Muscle Density And Lean Muscle Gains Exercise Selection

Full Body Training To Gain Lean Muscle Faster

I have a great series of articles starting today for you from Chad Waterbury. Chad is one of the biggest proponents of full body workouts. And to get away from the mind numbing bodybuilder workouts those of us looking to gain lean muscle should be scaling our workouts to total body training.

Over the next few days Chad will take us top to bottom of how to use full body workouts for lean muscle gains.

Lean Muscle Workouts Why It Works

Training your entire body, each time you suit up for a workout, is the fastest way for 99% of lifters who look to gain lean muscle. I can’t make it any simpler than that. Full body workouts (aka total body training) is as popular as ever because that’s what the vast majority of lifters out there need.

I’ve written countless articles and three books that revolve around full body workouts: Muscle Revolution - The High-Performance System For Building A Bigger, Stronger, Leaner Body, Men's Health Huge in a Hurry: Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training (Men's Health (Rodale)), and Body of F.I.R.E. 

 In fact, if you do a Google search for "full body workouts" or "total body training," the T-nation article I wrote a few years back on the subject is the first to come up. (Out of 71.1 million possible results.)

It’s safe to say that my name is synonymous with the total body training philosophy, yet I still get frequent emails from avid lifters who want to try it but don’t know how to set up lean muscle workouts.

So that’s why I decided to write this post. With the following information you’ll have all the tools you need to make full body workouts to gain lean muscle work for you.

First, let me explain why this type of total body training works so well. There are three reasons: exercise selection, hormonal response, and frequency.

Exercise Selection:

Any body part split can be effective if it’s comprised of compound exercises. However, when you target specific muscle groups with body part split training you invariably do a bunch of isolation exercises that have little to no impact to gain lean muscle to your frame.

With full body workouts, there’s no time to mess with concentration curls, kickbacks, and a host of other subpar exercises. By default, total body training steers you to compound exercises and to gain lean muscle that gives you the most bang for your buck.

Hormonal Response:

Research shows that growth hormone will increase after an intense bout of exercise. And when growth hormone increases it signals the body to produce more IGF-1, a powerful anabolic hormone.

Research also shows that working the largest muscle groups results in the highest output of growth hormone. A full body workout creates an intense demand for your body to upregulate anabolic hormones – significantly higher than workouts that only work a few muscle groups (eg, arms and shoulders).

Lean Muscle Workouts Testosterone Release

Through research, it’s been shown that the amount of muscle mass stimulated in lean muscle workouts is proportionate to the amount of testosterone that’s released.

Put simply, workouts that stimulate the most muscles produce the most testosterone produce testosterone and what happens? You gain lean muscle.

I’ll concede that the relationship between strength training and the impact it has on testosterone is still a little fuzzy, but my empirical data (and common sense) tells us that full body workouts augment testosterone better than a day of arm training.

Full Body Workouts - Frequency:

With total body training, each of the primary muscle groups are stimulated at least three times per week, as opposed to a body part split that only hits everything once per week (yes, there’s some carryover between a chest/back and arms/shoulders workouts, but you get the point). Make no mistake about it: training more often is the key to gain lean muscle fast.

However, you can’t just train everything three times per week and recover from those workouts unless you follow these steps.

Step #1: To Gain Lean Muscle Start with three exercises in one workout.

Total Body Training Marathon Workouts Not Required

For a workout to be full body, it only has to consist of an upper body pull, an upper body push, and a squat, deadlift or lunge variation. Here are two examples of a full body workout:

Full body lean muscle workouts Example 1

 1A Chin-up

1B Dip

1C Deadlift

Full body lean muscle workouts Example 2

1A One-arm dumbbell row

1B One-arm shoulder press

1C Reverse lunge

As you can see, to gain lean muscle, full body workouts can consist of single-limb exercises, too. Your lean muscle workouts are not just about bent-over rows, push presses, and squats.

There are countless exercise variations you can use in the workouts.

Later on I’ll tell you how to add more exercises to  full body workouts in order to target lagging muscle groups. But for the first few weeks, start with three exercises per workout to get your body accustomed to this type of training.

One of the problems lifters run into when they embark on a full body training plan is they try to do too many exercises in one workout.

 No one would argue against the principle that training a muscle group more often results in faster muscle gains (provided you can recover between the workouts). three of the most important hormones for lean muscle gains are testosterone, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), and growth hormone. when you train everything in one workout you must be wise with the exercises you choose.

Of all the variables that make or break your ability to gain lean muscle, exercise selection is number one.

 

Full Body Workouts For Muscle Density Burn Fat Fast

So far we have seen full body workouts for lean muscle gains or getting stronger. Today its total body training to burn fat fast for muscle density and

via fatburningdietsandworkouts.com

Now, in this final installment of my full body workouts series, I’m going to tackle how to burn fat for maximum muscle density. After all, that’s what most people need because a leaner body makes you look more muscular.

Full Body Workouts Gain Lean Muscle Part 3

Full Body Workouts The Fastest Way To Gain Lean Muscle And Get Stronger

In part 1  Chad Waterbury outlined three of the reasons why to gain lean muscle full body workouts are so effective, along with cool sample lean muscle workouts.

Now he going to show you how to design your full body workouts with two specific goals in mind: gain lean muscle or max strength gains. I don’t know any natural guy who thinks he’s too big and strong.

Before I get to that, let me quickly touch on one reason why there’s so much controversy surrounding the body part split vs. full body workouts.

You see, it’s common for people to look for training advice from the biggest guy in the room.

That’s why every guy who’s looking to gain muscle wants to know how Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, or Jay Cutler trains. That’s exactly what I wanted to know back in my teens. And many bodybuilders with massive amounts of muscle follow some type of body part split.

 Yet, I’m telling you that full body workouts are the best way to gain lean muscle.

*** Side Note: Guy’s don’t get thrown by the references to the pro bodybuilders Chad is talking about, these full body workouts are prime for our purpose to gain lean muscle.***

Why the discrepancy between Full Body Workouts And Body Part Splits ?

First, and most obvious, is the fact that every top bodybuilder uses huge amounts of steroids and is a genetic freak.

These guys can gain muscle on virtually any type of program – but that’s not really important.

What’s important to remember is that a bodybuilder is near his genetic limit to gain muscle (even with boat loads of steroids in the equation), so to gain muscle he has to go through extreme levels of training to add an extra 8-10 pounds to his frame.

If a pro bodybuilder wants to add a half-inch to his 19″ arms he has to train them with an insane amount of intensity and volume because, as I said, he’s near his genetic limit. By default, a bodybuilder will follow a body part split because full body workouts simply aren’t possible when you need that much volume and intensity.

So for the other 99.9% of guys out there(*** that’s us the lean muscle crowd***). I’m talking about natural guys with average genetics who still have plenty of muscle left hidden in their physiology, full body workouts to gain lean muscle are the way to go.

I’ve experimented with every type of training system out there to gain lean muscle or get stronger over the last 16 years. If a body part split added muscle and strength fastest, or if it was best for fat loss, I’d be extolling the virtues of it right now. After all, I don’t own any stock in a total body training company.

Make no mistake about it: if a million bucks were on the line to transform a natural lifter as fast as possible, even the biggest proponents of body part splits would have the person follow a program of full body workouts to gain lean muscle.

Body part splits are for elite bodybuilders that just need to gain muscle to specific areas of their body. If you’re someone who needs to add 15 or 20 pounds of muscle to your entire frame, full body workouts will get you there in one-third of the time that a body part split takes.

Now, The Good Stuff: Training To Gain Lean Muscle And Get Stronger.

Full Body Workouts for Strength

When strength is the goal you must lift heavy. I prefer three reps per set with the heaviest load you can handle. The overall volume of the workout must be kept low so your body can recover within 48-72 hours. For rest, I recommend following a circuit style of training because by the time you repeat an exercise you’ve had a few minutes of rest.

One big misconception about rest periods is that they must be passive. To get three minutes of rest between sets of deadlifts you shouldn’t just sit around for three minutes because it’s a waste of time. Furthermore, sitting down for minutes at a time doesn’t help. You could be training upper body movements during that time without any negative impact on your recovery between sets of deadlifts.

Here’s a sample full body workout for strength.

Load: 3RM for all sets. You can adjust the weight up or down with each round, the weight doesn’t have to be static. It should be the heaviest load you can handle for 3 reps.

1A Upper body pull for 3 reps
Rest 45 seconds
1B Upper body push for 3 reps
Rest 45 seconds
1C Squat or deadlift for 3 reps
Rest 45 seconds and repeat 1A-1C twice more (3 rounds total)

Two or three exercises per workout works well for maximal strength training.

Full Body Workouts Gain Lean Muscle Fast

In order to gain lean muscle fast, you should lift as heavy as possible. However, hypertrophy requires more volume per workout than pure strength does. Since you can’t lift super heavy with a high volume the relationship between intensity (load) and volume must be like Goldilock’s porridge: just right.

We Train To Gain Lean Muscle Full Body Workouts Take Less Time And Work

I’ve found that a volume of around 25 total reps per exercise with a load you can lift no more than 6 times the first set is ideal. The rest periods can be a little less than for maximal strength, however, it’s still ideal to get as much rest between exercises as possible. This is why, once again, I favor a circuit.

Here are three examples that all follow the rules I just mentioned, but each takes a slightly different path to the finish line. Use whichever version best suits your available time.

To Gain Lean Muscle Example #1

This first example is based on doing as many reps as your body can handle at any moment. Therefore, there’s not a target number of reps in each set. I wrote about this type of training, and the value of it, in my book Huge in a Hurry.

Load: start with a weight that allows no more than 6 reps for the first set and continue using that same starting weight until you complete 25 reps per exercise.

1A Upper body pull for as many reps as possible (AMRAP)
Rest 30 seconds
1B Upper body push for AMRAP
Rest 30 seconds
1C Squat or deadlift for AMRAP
Rest 30 seconds
1D Single-joint exercise (curl, calf raise, triceps extension, etc) for AMRAP

Rest 30 seconds and repeat 1A-1D until you reach 25 reps of each exercise

Example #2

Another way to reach 25 total reps is with the classic 5 sets of 5 reps (5×5) combination that Bill Starr made famous.

Load: the heaviest weight you can handle for 5 reps with each set. The load can change throughout the workout.

1A Upper body pull for 5 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1B Upper body push for 5 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1C Squat or deadlift for 5 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1D Single-joint exercise (curl, calf raise, triceps extension, etc) for 5 reps

Rest 30 seconds and repeat 1A-1D four more times (5 rounds total)

Example #3

In this example you’ll complete 8 rounds and do 3 reps per set. This is the type of training that most guys prefer because it works incredibly well to gain lean muscle fast.

Load: the heaviest weight you can handle for 3 reps with each set. The load can change throughout the workout.

1A Upper body pull for 3 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1B Upper body push for 3 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1C Squat or deadlift for 3 reps
Rest 30 seconds
1D Single-joint exercise (curl, calf raise, triceps extension, etc) for 3 reps

Rest 30 seconds and repeat 1A-1D seven more times (8 rounds total)

Three to five exercises per circuit in these full body workouts to gain lean muscle is recommended in any of the above three samples.

Be sure to revert back to part 1 since it’ll answer many of the program design questions that you’re probably asking yourself right now. In that installment I show you how to switch exercises throughout the week so you’re not repeating the same full body workouts.

In part 4 Chad will tell us about all the tricks he uses to create some of the most intense and effective fat-burning workouts you’ve ever seen.

Part 1 Gain Lean Muscle With Total Body Training

Part 2 Full Body Workouts Gain Lean Muscle Faster

Full Body Workouts Gain Lean Muscle Faster Part 2

Total Body Training – To Get Lean And Add Muscle

Today we are back with Chad Waterbury and his article series using full body workouts to gain lean muscle. Here is the link to part 1 Gain Lean Muscle With Total Body Training.

With the  information in this series you’ll have all the tools you need to make total body training to gain lean muscle work for you.

Training your entire body, each time you suit up for a workout, is the fastest way for 99% of lifters who look to gain lean muscle. I can’t make it any simpler than that. Full body workouts (aka total body training) is as popular as ever because that’s what the vast majority of lifters out there need.

Full Body Workouts Gain Lean Muscle Faster Part 2

Step #2: Perform a different exercise for each workout throughout the week.

 This is where lifters often get tripped up.

 If you try to do full body workouts that consists of the chin-up/dip/deadlift circuit three times per week you’ll get overtrained in no time.

Each workout throughout the week must consist of different variations of an upper body pull, upper body push, and squat, deadlift or lunge variation.

 Here’s a sample of weekly full body workouts.

Monday

1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift

Wednesday

1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge

Friday

1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat

Now you have a weekly full body workout plan that consists of different exercises in each workout.

Repeat this plan for 6 weeks, and then pick new exercises.

The exercises for your next 6-week phase don’t have to be drastically different. Simply switching from dumbbells to a barbell or kettlebells will do the trick.

For example, you could do the front squat with a barbell for 6 weeks, and then do a front squat while holding two kettlebells for the next 6 weeks. Or you could do a completely different exercise. It’s up to you and the equipment that’s available.

Step #3: Use a different rep scheme with each workout throughout the week.

Full body workouts are demanding and they’ll push your limits of recovery if you’re not used to them.

Therefore, one simple trick to help your body recover is to use a different number of reps per set in each workout. This, by the way, is just another way of telling you to vary the load throughout the week. You can’t use the same weight for a set of 10 as you use for a set of 3 reps.

Total Body Training For Lean Muscle Workouts

This is a good thing since different loads have a different impact on your nervous system. It’s easier for your nervous system to recover from three different loads throughout the week than it is for a constant load, especially if it’s heavy.

So let’s build on the sample full body workout plan we already have and add in the set/rep parameters.

Monday

Sets x Reps: 8×3

1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift

Wednesday

Sets x Reps: 5×5

1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge

Friday

Sets x Reps: 4×10

1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat

Now you have a weekly plan that consists of different exercises and different loads (reps) in each workout throughout the week.

This is how to make total body training work for natural guys who have a limited capacity to recover. I’ve never worked with a client who couldn’t recover from the above program, provided their nutrition and sleep are in order.

Here’s another trick if you’re really limited by the number of exercises you can do. Start by setting up a weekly plan that consists of the exercises that suit your available equipment. Use the same set/rep parameters I listed above. Do that plan for 6 weeks.

Then, when the 6 weeks are up you can alter the weekly plan by simply moving around the set/rep parameters from one workout to another.

Here’s what I mean.

Monday

Sets x Reps: 8×3

1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat

Wednesday

Sets x Reps: 5×5

1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift

Friday

Sets x Reps: 4×10

1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge

Now you have a whole new program to do for another 6 weeks while using the same exercises you did in the first phase.

In part 3I’ll explain how to modify a full body workout to burn fat, build

Chad Waterbury Full Body Workouts To Gain Lean Muscle And Burn Fat

 strength, or bring up a lagging body part.

There you go a plan for your full body workouts. Stay tuned I’ll be back with more from Chad soon.

In the mean time Train Hard Train Smart  Joe

P.S. Here is The Link To Part 1 if You Missed It

Gain Lean Muscle With Total Body Training