Full Body Base Building Strength

The following program is a full body training program that is going to help build a foundation of strength and muscle mass. This program is a perfect option if you have found yourself having some time off from strength training and you are looking for a program to get back under the barbell before progressing to a heavier, more intense strength training program.

The program is split over three sessions, including 2x full body days and 1x upper body day. This is a very effective split in order to increase the frequency that you are training each muscle group, in order to improve technical efficiency and get more volume in throughout the week to maximise increases in muscle mass and strength.

The program focuses on the core lifts as the A series of the program. It is here where you will focus on improving strength on the compound lifts that use large amounts of muscle at once. Following these Core lifts there is a variety of accessory movements that will assist in developing a well rounded balanced body, including unilateral upper and lower exercises and a combination of push and pull movements. It is also important to take note of the use of the tempo throughout the program, with the vast majority of the exercises incorporating a 3 or 4 second eccentric (lowering phase of the movement). This is beneficial for developing good motor control to assist with technique as well as increasing the time under tension to promote muscle hypertrophy.

I recommend breaking this program up with some of the YIN offerings we have at the hub including a Pilates or Yoga class to maximise your recovery. If your goal is more fat loss than this program can still definitely be of benefit, as focussing on strength training is essential in order to increase your Basal Metabolic Rate leading to more long term sustainable body composition changes. However, you might want to include a metabolic conditioning session as a substitute for Day 2 of the program, whilst still being able to get your full body strength sessions in. Two examples of how you might split up this program are below:

OPTION 1 – HYPERTROPHY FOCUS

MON – STRENGTH DAY 1 (FULL BODY)
TUE – YOGA OR PILATES CLASS
WED – STRENGTH DAY 2 (UPPER BODY)
THUR – OFF
FRI – STRENGTH DAY 3 (FULL BODY)
SAT – RESTORATION ZONE SESSION (SAUNA/ICE BATH)
SUN – OFF / LIGHT ACTIVITY

OPTION 2 – FAT LOSS FOCUS

MON – STRENGTH DAY 1 (FULL BODY)
TUE – YOGA OR PILATES CLASS
WED – HIIT OR METCON CLASS
THUR – OFF
FRI – STRENGTH DAY 3 (FULL BODY)
SAT – RESTORATION ZONE SESSION (SAUNA/ICE BATH)
SUN – OFF / LIGHT ACTIVITY