This program is excellent for intermediate through beginner trainees. And technically, this program could be run by an advanced lifter as well. And great progress could still be made, but in general, I recommend more beginner to Immediate because as someone has lifted for a longer period of time they tend to prefer slightly more volume per body part, and very often a program staggered in a manner that will help them bring up lighting body parts.
This program also has an “A/B rotation”. Meaning, there are 2 different Full Body workouts you will rotate between. (Ex: Full body A and Full body B) I find this mainly beneficial for 4 reasons: 1) It allows for better long term orthopedic outcomes. 2) It allows for my exercise variety within a program, while not having sessions containing too many exercises and getting too long. 3) As likely a combined result of 1 and 2, many people find they are able to progressive overload better over time. 4) Many trainees enjoy a bit of variety in their programming, which helps adherence. And if this can be done, while still maintaining appropriate programming, let’s have at it!
In addition, this is one of the few programs I recommend only be run 3 times per week. Any higher frequency will be likely too much to recover from.
The exercises are recommended to be supersetted with the goal of saving time. You can absolutely do them as straight sets, as I know super-sets can be impossible at times in busy gyms.
As for every program, feel free to adjust variables slightly as needed. The base metric of “1 REP” is not well established in “research”, and can vary largely from individual to individual. So feel free to make slight adjustments to the program’s prescribed: Rep ranges, Number of working sets, and Proximity to Failure (RIR). Anyone that argues any of these variables down to the single metric of measure as definitively “the best”, has spent too much time on social media, and too little time applying training to actual humans. In addition, every individual brings large differences to the table as far as “outside the gym” variables: nutrition, sleep, stress, etc. So while I’m confident this program provides epic guidelines and a great place to start, you are ultimately your own study of 1. So feel free to experiment a bit.
Also, with exercise selection I always follow one of my main, guiding training principles of: As little as possible to produce maximal results. That said, there is no exact cut off point for the number of exercises per workout. So if you want to add an exercise or even two to any given workout, same as the advice I give above… try it out, measure progress and adjust accordingly. Lastly, exercise selection is based on what I feel has the most evidence for being effective long-term, but for any single exercise on the program, there are always other options that can accomplish the same goal similarly. So feel free to swap exercises based on preference, or if you need a recommendation get in the forums.
Rest: 90 seconds – 3 minutes before working sets
Suggested split structure:
Monday – Full Body A
Tuesday – OFF
Wednesday – Full Body B
Thursday – OFF
Friday – Full Body A
Saturday – OFF
Sunday – OFF
Start monday with Full Body B, etc.
Other split options for consideration:
1 on, 1 off
*These are still just suggestions. There is no right or wrong option here. You can also make this work with any schedule. Whenever you train, just pick right up on the next session. Hypothetically, if you’re ever sick, rundown, excessively busy, stressed or just have a moment of laziness and train less days than the suggested split, no worries at all just pick back up right where you left off. At the same time if you are recovering like a robot, or just absolutely love training more often than the suggested split, have added it. Don’t let anyone, myself included, limit how much you love the train, or make you feel guilty for missing a session. Long-term consistency and adherence are.
Full Body A
A1 Smith Squats
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
A2 Incline Barbell press
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
B1 RDLs
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
B2 Neutral-grip pullups
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
C1 Tbar rows
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
D1 single-arm DB preacher curls
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
RIR: 0
D2 cross-cable triceps extensions
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
RIR: 0
Full Body B
A1 Dips
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
A2 Wide-grip pullups
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
B1 Incline cable curls
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
RIR: 0-2
B2 Machine flat press
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0-2
C1 Lying cuff laterals
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
Set 3: 10-15 reps
RIR: 0-2
C2 Seated leg curl
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
RIR: 0
D1 hack squat
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 8-10 reps
RIR: 0
