How To Build Your Own Fully Body Workout

Full-body workouts are a great choice for anyone looking to have an effective and efficient training session. They allow you to train your entire body during just one session at the gym, which minimizes your needed time commitment. While these can be very effective, you need to do some basic planning and structure. To get the most out of your training, we’ll cover the important components of a full-body workout to optimize your progress.

What Is A Full Body Workout?

A full body workout is exactly as it sounds; a single, straightforward workout that uses a variety of exercises to train every muscle in the body. This setup actually makes for a very simple training program, making it a perfect starting point for beginners.

At the same time, it could be used effectively by a host of people of all training levels which we’ll go over below.

Now, to be clear, a full-body workout does not mean a full-body exercise that trains the entire body. For example, exercises like a thruster.

While a full body workout could include some full body exercises, it just means a series of exercises that collectively target every muscle.

Benefits Of Using A Full-Body Workout

Many people incorrectly believe that a full-body workout is only a beginner type of training split. 

While they do work really well for beginners, there are a lot of reasons why anyone would want to use them.¹

Here are some great benefits that anyone could utilize.

1. Full Body Workouts Are Very Efficient 

Whether you’re using a single full-body workout or they make up your whole routine, a full-body workout allows you to train your entire body in a single session. 

Not only that, they allow you to perform multiple large, compound movements back-to-back meaning the workout as a whole is packed with awesome movements. 

Ultimately, this means you can spend less time in the gym during the week making it an ideal choice for anyone who has a busy schedule. 

In addition, they’re a great tool for someone who has limited time. For example, perhaps you usually train more often in the gym. However, if a big project at work pops up, you can limit your training frequency while still hitting your entire body.

Another real life scenario is perhaps you’re on a vacation. Now, if it’s only a week, we think you should just relax. However, maybe it’s longer or maybe you still want to maintain your training. In order to minimize your time in the gym, knock out 1 or 2 full body workouts during the week.

2. Offers Optimal Amount Of Rest

We live in a society where trainees believe that you need to run your body into the ground to progress. In reality, all this does is do just that: run your body into the ground, but you get no benefit.

Now, there are definitely times to increase the intensity and effort. However, it’s not always needed and can be a detriment to success for many people.

As you’re training every muscle group every session, this means you’ll only be training up to 3 days a week.

Having four days of rest can benefit anyone. Beginners will benefit most as their bodies are brand new to training, so training too often could become too much. 

However, even advanced athletes can benefit. 

For example, let’s say you’re an experienced person who has been working hard for the past few years but finds your progress has stalled, and your body always feels a bit tired. Instead of running a full deload, you could run a 3-day training plan for a couple of months. 

This would let you get your training in while doubling the number of recovery days you have.

Now, this obviously refers to people who are using an entire training split with full-body workouts.

3. Focus On Your Major Movements

Again, assuming you’re using an entire split with full body workouts, you’re only in the gym 3 days a week. This means you need to make the most out of your time while you’re there.

This brings us to one of the things we love about full-body workouts – you have to (or should) focus on your major movement patterns. This includes;

Going to the gym can be confusing with an overload of choices. However, a full-body workout only allows 1-2 exercises per muscle group (or movement pattern). Therefore, you just pick the “biggest” and most effective ones.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t do some smaller accessory or isolation work. However, the fact remains your choices are limited which simplifies the process.

Who Should Use A Full Body Workout?

Anyone can benefit from one when it comes to who could use a full-body benefit. However, a few specific populations stand out.

Here’s who can really do well with full-body training. 

Beginners

As mentioned above, beginners are often the first thing people think of when they hear “full-body workout.” 

There’s a good reason for this: running a 3-day, full-body split is an excellent choice for beginners, and it’s not just because it’s simple. It’s also because it’s effective and can help you build confidence in your training journey. 

• They don’t need a lot of exercises to stimulate muscle growth and strength gains
• It forces them to focus on their fundamental lifts
• Allows plenty of time to recover
• It is a simple plan (that doesn’t mean suboptimal!) that’s easy to follow.

While beginners could run a 4-day program, a 3-day weight training program would probably still be ideal for new trainees, specifically legitimate brand-new lifters.

Older Population

First and foremost, you should never stop the train or not train because “you’re old.” This is the best way to ensure you never reach peak function.

However, the older population would do well following a 3-day, full-body workout.

Lifters Looking For General Health Or Maintenance 

Not everyone wants to hit huge numbers on their bench press or build 20″ arms. Some go to the gym for general fitness.

Others may just want to maintain their current level of fitness. Maintaining is significantly easier than progressing, and using a full-body workout three times a week or even two times a week is all you need.

On the other hand, some may just want a temporary drop in frequency. Maybe they’re extra busy with work or just want a break from the grind. Again, two to three gym sessions a week with a full-body workout are perfect.

 

A Full Body Workout (And How To Build It)

Building a full body workout is pretty easy. We’re going to show the steps in building one as well as a few different programs.

1. Exercise Order

Exercise order refers to the order in which you perform exercises; should you start with bicep curls? Bench press? Chin-ups? And what should you do next?

First, you want to start with your “biggest” or “heaviest” exercise under most conditions. A full-body workout will generally consist of lower-body exercises such as squats or deadlifts.

You then work down until

Since you’re training your entire body, you want to alternate between upper and lower body exercises for most of your exercises. If you do two upper body exercises back-to-back, ideally, one will be a pulling exercise (back) and the other a pushing exercise (chest, shoulders).

This will maximize rest for your other muscles.

2. Loads Use

Regardless of your workout split, you always begin the session with your “biggest” or heaviest movement. Most of the time, this will mean something like a squat or deadlift.

From here, you would then go down in “size” until you get to smaller accessory and isolation work.

Now, as you’ll be alternating between upper and lower body exercises, it will look like this;

• Lower body #1
• Upper body #1
• Lower body #2
• Upper body #2
• Lower body #3
• Upper body #3
• And so on…

One bit of nuance is that if you’re running a full-body split, where you do 3 full-body workouts a week, you may want to start one session with an overhead movement like the bench press in this setup. 

3. Supersets

Choosing exercises for your entire body can be tough, specifically trying to hit every muscle. An effective method to make this easier is using supersets.

Supersets pair exercises of opposing muscles and require you to train them back-to-back with rest in between. This allows you to maximize your time by training one set of muscles while the other muscles rest and have been shown to be an effective, time-saving training method.²

While some people like to train exercises back-to-back and then take a 2:00 rest (or something similar), we like to do a:45-1:00 rest in between doing each exercise. It would look like this.

• Exercise 1
• Rest 1:00
• Exercise 2
• Rest 1:00
• Exercise 1
• And so on…

You don’t need to use this for every exercise, but it is extremely useful. This is especially true for those who want to do a good bit of smaller accessory and isolation work.

Full Body Workout Program

We’re now going to go over a full body workout for a 3-day split. Keep in mind that you could technically use any of these sessions if you just needed a single session to use.

Session 1

• Back Squat 4X6
• Chin-Up 3X8
• Romanian Deadlift 3X8-10
• Seated Row + Pushups 3X8-10 + Failure
• Cable Curl + Tricep Pushdown 3X8-12/both
• Calf Raise 2X12-15

Session 2

• Bench Press 4X6
• Hack Squat (Machine) 3X6
• Bent Over Row 3X6-8
• Barbell Hip Thrust 3X6-8
• Chest Fly + Reverse Fly 2X12-15/both
• Back Extension + Cable Crunch 2-3X12-15

Session 3

• Deadlift 4X4
• Overhead Press 3X6
• Bulgarian Split Squat 3X6-8/leg
• Lat Pulldown + Dips 3X8-10 + Failure
• Leg Extension + Leg Curl 2X12-15/both
• Rope High Pull + Rope Face Pull 2X12-15/both

Full Body Superset Program

Now, we’re also going to give you a simple, total body training workout using supersets and even a triset. It will start with a deadlift which you’d do by itself as it’s a technical movement and isn’t an ideal choice for all lifters.

Superset Program

• Deadlift 4X4
• Bench Press + Romanian Deadlift 3X6-8
• Bent Over Row + Leg Press 3X8-10
• Chin-ups + Lunges + Dips 3X Max-10-Max

Full Body Training For Big Gains

Above we went over the benefits of using a full body workout and how to build one. We also gave you an entire full body training split along with a stand-alone superset workout. You can use any of them whenever you need to optimize your overall training program whether it’s for your holiday or your entire training program. Just remember that when you get in the gym, train with intensity and hit every muscle!

References

1. Iversen, Vegard M., et al. “No Time to Lift? Designing Time-Efficient Training Programs for Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review.” Sports Medicine, vol. 51, no. 10, 14 June 2021, pp. 2079–2095, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01490-1.
2. Vegard Moe Iversen, et al. “Efficacy of Supersets versus Traditional Sets in Whole-Body Multiple-Joint Resistance Training: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 38, no. 8, 1 Aug. 2024, pp. 1372–1378, https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000004819.