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Ask yourself this: Is training all your bodyparts over a 4-7-clay
period the only way to pack on quality mass? Truth is, many
people who use a training split that requires daily trips
to the gym aren’t satisfied with the results. Furthermore,
heading off to the gym each day often places a greater demand
on your time than a lot of us working stiffs can’t afford.
If you’re looking for a new approach to get the most
out of your time and effort in the gym, the full-body blast
may be the ticket.
The idea of working your whole body in one training session
has received a bum rap. Most people envision a lightweight
circuit workout designed to develop (or build) muscle for
general fitness. The full-body routine I propose, however,
saves time in the gym, requires maximal muscle contraction
by employing heavy weights, allows for full recovery so you
can grow and train at a high intensity, and prevents muscle
loss by avoiding the overtraining trap. In fact, you can expect
big gains when you perform this program to the letter.
Heavy Weights Are A Must
Muscles respond to overload, and the most effective way to
overload a muscle and stimulate growth is by lifting heavy
weights. That’s why I suggest using basic, heavy exercises
that enable you to lift the most weight. For chest, do the
bench press and incline bench press. For back, choose the
bent-over row and chin; the squat and leg press are basic
exercises for legs. All these movements allow you to move
heavy weights and overload the muscles.
Isolation exercises that emphasize specific muscle groups
aren’t particularly necessary. Cable movements for chest,
leg extensions for the quadriceps and pull-overs for the lats
have their place, but to recruit the largest amount of muscle
fibers in the shortest time, stick to the basics.
60-Minute Muscle
In designing your full-body workout, keep in mind how resistance
training affects your natural anabolic and androgenic steroid
levels. For example, you can expect both testosterone and
growth hormone (GH) levels to rise in response to hard training.
One study that looked at the intensity of work in relation
to GH output found that while training at intensities of around
70% and 55% of their one-rep max, subjects produced more GH
than at 90% intensities. Even in women, GH levels rise in
response to multiple-set exercises.
Maximizing your GH output is important this hormone initiates
fat breakdown, spares muscle glycogen and helps rebuild muscle
tissue by increasing amino-acid uptake into muscles. Testosterone,
of course, exerts a direct anabolic effect on muscle fibers,
whether male or female.
Basic & Limited Sets
Can muscles grow using a relatively small number of sets?
Just ask Dorian Yates, six-time Mr. Olympia. He’s an
advocate of quality, not quantity, and says he works up to
one or two maximal-effort sets per exercise. He uses basic
movements and heavy weights, and his physique has redefined
the word massive. He proves that building muscle doesn’t
necessarily require set after set or multiple exercises. You
can develop quality muscle with a limited amount of total
work; the key is to work as hard as possible when you do train.
With the full-body blast, prepare your body for the workout
with five minutes of treadmill walking to increase your core
body temperature, then perform a couple of very light sets
of bench presses and pull-downs to warm up your upper body.
Choose one basic exercise per body part and perform each to
failure with as much weight as you can with good form and
still do 10-12 repetitions per set, working continuously from
set to set. If you’re a novice, rest for one minute
between sets. Intermediates or advanced athletes should try
to complete each cycle with little or no rest between sets.
This, too, can increase GH levels.
When you complete a cycle, rest for two minutes, then repeat
the cycle using the same exercises. At the end of the second
cycle, rest for two minutes; then again work your larger bodyparts
only. When you’ve finished the full-body blast, you’ll
have performed a total of 20 grueling sets. All your bodyparts
will have been worked to fatigue in well under an hour. You’ll
have burned a huge amount of energy and taxed your entire
body, so you’ll need 2-3 days off to fully recover.
For variety, choose different exercises for your next full-body
workout.
Complicated Diet? No Way!
Many bodybuilders use a food scale and notebook to map and
record their nutritional regimen. One important goal in this
tedious process is to ensure that muscles become fully saturated
with glycogen.
Derived from carbohydrates, glycogen is the chief fuel source
during weight training. If glycogen stored in muscle falls
to inadequate levels, your performance diminishes, your intensity
level diminishes and the result is a sub-par workout. This
could lead to overtraining and even a loss of muscle tissue.
When glycogen levels are low, the body calls upon protein,
in the form of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), as a backup
fuel source. Some of these BCAAs come from protein foods,
but others come from your hard-earned muscle!
Daily workouts continually stress your glycogen stores. With
the fullbody blast, muscle-glycogen levels are typically high.
Though large amounts of glycogen are used in the workout,
you have 2-3 full days between workouts to increase your muscle-glycogen
stores with adequate carbohydrate intake. Furthermore, it’s
easier to keep our glycogen stores high because you don’t
continually deplete them each day. This allows you to train
with peak intensity- the kind that’s required for muscle
growth.
Cardio Limits
Aerobic exercise is a popular way to burn additional calories
and keep bodyfat levels down. Full-body workouts burn plenty
of calories in a short time and encourage fat loss. If your
bodyfat levels are on the high side, preform some additional
aerobic work to facilitate bodyfat loss.
The goal of the full-body blast is to add mass. Since muscle
recovery is related to rest, you may want to limit our total
amount of cardio work to no more than 1-1.5 hours on a weekly
basis. Remember that experts advise at least three 30-minute
sessions a week for cardiovascular health.
FULL-BODY BLAST MENU OF EXERCISES
Choose one exercise per bodypart from the list below. (2)
Perform the exercise with a weight that allows you to barely
complete 10-12 reps in good form, then move onto the next
bodypart. (3) Rest a minimal amount between sets. (4) After
completing the cycle, rest two minutes. (5) Repeat steps 1-4.
(6) Repeat steps 1-3, omitting the exercises for smaller bodyparts.
Larger Bodyparts Exercises
• Chest Bench Press
• Incline Barbell Press
• Dumbbell Press
• Back Bent-Over Barbell Row
• Pull-Up
• One-Arm Dumbbell Row
• Seated Cable Row
• Shoulders Dumbbell Press
• Behind-Neck Press
• Upright Row
• Legs Squat
• Leg Press
• Machine Squat
Smaller Bodyparts Exercises
• Biceps Standing Curl
• Alternate Dumbbell Curl
• Preacher Curl
• Triceps French Press
• Pressdown
• Dip
• Calves Standing Calf Raise
• Seated Calf Raise
• Donkey Calf Raise
• Abs Hanging Leg Raise
• Decline-Bench Crunch
• Machine Crunch
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