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I am a beginner in fitness. Last year, I have done bro-splits and this year I am doing full body workouts. I workout 3 times in a week (M, W, F) for about 1hr 30mins. A sample workout for a day would be: bench press, shoulder press, squats, cable curl, triceps pushdown, lat pull down + 15mins of cardio.

Let's say for chest, I have done barbell bench press on Monday, dumbbell bench press on Wednesday, Incline bench press on Friday. Next Monday, continue doing all the other chest exercises. I do this for all other workouts. This way, different parts of chest is getting activated every 3 days.

All the full body splits I have seen online talks about mostly repeating same set of exercises not like what I am doing.

My question is: is it better to follow what I am doing? Or is it better to cover all body parts in a single week and change the variations next week. eg: do bench press, incline press and decline press in a week and do flies next week.

I'd like to get some feedback on the process that I am following. Is this the correct way to approach full body workout?

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    It would benefit you most to simply follow a competent program created by a reputable trainer. Most lifters, and especially beginners, are not qualified to make their own programs. You’ll simply be spinning your wheels, not making anywhere near the progress you could, all because you wanted to make your own program. My advice would be to learn from whatever program(s) you choose to follow, and maybe after a year or two then you might consider whether you still want to make your own programs.
    – JustSnilloc
    Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 11:42

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There is nothing wrong with what you are doing. The hour and a half is a bit on the long side.

I would cut rest between sets OR ditch the curls and extensions. You will be surprised at how much heavy back, shoulder and chest work will impact them in a positive way.

A good whole body program will have each of the following movement patterns

  • Squat
  • Hinge
  • Row
  • Pullup
  • Overhead Press
  • Chest Press
  • Functional Core
  • Heavy Carry
  • Metabolic Work...

Combine push pull exercise and super set them. This will take the time down some.

Changing the the exercises like you are is fine.

I would add some way to measure progress from one week to the next.

For Example Shoot for 4 sets of 8-12 Reps of each exercise When you can get all four sets of 12 reps add weight

So this week you do squats with 225 lbs for 12, 11, 11, 10 reps

next week

225 lbs for 12, 12, 12, 12

You know you did better this week by doing more reps

Next week up the weight! 335 lb for 11, 10, 8, 8

You did better because you used more weight.

So on and so for.

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  • Why do you think an hour and a half is on the long side if he only works out 3 days a week?
    – MJB
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 7:12
  • 1
    Data suggests a negative impact past the 1 hour mark. Specifically impact to testosterone. Plus you can accomplish everything the person in about an hour 3-4 times per week. We have done this in practice for years with clients.
    – Ray
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 11:29
  • Also the weight training is not an endurance workout... or at least it should not be.
    – Ray
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 12:53
  • That's interesting; didn't know that. Do you have a source I can read about the 1 hour limit?
    – Cullub
    Commented Jul 26, 2019 at 16:43
  • Google impact of weight training duration on testostoreon, growth hormone and cortisol. There is going to be a sweet spot in terms of benefits regarding lean mass and fat loss in terms of duration for most people. There are some great articles compiling data from various studies.
    – Ray
    Commented Jul 27, 2019 at 15:57

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