# FULL BODY OR SPLIT ROUTINES?



## Moonbeam (Jul 20, 2011)

What works best for you in terms of good gains?


----------



## darksider (Apr 5, 2011)

Depends how long you have been training for imo, first 6-8 months full body 3 times a week hard will work wonders after that upper body lower body split then on to individual muscle group split so you can have the recovery you need also get the intensity there too.


----------



## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

For me, in terms of overall muscle gain, both deliver pretty much equally - the advantage I find from whole body splits is they promote greater functional strength and fitness on top of the muscle, and the advantage of bodypart splits is that they allow for more attention to lagging muscle groups so development can be 'directed' more to where you need it.


----------



## Mr_Morocco (May 28, 2011)

What ever works for you.


----------



## fishro (May 26, 2009)

Afghan said:


> What ever works for you.


i agree with afghan it can be a case of trial an error with what is going to work for you i do both though 6 mths full body and then 6 mths splits seems to work for me ...


----------



## Moonbeam (Jul 20, 2011)

6 months full 6 months split sounds good. Currently doing squats, power cleans, bench press, bb rows, press ups, weighted pull ups and dips 3 times per week.


----------



## JANIKvonD (Jul 7, 2011)

i prefer splits....dont feel i can go all out to my max on 2 compounds in 1 sesh never mind 3 lol. also working out longer than 45min ur body can start to become a little catabolic


----------



## Moonbeam (Jul 20, 2011)

so what ya think of this routine?

Decline bb press 3 sets, first 2 pre exhaust then 1 set heavy 6-8 reps

Incline db press............................................................

chest fly flat...............................................................

squat.........................................................................

power clean................................................................

bb rows......................................................................

?????????


----------



## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

mikeyc_nhfh said:


> 6 months full 6 months split sounds good. Currently doing squats, power cleans, bench press, bb rows, press ups, weighted pull ups and dips 3 times per week.


remember watching an evan centopani seminar and he said he often reverted back to 3 times a week training split for mass gains but not full body but

mon - chest

wed - legs

fri - back

the idea being to totally destroy these big muscle groups with heavy compound movements essentially hitting tri's/delts with chest and bi's/rear delts/traps with back

or you could cycle both - for 2 months full body split then following 2 months split routine

simultaneously cycling volume to keep from the body adapting cns recovery etc


----------



## darksider (Apr 5, 2011)

squat,extentions

deads,rows

bench,flye

mil-press

hard and heavy for the first 6 months 3 times a week is all you will need to grow and build a good foundation of form and technique imo


----------



## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

darksider said:


> squat,extentions
> 
> deads,rows
> 
> ...


if you're starting out training then def agree with this


----------



## Ste7n (Jul 12, 2011)

always thought you'd be overtraining your muscles, if you do a full body workout three+ times a week after the beginner stage, agree with the above, two compounds is more than enough for me, mixed with the isolation exercises...


----------



## darksider (Apr 5, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> always thought you'd be overtraining your muscles, if you do a full body workout three+ times a week after the beginner stage, agree with the above, two compounds is more than enough for me, mixed with the isolation exercises...


I dont think mon wed fri then weekend off is overtraining when you first start out with plenty food and rest only good things can happen imo


----------



## Dananaman (Jan 2, 2013)

My routine is.

Monday: Chest and Back

Wednesday: Shoulders and Arms

Friday: Compounds (Clean and Press, Bench Press, Deadlifts, Squats)

Great routine.


----------



## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> always thought you'd be overtraining your muscles, if you do a full body workout three+ times a week after the beginner stage, agree with the above, two compounds is more than enough for me, mixed with the isolation exercises...


usually only one exercise per bodypart 3 times a week 3 work sets = 9 work sets total per week not overtraining for most. also originally full body routines didnt advocate going to failure


----------



## Ste7n (Jul 12, 2011)

that's not what i said, i'm taking about after the beginner stage like i typed above...


----------



## Ste7n (Jul 12, 2011)

ricky23 said:


> usually only one exercise per bodypart 3 times a week 3 work sets = 9 work sets total per week not overtraining for most. also originally full body routines didnt advocate going to failure


so you change the routine every session for a whole body?


----------



## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> so you change the routine every session for a whole body?


how do you mean?

an example of a full body routine might be -

flat bench

shoulder press

barbell rows

squats

bicep curls

each done for 3 work sets (excluding warm up sets) mon-wed-fr


----------



## darksider (Apr 5, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> that's not what i said, i'm taking about after the beginner stage like i typed above...


OK, I would say after fullbody go for upper body, lower body, upper body alternated weekly still over three days by doing this you can up the intensity and get the rest you need.


----------



## Ste7n (Jul 12, 2011)

ricky23 said:


> how do you mean?
> 
> an example of a full body routine might be -
> 
> ...


to me that would be pointless as your not giving your muscles time to repair, would you not only recommend that for beginners?


----------



## Ste7n (Jul 12, 2011)

darksider said:


> OK, I would say after fullbody go for upper body, lower body, upper body alternated weekly still over three days by doing this you can up the intensity and get the rest you need.


yeah that sounds better than doing the same exercises every other day...


----------



## Guest (Jul 20, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> to me that would be pointless as your not giving your muscles time to repair, would you not only recommend that for beginners?


yes for beginners. as for recovery time as said it totals up to 9 work sets a week and full body routines are generally advocated to be done to near failure. a beginner will grow off pretty much any routine you give them (provided it doesnt cause over training and diet is good) because its a stress their bodies have never experienced.


----------



## JANIKvonD (Jul 7, 2011)

Originally Posted by ricky23

how do you mean?

an example of a full body routine might be -

flat bench

shoulder press

barbell rows

squats

bicep curls

each done for 3 work sets (excluding warm up sets) mon-wed-fr



SouthPaw said:


> to me that would be pointless as your not giving your muscles time to repair, would you not only recommend that for beginners?


its a good routine but u woulnt go full out each sesh...a full weeks workout for each compond imo is about 100-120 reps, if i was doing this routine id split this by 3 (about 40-50 reps). this will let ur body recover fully before the next sesh


----------



## darksider (Apr 5, 2011)

SouthPaw said:


> yeah that sounds better than doing the same exercises every other day...


Becuase you've upped the intensity you get the rest too after another 6 months imo its time to think about individual split ie pair muscle groups off and doing a 4 day split

chest/bi

legs

off

shoulders/tri's

back

off

repeat

is one example


----------



## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

IMO best approach for full body splits is to do A/B workouts with a different emphasis each session and alternate them. Something like this:

*Workout A (push dominant)*

Squats

Calf Raise

Bench Press OR Weighted Dips

Bentover Row

OH Press

Triceps extensions

*Workout B (pull dominant)*

Deadlifts

Incline Press

Weighted Chins OR Pullups

Lateral Raise OR Upright Row

Curls

Crunches


----------



## Nickthegreek (Jan 27, 2011)

I built my foundation with total body workouts and think they are great if you are a beginer. They are also very good if you are short on time or can only train 2/3 times a week. However they can be quite taxing on the central nevious system.

I honestly found that my body changed the most when i started 4-5 day splits. Allowed me really hit individual muscle groups with much more intensity which developed my physique better. So i have to say that at my current level it has to be splits all the way however I would do total body workouts again in the future for a change to the normal routine.

My next total body routine would look somthing like this:

Flat Bar Bench Press -4 sets 6-10 reps

Standing Bar Military Press -4 sets 8-10 reps

Weighted Pull ups- 4 sets 6-10 reps

Deadlifts - 4 sets 6-10 reps

Squats - 4 sets 10-14 reps

Nice


----------



## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

The main disadvantage of fullbody workouts for soem people (myself included in this) is that smaller muscles like arms tend to suffer, as they are usually tacked on at the end when the body is already fatigued... and if you train them first you mess up your performace on the bigger muscles later. Rotating exercise order can help, but then you are taking away one of the positives of the fullbody routine, it's simplicity. They can also be CNS taxing as mentioned above, but if careful with volume and amount of rest (there's absolutely no reason why you have to do such workouts mon/wed/ fri - extra rest days are fine) and by not always going to failure you can avoid this problem easily.

Split routines are normally better for pure bodybuilding, but even here the split can leave smaller bodyparts lagging - PPL routines for example I find worse for bicep and tricep development than fullbody routines... my arms always hardly grow at all on this kind of split whilst my back, chest and delts do fine... after every PPL I've done, I've then had to spend a few months doing arm specialisation to get them to catch back up. Not everyone has this issue with this kind of split, but many people certainly do.


----------



## treb92 (Jun 10, 2008)

A.B.A workouts are my personal favourite.


----------



## Ninja (Apr 28, 2010)

I do split routine 1 day on 3 days off. I don't know how people train 3 times a week this way...unless they're assisted ? For me is not enough 1 day to rest to recover,specially my tendon's need much longer time. I tried full body routines but don't grow much on them,they 're purely for change ...I think split routines are best for growth and longer recovery time is the key(specially for someone who trains natty).


----------



## deeconfrost (Dec 15, 2010)

very informative here,im currently on heavy routines.such as mon back and bi

tue chest and tri

thur traps shoulders

sat legs

but for me this is so routine now,think it needs changin up as its like clockwork,even if i just swapped the days around might work?


----------



## Moonbeam (Jul 20, 2011)

treb92 said:


> A.B.A workouts are my personal favourite.


What is this?


----------

