How much push pull and leg exercises are needed in a full body workout?
I've been doing push pull legs once a week and I've heard that full body workouts are more useful. How much push pull and leg workouts will I need to do in each full body workout? Surely 2 for each is okay right, as well as 1 for my triceps too and maybe a quick plank at the end to cut fat on my stomach? I'll probably do 3 full body workouts a week and increase it to 4 when I'm in good shape.
And if I was to do full body workouts this is what I would probably do. Is this okay or not?
Push: Dumbbell Chest Press
Push: Dumbbell Flies
Pull: Alternating Dumbbell Curl
Pull: Dumbbell Shrug
Legs: Dumbbell Stepping Lung
Legs: Dumbbell Squats
Triceps: Hip Thrust/Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Abs: 1 plank for a minute and generally increase it over time
All of them other than Abs will be 6 sets and 10 reps. I'm pretty much a beginner trying to cut fat and gain muscle at the same time. Is this good enough or not to see good results, if I do it 3/4x a week? To be lean and then for a six pack other than the 1 minute planks 3/4x a week, I walk 4 miles 4 times a week (pm will be doing this walking to and from Uni campus twice a week and shopping for groceries the other 2 times). I'm in my first year at University (18).
And if I was to do full body workouts this is what I would probably do. Is this okay or not?
Push: Dumbbell Chest Press
Push: Dumbbell Flies
Pull: Alternating Dumbbell Curl
Pull: Dumbbell Shrug
Legs: Dumbbell Stepping Lung
Legs: Dumbbell Squats
Triceps: Hip Thrust/Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Abs: 1 plank for a minute and generally increase it over time
All of them other than Abs will be 6 sets and 10 reps. I'm pretty much a beginner trying to cut fat and gain muscle at the same time. Is this good enough or not to see good results, if I do it 3/4x a week? To be lean and then for a six pack other than the 1 minute planks 3/4x a week, I walk 4 miles 4 times a week (pm will be doing this walking to and from Uni campus twice a week and shopping for groceries the other 2 times). I'm in my first year at University (18).
If you're a beginner, anything will get you results for a while. But if you want to see continuing results over the long term, I have several comments. Sorry it's a bit longer than planned.
6 sets of 10 reps, for 7 exercises... so you plan to do 42 sets in a session? That's way too much. You'll either run yourself into the ground very quickly, or you'll have to use a weight that's far too low for your capabilities. In both cases you'll be limiting your progress. When I train full body, I pick one exercise each for upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push and lower body pull, and do 3 - 5 sets of each. You can rotate exercises on different sessions. Since you're just doing one exercise for each muscle group, these should be compound movements so you train multiple muscles simultaneously. Think things like bench press, overhead press, rows, pull ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts. Any variations of these (barbell, dumbbell, cable) are fine. You can then add a couple of isolation exercises (things like biceps curls, triceps extensions) at the end if you want, but be careful of overdoing it. Remember you'll be coming back 2 days later and hitting the same muscles again. Recovery is important as that's when your muscles are actually growing, not when you're lifting.
After me telling you to do less exercises, you may be thinking full body will have less volume than push pull legs. That's true, but each muscle group will be trained at a higher frequency. So even though the volume is lower, hypertrophy and/or strength will be stimulated more often. You'll still make good gains as long as you gradually increase you reps and weights that you can use on each exercise.
Other comments from your post:
-Your pull exercises selection wasn't that great. You chose two isolation exercises and neither work the lats. Compound exercises would be better, like pull ups, pull downs or any row variation.
-Hip thrusts do not work the triceps
-Planks do not cut fat on your stomach. Only a calorie deficit does that. Planks just make you better at planks. If you want to grow your abs (different to cutting stomach fat), dynamic weighted exercises are better than planks. Like, no one grows chest by just holding a barbell over their chest.
Hope this helped.
6 sets of 10 reps, for 7 exercises... so you plan to do 42 sets in a session? That's way too much. You'll either run yourself into the ground very quickly, or you'll have to use a weight that's far too low for your capabilities. In both cases you'll be limiting your progress. When I train full body, I pick one exercise each for upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push and lower body pull, and do 3 - 5 sets of each. You can rotate exercises on different sessions. Since you're just doing one exercise for each muscle group, these should be compound movements so you train multiple muscles simultaneously. Think things like bench press, overhead press, rows, pull ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts. Any variations of these (barbell, dumbbell, cable) are fine. You can then add a couple of isolation exercises (things like biceps curls, triceps extensions) at the end if you want, but be careful of overdoing it. Remember you'll be coming back 2 days later and hitting the same muscles again. Recovery is important as that's when your muscles are actually growing, not when you're lifting.
After me telling you to do less exercises, you may be thinking full body will have less volume than push pull legs. That's true, but each muscle group will be trained at a higher frequency. So even though the volume is lower, hypertrophy and/or strength will be stimulated more often. You'll still make good gains as long as you gradually increase you reps and weights that you can use on each exercise.
Other comments from your post:
-Your pull exercises selection wasn't that great. You chose two isolation exercises and neither work the lats. Compound exercises would be better, like pull ups, pull downs or any row variation.
-Hip thrusts do not work the triceps
-Planks do not cut fat on your stomach. Only a calorie deficit does that. Planks just make you better at planks. If you want to grow your abs (different to cutting stomach fat), dynamic weighted exercises are better than planks. Like, no one grows chest by just holding a barbell over their chest.
Hope this helped.
Original post by Kyri
If you're a beginner, anything will get you results for a while. But if you want to see continuing results over the long term, I have several comments. Sorry it's a bit longer than planned.
6 sets of 10 reps, for 7 exercises... so you plan to do 42 sets in a session? That's way too much. You'll either run yourself into the ground very quickly, or you'll have to use a weight that's far too low for your capabilities. In both cases you'll be limiting your progress. When I train full body, I pick one exercise each for upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push and lower body pull, and do 3 - 5 sets of each. You can rotate exercises on different sessions. Since you're just doing one exercise for each muscle group, these should be compound movements so you train multiple muscles simultaneously. Think things like bench press, overhead press, rows, pull ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts. Any variations of these (barbell, dumbbell, cable) are fine. You can then add a couple of isolation exercises (things like biceps curls, triceps extensions) at the end if you want, but be careful of overdoing it. Remember you'll be coming back 2 days later and hitting the same muscles again. Recovery is important as that's when your muscles are actually growing, not when you're lifting.
After me telling you to do less exercises, you may be thinking full body will have less volume than push pull legs. That's true, but each muscle group will be trained at a higher frequency. So even though the volume is lower, hypertrophy and/or strength will be stimulated more often. You'll still make good gains as long as you gradually increase you reps and weights that you can use on each exercise.
Other comments from your post:
-Your pull exercises selection wasn't that great. You chose two isolation exercises and neither work the lats. Compound exercises would be better, like pull ups, pull downs or any row variation.
-Hip thrusts do not work the triceps
-Planks do not cut fat on your stomach. Only a calorie deficit does that. Planks just make you better at planks. If you want to grow your abs (different to cutting stomach fat), dynamic weighted exercises are better than planks. Like, no one grows chest by just holding a barbell over their chest.
Hope this helped.
6 sets of 10 reps, for 7 exercises... so you plan to do 42 sets in a session? That's way too much. You'll either run yourself into the ground very quickly, or you'll have to use a weight that's far too low for your capabilities. In both cases you'll be limiting your progress. When I train full body, I pick one exercise each for upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push and lower body pull, and do 3 - 5 sets of each. You can rotate exercises on different sessions. Since you're just doing one exercise for each muscle group, these should be compound movements so you train multiple muscles simultaneously. Think things like bench press, overhead press, rows, pull ups, squats, lunges, deadlifts. Any variations of these (barbell, dumbbell, cable) are fine. You can then add a couple of isolation exercises (things like biceps curls, triceps extensions) at the end if you want, but be careful of overdoing it. Remember you'll be coming back 2 days later and hitting the same muscles again. Recovery is important as that's when your muscles are actually growing, not when you're lifting.
After me telling you to do less exercises, you may be thinking full body will have less volume than push pull legs. That's true, but each muscle group will be trained at a higher frequency. So even though the volume is lower, hypertrophy and/or strength will be stimulated more often. You'll still make good gains as long as you gradually increase you reps and weights that you can use on each exercise.
Other comments from your post:
-Your pull exercises selection wasn't that great. You chose two isolation exercises and neither work the lats. Compound exercises would be better, like pull ups, pull downs or any row variation.
-Hip thrusts do not work the triceps
-Planks do not cut fat on your stomach. Only a calorie deficit does that. Planks just make you better at planks. If you want to grow your abs (different to cutting stomach fat), dynamic weighted exercises are better than planks. Like, no one grows chest by just holding a barbell over their chest.
Hope this helped.
Thanks for the reply man. What dynamic weighted exercises could I do though?
And would this work out everything?
4 sets 10 reps of all of these
Dumbbell Chest Press/Dumbbell Flies
Barbell Rows
Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Dumbbell Squats
1 Dynamic Weighted Exercise
Original post by thatguyme
I've been doing push pull legs once a week and I've heard that full body workouts are more useful. How much push pull and leg workouts will I need to do in each full body workout? Surely 2 for each is okay right, as well as 1 for my triceps too and maybe a quick plank at the end to cut fat on my stomach? I'll probably do 3 full body workouts a week and increase it to 4 when I'm in good shape.
And if I was to do full body workouts this is what I would probably do. Is this okay or not?
Push: Dumbbell Chest Press
Push: Dumbbell Flies
Pull: Alternating Dumbbell Curl
Pull: Dumbbell Shrug
Legs: Dumbbell Stepping Lung
Legs: Dumbbell Squats
Triceps: Hip Thrust/Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Abs: 1 plank for a minute and generally increase it over time
All of them other than Abs will be 6 sets and 10 reps. I'm pretty much a beginner trying to cut fat and gain muscle at the same time. Is this good enough or not to see good results, if I do it 3/4x a week? To be lean and then for a six pack other than the 1 minute planks 3/4x a week, I walk 4 miles 4 times a week (pm will be doing this walking to and from Uni campus twice a week and shopping for groceries the other 2 times). I'm in my first year at University (18).
And if I was to do full body workouts this is what I would probably do. Is this okay or not?
Push: Dumbbell Chest Press
Push: Dumbbell Flies
Pull: Alternating Dumbbell Curl
Pull: Dumbbell Shrug
Legs: Dumbbell Stepping Lung
Legs: Dumbbell Squats
Triceps: Hip Thrust/Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Abs: 1 plank for a minute and generally increase it over time
All of them other than Abs will be 6 sets and 10 reps. I'm pretty much a beginner trying to cut fat and gain muscle at the same time. Is this good enough or not to see good results, if I do it 3/4x a week? To be lean and then for a six pack other than the 1 minute planks 3/4x a week, I walk 4 miles 4 times a week (pm will be doing this walking to and from Uni campus twice a week and shopping for groceries the other 2 times). I'm in my first year at University (18).
A common misconception people have is that you will cut fat by doing a plank or it will make your abs more visible. NO..
If you're a beginner and looking to cut fat, do cardio alongside weight training. For example, it's a push day so ur probs doing DB chest flies, then depending on the amount of fat you have you would either do a HIIT workout or just conditioning level cardio (basically something u can do for an hour or so without taking a break).
Abs will only be visible if your body fat % is at a certain level, planks will not get u there. You will need to also work on your diet. Eat healthy with the correct amount of protein and low carbs.
To strengthen your abs however, planks can be useful, but other exercises are way better in ab strength training
Original post by thatguyme
Thanks for the reply man. What dynamic weighted exercises could I do though?
And would this work out everything?
4 sets 10 reps of all of these
Dumbbell Chest Press/Dumbbell Flies
Barbell Rows
Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Dumbbell Squats
1 Dynamic Weighted Exercise
And would this work out everything?
4 sets 10 reps of all of these
Dumbbell Chest Press/Dumbbell Flies
Barbell Rows
Dumbbell Skullcrushers
Dumbbell Squats
1 Dynamic Weighted Exercise
Common dynamic abs movements are hanging leg raises (or knee raises if too hard), ab wheel roll outs, cable crunches, or simply crunches while holding a weight behind your head or outstretched. I don't recommend holding a weight on your chest. The weight doesn't go straight up and it's too easy to cheat by pressing a bit with your arms.
Your exercise list looks fine for one workout. Try adding in some overhead presses and pull ups or pull downs on the other days to get some vertical presses and vertical pulls too. Also some kind of hip hinge movement during the week, like reverse deadlift for example.
Original post by Zain_Ahmed
A common misconception people have is that you will cut fat by doing a plank or it will make your abs more visible. NO..
If you're a beginner and looking to cut fat, do cardio alongside weight training. For example, it's a push day so ur probs doing DB chest flies, then depending on the amount of fat you have you would either do a HIIT workout or just conditioning level cardio (basically something u can do for an hour or so without taking a break).
Abs will only be visible if your body fat % is at a certain level, planks will not get u there. You will need to also work on your diet. Eat healthy with the correct amount of protein and low carbs.
To strengthen your abs however, planks can be useful, but other exercises are way better in ab strength training
If you're a beginner and looking to cut fat, do cardio alongside weight training. For example, it's a push day so ur probs doing DB chest flies, then depending on the amount of fat you have you would either do a HIIT workout or just conditioning level cardio (basically something u can do for an hour or so without taking a break).
Abs will only be visible if your body fat % is at a certain level, planks will not get u there. You will need to also work on your diet. Eat healthy with the correct amount of protein and low carbs.
To strengthen your abs however, planks can be useful, but other exercises are way better in ab strength training
Good points here, but I want to point out too that you (the thread starter) need to decide if you want to prioritise fat loss to show abs, or muscle gain. A calorie deficit will allow you to cut fat but won't optimise muscle gain, although you'll still gain some muscle as a beginner. A calorie surplus (small surplus... A huge calorie surplus just makes you fat) will optimise muscle gain but abs won't become more visible, no matter how hard you work the abs.
Original post by Kyri
Common dynamic abs movements are hanging leg raises (or knee raises if too hard), ab wheel roll outs, cable crunches, or simply crunches while holding a weight behind your head or outstretched. I don't recommend holding a weight on your chest. The weight doesn't go straight up and it's too easy to cheat by pressing a bit with your arms.
Your exercise list looks fine for one workout. Try adding in some overhead presses and pull ups or pull downs on the other days to get some vertical presses and vertical pulls too. Also some kind of hip hinge movement during the week, like reverse deadlift for example.
Good points here, but I want to point out too that you (the thread starter) need to decide if you want to prioritise fat loss to show abs, or muscle gain. A calorie deficit will allow you to cut fat but won't optimise muscle gain, although you'll still gain some muscle as a beginner. A calorie surplus (small surplus... A huge calorie surplus just makes you fat) will optimise muscle gain but abs won't become more visible, no matter how hard you work the abs.
Your exercise list looks fine for one workout. Try adding in some overhead presses and pull ups or pull downs on the other days to get some vertical presses and vertical pulls too. Also some kind of hip hinge movement during the week, like reverse deadlift for example.
Good points here, but I want to point out too that you (the thread starter) need to decide if you want to prioritise fat loss to show abs, or muscle gain. A calorie deficit will allow you to cut fat but won't optimise muscle gain, although you'll still gain some muscle as a beginner. A calorie surplus (small surplus... A huge calorie surplus just makes you fat) will optimise muscle gain but abs won't become more visible, no matter how hard you work the abs.
Just seen the reply, I'm going to prioritise cutting over gaining muscle. I'm cutting calories by around 500-750 really (sometimes less than 500 on the days where I'm doing an incredible amount of exercise as in 2 hours in the gym + walking miles to and from the supermarket)
Original post by Zain_Ahmed
A common misconception people have is that you will cut fat by doing a plank or it will make your abs more visible. NO..
If you're a beginner and looking to cut fat, do cardio alongside weight training. For example, it's a push day so ur probs doing DB chest flies, then depending on the amount of fat you have you would either do a HIIT workout or just conditioning level cardio (basically something u can do for an hour or so without taking a break).
Abs will only be visible if your body fat % is at a certain level, planks will not get u there. You will need to also work on your diet. Eat healthy with the correct amount of protein and low carbs.
To strengthen your abs however, planks can be useful, but other exercises are way better in ab strength training
If you're a beginner and looking to cut fat, do cardio alongside weight training. For example, it's a push day so ur probs doing DB chest flies, then depending on the amount of fat you have you would either do a HIIT workout or just conditioning level cardio (basically something u can do for an hour or so without taking a break).
Abs will only be visible if your body fat % is at a certain level, planks will not get u there. You will need to also work on your diet. Eat healthy with the correct amount of protein and low carbs.
To strengthen your abs however, planks can be useful, but other exercises are way better in ab strength training
How am I gonna do HIIT at the gym? Can't do it in my small room as I'm in Uni.
Original post by thatguyme
Just seen the reply, I'm going to prioritise cutting over gaining muscle. I'm cutting calories by around 500-750 really (sometimes less than 500 on the days where I'm doing an incredible amount of exercise as in 2 hours in the gym + walking miles to and from the supermarket)
How am I gonna do HIIT at the gym? Can't do it in my small room as I'm in Uni.
How am I gonna do HIIT at the gym? Can't do it in my small room as I'm in Uni.
Sounds good to me. Keep in mind with a calorie deficit that big you will lose fat faster, but further reduce the rate of muscle gain (you'd probably even lose some muscle once beyond beginner level). As long as you're okay with that. The smaller the calorie deficit, the more muscle you can build/maintain.
HIIT can be done on a treadmill or bike, by alternating going all out and then slowing down to a slow pace to recover. Honestly, HIIT isn't necessary to burn fat. Low intensity steady state allows you to go longer without impacting your muscle recovery as much. But if you genuinely enjoy HIIT, go for it. It will make you fitter too.
Original post by thatguyme
Just seen the reply, I'm going to prioritise cutting over gaining muscle. I'm cutting calories by around 500-750 really (sometimes less than 500 on the days where I'm doing an incredible amount of exercise as in 2 hours in the gym + walking miles to and from the supermarket)
How am I gonna do HIIT at the gym? Can't do it in my small room as I'm in Uni.
How am I gonna do HIIT at the gym? Can't do it in my small room as I'm in Uni.
All you need is to watch a youtube video on it, usually requires skipping which you can easily do at the gym...
Original post by Kyri
Sounds good to me. Keep in mind with a calorie deficit that big you will lose fat faster, but further reduce the rate of muscle gain (you'd probably even lose some muscle once beyond beginner level). As long as you're okay with that. The smaller the calorie deficit, the more muscle you can build/maintain.
HIIT can be done on a treadmill or bike, by alternating going all out and then slowing down to a slow pace to recover. Honestly, HIIT isn't necessary to burn fat. Low intensity steady state allows you to go longer without impacting your muscle recovery as much. But if you genuinely enjoy HIIT, go for it. It will make you fitter too.
HIIT can be done on a treadmill or bike, by alternating going all out and then slowing down to a slow pace to recover. Honestly, HIIT isn't necessary to burn fat. Low intensity steady state allows you to go longer without impacting your muscle recovery as much. But if you genuinely enjoy HIIT, go for it. It will make you fitter too.
I'm overweight though atm, so surely it's best for me to go for at least 500 right? If I was to lose 250 calories a week, the fat loss journey would take me 2 years probably. What if I just stick to eating 500 calories less each day a week, instead of 750 sometimes, would that be okay?
And for HIIT, tbh I'd rather lift weights than do that but if it is really good to help me burn fat quicker, I'll spend an 3 hours on those bikes a week
Original post by Zain_Ahmed
All you need is to watch a youtube video on it, usually requires skipping which you can easily do at the gym...
Thats why I'd struggle. There's not enough open space for me to skip plus, I'd need a TV realistically infront of me to direct me what to do and there's not one I can use at the gym
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by thatguyme
I'm overweight though atm, so surely it's best for me to go for at least 500 right? If I was to lose 250 calories a week, the fat loss journey would take me 2 years probably. What if I just stick to eating 500 calories less each day a week, instead of 750 sometimes, would that be okay?
And for HIIT, tbh I'd rather lift weights than do that but if it is really good to help me burn fat quicker, I'll spend an 3 hours on those bikes a week
And for HIIT, tbh I'd rather lift weights than do that but if it is really good to help me burn fat quicker, I'll spend an 3 hours on those bikes a week
If getting leaner is really important to you, then there's nothing wrong with getting that done quicker with a larger calorie deficit, and then focusing more on building muscle (whilst staying lean). I just wanted you to be aware that you would build muscle slower that way. 500 kcals deficit isn't anything ridiculous.
Yeah, if you don't care about getting better at biking or getting super stamina, just do it at a slow pace for 30 to 60 minutes after your lifting sessions. It will burn energy just as well as HIIT, be less mentally taxing, and fatigue your legs less.
Original post by thatguyme
Thats why I'd struggle. There's not enough open space for me to skip plus, I'd need a TV realistically infront of me to direct me what to do and there's not one I can use at the gym
Thats why I'd struggle. There's not enough open space for me to skip plus, I'd need a TV realistically infront of me to direct me what to do and there's not one I can use at the gym
Or run on the spot with high knees for a min, rest for 30 secs then do again for 10 mins straight...
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