Planet Fitness is a great gym for anyone looking to improve their health and fitness without the insane monthly costs of many mainstream gyms.
Though not as advanced as most gyms, Planet Fitness does have more than enough equipment to get you started and stimulate some major muscle growth.
Let’s take a look at your next big workout at Planet Fitness.
Table of Contents
Considerations Before Starting this Workout
Before you dive into this workout thinking it’s going to be the total solution to all your fitness problems, you need to get your expectations in check.
To put it bluntly, this is a just a workout routine and nothing more.
See, a lot of guys think that a single routine is all they need to transform their bodies from average to impressive.
Unfortunately, these guys would be wrong.
In reality, if you want to see fast, permanent changes in muscle definition (that draw attention) you need to follow a system that shows you how to:
- Fight “training boredom” and temptation to quit by cycling through a variety of workout routines (not just one)
- Supercharge your muscle-building and fat-loss processes with a targeted diet plan matching your goals
- Remove all the nutrition guesswork from getting ripped with detailed “done-for-you” meal plans
- Maximize the muscle-building effectiveness of every single rep with high-quality exercise demos
- Harness proven body transformation strategies on the cutting edge shared in an exclusive, private group setting
That’s why it’s good to have a system like Superhero X12 to follow. It has all of these tools in one place and makes transforming your body easier, simpler, and more enjoyable.
We go through these tools in a lot more detail in our full review.
But if you’d like to check out the program for yourself, click the button below.
About The Creator – George Eiferman
George Eiferman was a former military serviceman turned bodybuilder in the 1940s. After returning from battle in World War II, Eiferman transitioned his time and attention to resistance training and sculpting his body.
He eventually went on to win Mr. Philadephia, Mr. California, Mr. America, and Mr. Universe.
Eiferman was a firm believer in the full-body workout and his gains can be attributed directly to that workout style. Though this type of routine is now considered outdated, it clearly is effective when it comes to boosting gains and strength.
What is the Full-body Planet Fitness Workout (Inspired by George Eiferman)?
Eiferman’s original workout consisted of 11 different exercises, most of which target the major muscle groups of the body. There seemed to be more of a focus on building up the arms, but all areas of the body were accounted for.
Well, we used Eiferman’s full-body workout ideology and a specific routine he performed as a basis for this workout. We adapted the routine slightly to make sure that you would have the equipment available to you at Planet Fitness and would be targeting all areas of the body more equally.
Related: Hot Take: Honestly, Planet Fitness Isn’t That Bad
Equipment
You’ll be making use of the pulley machine, benches, Smith machine, resistance machines, and dumbbell free weights at Planet Fitness. We made sure to offer alternatives for a lot of the exercises on machines that tend to get a little crowded.
Also, due to equipment restrictions, you’ll find some major compound lifts missing from this program. Since loaded barbells are not welcome in the “judgement-free” zone, you won’t be able to do any back squats or deadlifts at Planet Fitness.
However, it’s still easy to work some of those same muscle groups using other methods like the back extension.
Target Audience
This workout is perfect for anyone just starting out and looking for massive gains quickly. It’s also a great option for anyone that can’t currently dedicate five days a week at the gym.
With that said, you have to be dedicated to hitting the gym as soon as your muscles are fully recovered. Wasting days and skipping workouts will surely set you back with this routine.
Time
With this program, you should expect to spend well over an hour at the gym on any given training day. Depending on how quickly it takes your body to recover, you should be able to get back into the gym within 48 hours of your last workout.
Adjustments
A few of the exercises included in the original routine were considered “cheat” exercises. While these can be useful in building muscle, they can also lead to injury if done improperly or with an extremely heavy weight.
If you’re looking for a good vertical pull exercise to add to this routine, consider the lat pull-down or Planet Fitness’ assisted pull-up machine.
Full-body Planet Fitness Workout Details
We’re going to make it easy for you! In this section, we’ve broken down the exercises you’ll be performing, the sets and reps for each, and how much rest you should take in between.
One-Day Full-Body Workout
- Hack Squat (or Leg Press) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Bench Press (Smith machine or dumbbell) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Dumbbell Fly – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Alternate Dumbbell Press – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Single-Arm Dumbbell Row (or cable row) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Cable Curl (or dumbbell curl) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Cable Tricep Extension (or dumbbell extension) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Leg Curl – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Dumbbell Side Bend (or cable side bend) – 3 sets x 7-10 reps (120 seconds rest)
- Sit-Up (or use any ab machine) – 3 sets x 8-12 reps (120 seconds rest)
Full-body Planet Fitness Workout Pros
For the most part, this workout routine is perfect for any beginner, especially if you’re looking for gains and strength. Here are the major benefits of participating in this workout routine.
- It targets the entire body in a single workout. The best part about this routine is that you don’t have to worry about “skipping” a workout. If you can’t make it to the gym one day, just push your training day a day forward and continue as if nothing happened.
- No single muscle group is overworked. The biggest problem with many legitimate full-body routines is that certain muscles like the chest and triceps are overworked. This routine limits all exercises to three sets a piece to get in some training, but not overdo it.
- You have alternatives. This is one of the benefits of going to Planet Fitness. If the equipment you’re looking to use is currently occupied, you can simply perform the exercise with a similar piece of equipment (i.e. Swapping out dumbbell bench press with a Smith bench press).
Full-body Planet Fitness Workout Cons
As much as we would love to say that this is the perfect workout, it has its downfalls like any other workout routine. Here are the negatives associated with this routine.
- It takes a while to complete. Given the fact that you’ll be doing 33 sets followed by two minutes of rest after each, you’ll be in the gym for well over an hour. If you’re a beginner, that can be a bit overwhelming.
- It might not target the muscles you’re going for. You want gains, but you might want to see more gains in the triceps, biceps, or other specific muscles. This routine equally works on all areas of the body, which might not lead to the exact gains that you’re looking for.
What About Dieting?
Even with the best workout routine, you can’t expect to make long-term progress without the help of a well-crafted diet.
It’s like running uphill in a snow storm.
That’s why if you want to improve your results you should follow some basic diet guidelines like:
- Consume 300-500 calories over maintenance to build new muscle
- Consume 300-500 calories under maintenance to lose fat
- Consume about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to support protein synthesis
- Consume 20-30% of daily calories in healthy fats to regulate hormones
- Fill the rest of your calories with carbohydrates to maintain energy
These guidelines seem pretty straightforward, but for a beginner that’s never counted calories or tracked how my much protein their consuming on a daily basis…
This process can be a little frustrating.
And for a lot of guys, it’s enough to make them give up before even trying.
Now, if the thought of tracking, shopping, and measuring (all in the name of being ripped) sounds like a pain, you may want to consider signing up for Superhero X12.
Why?
Superhero X12 is a complete body transformation system with a killer Diet & Nutrition Module that shows you (step-by-step) how to follow a muscle-building diet so it’s as easy as possible (and you actually like it).
What makes this module so good are all the tools that you get with it.
For example, you get the Superhero X12 Diet & Nutrition Guide.
This is a massive resource that gives you all the details of “how” and “what” you should eat so you can lose body fat and build muscle with the least amount of friction. (Make sure you check out Keith’s signature Macro Flex Tracking method.)
Then there’s the Idiot Proof Grocery List.
And yes, it’s just what it sounds like. It’s a concise list of exactly all the muscle-building foods you need to buy at the grocery store so you can completely kill your anxiety, get exactly what you need, and grocery-shop like a no-nonsense fitness veteran.
Next, there’s the SX Nutrition Calculator.
No offense, but calculating your daily calories and macros with pencil and paper is for cavemen. Thanks to the SX Nutrition Calculator, all you have to do is plug in a few details about yourself, click a button, and all the critical numbers for your diet are calculated for you.
Finally, (and these are gold) there are Sample Meal Plans in the Bonuses section.
If you have no idea what a healthy-ish meal for building muscle should look like, these meal plans got you covered.
With five bulking meal plans and four cutting meal plans (all at different weight levels and meal/snack combinations) you’ll get valuable inspiration on what you should eat (based on past fitness clients) to transform your body. You can try following these plans to a “T”, or tweak them to match your own goals.
Either way, you don’t have to start with a blank slate. This program does the legwork for you.
And this is just the diet portion of the program, there are ton of other powerful resources for training, habits, and accountability that’ll take your fitness journey from a walk to a run.
You can get a behind-the-scenes look at these things in our Superhero X12 review.
Wanna see the program for yourself? Click the button below.
