Full-body training sessions from the legends

Is a full body workout good?

Here's what you need to know...

1. A full body workout is very effective when it comes to developing lagging muscles, as you can train them first three times a week.
2. Even though Arnold was known for split programs later in his career, he started his career with full body workouts and still recommends them for beginners today.
3. Bodybuilding legend Leroy Colbert was a big believer in full-body workouts and said that he never trained productively any other way.
4. Vince Gironda's full-body programs used a new type of progression. Instead of simply increasing the weight, he reduced the length of the rests between sets.

Training sessions without muscle group splits

Full-body training is highly underrated. This is a shame, because it works exceptionally well.

Keep in mind that there are occasional times in life when you only have time for the gym two or three times a week. Those who use five or six day split programs then often end up missing workouts due to job or family commitments. This kind of disruption to a split can mean that muscle groups are not stimulated for a week or more.

Not good! This is the kind of scenario where full body training sessions can shine. But even then, if you're simply looking for a change of pace, full body workouts won't let you down.

Oddly enough, full body workouts have never been mainstream for over 50 years. So here's a quick refresher.

Who uses full body workouts?

If you'd asked this question 60 years ago, when men like Reg Park and Leroy Colbert graced bodybuilding magazines, the question would have more appropriately been "Who doesn't use full-body workouts?"

The basic idea was simple - train, recover and repeat. Guys like Colbert and Park wrote about this philosophy in every major magazine, but let's take a look at someone who didn't get nearly as much press or notoriety: George Eiferman.

George Eiferman

Eiferman was an actor, stuntman and Mr. Universe winner who traveled the country teaching high school students the value of physical training.

He was a big advocate of full body workouts and like other champions of his time, it was his standard methodology. This was one of his favorite total body programs, with three workouts per week:

	Exercise	Sets
A	Hackenschmidt squats	3	7-10
B	Bench press	3	7-10
C	Flying movements with dumbbells	3	7-10
D	Dumbbell side raises	3	7-10
E	Alternating dumbbell shoulder press	3	7-10
F	Single-arm rowing with abduction	3	7-10
G	Barbell curls with kicks	3	7-10
H	Dumbbell concentration curls	3	7-10
I	Dumbbell forearm curls	3	7-10
J	Side bends	3	7-10
K	Sit-ups	3	8-12

Note that George performed 6 sets in a row for chest, triceps, biceps and shoulders. This number appears in many of the following training programs.

Schwarzenegger's "Golden Six"

Even though Schwarzenegger was the definitive king of split training at one point, he started his career with a full body training program and he still recommends this for beginners today. The program he used was called "The Golden Six."

	Exercise	Sets
A	Squats	4	10
B	Barbell bench press with wide grip	3	10
C	Pull-ups	3	*
D	Neck press	4	10
E	Barbell curls	3	10
F	Sit-ups with bent knees	3-4	Until muscle failure

* As many repetitions as you can manage during 3 sets.

And that's it already. Simple, direct and effective. As with most full-body programs, he also recommended performing these workouts three times a week on non-consecutive days, with no training with weights on the rest days. Due to the low volume, this type of full-body training program is ideal for beginners and those looking solely for strength gains.

Leroy Colbert's method: 6 sets per muscle group for a total of 42 sets

Bodybuilding legend Leroy Colbert was a big believer in full-body workouts and said that he never trained productively any other way.

In Colbert's day, the norm was to perform 3 sets per muscle group. He explained that exercisers often dropped the weights after three sets as if they were on fire, believing that performing more than 3 sets would cause their muscles to shrink. Nevertheless, Colbert swam against the tide, started doing 6 sets per muscle group and the rest is history.

I have successfully recommended this type of training program to dozens of exercisers and have used Colbert's method myself to gain 16 pounds of prime lean body weight while my waist circumference has remained exactly the same. Here are his simple guidelines:

• Exercise the entire body every other day
• Keep reps between 6 and 10, increasing the weight when you can do 10 reps on all sets.
• Perform at least 6 sets per muscle group for optimal growth. However, you can do more sets for certain muscle groups.
• Use a mini push/pull setup during your training session. This means that you do not train the chest directly after the triceps and the biceps directly after the back. If you train the body in the following order, for example, this fulfills this requirement: triceps, biceps, chest, back, thighs, shoulders and finally the calves.
• Perform 6 sets per muscle group for a total of 42 sets.

Note: If you think 42 sets is too many, consider what Arnold's mentor, Reg Park, once said: "I did about 90 sets per session and I'm sure that was more than any British bodybuilder did in 48/49. In March/April 1949 I took part in the Mr. N.E. Britain and won it by beating the previous national winner. Not bad for just 7 or 8 months of serious training."

The basic idea of Colbert's program is to have a list of exercises at hand for each muscle group that you use cyclically (2 per training day), increasing the weight whenever possible, while getting plenty of rest and eating properly.

For example, if you want to prioritize arms, your program for a given day might look something like this:

	Exercise	Sets
A1	Drag curls to the body	4	6-10
A2	Bench press with close grip	4	6-10
B1	Incline bench curls	4	6-10
B2	Overhead tricep press	4	6-10
C1	Pull-ups with additional weight	3	6-10
C2	Incline bench press	3	6-10
D1	Rowing bent over with a barbell	3	6-10
D2	Flying movements on the reverse incline bench	3	6-10
E1	Barbell front squats	3	6-10
E2	Shoulder press with the barbell	3	6-10
F1	Hackenschmidt squats	3	6-10
F2	Dumbbell side raises	3	6-10
G	Standing calf raise	3	12-15
H	Calf raise sitting	3	12-15

• Total sets: 46
• Rest between sets: 1 minute
• Set length: 32 seconds (4 seconds per repetition)
• Total duration of the training session: 1 hour and 10 minutes

This program stimulates each muscle group three times a week. It is also a very flexible program and with the tips below you should be able to adapt this program to your circumstances and get maximum benefit from this program.

Adapt Colbert's program to your needs

• Use the fact that you train each muscle group three times a week to your advantage by using varying repetition ranges. For example, use 5 sets of 5 repetitions on two of the three days if increasing strength is your primary goal.
• If you have a favorite exercise that gives you consistent gains, be sure to add it to your list of alternating exercises. On the other hand, if an exercise like neck presses causes you pain, then you should take it off the list immediately.
• A full body workout is very effective when it comes to targeting weak muscle groups because you can train these muscle groups first three times a week.

Girondas 8 x 8

Vince Gironda's 8 x 8 is an excellent training method as it allows you to train each muscle group three times a week in a short period of time. It also introduces a different progression method that 99% of exercisers have probably never tried. The basics are simple:

• Perform 8 sets of 8 reps per muscle group per training session.
• Train three times a week.
• Use a mini push/pull sequence similar to Leroy Colbert's method.
• Train your weakest muscle groups first.

The progression is where it gets interesting. Instead of simply increasing the weight, reduce the rest intervals. You start with 45 or 60 seconds rest between sets and each time you can successfully perform 8 reps on all 8 sets, reduce the rest intervals by 5 seconds.

The starting weight should be around 60% of your normal maximum weight for 8 reps (assuming you normally rest a minute or two for 3 to 5 sets). The minimum you can reduce your rest intervals to is 15 seconds rest between sets (some may stop at 30 seconds). At this point, increase the weight and start again.

You should be able to maintain a continuous progression for about 6 to 8 weeks, as this is a different type of progression than your body is used to. After 8 weeks, some exercisers can use 100% of their original maximum weight for 8 sets of 8 reps with only 15 to 30 seconds rest between sets.

But even if you only manage to work your way up to 75% of your original maximum weight for 8 reps, you're still doing a lot more work in a shorter amount of time. The pump and the mind-muscle connection are incredible and this system is also easy on the joints.

A basic program could look like this:

	Exercise	Sets
A	Bench press	8	8
B	Lat pull-ups (perform pull-ups if you are a stud)	8	8
C	Overhead tricep press	8	8
D	Drag curls towards the body	8	8
E	Side lift	8	8
F	Hackenschmidt squats	8	8
G	Standing calf raises	8	20

That's 56 sets, which will take just over an hour if you use rest intervals of 45 seconds duration or only 43 minutes if you use rest intervals of 15 seconds duration.

The last thing you should consider is variety in the exercises used. You probably wouldn't expect to get a thicker and wider back just by doing lat pulldowns for 8 weeks.

You could alternate between two exercises such as lat pulldowns and bent-over rows and still follow the progression given. The same goes for any other muscle group - you should use a range of different exercises.

By Bradley Joe Kelly | 05/23/14

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/full-body-workouts-of-the-legends