# full body vrs split routine ?



## andyc259 (Oct 23, 2009)

hey guys ive been told by a personal trainer that full body workout 3 times a week produces beter results than the more common spit routine.so i took his advise and ive been training like this for 4 weeks now but cant help thinking im not geting better results or doing enough .anyone got any advice or know a good routine similar to this. thanks in advance


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## iMORE_TEST (May 23, 2009)

i think personal trainers are useless in my oppinion unless you want to burn fat.


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## adlewar (Oct 14, 2008)

iMORE_TEST said:


> i think personal trainers are useless in my oppinion unless you want to burn fat.


yea i agree, everybodys got their own 'proven' way of training, and sometimes it takes years to get it just right.......

but i'm personally a big believer in hitting each muscle HARD once a week, let it rest the rest of the week........

muscles grow out the gym, not in it...........


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## andyc259 (Oct 23, 2009)

adlewar said:


> yea i agree, everybodys got their own 'proven' way of training, and sometimes it takes years to get it just right.......
> 
> but i'm personally a big believer in hitting each muscle HARD once a week, let it rest the rest of the week........
> 
> muscles grow out the gym, not in it...........


i think the same guys but he told me an intresting fact tho , that your muscle can only grow for 48 hrs so if your only hitting that muscle once a week you would be missing out on growing time anyone heard nof this?


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## Tasty (Aug 28, 2007)

Could be true - I don't believe in the whole "you have to leave it a week thing" because there's no chance it's still growing a week later.


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## Guest (Nov 24, 2009)

There is nothing wrong with fullbody workouts.

Just depends what you prefer, volume or frequency. I like Frequency for the most part, but like anything, volume and frequency are tools to be used, dont ignore either of them.

The thing with FB's is, you really have to work your ass off. not to say you dont on a split, but you have to remember that generally when doing a FB you have 3 sets only to work that muscle. so those 3 sets have to be heavy, hard sets.


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## andyc259 (Oct 23, 2009)

thanks sounds good think ill keep goin for a while yet


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## stavmangr (Nov 25, 2008)

Full body workouts are good:

1 for beginers

2 if you dont have the time to go to the gym for a split routine

3 a good additional day in a 3day split you add a 4 day full body workout in the week.

How is it possible in the same day to lift heavy in bench press,dead lift,row,military press,squat and to train arms etc???


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## Ramrod (Jun 15, 2008)

^^^^ Agreed.


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## spiderpants (Nov 21, 2007)

hey pal, you just have to try differebnt things and see what works for you. 4 weeks aint enought time to decide. you should do 8 - 12 weeks of whatever your trying to see what resuilts that brings. i personally do full body routines as splits dont work for me. gota agree that most personal trainers are crap. if they aint bodybuilder how can they teach you to bodybuild when they're working off of stuff they read. bodybuilders know what works for them and use it.


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## ah24 (Jun 25, 2006)

iMORE_TEST said:


> i think personal trainers are useless in my oppinion unless you want to burn fat.


hahaha thanks! Bit of a generalisation!

Some of us aren't bad at other things! :thumbup1:


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## spiderpants (Nov 21, 2007)

didnt mean it bad pal. im a fully qualified PT with a degree in sports science but dont use it


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

andyc259 said:


> hey guys ive been told by a personal trainer that full body workout 3 times a week produces beter results than the more common spit routine.so i took his advise and ive been training like this for 4 weeks now but cant help thinking im not geting better results or doing enough .anyone got any advice or know a good routine similar to this. thanks in advance


Your PT is bang on mate, **** the whole train once a week to failure bull****, not when you want to get serious size. 3 full body compounds 3 times a week is great, powerlifters are fine with it you know why? because they dont spend pointless hours on isolation so there recovered and ready to go again in 48 hours(with good diet of course). i've put on 2kg in 3 week using this method, i did also increase my protein intake by an extra 80g day though. You want to maximse natural HGH when looking to grow, flys and kickbacks dont do that, big heavy compounds do. Save isolation for when you want to bring a muscle up to scratch or get some definition on it


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

Oh and an alternative would be a 4 day upper, lower twice mate


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## Chris4Pez1436114538 (Sep 3, 2007)

Personally if your new then i would stick to doing a FB for a while only cus IMPO this gets your body use to training along with your CNS system as well.

Totally depends on a number of factors though as a PT i would ask how much time you have to comit to each session anf how often a week etc and then go from there but i would still probabily get you doing a full body or s split like push pull legs or if you could comit to 4 days a week something like upper lower upper lower split which also work well but would keep changing your program every 8 weeks or so to keep things fresh for you and also your body!

Hope this helps

btw i resent the comment that PTs are useless, as yeah you might get the odd one who has winged his way through but most have to learn about things you wouldnt even imagine and tbh unelss you have 100% perfect technique with a perfect body type then you cant say $hit!

Sorry it just gets me annoyed as a load of guys on here as i know for a fact do PT for a living and with people talkin crap like that then there is no need and no proof to your statement e.g i know that a few competeing(sp) BB'ers who have been very very successful are fully qualified PT's and do a very good job at it!


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## WRT (May 21, 2009)

iMORE_TEST said:


> i think personal trainers are useless in my oppinion unless you want to burn fat.


Kinda agree, although some PT's know their stuff. You can't say "oh a full body workout will produce better results" That would depend on the person and every PT I know personally looks about as good as a babys soiled nappy.


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

WRT said:


> Kinda agree, although some PT's know their stuff. You can't say "oh a full body workout will produce better results" That would depend on the person and every PT I know personally looks about as good as a babys soiled nappy.


How does it depend on the person? its scientific research and basic knowledge. big heavy compounds flood your body with GH, GH+protein = mass. so ur sayin that maybe someone releases more GH doing flys or leg extensions or preacer curls? A full body compound will produce more growth, if thats the result their looking for then yes it will produce better results.

Training a muscle twice a week has been shown to be more beneficial than once per week as long as you dont take it to failure and kill it off..

By the way i am a PT and i do kinda agree most are shabby, but there is some of us that have read article after artice and done our homework, then used that homework to great effect on clientele.


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## WRT (May 21, 2009)

What are you talking about? Not everyone is going to respond to a full body workout in the same way are they. You can incorporate heavy compounds into a regular split.


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## RyanClarke (May 7, 2009)

If you can train a body part heavy, even twice a week. Your not training it heavy enough. Once a week probably, well isn't scientifically accurate. Thats obvious, God didnt make a seven day week to gauge bodybuilding recovery. But thats a decent length apart, I find it hard to believe that after heavy bench presses you can press anything through your shoulders, let alone train them well. A split for mass, is the best way


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

WRT said:


> What are you talking about? Not everyone is going to respond to a full body workout in the same way are they. You can incorporate heavy compounds into a regular split.


what split would you use thats trains a muscle twice per week that also gives enough rest for cns to recover? Protein synthesis is high for up to 48 hours, there is 168 hours in a week.

As mentioned training a muscle twice per week has shown to be more benficial than once.


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

RyanClarke said:


> If you can train a body part heavy, even twice a week. Your not training it heavy enough. Once a week probably, well isn't scientifically accurate. Thats obvious, God didnt make a seven day week to gauge bodybuilding recovery. But thats a decent length apart, I find it hard to believe that after heavy bench presses you can press anything through your shoulders, let alone train them well. A split for mass, is the best way


I take it you have never heard of powerlifters?


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## WRT (May 21, 2009)

Bonzer said:


> what split would you use thats trains a muscle twice per week that also gives enough rest for cns to recover?


I wouldn't, would rather smash said muscle group to pieces once a week. Some respected bber's on here (weeman being one) hits the muscle every 10 days. But whatever floats your boat


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## RyanClarke (May 7, 2009)

When do powerlifters train heavy shoulders and chest together?

Or any body parts? lol


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

I stand corrected i don't know much about powerlifting tbh so can't comment on that. i meant strongmen


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## RyanClarke (May 7, 2009)

Strongmen don't really ever train two heavy muscle groups in one session either but lets not get into a little playground slanging matchh


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## pipebomb (Oct 3, 2009)

Hst involves full body workouts i just done some reading up on it looks like some peeps get good results from it. Im gonna give it a shot next cycle doesn't hurt to try new things once in while. Apparently its been about for quite some time first time Ive seen it though http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2009)

We had this discussion about 48 hour muscle recovery on another thread recently. Thing is, its theoretical, and treats a muscle in isolation. If you actually do a full body workout 3 times a week not just "a muscle" but the whole body including the CNS has to recover in 48 hours. For most people if they did a heavy full-body workout, sufficient to stimulate HGH and build mass, they wouldn't recover in 48 hours. So doing it 3 times a week would become overtraining. So either you have to make it less frequent or less intense on each muscle group - which mitigates against growth. That's why the training split works best for most people trying to build mass. There are exceptions however. You can try it for a few weeks and see what it does for you. But I recommend a split for bodybuilding.


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## Bonzer (Nov 26, 2010)

RyanClarke said:


> Strongmen don't really ever train two heavy muscle groups in one session either but lets not get into a little playground slanging matchh


Why would i get into a slaging mate its a debate?

But they don't do they? http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/strength-power/78797-strength-routine.html



> If you can train a body part heavy, even twice a week. Your not training it heavy enough. Once a week probably, well isn't scientifically accurate. Thats obvious, God didnt make a seven day week to gauge bodybuilding recovery. But thats a decent length apart, I find it hard to believe that after heavy bench presses you can press anything through your shoulders, let alone train them well. A split for mass, is the best way


So powerlifters/strongmen train once a week do they?


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## RyanClarke (May 7, 2009)

Each muscle group once a week yes. Maybe even every ten days?

Especially when moving such heavy weights.

Somebody deadlifting 800 pounds...Isnt gonna be able to do reps with anything beneficial to him twice inside a week mate.

I will admit, i'm not very well read on strongmen routines mate and thats to much information for my sleepy eyes to trawl through :thumb:


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## pipebomb (Oct 3, 2009)

Davesky said:


> We had this discussion about 48 hour muscle recovery on another thread recently. Thing is, its theoretical, and treats a muscle in isolation. If you actually do a full body workout 3 times a week not just "a muscle" but the whole body including the CNS has to recover in 48 hours. For most people if they did a heavy full-body workout, sufficient to stimulate HGH and build mass, they wouldn't recover in 48 hours. So doing it 3 times a week would become overtraining. So either you have to make it less frequent or less intense on each muscle group - which mitigates against growth. That's why the training split works best for most people trying to build mass. There are exceptions however. You can try it for a few weeks and see what it does for you. But I recommend a split for bodybuilding.


Maybe that's why they only use x2 sets and leave 1 or two reps in the tank no need to go failure using hst. I will try it next time its the only way to find out if it works or not no good being scared to break the mold.


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## Propper Joss (Aug 22, 2009)

andyc259 said:


> i think the same guys but he told me an intresting fact tho , that your muscle can only grow for 48 hrs so if your only hitting that muscle once a week you would be missing out on growing time anyone heard nof this?


Nay, this is ****. A muscle trained to momentary muscular failure takes 24-48hrs to recover; supercompensation takes place after that. I've had good strength gains in the past from hitting each body part every 9 days.

The benefit of full body work-outs is that in the early stages of training, you will provide a greater systemic stimulus, so your body will adapt faster,(just rotate the order in which you do the exercises). This is not something I would continue for more than the first year of training though.


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## pipebomb (Oct 3, 2009)

Propper Joss said:


> Nay, this is ****. A muscle trained to momentary muscular failure takes 24-48hrs to recover; supercompensation takes place after that. I've had good strength gains in the past from hitting each body part every 9 days.


Out of curiosity what about when on AAS do you still think you need that amount of recovery time after all ass impove recovery times dont they? IMHO Just seems a bit over the top to me but hey im no expert by any means just enjoy learning.


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## RyanClarke (May 7, 2009)

This isn't gonna turn into another anti steroids thread is it , really?


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## Propper Joss (Aug 22, 2009)

pipebomb said:


> Out of curiosity what about when on AAS do you still think you need that amount of recovery time after all ass impoves recovery times dont they ?


Steroids work in lots of different ways. There is a definite anti-catabolic quality to gear so it will increase your recovery rate, so your tolerance to training will improve. You still need time to grow though:cool:

From personal experience, gear has always improved the number of sets I can do faster than it has increased my overall strength.


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## Jake1436114563 (May 9, 2008)

I prefer push/pull training.

Can be done 2, 3 or even 4 times per week.

Very flexible way of training.


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## Wee G1436114539 (Oct 6, 2007)

Propper Joss said:


> Nay, this is ****. A muscle trained to momentary muscular failure takes 24-48hrs to recover; supercompensation takes place after that.


I'll say what I always say here...

Supercompensation of what?

Supercompensation theory being applied to muscle hypertrophy is a pile of poop IMHO.


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