The Hercules Workout

You should be motivated to give full-body training a shot. Given that the average Joe (or Jane) has time commitments to school, job, family, spouse and so on, 12 to 15 sets per workout (not per body part!) should be perfect for consistent muscle size and strength gains.

That translates into four or five different exercises for working the entire body. Because you get only one exercise for each body part, compound, or multijoint, movements are best so that you work a number of muscles simultaneously. Also, it’s best to complete the workout within 45 to 75 minutes to prevent excess muscle catabolism. Here’s a traditional three-days-per-week full-body program that uses the same exercises at each session:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Bench presses 3 x 10

Seated military presses 3 x 10

Bent-over rows 3 x 10

Squats 3 x 10

Leg curls 3 x 10

For most people performing that same workout three times a week for three to four weeks would get pretty boring — and you’d be limiting yourself by using the same exercises over and over; your muscles aren’t being worked from different angles, which means you wouldn’t be ensuring total muscular hypertrophy.

The solution is to vary the exercise choice at each workout. Here is the variable Hercules workout, designed to train your entire body from different angles throughout the week.

Monday

Dumbbell bench presses 3 x 10

Seated dumbbell presses 2 x 10

Wide-grip chins 3 x 10

Leg presses 3 x 10

Glute/ham raises 3 x 15

Wednesday

Flat-bench flyes 3 x 10

Bent-over rows 3 x 10

Squats 3 x 10

Leg extensions 3 x 12

EZ-curl-bar curls 2 x 15

Dips 1 x 15-20

Friday

Incline dumbbell presses 3 x 10

Cable rows 3 x 10

Stiff-legged deadlifts 4 x 8

Dumbbell lunges 2 x 15

Standing calf raises 3 x 20-25

The variable Hercules program doesn’t devote a lot of time to training the arms and forearms directly. That’s because you will already be developing significant arm strength and size by doing the basic compound movements like bench presses, rows, chins and dips. Your grip strength will improve from those big moves as well.

One last comment: As with any workout program, be sure to get enough rest every day and eat right. If you use the Hercules workout correctly, you should see Herculean results sooner than you thought possible.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. If you have any questions about the hercules workout please feel free to pm me!