Full Body Routines

I talked a lot about in my "Basic Strength Training" article on why my preference for beginners are full body routines. As a certified personal trainer I feel the split is far too often relied on and the answer in the months of lack of results actually relies in the loss of frequency.

See, when you perform exercise, you have hormonal release that is influenced by the stress, sleep, pre and post nutrition, and tension to the body as a whole; this is why you often hear myself and other instructors say "it's not all about how much you lift".

The greater the stress is to the body as a whole the better hormonal release. Does hitting your chest, triceps, and anterior delts put more tension to your body than hitting your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, chest, triceps, back, lats, rhomboids, trapeziums, posterior delts, anterior delts, and core? I seriously doubt it. When you workout your whole body, the body demands more and more anabolic hormones like testosterone.

Another reason the full body routine beats the split is because splits often require working out more than three times per week. Now, there's nothing wrong with a 2 day on/1 day off "upper/lower" split but there is, on the other hand, a problem with training 5 days if you're natural. When you workout, 24-48 hours later cortisol remains very high and is released much more during the exercise. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that eats muscle and is the opposite of what you want; testosterone.

Frequency is probably the most misunderstood concept of the full body routine. People far too often do not understand what over training is. It is a psychological condition not caused by a single workout but a variety of workouts over a period of time. You either have to be too strong for your own good or extremely stupid for a long period of time. Overreaching happens before over training and gives you the warning signs. Sometimes overreaching is thought to be over training but it is not. A week off usually allows overreaching recuperation times, while over training can take many months. It refers to the CNS; it doesn't refer to the muscles directly.

You can train your body every 48 hours; it is not really as damaging as people like to assume. If a beginner attempts to train, he is capable of making linear progression on all his compound lifts. With the linear progression in mind; will you progress faster training a movement once per week or three times per week? Your progression will be in a 3:1 ratio.

If you haven't been gaining results with your split; perhaps it'd be a good idea to give "basic strength training" or another full-body routine a try.

Beginner 4X5

Introduction:

A common routine that is thought out to be the most potentially advanced for a beginner lifter will involve some type of isolation exercise; it is here the first mistake is made. Isolation exercises are intended to correct posture and imbalances in muscles that are developed through indirect use of compounds (later on down the road). Excessive use of isolating muscle groups in a beginner stage leads to significant imbalance promoted through lack of stabilizer maturity before compound movements have been developed, and a weak point has yet to occur.

Principles:

Progressive resistance training is the most beneficial principle that can be used in beginner barbell programs. Beginners, to the sport of resistance training, are capable of making what we call linear (constant) progress on their basic compound exercises: squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. This is a method of increasing natural forces by the body and strengthening the joints, ligaments, and tendons before attempting to being to personalize or specialize in specific goals.

Linear Progress:

Regardless if you're a bodybuilder, powerlifter, or just some guy that likes to lift stuff you need to take advantage of linear progression; not even professional bodybuilders on drugs can meet this type of performance enhancement. Linear, referring to constant; and progress, referring to increments of overload brought upon to the muscle through free weights is a method of muscle building. When you overload a muscle and it has not been placed upon similar stress, the nervous system activates motor units in the muscle that may have been previously shut down (unused strength). The same reason is why you can make the same linear progression as you stop lifting weights after hitting a personal record; it doesn't mean that you are atrophied and began to hypertrophy again; it simply means that you are reactivating motor units.

Form:

Teaching the body proper body mechanics and form during the first several weeks of training is beneficial to teaching the CNS to program correct movement pattern in a program. You should always start with boringly light weight and add 5-10 lbs to that weight each week. Adding 10 lbs per week will effect form, and I say this without caring of your coach is. If you add weight too frequently when just getting form down, it will eventually collapse. You want your body to lift weights properly and then add linear increments in resistance.

Program Design:

With each full body routine, the same program design applies: horizontal pull for every horizontal push; vertical pull, for ever vertical push; and lower body push and pull, so when we add the above together we design a program with the following exercises: squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, overhead presses, pullups, and bench presses. You can always incorporate accessory movements: weighted dips, hang cleans, lunges, calf raises, etc. later on down the road, but the six movements presented in the earlier post should be the prime focus of your program.

Workout A: Squats, Horizontal Push/Pull

1. Squat
2. Bench Press
3. Barbell Row
4. Hang Clean
5. Planks
   

Workout B: Squats, Vertical Push/Pull

1. Squat
2. OHP
   
3. Pullup
   
4. Deadlift
5. Planks
   

Accessory Work:

The following routine applies focus on each muscle of the human body without neglecting any type of imbalance causes. You can add direct core or grip work, but do not substitute the movements. If you do decide to incorporate abdominal movements, try to utilize movements that focus on merely isometric contraction from the rectus abdominis; this will enable the hip flexors from taking a bulk of the load and creating a potential lordosis and lower back problems. Since the hip flexors are more demanding than the abdominal muscles, they will often overpower them during the range of motion. Hanging leg raises, planks, bridges, side bridges, dragon flies, and suitcase deadlifts are the best way to incorporate movement variation and core work for the function development of the abdominals.

What is more functional? A plank or a sit up? A plank. Why? How does your abdominal muscles contraction under exercise? Do they concentrically move or do they focus on isometric contraction to stabilize the entire core. Sit ups not only predominantly exercise the hip flexors, but they also do not work together like they would during an overhead press or pullup. Teaching the body to work as it does under stress is far more functional than finding an exercise that gives stimulus. You want to focus on isometric tension on the entire core as a whole: planks and dragon flies are your greatest compromise.

Stretches:

Stretching is important for a variety of reasons: maintaining proper posture, increasing flexibility, preventing imbalances, and increasing recuperation rate to name a few. You essentially want to maintain great flexibility particularly in the glenohumeral joint. You can apply specific stretches like the doorway stretch to keep the internal rotators (lats, pecs) and focusing on development of the upper back muscles and posterior deltoids through opposition.

Nutrition:

The general rule of thumb for someone trying to gain muscle is 1g of protein for every lb of lean bodyweight and this should increase by approximately 1g every 1-2 weeks. Applying your bodyweight (in pounds) and multiplying that by 16 will give you your weight to maintain; adding 500 calories to that will put you in a pace to gain 1 lb of muscle per week. In general guidelines, you should have two plates present during meal time. One plate, containing 50% grain, 25% fats, and 25% protein, and the other being a bowl or plate full of fibrous veggies like: broccoli, spinach, celery, or similar green/leafy nutrient.

Protracted Shoulders- Solutions and Causes

**Introduction to Protracted Shoulders

Shoulder protraction can be a nasty imbalance. It is commonly caused by overactive pushing muscles and underactive antagonists to those muscles. The "king" of shoulder protraction is the bench press and it affects the stability of the rotator cuff muscles. Bench presses, involve the trainee to lie down on the bench and press resistance off his chest. The bench press works three muscles predominantly more than any other muscle: pectoralis major, triceps, and anterior deltoids.

**How Do You Get Protracted Shoulders?

The primary cause of the condition is overactive chest muscles and underactive posterior deltoids; parallel dips, chest flies, and military presses can sometimes influence the condition. The problem is that the bench press is the most common exercise that you ever hear about and seems to be the prime focus of every newbie in a fitness center. How many times have you walked in the gym and someone ask "hey, how much can you bench press?" Big chest muscles and the ability to have a stronger upper body is a must for younger kids. Surprisingly, they do not know that "bench presses" doesn't show the stronger display of upper body strength; the overhead press does.

Overhead pressing is a safer alternative for developing the upper bodies ability to "push". The problem with a bench press is that it involves the anterior shoulder muscles (the anterior deltoid) and does not work any other muscle in the shoulder girdle. The overhead press on the other hand, works the entire rotator cuff. When you press overhead, the anterior deltoid, like during a bench press, is the primary muscle in the shoulder that contracts; this is because when you press overhead, the shoulder is rotated upright and the anterior delt which faces the ceiling then becomes the prime mover of the external load. The upside to the fact that you are rotating the shoulder, however, allows the rotator cuff muscles to contract isometrically to stabilize the lockout positioning. The rotator cuff consists of four muscles surrounding the glenohumeral joint: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis.

Pressing with a 2:1 ratio over the bench press can lead to a healthier shoulder; on the other hand, it will not fix protraction of the glenohumeral joint (the shoulder). When you perform a bench press, and everyone does it, the chest and the anterior delts take the bulk of the load. This can lead to a damaged rotator cuff and affect the stability of the rotator cuff to stabilize overhead lockouts and proper alignment during an overhead press. Bench pressing can and usually will lead to overactive chest muscles and when the reverse force is neglected: horizontal pulling, it can pull the shoulders forward resulting in this imbalance.

Overhead pressing cannot fix shoulder protraction because it involves the same unique muscles that the bench press has overdeveloped: the chest and anterior deltoids, and more so than the opposite muscles: the external rotators and scapula retractors. The more frequency you perform bench presses and overhead pressing the more you can damage this condition instead of impair it. Shoulder protraction disables the traps from fully contract during the lockout position; thus, effecting the rotator cuff and external rotators ability to perform their duties during the pressing motion. The overhead press does not work the posterior deltoids, which need to be strengthened in order to retract the shoulders. In order to retract the shoulders, you need to enable movements that perform this motion: rowing and vertical pulling.

**Diagnoses

You can realize this condition by looking at the mirror. From a profile perspective, have someone analyze your posture while standing forward in a relaxed motion. If you can see the lateral deltoid it is a good sign that the shoulders are somewhat protracted. Another way, set down and lean against the wall and if your posterior deltoids do not touch then it is likely your shoulders is in protraction. If the posterior delts do not touch the wall, then it is a good sign that you are suffering from this condition. The severity, however, depends on how long you've had protraction in the shoulders and

When the shoulders become protracted, it's usually a good idea to research your condition. You have a muscular imbalance in the shoulder; this same imbalances is common in someone that travels a lot or uses the computer: protracted shoulders. Due to the shoulders being pulled forward, the shoulder are in a semi-flexed position and can become accustomed to this position to increase comfort of the position itself. Just like if you were to stretch your internal rotators, it would be uncomfortable at first, but once you increase the frequency of theses stretches they do not affect you as much painfully.

**Horizontal and Vertical Pulling

The solution to this condition: stretch the internal rotators (chest, lats, upper traps) and focus on scapular retraction of the external rotators (lower trapeziums, rhomboids, scapularis). Hold the contraction on the row at the top of the range of motion and squeeze the posterior delts. Make sure you are feeling the contraction. Doorway stretching can help maintain the flexibility to perform these exercises.

When you pull horizontally, like with a row, you work the exact reverse of these muscles. The biceps become the synergist, instead of the chest; the posterior delts become the focus of the pulling, instead of the anterior delts, which focuses on the pushing; and the lats become the prime mover, instead of the chest, which focuses on pushing. This retracts the scapula backwards and results in the ability to maintain proper posture in the shoulders. Yes, I said it, if you are bench pressing you should be using the row. Let me say it again, if you horizontally pushing, you should be horizontally pulling.

For every horizontal push, incorporate a horizontal pull a 2:1 ratio. For every vertical push, incorporate a vertical pull and lastly, add a scapula depression. Scapula depressions are the complete opposite of a shrug. You would hang from a parallel dips and shrug your shoulders, depressing the scapula. Act as if you are going to perform a set of parallel dips and do not flex your arms; instead, perform a shrug. So your routine would essentially look like this.

Workout 1:
Squat
Barbell Row
Overhead Press
Pullup

Workout 2:
Squat
Bench Press
Deadlift
Scapula depressions

Workout 3:
Squat
Barbell Row
Overhead Press
Pullup

You have here a 2:1 ratio for horizontal pulling vs. horizontal pushing; you also have a 1:1 ratio for vertical pushing and vertical pulling and a scapula depression exercise. Give it about 6-12 weeks of this routine and measure the shoulders by leaning against the wall, see if the condition has improved. Incorporate doorway stretches and try not to progress much more in strength gains for your bench press. Try to work the row up to the same resistance as your bench press; for instance, if your bench press is 225 lbs for 6 reps, make sure your barbell row gets up to 225 lbs for 6 reps. Hold the squeeze at the top of your pullups and rows, and if necessary, incorporate face pulls.