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If your gym routine feels a little stale, this intense full-body workout could be just what you need.
Designed for all fitness levels, this eight-week workout starts at the shoulders and works its way down to the calves. Every major muscle group is hit along the way, ensuring a total body burn by the end.
Full Body Intense Workout
This eight-week intense full body workout is structured into two four-week blocks. You will start with Workout A for the first four weeks. Workouts are performed three days per week with four days off.
- Day 1: Workout A.
- Day 2: Rest.
- Day 3: Workout A.
- Day 4: Rest.
- Day 5: Workout A.
- Day 6: Rest.
- Day 7: Rest.
After four weeks, you will switch to Workout B three days per week. This allows for some scheduling flexibility, but make sure you get enough recovery time between workouts.
- Day 1: Workout B.
- Day 2: Rest.
- Day 3: Workout B.
- Day 4: Rest.
- Day 5: Workout B.
- Day 6: Rest.
- Day 7: Rest.
Intense Full Body Workout
This workout is split into two four-week sessions. The first four weeks will focus on your basic straight sets with short rest periods. As the repetitions decrease, you should increase your weight to challenge the muscles.
The second four-week session will introduce supersets to keep the intensity high. A superset is a pair of exercises that work opposing muscle groups. This allows one group to rest while the opposite group works. This is repeated three days per week with four days off to ensure complete recovery between sessions.
Here’s a sample schedule of the first four-week session:
- Day 1: Workout A.
- Day 2: Rest.
- Day 3: Workout A.
- Day 4: Rest.
- Day 5: Workout A.
- Day 6: Rest.
- Day 7: Rest.
When you transition to the second four weeks, your schedule may look like this:
- Day 1: Workout B.
- Day 2: Rest.
- Day 3: Workout B.
- Day 4: Rest.
- Day 5: Workout B.
- Day 6: Rest.
- Day 7: Rest.
This schedule allows some flexibility as needed. Ensure you get 48–72 hours of rest between workouts. Training too hard with too little rest can lead to overtraining and poor results.
Workout A
Workout A focuses on straight sets of exercises that start at the shoulders and progress down to the calves. Every major muscle group is worked along the way, ensuring a full-body workout. Keep your rest periods short to promote muscle growth and endurance.
As the repetitions decrease, increase your weight to challenge your muscles appropriately. To choose your starting weight, you can use trial and error or calculate your one repetition maximum. For trial and error, select a weight that allows you to complete the listed repetitions at or approaching failure.
Your one repetition maximum, or 1RM, is the maximum weight you can lift for one repetition with proper form. Your starting weight will be expressed as a percentage of your 1RM based on your goal. This workout focuses on hypertrophy and endurance to keep the muscles working and intensity high.
- Strength/Power: 80%–100% of your 1RM.
- Hypertrophy: 60%–80% of your 1RM.
- Endurance: <60% of your 1RM.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lateral Raise | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Arnold Press | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Lat Pulldown | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| T-Bar Row | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Cable Crossover | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Barbell Curl | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Hammer Curl | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| One-Arm Overhead Extension | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Rope Pushdown | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Crunch | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Hyperextension | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Press | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Extension | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Stiff Legged Deadlift | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Curl | 3 | 18, 15, 12 | <60 seconds |
| Standing Calf Raise | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Seated Calf Raise | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
Workout B
Workout B is structured around supersets, pairs of exercises that work opposing muscles. This shortens the overall workout time by allowing one muscle group to rest while the opposite works. It is a time-efficient way to get the most out of your workout!
Research has shown that superset workouts can save time while producing similar strength and body composition results. For example, in one study, a traditional resistance routine took 42 minutes, while the superset routine took only 24 minutes. The routines had the same exercises and load, but the superset routine took about half the time!
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest (between sets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lateral Raise | 3 | 12 | <60 seconds |
| Arnold Press | 3 | 12 | <60 seconds |
| Lat Pulldown | 3 | 12 | <60 seconds |
| Two-Arms Overhead Extension | 3 | 12 | <60 seconds |
| Rope Pushdown | 3 | 12 | <60 seconds |
| Crunch | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Hyperextension | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Press | 3 | 15 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Extension | 3 | 15 | <60 seconds |
| Stiff Legged Deadlift | 3 | 15 | <60 seconds |
| Leg Curl | 3 | 15 | <60 seconds |
| Standing Calf Raise | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
| Seated Calf Raise | 3 | 20 | <60 seconds |
Benefits Of Intense Full-Body Training
Below, we will review three important benefits of intense full-body workouts. You don’t need a fancy gym to gain these advantages. Check out this full-body calisthenics workout for a gym equipment-free plan that targets every muscle group!
Improved Body Composition
A full-body workout plan is a great way to burn fat and improve body composition. A 2024 study showed that full-body training is more effective than split-body training in reducing overall and regional fat mass. This is important to bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts who strive to achieve their physique goals.
Increased Muscle Size And Endurance
Intense full-body workouts like the one outlined above focus on challenging exercises with limited rest periods between sets. Shorter rest periods between sets promote increased muscle size and improved endurance. This can lead to improvements in other areas like athletic ability and functional capacity.
Improved Strength
Resistance training is known to improve strength and hypertrophy. However, full-body workouts may result in more significant strength gains than a split-body routine.
This can be an important consideration when programming to achieve your personal fitness goals. An intense full-body workout like the one above can help you reach your potential. If you are limited on gym access, check out the best full-body bodyweight workout for a total body burn.
Tips To Keep In Mind For Optimal Results
Successful workout plans involve more than just the exercises. Let’s discuss a few additional tips to help you get the most out of this intense full-body workout.
- Progression — Implement a training principle like progressive overload to avoid plateaus. Continue to challenge your muscles by increasing sets, reps, or weight regularly to promote improvement in strength, hypertrophy, and endurance.
- Nutrition — Ensure you consume enough protein to give your body the building blocks to repair and strengthen your muscles. Current recommendations are 1.4–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily.
- Cardio — Incorporating aerobic exercise into your resistance training routine can improve body composition and increase muscle mass. Add it wisely and ensure you get enough rest between workouts to recover fully.
Conclusion
This intense full-body workout will efficiently challenge every major muscle group for maximum results. It is optimized for hypertrophy and endurance while maximizing efficiency with supersets in the second half. Use the guide above to implement this full-body workout properly and gain the benefits today!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, a full-body workout is effective by targeting every major muscle group in each workout. With proper rest, a full-body workout can help you achieve your fitness goals.
It is not recommended to train your full body every day. Muscles need rest to recover between workouts; consecutive full-body workouts can lead to overtraining. 48–72 hours of rest is recommended between workouts for each muscle group.
To avoid overtraining, incorporate enough rest to recover fully between workouts. Experts recommend 48–72 hours of rest for each muscle group between workouts.
The level of intensity of your workout should reflect your goals and current fitness status. Beginners may need to start with lower-intensity workouts and progress to more challenging ones. Advanced lifters may need higher-intensity workouts to achieve their goals.
Resources
Endomondo.com refrains from utilizing tertiary references. We uphold stringent sourcing criteria and depend on peer-reviewed studies and academic research conducted by medical associations and institutions. For more detailed insights, you can explore further by reading our editorial process.
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About the Author
Tara Mitchell, DPT Doctor Of Physical Therapy
