3 Day Total Body Plan

**Adonis** · May 2nd, 2005, 12:25 PM

3 Day Total Body Plan

With his plan you will train 3 times each week, and three cardio sessions on the off days. It may not look like each muscle get hit each day, but it does. Abs and lower back are to be trained 3 times each week, choose your own exercises, but for every set of abs you must also do a set for the obliques and lower back. Drink a lot of water, and eat a high protein clean diet. Emphasize carbs and protein in the morning till mid afternoon; consume protein with fats in the late afternoon and evening. Increase water intake by at least 1 liter while following this program. It is recommended you get between 7-10 hours sleep each night. Follow proper post workout nutrition. Tempo is like this 201, meaning 2 second down phase, zero second pause mid rep, and 1 second up phase. I would reccomend follwing this program for 4-6 weeks, and no longer than 8 weeks without taking some time off for full recovery.

Parameters

Day 1
Method: Maximal Strength
Sets: 6
Reps: 3
Load: 5RM (reps max)
Rest: 60 seconds between antagonist supersets
Tempo: 201

Day 2
15 minutes of moderate intensity uphill walking

Day 3
Method: Endurance Strength
Sets: 3
Reps: 24
Load: 26RM
Rest: 90 seconds between antagonist supersets
Tempo: 101

Day 4
20 minute interval training workout at a 3:1 work to rest ratio

Day 5
Method: Muscle Hypertrophy
Sets: 4
Reps: 10
Load: 12RM
Rest: 75 seconds between antagonist supersets
Tempo: 203

Day 6
45-60 minute low intensity walk/jog

Day 7
Off for rest

Exercises

Day 1
A1. Barbell back squat
A2. Lying leg curl machine
B1. Flat barbell bench press
B2. Bent-over barbell row (mid overhand grip)
C1. Weighted underhand grip chin-ups
C2. Weighted dips
D1. Underhand barbell shrugs

Day 2
15 minutes of moderate intensity uphill walking

Day 3
A1. Sumo deadlifts
A2. High bar barbell back squat heels elevated on two 25 lb plates
B1. Overhand shoulder width lat pulldown
B2. Dumbbell shoulder press
C1. Incline dumbbell flys
C2. Prone incline bench dumbbell reverse flys
D1. Overhand grip barbell curls
D2. Reverse grip triceps pressdown (Supinated hands)

Day 4
20 minute interval training workout at a 3:1 work to rest ratio

Day 5
A1. Incline dumbbell bench press
A2. Seated rows
B1. Barbell front squat
B2. Lying leg curl machine
C1. Overhand grip pull-ups
C2. Seated dumbbell side laterals
D1. Barbell lunge
D2. Seated calf raise
E1. Incline dumbbell biceps curl
E2. Triceps rope pressdown

Day 6
45-60 minute low intensity walk/jog

Day 7
Off for rest

**somedoode** · May 2nd, 2005, 01:11 PM

awesome..thanks adonis..i'll give this a try in the summer after I finish my 8 week routine.

**wolfman_48442** · May 2nd, 2005, 01:36 PM

I'm a little unclear on how this works. Take day 1 for example: is it 6 sets of superset A1/A2, then 6 sets of B1/B2, etc, or is it 6 sets of the complete Day 1 exercises? Thanks for all your hard work, Adonis.

**Adonis** · May 2nd, 2005, 01:47 PM

it is 6 sets A1 and A2, then move on to 6 sets B1 and B2. ..and it is 6 sets per exercise

**Old_Fart2** · May 3rd, 2005, 09:11 AM

Adonis

What I plan to do is this:

I have two weeks left on my current program (including the recovery week). Then I'll take a week to establish my one rep max's on all the lifts.

I'm going to try to create a spread sheet that I'll be able to e-mail to anyone who's interested. You'll be able to plug in the number of reps and weight on each exercise, it will calculate your 1RM and then calculate the program for you.

If there's any Java experts out there, it could probably be done on the site similar to the Java Suite here: Java Suite

By the way, to calculate your one rep max from scratch, you can use the Epley's formula which is: Multiply the amount of weight lifted times the number of reps times 0.033, then add the amount of weight lifted. Example: 200 lbs. lifted 10 times: 10x200=2,000; 2,000x0.033=66; 66+200=266; so your one rep max would be 266. Remember this is just an approximation but can be used in designing your workout.

**Old_Fart2** · May 3rd, 2005, 10:25 AM

Since I couldn't figure out how to get back to the number of reps if you know your one rep max: ie. 266 1RM, what weight would you use for 10 reps. I've got another formula; the Brzycki formula.

This one goes like this: weight / ( 1.0278 - (0.0278 * reps))
or to use the example above: 0.0278 times 10=0.278; subtract this from 1.0278=0.7498; divide the weight lifted 200/0.7498=266.7 lbs. Very similar.

To reverse it: Let's say you want to know how much weight to use at 10 reps:

onerep1 * ( 1.0278 - (0.0278 * 10))

or: 266.7 x (1.0278 - (0.0278 x 10))=200

**Adonis** · May 3rd, 2005, 03:25 PM

interesting, but why is 200 lbs the amount for 5 reps?, i see in the example you provifded you used 10 reps not 12

**Old_Fart2** · May 3rd, 2005, 03:38 PM

Sorry, messed up; I just changed it.

**Old_Fart2** · May 3rd, 2005, 06:28 PM

Ok, if I've done it right, here's a spreadsheet (zipped) for the 3 Day Total Body Workout. On the last sheet you just put in your number of reps and weights for each exercise, it calculates your 1RM and fills in the weights to use for Days 1, 3, and 5.

Check it out and let me know if you hit any snags. Consider it a Beta version.

**Old_Fart2** · May 4th, 2005, 07:31 AM

As I said that was a Beta version. Apologies to anyone who may have already designed their whole program.

I woke up at 5:00 am this morning realizing that the 3 reps are based on 5RM, 24 reps based on 26RM and 10 reps based on 12RM. So I'm going to revise the formulas. If anyone has any other suggestions (other than just forget the whole thing), let me know.

**Old_Fart2** · May 4th, 2005, 08:03 AM

OK, if you have any suggestions, too late. Here's the latest, revised and hopefully correct spreadsheet based on Adonis' 3 Day Workout Program. If anyone's interested, I can do one on the 4 Day Program, also, unless someone has already done it.

**Old_Fart2** · May 6th, 2005, 08:32 AM

Well, Adonis, sorry, but I'm going to wait a few weeks before trying the 3 Day program.

I just joined a new gym with a whole bunch of cool stuff so I'm going to continue my current routine (with some fun modifications) until Memorial Day, take a few days rest and then get on the 3 Day Program.

Since I was working out at the Rec Center with very limited equipment, I'm like a kid in a toy store now.

**Adonis** · May 6th, 2005, 09:16 AM

excellent, but don't et caught up in the gimicks of a commercial club. Dumb machines with no real purpose other than a very expensive coat rack (pec deck machine..etc) or those based on fads. e aall nkow there is a reason the basics are still around. How many guys do you see doing triceps kickbacks latley, the exercise is almost gone...finally...

**Old_Fart2** · May 6th, 2005, 09:32 AM

Yeah, I don't do many machines but I do like the plate loaded stuff like Hammer; good for back exercises.

I'm just fired up about being able to do some real leg presses again with a plat loaded leg press! Can't wait till leg day.

**Bled_man** · May 16th, 2005, 08:31 AM

Adonis,

Great program!! I just started it today and it whipped my a$$! I have one question about Wednesday's exercises. I am confused about what exactly Prone incline bench dumbbell reverse flys are. Could you explain how these are done? Thanks.

**chuckg** · May 16th, 2005, 09:08 AM

This looks really interesting. Thanks for posting it. I'm a little concerned, however, over the Day 2 rep scheme. I would tend to think that 24 reps is somewhat over the top for anything including endurance and would tend to be a waste past 15 reps. Any idea as to why so many reps on the endurance day?

**Adonis** · May 16th, 2005, 09:36 AM

Chuck
Because it's not often you do a 24 rep day, it will trigger growth in the slowest of slow twitch fibers. It is not a waste to do over 15 reps, why would you say that. It's the voume at the ned of the wokrout vs the intensity of the workout, that determines if the muscle will gow, get stronger, or (I hate to say it) tone/shape. Doing a wack of reps will increase capilliriazation in the muscle, allowing you to be stornger and recover faster in other workouts. It will also give you some endurance baility musclular wise.

Bled_Man
Great to hear about starting the program. Why not start a blog so we can all watch your progress. The prone incline bench reverse fly is a great exercise. It is the same as a bent over fly, only done face down on an incline bench at about 15 degrees-30 degrees. If you dont knwo a bent over fly is when you have two dumbbells in the hand, and you bend forward at the waist, you are basically going to perform a lateral rasie fromt hsi position. To do the exercise I reccomend, do the same form ont he incline bench. Heres a pic

**chuckg** · May 16th, 2005, 09:41 AM

Sorry, what I meant to write was that I had read that anything over 15 reps was considered a waste. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. I've copied this workout to my harddrive as it does look interesting and, seeing as I'm coming off of a rest period, I'm looking to do something new. So I may try this as well.

**Adonis** · May 16th, 2005, 09:58 AM

I wasn'toffended cuck, I just felt the need to express my opinion. I hoep you took no offence aswell, welcome to the forum

**Old_Fart2** · May 16th, 2005, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckg

Sorry, what I meant to write was that I had read that anything over 15 reps was considered a waste. I certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. I've copied this workout to my harddrive as it does look interesting and, seeing as I'm coming off of a rest period, I'm looking to do something new. So I may try this as well.

Hey Chuck, Welcome to the forum!

Don't worry about offending; I think we all have pretty thick skins (or skulls).

There's plenty of room for diversity of opinions. We don't all see eye to eye and can all learn from each other.

Don't worry about Adonis calling you Cuck either. His brain is usually way ahead of his fingers.