Training Program — 3-Day Full Body

3-Day Full Body · Strength + Muscle

Your Training
Program

Three full-body days — seven movements each (main lift + three supersets), weighted toward the muscles you want most. Built around your back, knee, and hernia. All loads in kg.

★ Priority muscle (traps · lats · delts · legs · glutes) ⚠ Injury cue — read it

Train around your injuries — read first

Hernia — keep breathing. On every working set, exhale through the effort. Do not hold a big breath and bear down — that pressure is what pushes on a hernia. Stay in moderate loads, stop if you feel pain or a bulge at the site. Get this cleared by your doctor/surgeon before loading squats and hip thrusts heavy.
No loaded forward bending. Toe-touch is your aggravator, so nothing that rounds the spine under load. Your safe posterior-chain work is hip thrusts and 45° extensions — both never trigger you.
Neutral spine, braced (but breathing) trunk on presses, squats, hip thrusts, carries. Don't round; don't over-arch at the top.
45° back extension: rise to a straight line and stop. Never arch past neutral.
Core = anti-movement only: dead bug, Pallof, suitcase carry. No weighted crunches, sit-ups, or twists.
Left knee: control depth, keep the kneecap tracking over the foot, shorten range or drop load if the outer knee complains.

Red flag — stop the set for sharp pain, any numbness/tingling/shooting down the leg, or pain/bulging at the hernia. With your history these are signals, not things to push through. Note them and check with your doctor/physio.

Warm-up — every session

5 min easy bike (you already cycle) to raise temperature.
Prep: 10 bodyweight squats · 10 banded side-steps or light leg-extensions · 8 cat-cows · a few light 45° back-extensions. Wakes up the knee and back before load.
Ramp-up sets — on the first big lift of the day only. Build to your working weight so the first hard set isn't cold:

SET 1Empty / very light · 8–10 reps

SET 2~50% of working load · 5 reps

SET 3~75% of working load · 3 reps

THENFirst working set

Everything after the main lift: one light feeler set if it's heavy or new — isolations usually need none.

How the supersets work

Paired exercises (orange left-edge) are supersets — alternate between the two, resting ~60–90s between. They're paired so they don't fight each other (a pull with a push, legs with an upper-body move). Your main lift each day runs as straight sets with full rest. Short on time? Drop the item marked optional and the day becomes six.

Squat · horizontal push/pull · traps

Full Body A

7 movements

Main lift · straight sets · full rest · ramp-up here

Smith-machine squat ★ legs

3 × 6–10RIR 2–3

spine · knee · herniaFeet slightly forward, controlled depth, back flat against the bar. Build the load slowly. Breathe through each rep — no bearing down.

AltLeg press · Hack squat

Superset 1

T-bar chest-supported row ★ lats · traps

3 × 8–10RIR 2

Your pick — chest pad keeps the lower back out of it entirely. Drive elbows back, squeeze the mid-back.

AltChest-supported machine row · Seated cable row

Incline machine / DB press (chest, front delt)

3 × 8–10RIR 2

Your ~20 kg/hand DB incline is the bar to beat. Ribs down, no big arch, exhale on the press.

AltSmith incline press · Pec deck

Superset 2

Cable / DB lateral raise ★ delts

3 × 12–15RIR 1

Width comes from here. Lead with the elbow, slow on the way down, keep it lighter than you think.

AltMachine lateral raise · Cable Y-raise

Seated leg curl (hamstrings)

3 × 10–12RIR 2

Slow the lowering phase — that's where hamstrings grow.

AltLying leg curl · Cable leg curl

Superset 3

DB / Smith shrug ★ traps

3 × 10–15RIR 1

Straight up, pause and squeeze at the top, no rolling. Keep breathing under the load (hernia).

AltCable shrug · Farmer carry

Dead bug or Pallof press optional

3 sets

Anti-movement core — trains the trunk to stay rigid, which protects the back. First to cut on a short day.

AltSide plank · Bird-dog

Hinge / glute · vertical push/pull · lats

Full Body B

7 movements

Main lift · straight sets · full rest · ramp-up here

Hip thrust ★ glutes

3 × 6–10RIR 2

spine · herniaYou know these well. Ribs down, tuck the pelvis, chin tucked, squeeze at top — don't extend through the low back. Exhale on the drive, no breath-holding. Build slowly.

AltSmith hip thrust · Glute-bridge machine

Superset 1

Lat pulldown ★ lats

3 × 8–12RIR 2

Full stretch at the top, drive elbows down to the hips. This is a main lat builder.

AltAssisted pull-up · Neutral-grip pulldown

Machine / seated shoulder press ★ delts

3 × 8–10RIR 2

Back flat on the pad, stop short of locking out, exhale on the press.

AltDB shoulder press · Smith overhead press

Superset 2

45° back extension ★ glutes · hams

3 × 10–15RIR 2

spineYour favourite, and safe for you. Hinge from the hips, rise to a straight line and stop — never past neutral.

AltGlute-ham raise (assisted) · Seated leg curl

Cable / DB lateral raise ★ delts

3 × 12–20RIR 1

Side delts love frequency — that's why they're in here again. High reps, clean form.

AltMachine lateral raise · Leaning cable raise

Superset 3

Bulgarian split squat ★ legs · glutes

2–3 × 8–12 / legRIR 2

knee · spineUnilateral = far less spinal load. Stay tall, front shin roughly vertical. Hold light DBs; you've done split squats before.

AltSplit squat · Single-leg leg press

Farmer / suitcase carry ★ traps optional

3 × 30–40 m

Your pick — great for traps and trunk, and it helps your injury. Suitcase (one side) is the best anti-tip version. Walk tall, breathe. Keep it if you can; it serves two of your goals.

AltSuitcase carry · Trap-bar carry

Quad · upper body · arms

Full Body C

7 movements

Main lift · straight sets · full rest · ramp-up here

Leg press ★ legs

3 × 8–12RIR 2–3

spine · knee · herniaNo spinal load — your friendliest big leg lift. Set depth so the lower back stays flat; stop before the hips tuck. Exhale on the press.

AltHack squat · Smith squat

Superset 1

T-bar / chest-supported row ★ lats · traps

3 × 8–12RIR 2

Slightly lighter and higher-rep than Day 1. Same back-friendly setup.

AltSeated cable row · Supported 1-arm DB row

Flat / incline machine chest press (chest)

3 × 8–12RIR 2

Machine here lets you chase the reps without stabiliser fatigue.

AltPec deck · DB press

Superset 2

Cable / DB lateral raise ★ delts

3 × 12–20RIR 1

Third lateral session of the week — this frequency is what builds the shoulders you want.

AltMachine lateral raise · Cable Y-raise

Standing cable reverse fly (rear delts)

3 × 15–20RIR 1

Pulleys at shoulder height, grab the opposite cable in each hand so they cross, pull apart. Fully upright — no bending, no face pull, any cable station works.

AltReverse pec deck (if it's there) · Wide-grip cable row to the chest

Superset 3

Triceps rope / bar pushdown (triceps)

2–3 × 10–15RIR 1

Replaces the overhead angle you weren't sure on. Elbows pinned, full lockout.

AltOverhead cable extension (if the angle feels fine) · Machine dip

Cable / DB curl (biceps)

2–3 × 10–15RIR 1

Squeeze at the top, full stretch at the bottom, no swinging from the low back.

AltMachine curl · Incline DB curl

How to progress

Double progression. Pick a load where you hit the bottom of the rep range at the listed RIR. When you can hit the top of the range on every set with clean form, add the smallest jump — 2.5 kg total (1.25 kg a side) or one machine pin — and rebuild from the bottom.
Leave reps in the tank, especially on squats, hip thrusts, and leg press. RIR 2 means stop with 2 clean reps left. With a hernia and disc history, grinding to failure is where the risk lives — you don't need it to grow.
Log every session. A Google Sheet or your Notes app works; MacroFactor Workouts (from that video) tracks weight, reps, RIR, and supersets too. If a number won't move over 2–3 weeks, that's almost always recovery, not the program.

Scheduling

3 days, non-consecutive where you can: e.g. Sat / Mon / Wed, or Sun / Tue / Thu. A rest day between sessions helps recovery.
Miss a day? Don't reshuffle — just run A → B → C in order and pick up wherever you left off next time.
Sleep is your real ceiling. On ~5 hours, strength and recovery both take the hit. Nudging it up even an hour shows up in the gym fast. Let recovery — not ego — set the loads.