My Super-Efficient Full-Body Workout Split
A couple years ago I published a fat loss training program I had written for myself in which I trained full-body, every single day, 16-20 sets per workout, for months on end. All while in a caloric deficit.
In hindsight, this was a wee bit excessive.
I'm cutting again right now, but I'm also working hard (as in working on my business) and don't want to be in the gym every day, so I'm taking a more sane version of the same approach: full-body workouts three days a week, or every other day.
Each workout has 24 sets, so that's around 60-80 sets per week, averaged out, and depending on how consistent I am. Sometimes I shorten them a bit, sometimes I train four days a week, sometimes I get busy and only do two days, but my weekly volume is always somewhere in that range.
Rest periods are 1-2 minutes, and I don't time them– I just rest as long as I feel I need. Sometimes I'll take very short rests, but then add a 5-10 minute break in the middle of the workout where I'll sit down and play with my phone.
Workout A
A1) Bicycle crunches, 3 sets of 20-30
A2) Cat vomit, 3 sets of 12-15
B1) Bench press with bands, 3 sets of 4-8
B2) One-armed DB row, 3 sets of 4-8
C1) Unilateral leg curl, 3 cluster sets of 4-4-3
C2) Leg extension, 3 sets of 12-20
D1) Barbell overhead press, 3 sets of 12-20
D2) Standing calf raise, 3 sets of 30-50
Workout B
A1) Arnold press, 3 sets of 5-10
A2) Monkey shrugs, 3 sets of 5-10
B1) Front plank, 3 times
B2) Glute-ham raise, 3 sets of 12-20
C1) DB stiff-legged deadlift, 3 sets of 6-10
C2) Front squat with bands, 3 sets of 6-10
D1) Pushups, 3 sets to fatigue
D2) Bayesian curl, 3 sets per arm of 12-20
Workout C
A1) Chin-up, 3 sets to fatigue
A2) Dip, 3 sets to fatigue
B1) Romanian deadlift, 3 sets of 8-12
B2) Lunges, 3 sets of 12-20
C1) Seated cable chest press, 3 sets of 8-12
C2) Dumbbell bent over row, 3 sets of 8-12
D1) One-armed sumo press, 2 cluster sets per arm of 5-5-4
D2) Zottman curls, 2 sets of 12-20
D3) One-armed tricep extension, 2 sets per arm of 12-20
Results
I'm losing about a pound of fat a week. It could be faster, but I'm not working very hard at this so I'm just glad to be making any progress at all. Strength is holding steady or increasing slightly. I'm not putting on much, if any mass, but I'm definitely not losing it either.