Why don't bodybuilders just do full body routines?

Alex Leonidas has a book called Naturally Enhanced wich is available online what has very good 2x week full body routines meantt for intermidiate / advanced people, I recomend it. Alex is very underrated imo, very smart guy. I basically watch every video he uploads, his analasys of lifting theory and practice is very high level imho
 
Alex Leonidas has a book called Naturally Enhanced wich is available online what has very good 2x week full body routines meantt for intermidiate / advanced people, I recomend it. Alex is very underrated imo, very smart guy. I basically watch every video he uploads, his analasys of lifting theory and practice is very high level imho
I don't think he still trains full body 2x a week. I don't really watch his content. I sometimes stumble upon it every few years. His training philosophy seems to change a lot which somewhat makes sense seeing he was a young guy growing up on the internet.
 
I don't think he still trains full body 2x a week. I don't really watch his content. I sometimes stumble upon it every few years. His training philosophy seems to change a lot which somewhat makes sense seeing he was a young guy growing up on the internet.
He doesnt or he switches it up these days but he is benching 4 plates etc among other impressive lifts. He did reach like 315 bench or something doing full body workouts

He did start his account on youtube very young but hes matured to a very smart and expirienced guy. Probably my fav fitness youtuber or one of them atleast. Always no bullshit, useful and smart stuff and straight to the point while others do stupid shit like 10k calorie challenge or something like that. And he doesnt just say something works. always goes deep into detail, why , the analasys etc and everything he talks about he is tried and tested and with logical explanation

The 2x week full body routines in his book, there is like 10 different i think. They all put together smartly . One intensity day one volume day. good stuff. Hard to find shit like that online. If looking for full body routines meant to build muscle , its a really good find imo. Ive done some of them and taken example when doing my own routine full body style.

Some of you may agree or disagree. But for me, Alex and his channel has been a very valuable find.
 
Last edited:
Cliffs? Would take 3 months to finish a 20 min talking vid
 
Cliffs? Would take 3 months to finish a 20 min talking vid
Thats your problem mate :D

Usually i put it on 1.25 speed but 1.5x is still audible too

I listen to youtube alot when eating breakfast, dinner etc. I dont watch the news anymore at all for 1.5 years

I rather have the problem not enough interesting content to watch anymore than no time to watch it. If it interests you, you make time
 
Thats your problem mate :D

Usually i put it on 1.25 speed but 1.5x is still audible too

I listen to youtube alot when eating breakfast, dinner etc. I dont watch the news anymore at all for 1.5 years

I rather have the problem not enough interesting content to watch anymore than no time to watch it. If it interests you, you make time
Reason #58 to sell your kids. Puts on video, here comes the noise.
But you're right if the interest is there, life will find a way. They need to make 7-8 min video limits.
 
One if the things about FB workouts is that it depends on your goals. Most of the FB workouts that I have seen talk about heart beat and strength----killing 2 birds w one stone. I believe you can do this to a certain degree but not a really high level.

Even Mentzer talked about how weight lifting should not be aerobic at all.
 
One if the things about FB workouts is that it depends on your goals. Most of the FB workouts that I have seen talk about heart beat and strength----killing 2 birds w one stone. I believe you can do this to a certain degree but not a really high level.

Even Mentzer talked about how weight lifting should not be aerobic at all.
I would say this is common misconception. Yes, alot content on full body routines is more conditioning or circuit based. But this doesnt mean it has to be that way. Full body can be hypertrophy, strength, or whatever goal oriented. All depends on the weight used and rep ranges, rest pauses etc. Ive come acustomed to doing alot supersets to get more work in in less time.

Like first couple and heaviest exercises I do regular style. But after that I couple exercises to get more work in in less time. Biceps, 1 min break, triceps, 1 min break, biceps, 1 min triceps . Back and forth like that.
Reverse peck deck with wrist curls. Lateral raises with back extensions. Squats with calf raises etc. I usually work out for like around 2h and i get alot work in like this. And sweat like motherfucker. But most exercises i use weights that i can do 5-8 reps and always go very close to failure.

Good exercise selection / form, intensive training, heavy weight, progressive overload and training consistency . Gaining strength and muscle

This is not the most couch potato friendly routine perhaps because high intensity and volume but I really enjoy it. That i can work out basically 2x week and progresss in strength and muscle. And the full body pump, the exercises, etc, I love it. I dont go to the gym to scroll my phone
 
Last edited:
bodybuilders should stop lifting all together and just do yoga.

{<jordan}

That took me by surprise, thanks for that laugh.

But seriously the whole reason they don't do full body training is because they don't want to get too thick, solid and tight. There is a real danger that their muscles might burst. There is also a real danger that their strengths might become too strong and their weaknesses, non-existent.
 
It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.

That's because everyone believes they are elite and should be paying attention to icing on the cake. It's the same mentality I had when I was an idiot teenager and did a full-on Bulgarian Olympic lifting program when Rippetoe's squats and steak program would've given me my first 400-pound squat.

It's probably why MMA fighters tend to be seen as superhuman. Some idiot fatasses visit an MMA gym, try out a conditioning workout session from some of the top guys, vomit, and say "Holy crap these guys do this every day? That's amazing!"

And they'd do it believing that's what they should do and can't swallow the reality that they are beginners who should do beginner programs.

It's just dumbasses being dumbasses.

And bodybuilders do body-part splits because the last thing you want as a professional bodybuilder is an imbalanced physique that will drop you from top three to top twenty.
 
Volume is the main driver of hypertrophy. The vast majority of bodybuilders do higher volume split routines, b/c they work. People like Mentzer and Yates took Arthur Jones's system and still said we're going to do splits.

I've trained HIT most of my life, but I have to admit that, if you just want to build show muscles, volume is where it is at.
 
Last edited:
Volume is the main driver of hypertrophy. The vast majority of bodybuilders do higher volume split routines, b/c they work. People like Mentzer and Yates took Arthur Jones's system and still said we're going to do splits.

I've trained HIT most of my life, but I have to admit that, if you just want to build show muscles, volume is where it is at.
if your natty and you wanna grow, you have to lift heavy also. if you just do pump and fluff routines, but your bench is stuck at 200 pounds, you will never grow a big chest etc. One of the most common i think for natural bodybuilders is implementing volume day and intensity day in routine. one day lift heavy, other day medium and high volume. and you get best of both worlds and enhanced recovery
 
if your natty and you wanna grow, you have to lift heavy also. if you just do pump and fluff routines, but your bench is stuck at 200 pounds, you will never grow a big chest etc. One of the most common i think for natural bodybuilders is implementing volume day and intensity day in routine. one day lift heavy, other day medium and high volume. and you get best of both worlds and enhanced recovery

This. Most people are going to be better off focusing on strength.
 
He doesnt or he switches it up these days but he is benching 4 plates etc among other impressive lifts. He did reach like 315 bench or something doing full body workouts

He did start his account on youtube very young but hes matured to a very smart and expirienced guy. Probably my fav fitness youtuber or one of them atleast. Always no bullshit, useful and smart stuff and straight to the point while others do stupid shit like 10k calorie challenge or something like that. And he doesnt just say something works. always goes deep into detail, why , the analasys etc and everything he talks about he is tried and tested and with logical explanation

The 2x week full body routines in his book, there is like 10 different i think. They all put together smartly . One intensity day one volume day. good stuff. Hard to find shit like that online. If looking for full body routines meant to build muscle , its a really good find imo. Ive done some of them and taken example when doing my own routine full body style.

Some of you may agree or disagree. But for me, Alex and his channel has been a very valuable find.

Thank you for sharing.
 
if your natty and you wanna grow, you have to lift heavy also. if you just do pump and fluff routines, but your bench is stuck at 200 pounds, you will never grow a big chest etc. One of the most common i think for natural bodybuilders is implementing volume day and intensity day in routine. one day lift heavy, other day medium and high volume. and you get best of both worlds and enhanced recovery

This. Most people are going to be better off focusing on strength.

Natty or not, pretty much any beginner who's interested in bodybuilding, would be well-advised to spend a few years focusing only on building strength/size(e.g. full-body 5x5 routine, 3 days/week). No one is going to get anywhere near their ceiling jumping right into high-volume bro splits, IMO.
 
Natty or not, pretty much any beginner who's interested in bodybuilding, would be well-advised to spend a few years focusing only on building strength/size(e.g. full-body 5x5 routine, 3 days/week). No one is going to get anywhere near their ceiling jumping right into high-volume bro splits, IMO.

Just to be clear. I agree with this. I am going off on a tangent w/ this pump stuff. I'm a little bit fascinated by it, b/c I haven't done it that much and I see guys bigger than me but way weaker than me all of the time in the gym. Sarcoplasm can help w/ recovery. That is another reason I am interested in it.

Ronnie Coleman was strong AF. Dorian Yates was strong AF. Arnold did 5 x 5 and some powerlifting in his formative years. It sounds like Franco and him did a lot of heavy stuff in the offseason, but we all know that 2-3 months before a show Arnold would get on a ton of gear and chase a pump.
 
Last edited:
I haven't been interested enough to see if roided out body builders use this at all but last winter is was in a crowded gym with limited machines and a lot of dudes. I was flustrated and ready to just give up.One of the more "swelled up" guys there ask if I would be his workout partner. Long story short his philosophy on the workouts confused me but I finally figured out what book he got his philosophy from and it was Muscle Logic by Charles Stanley and it's called Edt training. This dudes modified workouts give you the biggest pump ever. I wasn't eating optimally and the true strength gains seemed minimal, but the volume made a big difference on the volume I could handle day to day and that kind of stamana is useful to me. But damn I looked like Arnold for a half hour after every workout. Well... I guess I just got interested enough to research it. I'll post back if I find anything about pro level guys using something similar.
 
Oh and maybe it's old... But I'm old... You can check out Body building the Weider approach. There are some ass kicking full body lifting programs in there I'm Shure are not obsolete. At that packed gym when I quit working out with the Edt dude I switch to the modified intermediate program from this book. Full body high intensity weightlifting.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,107
Messages
55,467,862
Members
174,786
Latest member
plasterby
Back
Top