Split routines superseded
such full-body sessions in
the ’60s. Still, an everything
workout remains a valid
way to train when you can
rarely make it to the gym.
An intense everything
assault can hold you over
for a week. Keep your total
sets at 40 or fewer. This
means you won’t have the
luxury of exhausting
muscles with a dozen
sets of isolation moves.
Instead, focus on compound
exercises like deadlifts
and dips, and push all sets
to failure.
48 HOURS OFF
Reeves scheduled
2
his full-body sessions,
THE DELTS AND LATS HE
BUILT IN THE GYM
LAUNCHED HIM TO
HERCULEAN FAME.
which consisted of 35 to
40 sets, for Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays.
We’re going to modernize his
“non-split” a little and divide
the body into three distinct
routines. Nevertheless,
those three workouts will
remain diverse—incline
presses and deadlifts in
one, for example—and we’ll
stick with a similar workload
per session and maintain
his pattern of resting at
least 48 hours between
trips to the gym.
PERFECT FORM
In the opinion of
3
Hercules, cheating was
not a virtue. Sets consisted
of flawless reps with a
cadence of two seconds up
and three seconds down.
MODERATION
Most sets were kept
4
in the ideal growth range of
eight to 12 reps. Sometimes
he went higher, but he
almost never went lower.
PROGRESSION
One training tenet
5
that preceded even Steve
Reeves, who was born 92
years ago, is progressive
resistance, which is a fancy
way of saying always trying
to get stronger. The 1950
Mr. Universe didn’t push his
sets beyond failure with
various techniques (most of
which weren’t even named
yet), but he was fixated on
140
FLEX | JANUARY ’18
racking up more reps in the
eight-to-12 range. When
he could get 13, he upped
the weight the next time.
ALTERNATE
ANTAGONISTICS
6
Working his whole body in
one 90-minute routine,
Reeves couldn’t help but
stress one diverse body
part after another. However,
he still arranged exercises
so that one movement often
followed its antagonist,
such as rows (pulling
movement for back) after
bench presses (pushing
movement for chest).
Our routine also pairs up
antagonists: chest with
back, biceps with triceps,
and quadriceps with
hamstrings.