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I recently bought a book on weightlifting... and it said to put on size a full body work of three times a week was enough.

On top of that it said that there is no need to do multiple sets .... just one set of ten.


This means that it only takes about half an hour to get round the gym.

Has anyone had experience of this... or do you feel that you need to do more?

It depends a lot on your body, and what it responds to.

Some guys respond to any exercise, and the more the merrier. Some guys are hard gainers, and they have to do less workouts a week, but more intense, eat more, and do no cardio.

I started putting on lots of mass on my legs when I switched to doing 4 workouts a week, mostly lower body on day 1 and 3, and mostly upper body on day 2 and 4. I say mostly, because on both days, I did compound exercises that use a lot of muscles (squats, deadlifts, pullups, bench press).

It took me about 5 years to figure out that's what I need to do to put on mass. Of course, I didn't actually put on overall weight, because I didn't greatly increase the amount of calories I was taking in. As others will most likely point out, you probably need to increase your calories to increase your weight.

I'd say that 3 full body workouts a week are a great place to start, give it a month and if you don't like the results, switch it up. The best way to find out is to try

I do 3 full body workouts a week (plus 3 days swimming), but I do 3 sets of 15 for each exercise. I don't really think one set of 10 is gonna do you much. I would definately feel I can do more. The only bad thing I'm experiencing is overtraining such that I drive myself close to exhaustion. Thank God for that warm shower!

I found a workout that matches that description on bodybuilding.com and it's made me more defined and MUCH stronger. I may not have my macronutrient ratios right at the moment to put size on (I've been trying to cut anyway), but it's definitely doing a great job of changing my body composition, most importantly *without* resorting to cardio.

I do a full body lifting routine 3 or 4 times a week and it takes me close to two hours to complete it. Plus I run 30-40 miles a week and cycle whenever I can. I do 3 to 4 sets of the bench lifts but several sets on ab, arm, leg, and lat routines. It seems to work for me and my running prevents me from putting on a lot of mass. I'm more runner than weightlifter anyway. It just depends what works for you and how much time you can devote to working out without becoming exhausted or stale. Lots of guys do the every other day thing--upper body one day, lower body the next.

I put on quite a bit of muscle on my last full-body workout - but it mixed up the reps and exercises one day you might do 3x8, the next time 3x12 etc. I don't think one set of 10 is enough to gain much muscle.

I'd maybe have a look here if you wanted to find a different fullbody workout http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=643686

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-beginners-first-stop.aspx

Actually I think this link on another site is pretty cool.

Explains a lot - and pretty much backs up what you guys have been saying!

Cheers!