Full body Strength Training Regime

Building a full body strength training regime is fairly straightforward. If you can make the distinction between training for strength and for muscle mass, and you’re able to follow a few simple principles of strength training, you will succeed with this routine and significantly increase your strength over the coming weeks.

The routine outlined here is a full body program. It builds strength from head to toe. Perhaps more importantly however, it builds the most important kind of strength – functional strength. That is, strength developed with weights that has carryover to real-world activities and sports.

This strength training regime is fine for people at all levels of fitness, from beginner to professional athlete. The beauty of strength training is it takes what you already have and builds upon it gradually.

A note for beginners

This routine utilises low reps and heavy weight with multi-joint compound exercises. If you’ve never performed them before, it is strongly advised that you spend a couple of weeks performing the routine with light weights for 10-12 reps with the aim of learning correct form and getting your body used to the movements.

The correct techniques can be found in the exercise section, and it’s always a good idea to have someone who knows the lift watch your form and give you feedback. After a couple of weeks of acclimatising to the exercises, you can begin with the strength training regime below.

The workouts

The strength training regime consists of two workouts, A and B. The idea is to alternate them every session – e.g. Monday perform workout A, Tuesday perform workout B – etc. It’s advisable to perform a light cardio warmup beforehand (perhaps 5 minutes on the exercise bike) and to stretch the muscles worked after you session.

Like all good strength training regimes, this routine is based on the core principles of strength training:

• Lift Heavy
  
  
• Avoid Muscular failure
  
  
• Train Frequently
  
  
• Utilise Compound and bodyweight exercises

To find out more about these check out the strength training principles.

Workout A - “Push”

Standing Shoulder Press 3x5
Barbell Squats 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Weighted Dips3x5

Workout B – “Pull”

Weighted Pull Ups/Chin Ups 3x5
Power Cleans 2x5
Deadlifts 2x5
Barbell Rows 3x5

As mentioned in the strength training principles, you must stay well away from failure with each exercise to build real strength in the long term. Aim to do your reps at a medium speed, and as soon as they start to slow down, end the set.

If you’re used to a bodybuilding-type workout, this will feel premature – but that’s good, it means you’re training optimally for strength development. When you can complete 5 reps comfortably for every set, add 5 to 10lbs to the lift on your next workout.

The workouts are performed in the following order – A, day off, B, day off, repeat. This means you’re performing each workout every four days. This does mean that the days you go to the gym will change every other week.

If you like to workout on specific days, then it’s best to workout 4 times a week – 2 A’s, 2 B’s. Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun is best, alternating the A/B workout, then you get 4 days of rest between each identical workout. Alternatively you can do Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri, where you hit each workout every 3 days but with the weekend off.

If you stick to this strength training regime consistently for a few weeks, you can expect to add a significant amount of weight to your lifts. That translates into good strength gains for whatever you need them for. Because it’s based on compound and bodyweight exercises, this routine builds real strength that carries over to sporting performance and everyday life.



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