Stupid Simple Full Body Muscle & Strength Program

The honest-to-heaven most simple strength training template in existence (and you can do it with bodyweight only, or minimalist equipment – like a couple kettlebells or dumbbells).

Stupid Simple Full Body Template

Push pattern

Pull pattern

Leg exercise (squat or hinge pattern)

Bonus: anything else you might want to add

So this template does well if you break it down into 2 general workouts.

Workout A

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: overhead press variation 

Ex 2: pullup/chin up variation (and appropriate regressions like band assisted pullups or negative pullups)

Ex 3: squat/lunge variation 

Bonus: anything else you might want to do

Workout B

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: chest press variation 

Ex 2: row variation 

Ex 3: hinge variation 

Bonus: anything else you might want to do

You can do anywhere from 2-10 sets per exercise for the first 3 exercises. If doing any bonus exercises I'd limit those to just 2-3 sets apiece. The first 3 exercises are where we really make our cash money. They're the big strength, muscle, and movement quality builders and between the 3 compound exercises, every muscle is covered at least a little bit, either directly or indirectly.

You may rotate through the first 3 exercises in a circuit fashion if you're into that sort of thing. This will likely save time and improve your cardiovascular conditioning. Though, it may (but also may not) decrease the strength and muscle building stimulus you get from the workout, if you find yourself out of breath while doing your sets. This comes down to preference and strategy. If you do take a circuit approach, I'd suggest you rest 30-60 seconds between each set and each exercise, rather than just immediately cycling from one exercise to the next. 

That rule should obviously be followed for straight sets (traditional sets) also. So, if you're doing 4 sets of each of the first 3 exercises, completing all 4 sets of one exercise before moving to the next (again, in traditional, straight set fashion), give yourself at least 30-60 seconds between sets, but no more than 3 minutes between sets. 

I continue to come back to density training principles in my own workouts, so limiting rest to 1-2 minutes is preferred in my book. Sure, you may sacrifice some strength performance on later sets, but you'll get more volume done in less time (which matters for most of us everyday folk that have stuff to do) and you'll create a positive environment for building muscle and improving your metabolic conditioning. Those 2 things are great. They're probably higher priorities for most of you than "absolute, maximum strength" are at the moment.

You may also choose to superset push and pull exercises, then do legs on their own, or maybe you even superset your leg exercise with a bonus exercise (the bonus exercises are usually isolation exercises like bicep curls, tricep extensions, calf raises, hamstring curls, or lateral raises).

EMOM

Another fun variable to use in training is doing EMOMs. EMOM stands for every minute on the minute. I've discussed this many times in the past, but usually only a few times per year. And considering how much nonsense I write each year, it's easy to miss those articles or forget them. So I'll provide a quick summary by way of an example.

Let's say we are doing an 8 minute EMOM with goblet squats. You set a timer for 8 minutes. At 0:00 you begin doing your goblet squats (let's shoot for 8 reps).

You finish your 8 reps of goblet squats in 20 seconds. You now rest the the remainder of the minute (in this case, 40 seconds) before starting set 2 when the timer hits 1:00. Repeat this for 8 rounds. In this example, you'll get 8 sets of 8 goblets squats (64 total reps!) completed in just 8 minutes. Talk about density.

You could also do this in a circuit. 

Let's say we do a 24 minute EMOM, cycling through single arm overhead presses (3-5 reps each arm), pullups (3-6 reps), and split squats (5-8 reps each leg). So we'd start the timer and during 0-1 minutes we'd do 3-5 overhead presses each arm. Rest the remainder of the minute. Then do 3-6 pullups during minutes 1-2. Rest the remainder of the minute. Then do 5-8 split squats on the left leg and 5-8 split squats on the right leg during minutes 2-3. Rest the remainder of the minute. Repeat.

In 24 minutes you'll have 8 sets of presses, 8 sets of pullups, and 8 sets of split squats. But, cycling through exercises gives each exercise 2.5+ minutes of rest. So while you're shoulders and triceps are working, your back and biceps, quads and glutes are resting. 

EMOMs aren't necessary, but they are a fun option and they tend to keep people focused. The downside with EMOMs is that while you may get a lot of volume in a short period of time, you're usually not taking each set very close to failure because you need to leave at least 25-30 seconds of rest.

For that reason, I think the best option for maximizing training density while getting the most strength and muscle stimulus from our workouts is to take each set pretty close to failure (rep speed should slow down, and you may not be able to get another rep with good form), and then rest 30-60 seconds. This may leave you getting 25 pushups on set 1. Then 18 pushups set 2. 15 pushups for set 3, 12 pushups for set 4, and possibly as little as 8 pushups for set 5. That's a big performance drop off, but each set we pushed the pushup muscles near their maximum, creating fatigue. If working hard on your sets and limiting intraset rest by resting only 30-60 seconds between sets, this sort of rep drop off is common, and even a positive sign. The goal then, in this pushup example, is to slowly nudge up the numbers of each set. Not to make all the sets match the first set. But a good indicator of progress would be if over the following 6 weeks you took you first set of pushups from 25-30 reps and your last set of pushups from 8 reps to 12 reps, while also increasing the rep numbers for sets 2, 3, and 4.

_

Let's get down to business with some sample routines here.

Bodyweight SSFB

Workout A

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: pike pushups (any regressions or progressions) x 4-8 sets

Ex 2: pullup/chin up variation (and appropriate regressions like band assisted pullups or negative pullups) x 4-8 sets

Ex 3: bodyweight squats, split squats, reverse lunges, step ups, or Bulgarian split squats x 4-8 sets

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets 

Workout B

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: pushup variation (feet elevated, hands elevated, kneeling, rings, etc) x 4-8 sets

Ex 2: inverted rows (adjust angle depending on strength level) x 4-8 sets

Ex 3: single leg glute bridges, single leg hip thrusts, single leg feet elevated glute bridges x 4-8 sets

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets 

Simple, eh?

I used 4-8 sets as an example. You could do just 2 sets – though I think your gains would be better suited if you did more, when working with bodyweight only. You could also do 9 or 10 sets if you are a volume junky.

Remember to heed your recovery demands. The more volume (sets) you do per exercise, the less training frequency (days per week) you'll be able to manage. So pay attention to that balance. 

If you want to train very frequently (like 5-6 days per week), aim for 2-5 sets per exercise in this bodyweight program variation's case. 

If you train infrequently (like 2-3 days per week) but want to maximize your gains, you'd likely be better off doing more volume per session (like 6-10 sets per exercise).

Remember, bonus exercises should always be done for just 2-3 sets. These are isolation exercises that don't require as much work because the muscles are already getting some stimulus from the 3 main compound exercises and the smaller muscle groups (biceps, triceps, calves, side delts, etc) will fatigue quickly with just a couple hard sets of isolation work directly for them. 

I'm not sharing rep ranges for this bodyweight routine because how many reps you do really depends on the exercise variation along with your skill and strength levels.

Kettlebell & Bodyweight SSFB

Workout A

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: kettlebell overhead press variation or pike pushups (any regressions or progressions) x 3-8 sets

Ex 2: pullup/chin up variation (and appropriate regressions like band assisted pullups or negative pullups) x 3-8 sets

Ex 3: kettlebell squats, split squats, reverse lunges, step ups, or Bulgarian split squats x 3-8 sets

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets 

Workout B

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: pushup or kettlebell bench press variation (feet elevated, hands elevated, kneeling, rings, single arm bench press, floor press, bridge press, etc) x 3-8 sets

Ex 2: single arm kettlebell row variation or inverted rows (adjust angle depending on strength level) x 3-8 sets

Ex 3: kettlebell swings (2 hand or 1 hand), RDL, single leg RDL, B stance RDL, single leg glute bridges, single leg hip thrusts, single leg feet elevated glute bridges x 3-8 sets

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets

Ok, so with the addition of a kettlebell or 2 comes the ability to do even more exercise variations. This is fun. Seriously. But it can also be overwhelming.

Here's 2 suggestions I'll give.

Suggestion 1: pick 1 exercise for each movement pattern and stick with that exercise for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, swap all exercises for a different variation. Below is an example of how that might look...

Weeks 1-4

Workout A

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: kettlebell clean & press x 3-8 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 2: pronated pullups x 3-8 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 3: Bulgarian split squats x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets 

Workout B

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: feet elevated (decline) pushups x 3-8 sets of 10-20 reps

Ex 2: single arm kettlebell row x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 3: kettlebell swings x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets

Weeks 5-8

Workout A

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: kettlebell overhead press (no clean) x 3-8 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 2: neutral grip pullups x 3-8 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 3: standard split squats x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets 

Workout B

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: single arm kettlebell bench press x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 2: inverted row x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 3: single leg RDLs x 3-8 sets of 8-15 reps

Optional Bonus: calves, bicep curls, tricep extension variations x 2-3 sets

....and then continue to switch variations as desired every 4 weeks.

Suggestion 2 allows a little more built in variation. This suggestion is to pick 3 (just 3) exercise variations and rotate through those variations every third session.

So, for Workout A's squat pattern, you might do box step ups the first session, Bulgarian split squats the second session, and standard split squats the third session. Start the cycle over for the 4th session of Workout A.

Workout B's hinge pattern could be kettlebell swings for the first session, single leg RDLs for the second session, and single leg hip thrusts for the third session. Go back to kettlebell swings on the 4th session of Workout B.

Make sense? Terrific.

I won't bother boring you with a Dumbbell & Bodyweight SSFB sample because it's the exact same as the kettlebell & bodyweight sample I just shared, just with a dumbbell instead of kettlebell. Though, you may want to use lateral raises sometimes as dedicated "Push" exercise if you're aesthetically inclined. Dumbbells are great for lateral raises, so maybe you alternate vertical push (overhead presses) between an overhead press session and a lateral raise session. I'll share that with you all in my final program.

With that said, I'm going to go straight for a general mixed implement (bodyweight, kettlebell, and dumbbell) sample program, where I'll share 3 – count 'em up – variations for each workout to rotate through, providing a fun, progressive yet mildly varied long term program that you can follow. 

SSFB (Stupid Simple Full Body) Program for You and Me

Workout A1

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes, or calf raises —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: kettlebell clean & press x 3-6 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 2: neutral grip pullups x 3-6 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 3: standard split squats x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: bicep curls x 2-3 sets 

Workout B1

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes, or calf raises —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: single arm kettlebell bridge press x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 2: inverted row x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 3: single leg RDLs x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets

Workout A2

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes, or calf raises —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: dumbbell lateral raise x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 2: overhand pullups x 3-6 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 3: Bulgarian split squats x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: bicep curls x 2-3 sets 

Workout B2

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes, or calf raises —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: incline dumbbell bench press x 3-6 sets of 6-12 reps

Ex 2: single arm DB/KB row x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 3: 1 hand kettlebell swings x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets

Workout A3

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes, calf raise —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: single arm kettlebell overhead press (no clean) x 3-6 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 2: wide grip pullups x 3-6 sets of 5-12 reps

Ex 3: box step ups x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: bicep curls x 2-3 sets 

Workout B3

Warm up: ab exercise, glute bridges or clam shells, band pull aparts or haloes or Indian clubs or rear delt flyes —> 1-2 sets of each

Ex 1: feet elevated (decline) pushups x 3-6 sets of 10-20 reps

Ex 2: single arm alternating row x 3-6 sets of 6-12 reps

Ex 3: single leg hip thrusts x 3-6 sets of 8-15 reps

Ex 4: Optional Bonus: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets

_

Follow this plan 2-6 days per week. The ideal frequency for most of us will be 3-4 days per week, but do what feels good and works good (okay, works well) for YOU.

Start with 3 sets per exercise, then increase sets as desired. Remember (and this goes for training frequency, too), more is not necessarily better. Quality is always better than quantity. And quality quantity that you can consistently recover from will yield greatest results. 

With this specific routine, I find I do best with 3-5 sets per exercise, while resting 45-90 seconds between sets, and training 3-5 days per week.

I typically do a bicep variation on Workout A and a tricep isolation on Workout B. For those exercises I do 2-3 sets. Usually my biceps exercises are incline dumbbell curls, concentration curls, or hammer curls and I aim for 6-12 reps per set. My favorite tricep exercises are cable pushdowns, incline dumbbell skull crushers, or lying dumbbell/kettlebell skull crushers for 8-15 reps per set.

I often throw in 1 set of calf raises during my warm up. I'm not obsessed with calves, but I do recognize their functional and aesthetic purpose, but I'd rather focus my energy on arm isolations for that 4th exercise and enjoy the feeling of getting a calf pump right after my ab exercise and glute warm up exercise. 1 set of high reps, mixing up the variation between bodyweight calf raises off a step, single leg calf raises, wall sit calf raises, kettlebell offset calf raises off a step, or kettlebell offset heel raises (calf raises on flat ground). Those variations take just 1-2 minutes and get the job done for me. 

Finally, I don't always do ALL of the warm up exercises. I always prioritize an Ab/core exercise. And then I'll usually go for a calf exercise. Often I add the glute/hip warm up or the rear delt/shoulder stuff, but not always since my glutes and shoulders get trained in each session and I usually warm up my leg and push movements with a lighter set before going into my working sets. Therefore, I use my warm ups as an opportunity to get the blood pumping, the mind right, while also providing a minimum effective dose for 2 muscle groups that I don't isolate (calves and abs) during my workouts. The warm up is brief but serves multiple important purposes in my training, while taking less than 5 minutes to complete.

Alright, that's enough jaw jacking, finger stabbing for a Sunday morning. I'm done for today. That's the book and the program along with the general philosophy. 

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