Bodybuilding legend Leroy Colbert was very adamant about full-body training and said he never trained productively any other way.
In Colbert's time, the norm was 3 sets per body part. He explained that after 3 sets, lifters would often drop the weights like they were on fire because they believed that doing more than 3 would make their muscles shrink. Nevertheless, Colbert went against the grain, started doing 6 sets per body part, and the rest is history.
I've successfully recommended this type of routine to dozens of lifters and used Colbert's method exclusively to gain 16 pounds of mostly lean bodyweight while keeping my waist the exact same size. Here are his simple guidelines:
Train your entire body every other day.Keep the reps between 6 to 10. If you get 10 reps on all sets, increase the weight.Perform at least 6 sets per body part for optimal growth. You can, however, perform more sets on certain body parts.Establish a mini push/pull setup within the workout. As such, don't train chest right after triceps or biceps directly after back. For example, training the body in this order fulfills this requirement: Triceps, biceps, chest, back, thighs, shoulders, and finally, calves.
Do 6 sets each for a total of 42 sets.
Note: If you think 42 sets is too much, consider what Arnold's mentor, Reg Park, once said: "I realize I was doing about 90 sets a workout, which I am sure was far more than any British bodybuilder was doing in 48/49. By March/April 1949, I entered and won the Mr. N.E Britain, beating the previous national winner. Not bad for only 7 or 8 months of serious training."
The basic idea of Colbert's routine is to have a list of exercises for each muscle group you cycle through (2 per training day), increase the weight whenever possible, and get plenty of rest and proper nutrition.
For example, if you wanted to prioritize your arms, your routine for a particular day might look something like this:
Total Sets: 46
Rest Between Sets: 1 minute
Set Length: 32 seconds (4 seconds per rep)
Total Time Per Workout: 1 hour and 10 minutes
This routine stimulates every major muscle three times a week. Moreover, it's a very flexible routine and you should be able to make it your own and reap maximum benefits with the tips below.
Make Colbert's Routine Your OwnTake advantage of the fact you're training each body part 3 times a week by varying the rep ranges. For example, if strength is your primary concern, then do 5 sets of 5 on two of the days.If you have a favorite exercise that consistently gives you gains, by all means put it as one of your 5 alternates. On the other hand, if something like behind the neck press causes you pain, knock it off the list immediately.Full-body training is very effective at bringing up weak body parts because you can hit them first three times a week.
https://www.t-nation.com/training/full-body-workouts-of-the-legends
