The Most Fun Workout Program in the World!

Behold, the most fun program in the world!

When I think about enjoyment in the gym, I think of what I'd do if I didn't know when I'd be able to train again – or even – what I'd do if I were training for the first time after a long lay off.

For me, here's what I enjoy:

I like training a push, a pull, and a leg exercise in each session. 

I also would love to hit biceps, triceps, and calves every session.

I like auto-regulation. It makes sense. Some days I have more energy and can do more, while other days I have less energy and just need to do the bare minimum and check the box.

Auto-regulating effort (aka intensity) is also a plus. After all, I believe consistency trumps intensity over the long haul. And similar to volume – one's ability to train with higher intensities ebbs and flows from day to day, week to week. Having a plan that accommodates these natural ebbs and flows, while encouraging showing up and training regardless, is both mentally and physically rewarding. 

I also like a program that allows flexibility to use different exercise variations and equipment based on what's available and what's preferred.

With that in mind, here's the template of my, "Most Fun Program."

Train 3-4 days per week alternating between the following 2 sessions

Warm up before each session by doing 2 sets of glute bridges and abs.

Session A

Block 1

A1: overhead press variation-5-10 reps

A2: pullup/pulldown variation-5-10 reps

A3: hinge/deadlift variation-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: bicep curl variation-2-3x8-15

B2: tricep isolation variation-2-3x8-15

B3: calf raise variation-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

Session B

Block 1

A1: bench press or pushup variation-5-10 reps (10-30 reps if pushups)

A2: row variation-5-10 reps

A3: squat/lunge variation-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: bicep curl variation-2-3x8-15

B2: tricep isolation variation-2-3x8-15

B3: calf raise variation-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

Okay, let's unpack this a bit more.

First off, due to the fact that we're using strength circuits, free weights are probably best suited for this program. It's no surprise that I find free weights to be more fun than machines. It's just the way I am.

You can already see some auto-regulation built in with the 20-30 minute AMRAP for the first triumvirate of exercises each session. Depending on time and how you feel, start a timer and rotate through those 3 exercises as slowly or quickly as you please for anywhere from 20-30 minutes.

Session A is vertical pushes and pulls plus a hinge.

Session B is horizontal pushes and pulls plus a squat.

5-10 reps allows you to use a broad rep range. If you're able to get most sets for 10 reps pretty easily on a given exercise, you can increase the weight next time. 

This program is all about consistency. Every session your hitting compound exercises for pulling, pushing, and lower body. Every session you're also hitting isolation exercises for the biceps, triceps, and calves. Forearms are added in as an option for those of us that envy Popeye. If you choose to do forearms, just pick 1 exercise and hit it hard for 1-2 sets.

Sometimes optimal bros see "strength circuits" or supersets and they have a total meltdown and PTSD from that one time they watched a CrossFit workout on YouTube. Pick yourselves up, dust off, and chill out, bros. 

I do not expect you to go from 1 exercise to the next without rest. In fact, I recommend that you rest 1-2 minutes between each exercise. We don't need the cardiovascular system to be a limiting factor in how much weight we lift, unless, of course, you want to make the workout more biased towards cardio. 

If you do the program as it's intended (and as I do it) you'll be 'resting' (by a combination of rest and doing non-overlapping exercises) for about 5 minutes between each set of the same lift.

Here's a more clear explanation:

Single arm military press x 5-10 reps. 

Rest 1 minute or so.

Single arm military press on other side x 5-10 reps.

Rest 1-2 minutes.

Pullups x 5-10 reps 

Rest 1-2 minutes.

Kettlebell swing x 5-10 reps.

Rest 1-2 minutes.

Repeat.

It's not a race, unless you want it to be.

Another important thing to note here is we're NOT taking every set close to failure in this style of training. Gasp

Is this suboptimal? Is this a waste of time??

Depends and no, it's not a waste of time.

There are many ways to stimulate hypertrophy. But we actually still don't fully understand the exact mechanisms that promote hypertrophy or not.

What we do know is the following 4 things are related to each other and – we think – hypertrophy in some way:

Volume

Intensity

Recovery

Consistency 

If we look at how jacked people trained, we find that balancing these 4 things is important. In fact, the only easy answer that all jacked people have/had in common is they trained consistently for many years.

If you take a higher volume approach, you'll probably need to use less intensity than high – moderate intensity would suffice – in order to recover, remain consistent, and grow.

If you take a higher intensity approach, you'll probably need to use less volume than high – low to moderate volumes would work – in order to recover, remain consistent, and grow.

This program is similar to what I did as a result of being inspired by the teachings of Pavel Tsatsouline and other StrongFirst/RKC coaches. It seems to work really well for people that train with kettlebells, dumbbells, and bodyweight exercises.

It's also a great way to train if you want to take a few weights outside and soak up the sun while lifting – a truly euphoric combination.

It's extremely time efficient since you can get a lot of work done with those first 3 exercises in a short amount of time. 

Pavel and many of the coaches associated with him (either as colleagues, former students, or athletes) emphasize training as a practice. They stress the importance of training consistently, not to failure, and accumulating high volumes of high quality reps over extended periods of time for increased strength and muscle, while also feeling better after a training session than you did before! It's common to train and then be a vegetable the rest of the day. Viewing your sessions as practice, and using moderate-high volumes and moderate intensities give you both gains and a boost of energy for the rest of the day, rather than breaking you down. Many younger lifters don't realize the importance of this yet, but additional responsibilities and/or injuries as a result of going 100 mph every day will eventually nudge everyone towards why this is so important.

Any time I do strength circuits (especially of the full body variety), it should be understood that the goal of the program is hypertrophy & strength gains via moderate intensity BUT higher volumes.

My lower volume programs (I think most of my programs would be considered low volume) are usually made up of straight sets – doing 1 exercise at a time for just 2 or 3 sets – taken close to failure. 

It's not that I think one method is better than the other. I believe both work. But you can't do high volume AND high intensity. Circuits are better suited for moderate intensities but higher volumes, while traditional straight set programs are better suited for higher intensities and lower volumes.

Again, I do both, I enjoy both, I train people using both methods. They both work, it just depends what you're in the mood for, what you have available for equipment, and – to some extent – it depends on whether you're training in a crowded gym or at home, at a park, or in the driveway with a few dumbbells and kettlebells. 

It just so happens that I find these full body, auto-regulated strength circuit sessions to be the MOST FUN. And sometimes, you gotta just take a couple months to lean into what's fun and build some muscle without the need of counting sets. 

Accumulate volume over time by doing more sets, more time on the clock, more reps, and eventually more weight with the first 3 exercises (the first circuit) each session.

Then finish with the final 3 isolation exercises by getting a pump with 2-3 sets of higher rep work. These exercises can be taken closer to failure because they're isolations for small muscle groups and you're only doing 2-3 sets of them.

Important Note 

There may be times when you only get 2-3 rounds of the big "A" strength circuit. That's totally fine. Remember, I encourage resting as much as you like. If you're doing just a 20 minute AMRAP and you need lots of rest, than you may regularly only get 2-3 sets of each exercise during that time. Just stay consistent. Over time you can I crease your density (more sets in the same time) or increase the AMRAP time (from 20 to 25 minutes or even 30 minutes) or just get more reps per set and eventually use more weight. You have LOTS of options and many opportunities to progressively overload with this style of training. 

As for the isolations at the end, you can do those either as a strength circuit or as straight sets. Whatever you prefer is fine. 

What about lateral raises?

If you want to do lateral raises on occasion, simply alternate every other overhead press session with lateral raises. So one "Session A" may be some overhead press variation as "A1," and the next "Session A" session would be a lateral raise variation as "A1." If doing lateral raises, though, I would adjust the rep range from 5-10 reps per set to 10-15 reps per set.

My Sample Program

Below I share a sample program with 2 variations for each session. That means I rotate through session A1, Session B1, Session A2, Session B2. I train 3-4 days per week with this plan. 

Warm up before each session by doing 2 sets of glute bridges and abs.

Session A1

Block 1

A1: kettlebell military press-5-10 reps

A2: pullups-5-10 reps

A3: 1 hand kettlebell swing-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: incline dumbbell curls-2-3x8-15

B2: cable or band pushdowns-2-3x8-15

B3: offset calf raise-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

Session B1

Block 1

A1: incline dumbbell bench press-5-10 reps

A2: single arm row-5-10 reps

A3: Bulgarian split squat or reverse lunge-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: concentration curl-2-3x8-15

B2: overhead cable/band extension-2-3x8-15

B3: offset calf raise-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

Session A2

Block 1

A1: kettlebell clean & press OR lateral raise-5-10 reps OR 10-15 reps

A2: pullups-5-10 reps

A3: single leg RDL-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: incline dumbbell curls-2-3x8-15

B2: cable or band pushdowns-2-3x8-15

B3: offset calf raise-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

Session B2

Block 1

A1: pushups-10-30 reps

A2: 2 arm row-5-10 reps

A3: alternating dead stop clean & front squat-5-10 reps

(Strength circuit 20-30 minutes)

Block 2

B1: concentration curl-2-3x8-15

B2: overhead cable/band extension-2-3x8-15

B3: offset calf raise-2-3x8-15

Optional forearm finisher 

People over look this style of training – hitting an exercise for a few big movement patterns, rotating through at your own pace, leaving some reps in reserve, then blasting arms and calves. But as I said earlier, it's a very fun way to train and it's also very effective and time efficient for general health, strength, and muscle. 

It won't be the best way to train for any of those qualities, but for generalists who thrive off consistency – it's a very good option. 

Efficiency, consistency, and increasing reps, rounds, time (longer duration of strength circuit, such as 30 minutes), and increasing the weight over time will promote gains. But, you don't have to kill yourself to get stronger, bigger, and better conditioned. You can improve just by practicing regularly and adding an extra set here, an extra rep there, and, eventually, when 10 reps feels pretty doable, increase the weights by 5-10%. Again, I think it's an underrated  method for getting bigger and stronger with less stress.

Plus, let's be honest — while full body sessions are always enticing, they usually end up being exhausting if you're trying to go close to failure on a push, a pull, and a compound leg exercise. That exhaustion can lead to burnout, demotivation, missed sessions, and then, as a result, no gains. That's no fun. Taking the above approach will be more fun, less stressful, and much more productive.

Enjoy!  

If you do the program for at least 4 weeks, please let me know how it goes and/or rate the program and leave a review in the comments or on my Gumroad product page.

Thanks for reading.

Happy lifting.

Godspeed.

-Benen