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Im on my 3rd week of doing full body training. I was hoping to get 3 workouts a week doing 5x 5-8 for each body part. I have been doing the following excercises, squat or deadlift(alternating), pull downs, bench press, upright rows, curls, calf raise, dips sometimes. the problem is its taking about 4 days to feel fully recovered. Im not sure if I should i do less sets, some kind of supplement, or what. Any suggestions would be great.

IMO, that's probably what's fucking you up. I'd probably feel the same way you do if I tried doing all that.

Check out the DFT sticky because Bill Starr's workouts seem to fall in line with what you are trying to do...

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thanks, Ill give it a shot. Im starting at a new gym next week and im fired up & ready for some results...

Didn't you say before you were doing a 5x5 BEGINNER program?

Maybe you should post what you've been doing and probably would be better to just start back over from scratch.

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If you act sanctimonious I will just list out your logical fallacies until you get pissed off and spew blasphemous remarks.

You eating enough(protein) for your body to recover?

I see your from IN, where at? Thats where I'm from...

^^^Good question. But not just protein. Carbs, micronutrient support, good fats, everything...

Ive been doing the lifts i listed above, squat, bench, deadlift 5x5 starting light and going up as long as i can get the 5. pull downs and upright rows 5x6-8, curls and calf raise are more like 3x10-15. My diet isnt the greatest. Im not writing anything down. I just try to eat at least 4 meals. My plan was to do the bill star beginner stregnth plan that I read in here but got to the gym and ended up doing this somehow. Guess i need a journal huh. Oh, Im in the thriving metropolis of South bend, IN.

Diet and rest are HUGE. What you are doing is more than necessary right now. But given that you are just starting out and if you really started light I'd say you should have been able to get away with it on an every other day basis for a little longer. When you are a beginner you can get away with a lot even if it's the complete wrong thing to do! So probably diet and maybe proper rest is playing into this.

I would say that you shouldn't alternate deadlifts and squat. More squat less deadlift and deadlift should probably be done with less volume than the rest. It can overwhelm your recovery.

I think you'd be better off with the Starting Strength model, Rippletoe 3x5. I don't have time right now but a little later I'll post something. A program has been posted on this forum a few times but I can modify it slightly based on some of the stuff I've been reading in Practical Programming that is guaranteed to work better for you IF you eat enough and sleep enough.

Rippletoe 3x5 Beginners Program

You alternate Workout A and Workout B every other day, 3 times a week. So you could either do Mon, Wed, Fri or Tues, Thurs. and Sat. Depending on what works best for you.

Example:

Week 1:

Monday - Workout A
Wednesday -Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:

Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

Note: This doesn’t include warm-up sets

Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press or 3x5 Military Press**
3x5 Rows* or Chinups (3 to failure with BW)

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press or Military Press
1x5 Deadlift***

No beach work right now. Chins will take care of biceps and all the pressing will take care of the triceps. Other assistance can be added later as you become more advanced and recovery begins to improve.

*Rows should be Pendlay Barbell Rows or Regular Barbell Rows. Alternate chinups with rows so if you do rows one workout do chins the next. Keep any assistat work off right now. Chinups shoud be done with bodyweight until you can get around 10 reps for 3 sets. Then add weight. This will get your arms growing and make you feel good.

**Same here as with rows and chinups. If you do Bench Press one workout do Military Press the next.

***Stick with this at first but you should be able to increase the sets on the deadlifts later or put in some deadlift assistance.

Abdominal work is a must IMO. 5o to 100 crunches won’t do the job. You need to utilize resistance when you are ready. High reps 10 to 12 for abs. Weighted sit-ups and/or hanging leg raises for 2 or 3 sets. You should be able to do them twice a week but if it’s too much cut down.

Most people cant get it through there head that compound lifts also work your arms Plenty and always Insist on direct arm work. As quoted by Madcow2, “Don't **** with this. Every bodybuilder seems to have Attention Deficit Disorder and an overwhelming desire to customize everything.”

As for the weight, make sure that you use the SAME weight throughout the sets. For example if I do the first set if Squats with 200lbs then I do the other 2 sets of squats with 200lbs.

As a beginner you should be able to add weight to the bar every workout. At first probably 5 pounds and later on it may have to go down to 2.5 or 3. Start LIGHT.

You ONLY increase the load on the next workout when the planned sets and reps have been accomplished at any given weight. If you don't get ALL the reps and sets, hold the weight over to the next workout.

This does NOT need to be viewed as a cookie cutter. This is a starting point in a way of programming that can take you quite a long ways with small changes being made. You do not need to do this for a couple of weeks and then “pick” another program. The best way to progress quickly and efficiently is to MILK this shit for everything it’s worth. Rippletoe says this can take you anywhere from 3 to 9 months if done right depending on the individual.

Warm-up Sets:

Before all your working sets it is best to do a few warm-up sets. Specifically for your first lift. You don’t have to do the whole thing for the other lifts but definitely the first.

What you do is you ramp your weight up to your working sets.

For example:

2x5xbar (sets x reps x weight)
1x5x85
1x3x125
1x2x155

And the working set weight would be 175.

If you are lifting your working sets under 150 I would cut out the 3rd warmup set of 1x5 because it wont be needed.

The Lifts:

**Used references and quotes from Madcow2 and Bodybuilding.com**

Barbell Squat: These should be full range Olympic style squats. Use the full range of your body - that means as low as you can go which for almost everyone is past parallel. If the top of your thighs aren't at least parallel it's for sh!t. If you think this is bad for your knees going low, you and whoever told you that are relying on an old wives tale. Anyone who knows the human body will tell you that below parallel is MUCH safer on the knees whereas parallel and above put all the sheer right on them and doesn’t allow proper transfer of the load to the rest of your body (this is how your body was designed).

Rest a barbell on the upper portion of your back, not your neck. Firmly grip the bar with your hands almost twice your shoulder width apart. Position your feet about shoulder width apart and your toes should be pointing just a little outward with your knees in the same direction. Keep your back as straight as possible and your chin up, bend your kneesand slowly lower your hips straight down until your THIGHS ARE AT LEAST PARALLEL TO THE FLOOR. Once you reach the bottom position, press the weight up back to the starting position.

Yep, definately need a journal. In my mind, thats how i get stronger. I look at my journal and say ok, i did 200lbs last workout, I'm gonna go for 210 this time. Or on other programs besides the 5x5, i look and see i did 100lbs 8 times, so i'll tell myself i'm going to get it 10 times. Make sure you log everything in the journal, such as if you used cheat reps or how many of the reps were spotted.

And i was just pointing out the protein because thats what contributes the actual muscle growth. Its also what most people lack. So by leaving his diet alone and just adding in extra meat and protein shakes, he'd see much more gains. Now leaving his diet alone and just adding carbs/fats all he is going to see is fat gains.

And im originally from Crown Point, Indiana. Its by Gary.