weighted Pull-ups
Chest-Supported Rows

Shoulder:
Lateral Raises (1.5s)
Overhead Press
Front Raises
- Handstand Pushups; - Rear Delt Rows

Bi:
Cross-Body Hammer Curls
Spider Curls
Incline DB Curl
Alt. Standing DB Curl

Tri:
DB Kickbacks
Close Grip Bench
Skull Crushers
DB Incline Power Bombs

Corrective:
Facepulls
Rotator Cuff Bandwork
- Facepulls - abductor/adductor hip work
Rotator Cuff Bandwork

Accessories?

 

[krispablos]

@menorah I think the idea a few different templates you rotate between is great. I do this as well.

However, I would advise against doing 3-4 sets for each, especially if you’re training to failure. That’s way too much volume and it’s going to beat you up quickly. For high frequency splits like this you don’t ever need more than 1 or 2 quality sets per exercise. For some things that recover very quickly like biceps you could get away with 3 or 4 sets, but it still isn’t necessary at the frequency level.

 

[menorah]

@krispablos Thank you! That would probably have been something I'd have learned by experience after starting the routine . . . haha.

 

[krispablos]

@menorah Anytime! I’ll link you an awesome video about full body splits with a hypertrophy focus down below, it might give you some more ideas/strategies.