@4eyedfenix The volume isn't terrible but there are some bizare things like the exercise order, 2 overhead presses, 5 sets of deadlifts at the end. I just noticed you're doing squats too, if you want to do Full body you have to be really careful with the volume. I'd recommend other splits first if you are able to make them work.
Too Much Volume?
- Thread starter 4eyedfenix
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@notsure17 Do you think doing the same exercises per session is good for muscle growth (3-days a week)?
I do:
Flat Barbell Bench: 2 sets of 7-10
Barbell Squat: 2 sets of 7-10
Pullup: 8 bodyweight currently (trying to hit 10 in a row) 3 sets
Hammer curl: 3 sets of 15-20
Lateral raise: 4 sets of 20-30
I do this 3 days a week and I noticed I still got stronger. For example for bench I went from benching 85 for reps to 165 for reps (10th month of progress but bulked) but I don't know if this is good long term...
I do:
Flat Barbell Bench: 2 sets of 7-10
Barbell Squat: 2 sets of 7-10
Pullup: 8 bodyweight currently (trying to hit 10 in a row) 3 sets
Hammer curl: 3 sets of 15-20
Lateral raise: 4 sets of 20-30
I do this 3 days a week and I noticed I still got stronger. For example for bench I went from benching 85 for reps to 165 for reps (10th month of progress but bulked) but I don't know if this is good long term...
4eyedfenix
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@notsure17 
thanks bud. The consensus seems to say I need to find something more structured, so hoping that I can get even better results with something that’s “proven”. If not I’ll come back to my “Frankenstein” program lol
thanks bud. The consensus seems to say I need to find something more structured, so hoping that I can get even better results with something that’s “proven”. If not I’ll come back to my “Frankenstein” program lol@4eyedfenix Are you doing full body 5-6 days a week? I noticed you have push, pull and legs all in your Monday.
4eyedfenix
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@4eyedfenix Do a warmup and then do the max weight you can with good form then go to failure for 2 sets
4eyedfenix
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@4eyedfenix How long do u spend in the gym? I do like 6 exercises and take close to 2 hours. You should really cut some of these sets to just 3 or 4?
4eyedfenix
New member
@wes40 I typically spend about 2 hours… 1-2 minutes rest between sets. I’m probably just gonna start a whole new program and see how I progress from there. As I’ve said, total newbie to this and have been seeing crazy results and I’m not super fatigued from it… but the consensus is that I’m doing too much and need to be more structured. I’m gonna take everyone’s advice and see how I manage. Thanks bud!
@4eyedfenix For one day, this is too much, at least it would be too much for me.
Too much pressing for a day. Also, DB OHP and BB OHP is literally the same thing, and nothing is wrong with variation, but if you do these 2 variations on the same day, along with your bench press, your joints must've been built like steel.
Maybe you could do less excercises with more sets.
I will only write 4 working sets per excercise, not counting warmups, you should do 2-3 excercises per muscle and always start with whatever muscle you want to bring up, but again, I would only do only ONE pressing compound movement in a day and another compound press variation 42 hours later.
BTW, you can build any kind of muscle with even only two excercises, if you're adding reps, sets, weights, shorten rest times, and even rest-pause like myo-reps, when you milked every single possible gain from that weight.
Give my 6 day routine a try and modify it anyhow you want to.
It's a 6 day routine but you can make it 5 day, if you don't want to focus much on some muscles, like if you don't have a lagging biceps or legs, you can skip the DAY 2 or DAY 5 and make it a rest day....you can also make it a 3 day program with rest days in-between, and making sure that you progress week-by week, and month-by-month. Trust me, you're not gonna fall behind if you only hit muscles once a week and not twice, because PROGRESS is the name of the game.
So, Monday. Let's say you prioritize chest. We will only do 2 excercises for muscles, but with more sets. Be careful tho, not to go beyond 5 sets, because it might be junk volume, so I would stick to 3 sets first, and then progress to 4 sets and 5 sets, and if you maxxed out on the sets and they feel easy, you move up with the weight, and start from 3 sets again and build your way up month-by-month to 5 sets again and repeat.
Monday-4 sets of everything
CHEST:
- DB / BB bench press ( chose incline or flat, but definitely not both on the same day. )
- Cable fly
TRICEPS:
--Triceps extension
-Triceps pushdowns ( if you feel like your lateral head is lacking, but overall, if you do many pressings per week, your lateral tricep head will grow without isolation )
SHOULDERS
-Lateral raises
-Upright rows OR if you feel like your joints are not hurting, you can definitely do a high rep OHP with BB or DB, but please, be careful
BACK
-Bent-over BB or DB row ( but not both )
-any kind of machine row, basically, or you can try landmine rows like meadows rows or single-arm BB rows, the latter one really helped with my mind-muscle connection with the lats
And thats it for Monday, I would not even think about doing squats or deadlifts on this day.
Take a rest if you want or just proceed to day 2 immediatly the next day
For DAY 2, you could focus on your biceps and legs, since your triceps already had lot of stimulus last day and they are usually easier to grow, not like the Biceps, so...
DAY 2
BICEPS
-ANY KIND OF 2 CURL variations, DB, BB, EZ-BAR, CABLE, ETC... but I would avoid Hammer curls, because your forearms already got a lot of stimulus from normal curls AND back excercises last day,.
Make sure that you follow the same sets you followed last day, like in this case, it was 4 sets, and do only 2 excercises for biceps, but if you feel you can do more, then do 3.
LEGS ( we gonna do 3 excercises instead of 2 here, for good luck )
-One type of squat, be it BB squat, goblet squat, bulgarian split squat, etc...
-Leg press OR leg extension
-Hamstring curl OR RDL
DAY 3 ( here we do those excercises that we couldn't do on DAY 1 )
-Incline DB or BB bench ( if you did flat on DAY 1, you would do incline on DAY 3 and vice-versa )
-same with shoulders as day 1, if you want to focus on rear delts, you could skip upright rows for bent-over rear delt raises...
-triceps workout should be the same, I don't see any reason to add a close-grip bench press since you already done Incline bench press
-Back can be different too, you could swap any of the 2 excercises for one deadlift for moderate reps, but still doing 2 back excercises after or before the deadlift.
And...that's basically it. You just repeat.
Too much pressing for a day. Also, DB OHP and BB OHP is literally the same thing, and nothing is wrong with variation, but if you do these 2 variations on the same day, along with your bench press, your joints must've been built like steel.
Maybe you could do less excercises with more sets.
I will only write 4 working sets per excercise, not counting warmups, you should do 2-3 excercises per muscle and always start with whatever muscle you want to bring up, but again, I would only do only ONE pressing compound movement in a day and another compound press variation 42 hours later.
BTW, you can build any kind of muscle with even only two excercises, if you're adding reps, sets, weights, shorten rest times, and even rest-pause like myo-reps, when you milked every single possible gain from that weight.
Give my 6 day routine a try and modify it anyhow you want to.
It's a 6 day routine but you can make it 5 day, if you don't want to focus much on some muscles, like if you don't have a lagging biceps or legs, you can skip the DAY 2 or DAY 5 and make it a rest day....you can also make it a 3 day program with rest days in-between, and making sure that you progress week-by week, and month-by-month. Trust me, you're not gonna fall behind if you only hit muscles once a week and not twice, because PROGRESS is the name of the game.
So, Monday. Let's say you prioritize chest. We will only do 2 excercises for muscles, but with more sets. Be careful tho, not to go beyond 5 sets, because it might be junk volume, so I would stick to 3 sets first, and then progress to 4 sets and 5 sets, and if you maxxed out on the sets and they feel easy, you move up with the weight, and start from 3 sets again and build your way up month-by-month to 5 sets again and repeat.
Monday-4 sets of everything
CHEST:
- DB / BB bench press ( chose incline or flat, but definitely not both on the same day. )
- Cable fly
TRICEPS:
--Triceps extension
-Triceps pushdowns ( if you feel like your lateral head is lacking, but overall, if you do many pressings per week, your lateral tricep head will grow without isolation )
SHOULDERS
-Lateral raises
-Upright rows OR if you feel like your joints are not hurting, you can definitely do a high rep OHP with BB or DB, but please, be careful
BACK
-Bent-over BB or DB row ( but not both )
-any kind of machine row, basically, or you can try landmine rows like meadows rows or single-arm BB rows, the latter one really helped with my mind-muscle connection with the lats
And thats it for Monday, I would not even think about doing squats or deadlifts on this day.
Take a rest if you want or just proceed to day 2 immediatly the next day
For DAY 2, you could focus on your biceps and legs, since your triceps already had lot of stimulus last day and they are usually easier to grow, not like the Biceps, so...
DAY 2
BICEPS
-ANY KIND OF 2 CURL variations, DB, BB, EZ-BAR, CABLE, ETC... but I would avoid Hammer curls, because your forearms already got a lot of stimulus from normal curls AND back excercises last day,.
Make sure that you follow the same sets you followed last day, like in this case, it was 4 sets, and do only 2 excercises for biceps, but if you feel you can do more, then do 3.
LEGS ( we gonna do 3 excercises instead of 2 here, for good luck )
-One type of squat, be it BB squat, goblet squat, bulgarian split squat, etc...
-Leg press OR leg extension
-Hamstring curl OR RDL
DAY 3 ( here we do those excercises that we couldn't do on DAY 1 )
-Incline DB or BB bench ( if you did flat on DAY 1, you would do incline on DAY 3 and vice-versa )
-same with shoulders as day 1, if you want to focus on rear delts, you could skip upright rows for bent-over rear delt raises...
-triceps workout should be the same, I don't see any reason to add a close-grip bench press since you already done Incline bench press
-Back can be different too, you could swap any of the 2 excercises for one deadlift for moderate reps, but still doing 2 back excercises after or before the deadlift.
And...that's basically it. You just repeat.
4eyedfenix
New member
@steff13 Thanks bud! I’m gonna give this a shot and see how I feel. Honestly my joints feel fine… I worked construction for years so hours on hours of repetitive arm/shoulder movement was a typical day for me. Really appreciate the help and the workout routine, excited to see how it feels in comparison to what I’ve been doing. 
@uglytruth You can if you want. I just added chest and back on the same day, because OP did it too, but it can be modified anytime, its just one example of many
@4eyedfenix Is it challenging? Are each set very difficult? I see sets of 10 a lot but is that weight actually stimulating? I'm thinking you increase the reps to or near failure or increase the weight until 10 reps is extremely difficult, to the point sequential sets you might be able to be 10.
4eyedfenix
New member
@4eyedfenix Btw great username
4eyedfenix
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frustratedhusband
New member
@4eyedfenix Use program templates. There's a thought behind them unlike your program.