Is doing full body weight lifting in one day bad? Help please.

[RaymondSmuckles]

Little less than 3 months ago I started lifting. I'm trying to come up with an exercise program for myself. My job requires 12.5 hour days and it's a 2 week schedule of off/on days so it's hard to work out like I want. I never rest between sets. I do one body part with a different body part as the rest period for that other part (squat, lat pulldown, squat, lat pulldown, etc). My schedule goes like this:

Day 1: Full body lift. 4-5 hours. Chest/stomach, lats pull downs/squats, continue with upper back with more stomach and calf workouts in between. Next shoulders with leg extensions and hamstrings. Arms next with more stomach and calf. Finish with lower back, glutes and forearms in between.

Day 2: 30 minute cardio (think of the T25 by Shaun T or other cardio programs with lots of jumping around) followed by punching bag for 20 minutes or till too tired

Day 3: Full body lift. 4-5 hours

Day 4: 30 minute cardio followed by punching bag

Day 5: rest

Day 6: 2-3 hours. Chest, stomach, calves, arms, lower back and glutes, forearms

Day 7: 2-3 hours. Upper back, shoulders, upper legs, and stomach.

Day 8 rest

Start over from Day 1 and repeat schedule. Is this bad? Should I do everyday workouts with targeted areas, not full body and have some rest days in between?
I also stretch a lot. I don't seem to get fatigued and am gaining mass and strength. I've lost about 30 pounds and 6 inches off belly (43 inches to 37). I'm early 40's, 6'1" slender build and was about 210 and now 175-180 after 10 weeks. I cut out fast food and beer and eat lots of veggies, meats (fish, flank steak and chicken), beans, eggs, sweet potatoes, and fruit plus occasional whey protein shakes.

[WolfRose7]

4-5 hours? is that split and you eat or do **** between exercises? if not that workout sounds hugely overloaded

[air2fakie]

Full body in a day’s workout is fine. 4-5 hours for that workout, not so much.

[RaymondSmuckles]

4-5 hours? is that split and you eat or do **** between exercises? if not that workout sounds hugely overloaded

That's from start to finish. I don't really take any breaks other than to fill up my water bottle and change my shirt from sweating. I do it at home. I do normally eat 1 or 2 celery sticks about halfway thru with three or four scoops of peanut butter.

[TolerantLactose]

That's from start to finish. I don't really take any breaks other than to fill up my water bottle and change my shirt from sweating. I do it at home. I do normally eat 1 or 2 celery sticks about halfway thru with three or four scoops of peanut butter.

Full body is fine for a novice but what you're describing sounds ridiculous.

[RaymondSmuckles]

Full body is fine for a novice but what you're describing sounds ridiculous.

Is that because of the time duration? I don't feel pain from it. Not sure what's wrong with it. I keep going up in weight I lift maybe every other week. I take it it's the time frame and guessing I should cut back on number of exercises I do from what I'm hearing.

[paulinkansas]

You should be able to do a FB in 75-90 minutes. I do, and I fart around between each series of PPL. Chest back legs, fart around, chest back legs, fart around, shoulder back legs, fart around, shoulder back legs, fart around, then do about 12 sets of accessory work. Farting around = reloading, food prep and posting on forums.

[TolerantLactose]

Is that because of the time duration? I don't feel pain from it. Not sure what's wrong with it. I keep going up in weight I lift maybe every other week. I take it it's the time frame and guessing I should cut back on number of exercises I do from what I'm hearing.

Workout duration, number of exercises, the haphazard order of exercises, that you're sweating so much you need to change shirts, the slow progress. All of it.

[air2fakie]

Is that because of the time duration? I don't feel pain from it. Not sure what's wrong with it. I keep going up in weight I lift maybe every other week. I take it it's the time frame and guessing I should cut back on number of exercises I do from what I'm hearing.

It's everything, including the time duration, the whole format and in particular,

I never rest between sets. I do one body part with a different body part as the rest period for that other part (squat, lat pulldown, squat, lat pulldown, etc).

It's basically a 4-5 hour continuous superset, with 2-3 hour continuous supersets on your "lazy days". That being said, it's your body so if you feel it's helping you reach your goals and are happy with your progress, and it seems reasonable to you in your 3 months of lifting experience, no point in trying to tell you otherwise.

[RaymondSmuckles]

I'm really appreciating all the feedback, even if it is mostly negative toward my routine. It's why I joined bodybuilding.com and posted on the forum so please keep it coming. I do think this is working but want to know if there's better options.
Is my weight loss good? 210 down to 175-180 pounds with 43 inches just below belly button down to 37. ???? Started Aug 19th.
An example of weight improvement my squats have gone from 4 sets of 60 pounds 8 reps each to 110 pounds 6 sets with 10 reps each.
bench has gone from;
2 sets of 60 pounds 6 reps at collar bone for upper chest (just below collar bone)
1 set 90 pounds 3 reps across center
2 sets 70 pounds 6 reps each
to
2 sets 120 8 reps at collar bone
2 sets 180 3 reps center chest
2 sets 110 6 reps each
I do some incline and flys too but those numbers above are for reference in progress.

[TolerantLactose]

Ibench has gone from;
2 sets of 60 pounds 6 reps at collar bone for upper chest (just below collar bone)
1 set 90 pounds 3 reps across center
2 sets 70 pounds 6 reps each
to
2 sets 120 8 reps at collar bone
2 sets 180 3 reps center chest
2 sets 110 6 reps each

Are you trying to destroy your shoulders? Stop doing this and learn proper bench press form.

[air2fakie]

If weight loss is your goal, then suitable calorie intake and endless physical activity of any kind will likely help achieve that goal.

Any of the novice workout routines in the stickies on the workout forum page are better options as you start out with lifting though. What you're doing is not advisable and not sustainable long term.

[WolfRose7]

It sounds like you are just hammering cardio with a bar. Which I guess is fine, it just won't be productive for strength or hypertrophy

[BeginnerGainz]

Might as well do body pump.

Like WR says, you’re basically doing cardio with a bar.

[RaymondSmuckles]

Ok. My main goal was fat loss and I think I've done a lot of that. Would switching to 5 days lifting two days rest be good? Targeting different muscle groups and not doing full body so muscles can rest? Say two hours max each day?

[WolfRose7]

Ok. My main goal was fat loss and I think I've done a lot of that. Would switching to 5 days lifting two days rest be good? Targeting different muscle groups and not doing full body so muscles can rest? Say two hours max each day?

You can train full body, there's just better ways to organize and balance workload and intensity.

Greyskull lp is a good example fo this.

[RaymondSmuckles]

Thanks to all of you for posting. I definitely got some changes to make and research to do. I really want to start bulking up now so I'll be doing some major adjustments to my routine. Thanks again.

[sooby]

By full body, it doesn't mean you have to train everything from your hair follicles to your toe cuticles and everything in between all in one day.

For example a full body day can be training chest, quads, triceps, glutes. Maybe the next day upper back, lats, hamstrings, biceps.




You need to direct most of your efforts into a few exercises and just get better and stronger at them. But it also depends what your goals are and how you are progressing towards those goals. If your general goal is strength and hypertrophy, which is what I'm assuming, probably not the best way to go about it at all. But I guess one positive you can say is that you probably have good conditioning? Maybe? But it also makes me skeptical of your actual workout if you can workout for 4-5 hours, with no rest between sets and are able to do it without being "fatigued" as you say.

if you are gaining strength, muscle, and are enjoying it, fine, sometimes it's better to learn certain things for yourself.