total body workouts only?

[shugrblossm]

A trainer at gym asked me what workouts and goals were. I told him I do chest and shoulders one day, legs another day, and shoulders and back on another day. Three lift days a week. I told him goals were to get bigger, stronger legs, and upper body goal was that i wanted more strength than i did size. (I dont care for giant arms) He told me workouts were all wrong. The one body art per week was all wrong for goals and gender. he said with one body part per week I'd see results in a few years. He suggested 3 total body workouts per week if i wanted strength and toning. Is he correct?? Total body workouts get boring after a while and i feel like im hitting a plateau. Should i keep the total body workouts and how do i keep changing them up (besides doing different exercising)? What are some different techniques...Thanks

[mzaruba423]

alright i'm not completely sure but
1 -- there's no such thing as toning your muscles
2 -- i think it's better to workout all of your muscles because i believe it helps the blood flow
3 -- i split the workouts up .. i used to do lower body one day and upper body the next then a day of cardio, lower body, upperbody, weekend break. now i do legs / back one day with chest / shoulders the other. maybe he meant that you should be working out all of your muscles rather than just your legs and shoulders, but you don't have to do it all on the same day. just thoughts

[shugrblossm]

are their different techniques i can use for full body workouts...like negitives, plyometrics and such. how can i keep whole body workout fresh every 4-6 wks..thx

[swanso5]

full body is the way to go for 95% of the population as it means you should be using compound exercises to stimulate the most amount of muscle and use the most amount of calories in the quickest time possible

neg's are a terrible option

plyo's can be used

plateaus - i'm getting sick of people here saying this...most don't train hard enough for long enough to hit a true plateau...a true plateau is when you've tried every training method available, every dietary trick in the book and still you can't quite get to the ultimate goal (physique, strength level etc)...it is not when you get bored from lifting the same wt for the same sets and reps each week and wounder why nothing is happening

i have never plateaued in training (7yrs doing so properly) so i can't see how others here seem to to do so, and reguarly apparently

[Packard]

I think people get "stale" more often than they plateau.

Often times you make terrific gains in the beginning with a new routine, but after 6, or 12 weeks the gains are much smaller. Changing the routine will freshen up the workout and might result in greater gains than sticking with a stale routine.

I've seen people burn out and that happens more often than "plateaus". When you train too hard for too long without adequate rest or off-time your body can revolt against you and simply refuse to give you permission to train. You might be able to overcome this refusal for a couple of workouts but eventually your body will win out. So design your workout so that you can sustain it.

I've never plateaued or over-trained but only because I always managed to get strong enough, quickly enough to injure myself. A sure fire way to avoid over-training.

[shugrblossm]

i didnt say i just work legs n shoulders..i work everything/
whats bad about negitives...theats when the muscle is really being worked on the eccentric...i do heavy weights...i understand that women cant bulk like men. i do cardio, have a clean diet, i've tried negitives but do you have to used them all throughout the workout? Will working legs once a week make them bigger n stonger? i'd think at least 2x per week. muscle really only need 48 hrs to recover n grow..he also talked about combination exercises...like a squat and a military press or other combo's. But legs can squat alot more them i press..i dont feel like im giving legs enough weight....i cant use a 20 lb weight for all muscle groups. they all take different weights...so i really dont like combination unless im pressed for time which in most casses im not...is combination good?
thx guys

[DianaB]

Your not lifting heavy if you are combining a squat and a press, this is such a girly training method.
I can squat 2 plates but standing military press in strict form is 75-80 lbs. How would legs ever grow if I combined the 2 lifts? The legs/trunk have way larger muscle groups than the shoulder, so I'm stimulating OVERALL growth by doing heavy leg work. Don't confuse "combination" with compound exercises.
Negatives can be good for correcting technical issues with lifts (bottom up squats, zerchers) but I don't think you have to worry about that. Get either a 3 day full body or 2 upper/2 lower, no machines, no isolation, no negs (except for maybe pull-ups and planks, although that's more isometric) all compound. Tell your trainer to program you like he would a guy. Have you seem any guys combining shoulder presses and squats in your gym? If so, RUN, as fast as you can, to another gym.

[mzaruba423]

he also talked about combination exercises...like a squat and a military press or other combo's. But legs can squat alot more them i press..i dont feel like im giving legs enough weight....i cant use a 20 lb weight for all muscle groups

i'm too lazy to find the original statement you're quoting but a lot of people will squat and press after a hang clean. typically you can hang clean more than you can shoulder press (or at least i do) so a lot of people simply use the squat as kind of a push towards pressing it. but i'd figure if you go down low enough and do enough reps you'll feel it in your legs somewhat, just not nearly as much as if you were actually squatting.

[DianaB]

he also talked about combination exercises...like a squat and a military press or other combo's. But legs can squat alot more them i press..i dont feel like im giving legs enough weight....i cant use a 20 lb weight for all muscle groups

i'm too lazy to find the original statement you're quoting but a lot of people will squat and press after a hang clean. typically you can hang clean more than you can shoulder press (or at least i do) so a lot of people simply use the squat as kind of a push towards pressing it. but i'd figure if you go down low enough and do enough reps you'll feel it in your legs somewhat, just not nearly as much as if you were actually squatting.

Once again, lift confusion prevails.
A technical or power clean & jerk is nothing close to a "squat and press", it's an explosive lift that uses momentum. High rep dumbell thrusters with 20lb weights, yeah your going to feel a lactic acid build up after a bit, but that's not going to make for strength or hypertrophy.
Any sort of combination exercise I would class as pretty damn close to cardio or circuit training. It's what trainers pawn off to women in gyms as a resistance program. There is room for a few good endurance type lifts, like thrusters or DB swings, in a program for fat loss but they should not be what makes up the program in it's entirety. The big money lifts are what re-shapes the body, adds muscle and builds strength, protects bones and aids in increasing the metabolic rate.

[swanso5]

- you'll qyuickly overtrain on neg's if doing them properly...i don;t even do them so i don't know why you need to
- legs 2/week for best results
- some combination exercise are good i think for fat loss/conditioning but not great for muscle/strength as D stated above although i wouldn't put them in the cardio/circuit class by any stretch
- if legs are much stronger then doa static lunge with bb shoulder press andf see fit that matches up better with the strength difference
- you can also do as many squat and press reps as you can then simply cont with squats when you can't do anymore presses

[azzistrength99]

Okay, workouts have been going like this. I do a full body workout 4x/week. Only 2 days cardio max. ALL of lifting excersizes are at max out weight, or reps-to-fail. I think it important to keep in mind that EVERY BODY IS DIFFERENT. There are things that will work for you that won't work for others. Test your body out, try new things and different patterns until you find what really works for you. The program I listed above works for me. I would suggest looking at figureathlete.com as well. Our goals may be different, but it sounds like we have similar ideals. Remember, everyone has different opinions and different bodies. Figure your own body out.

PS. I have worked around gym trainers before, 9 times out of 10 they don't kow what they're talking about. So don't always just take their word on stuff.

[Branimir]

So the trainer told you, you should do every body part, every time you workout?
Very hard thing to do.

I do only two body parts at the time + abs:
Chest and triceps
Cardio
Shoulders and forearms
Cardio
Legs , back and biceps

I can't possible imagine how the individual can train every part in one day, if not splitting it into at least 3 sessions.

[thekid24]

its actually very possible.
with squats rows and presses you're done for the day.
add in pull/chin-ups and you're covered.

its not possible if you "isolate" muscle groups but if you know what you're doing, it is very doable.

[Packard]

So the trainer told you, you should do every body part, every time you workout?
Very hard thing to do.

I do only two body parts at the time + abs:
Chest and triceps
Cardio
Shoulders and forearms
Cardio
Legs , back and biceps

I can't possible imagine how the individuate can train every part in one day, if not splitting it into at least 3 sessions.

You can do this if you just do the primary movement for each muscle group. It is not ideal, but it can be done. If a trainer were offering this as a way to make it to advanced strength gains or body building, then I'd seek out another trainer.

Three sets of each of the following would be a full body workout and could be performed in a single sitting.

Standing press
Bench press
Row
Pull down
Squat or leg press
Sit Ups or Crunches

When I was in college there was a program being touted in the lifting magazines called "PHA" (peripheral heart action) where you quickly went from exercise to exercise without any rest between sets. We had a Universal Gym Machine in college and it had all of these exercises available. I would go around the machine in a frenzy with no rest between sets. Occasionally I would pass out during the standing presses or the leg presses. But I would get a 2 hour workout done in about 20 minutes--and I could shower and get to the next class without any problem.

PHA turned out to be bunk, but I still alternate between lifts and ab work as it is more efficient.

A typical workout with 30 sets might take 2 + hours to complete. The actual amount of time executing the exercises would be about 5 minutes (10 seconds per set); with about 1 hour and 55 minutes devoted to rest. So alternating sets can make for a more efficient workout.

[MikeyRichmond]

For most people full body workouts are the most effective. No joke. Stimulating the muscles more often for shorter lengths of time is more effective (generally) than split routines. The biggest reason this works is because you perform fewer sets, and most people are on absolutely suicidal muscle plans doing 16+ sets for a muscle group. Wayyy too much unless you are chemically enhancing your muscle recovery time.
Legs
• Leg Presses: 3 Sets x 12 Reps
• Leg Curls: 2 Sets x 12 Reps
• Standing Calf Raises: 2 Sets x 12 Reps

Chest/Shoulders
• Flat Barbell Bench Presses:
2 Sets x 10 Reps
• Barbell Shoulder Presses:
2 Sets x 10 Reps

Back
• Front Pulldowns: 2 Sets x 10 Reps
• Barbell Rows: 2 Sets x 10 Reps

Arms
• Barbell Curls:
2 Sets x 10 Reps
• Lying Tricep Extensions:
2 Sets x 10 Reps

other

• Ab Crunches: 2 Sets x 10 Reps

A training routine like this performed Monday, Wednesday, Friday when done with high intensity can produce incredible results over time. For 90% of people this will produce far better results than a chest/tris, back/bis, legs/calves, abs/cardio type of split.