How effective would this be for an experienced lifter?

I would appreciate some opinions on this workout I put together. My goal is still to basically increase muscle mass and my diet reflects that. I know full body workouts, 3 times a week are typically recommended for beginners but I???m wondering if experienced lifters would benefit notably from the workout I put together below. I plan on running this for about 8 weeks, progressively upping the weight for each lift every week. The overview of the workout is as follows:

Full body gets trained 3 times per week. Each full body day uses different combination of exercises to train a certain muscle group to keep things fresh. Each major muscle group gets hit with two heavy sets per day which totals to 6 heavy sets a week. Each major muscle group receives 2 compound days and 1 isolation day per week, except for legs which receive heavy compound lifts x3 per week with no isolation. You will notice I threw in rack-pulls for 1 set at the end of each workout since I???m trying to place special emphasis on upper back thickness and development over the next few months. Sets are executed with heavy reps where on rep 8-10 muscle gets pushed to failure or near failure. Reason I want try this is because in all my years of lifting I have never actually done a 3 day/week full body routine and I???m curious on what it has to offer. This program also gives me an extra rest day which is a little more rest than I???m use to but I feel that I kind of need it over the next month or two. Any ideas, comments, feedback, criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Day 1: Full Body ???A???

Barbell Squats ??? 2 sets, 10-12 reps/set
Dumbbell Flys ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Pull-ups ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Military press ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Dips ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Barbell curls ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Rack pulls ??? 1 set, 6-8 reps/set

Day 2: Rest

Day 3: Full Body ???B???

Deadlifts ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Dumbbell Press (Flat) ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Barbell Rows ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Lateral Raises ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Dumbbell Extensions ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Cable Curls ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Farmer???s Walk ??? 1 set, reps (n/a)

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: Full Body ???C???

Barbell Squats ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Bench press (Incline) ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Seated Cable Rows ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Shoulder press ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Dips ??? 1 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Triceps Push-downs (Cable) ??? 1 set, 8-10 reps/set
Hammer curls ??? 2 sets, 8-10 reps/set
Rack pulls ??? 1 set, 6-8 reps/set

Day 6: Rest

Day 7: Rest

I tried very a similar routine a couple months ago. I have to admit I didn't give it more than 2 weeks and these are my reasons...

-Doing 2 sets per movement makes a whole lot of sense to keep the overall volume down, BUT it you are using heavy weights it takes a while to warm-up to your working weight anyway which adds a lot of time to a workout with so many exercises as well as adding a lot more overall volume/day(even if it is all submaximal)

-I try to get through workouts in about an hour or so with a few exceptions...I found this to be near impossible with this routine UNLESS I seriously sacrificed intensity(load)

-I generally didn't feel like I would gain much size OR strengh based on what I already mentioned above, but again I didn't give it a whole lot of time.


With all this said, everybody is obviously different and you may have tremendous results with this kind of program but I would start trying to balance your pushing and pulling with your upper body movements ESPECIALLY if you are trying to work on your upper back. In theory you should have a 2:1 ration of pullush but you seem to have the opposite do to the common mistake of doing a chest ex, a back, and a shoulder which leaves you'r back under worked.

DaBeast25 said:

I tried very a similar routine a couple months ago. I have to admit I didn't give it more than 2 weeks and these are my reasons...

-Doing 2 sets per movement makes a whole lot of sense to keep the overall volume down, BUT it you are using heavy weights it takes a while to warm-up to your working weight anyway which adds a lot of time to a workout with so many exercises as well as adding a lot more overall volume/day(even if it is all submaximal)

-I try to get through workouts in about an hour or so with a few exceptions...I found this to be near impossible with this routine UNLESS I seriously sacrificed intensity(load)

-I generally didn't feel like I would gain much size OR strengh based on what I already mentioned above, but again I didn't give it a whole lot of time.


With all this said, everybody is obviously different and you may have tremendous results with this kind of program but I would start trying to balance your pushing and pulling with your upper body movements ESPECIALLY if you are trying to work on your upper back. In theory you should have a 2:1 ration of pullush but you seem to have the opposite do to the common mistake of doing a chest ex, a back, and a shoulder which leaves you'r back under worked.

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Interesting points and thanks for the feedback. I seriously feel like scrapping this now that you mentioned how ineffective something similar was for you. To be honest with you I got inspiration from the 20 rep squat program for this routine. If you're not familiar, it's basically doint 1-20rep set of heavy squats three times a week with some accessory work. I did that for 6 weeks and my legs exploded and I gained solid strength. With that said, I was tempted to apply a similar principle for this program, meaning do 1-2 heavy sets for each major muscle group x3 /week in hopes of good gains. Well I might try it for a week just for the hell of it but won't have hopes based on your experience that's for sure.

What happened to the Destroy and Flood routine you were going to do?

DOMS said:

What happened to the Destroy and Flood routine you were going to do?

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Doing it now, and it's excellent! Into the second week and getting great workouts. I'm simply just thinking ahead on what I could do after for 6-8 weeks. I was either going to do the routine I mentioned above or some strict powerlifting for 6 weeks. So just trying to get some ideas.