Full Body Workouts – Are They A Good Idea?
I read a lot of information about weight training and fitness training and most of it seems to fall into one of two categories. The first category I can liken to the herd mentality, the second category I liken to the innovators. It seems this pattern is inherent in all aspects of human behaviour, and bodybuilding and fitness are no different.
You see, most of the information that you read about how to pack on muscle as a bodybuilder would have you believe that you need to train 4-5 days a week, working only one major body part per workout, using a combination of compound exercises and isolation exercises.
The plethora of information that you read in bodybuilding magazines leads you to believe that a typical workout should involve 12 –20 sets during a workout, on one body part alone, then leaving that body part a week to recover. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve trained like this, did so for many months and didn’t really see a huge difference in my physique.
My belief is that if you train like this, you will need to be doing steroids to see any significant gains and eating every other hour, going through about 300 grams of protein a day, not to mention needing lots of sleep. The worst thing about this kind of training is the monotony of it, or at least that’s what I found when I was training like this, and that combined with fairly insignificant size gains can blunt the enthusiasm of even the most devoted weights training enthusiast.
I now believe that a full body workout, done three times a week, with a bit of variety thrown into the exercises done for each body part and a lot less sets for each body part each workout can lead to greater strength and size gains than training like a pro bodybuilder who does nothing other than train, eat, oh and of course take steroids!
10 Responses to “Full Body Workouts – Are They A Good Idea?”
June 5th, 2009 saat: 1:52 pm
Can you provide an example of a typical full body workout then? Presumably you need to hit every muscle with at least 2-3 decent sets in an hour tops!
And do you do the same whole body workout every time or mix up the exercises?
Sounds interesting. I’ll look more into this but I expect it’ll be the usual thing of doing both split and whole body workouts for variety - usually is.
June 5th, 2009 saat: 1:55 pm
My workout this morning consisted of:
- chin ups, 3 sets
- shoulder press, 3 sets
- seated row, 3 sets
- bench press, 3 sets
- squat, 3 sets
- abs, 3 sets
The only bodypart not worked today either directly or indirectly was my calves, but I’m not too bothered about that, I do a lot of running so they get a good amount of exercise!
June 5th, 2009 saat: 3:15 pm
Hi Tristan,
Nice blog…I have a question for you. So when you do the example workout above on a Monday, REST Tuesday, then what workout do you do Wednesday? Are you still sore in your hammies, lats, chest? or do you not get sore at all?
The reason I ask is that I’ve tried full body workouts and I don’t like them for the reasons above. #1 I don’t feel like I’ve effectively worked any of my main muscle (chest, back, legs) groups after the workout and #2 If I do get sore, I am sore all over vs. just one body region.
I do plan to try full body workouts again soon, and now that I am a more seasoned and more highly trained maybe my thoughts about them will change?
Thanks for your insight!! Keep training hard,
BuffMother!
June 5th, 2009 saat: 3:35 pm
This week I’ve been a bit uninspiring and just done the same workout on Monday and Friday, except that I switched the order around so for example I started on Monday with bench press, I finished today with bench press. As for Wednesday, I was at a different gym, so used machines rather than barbell.
I don’t get that sore from working out anymore, especially not after three sets, plus I’m not doing assisted reps beyond normal failure. However, I am very particular on having protein + glutamine pre and post workout to ensure that my muscles get the nutrients they need to function and repair as best as possible.
I had a look at your site, really good BTW. I suspect you’ve already figured out the reason your high carb diet didn’t work for you after college, do you now subscribe to a high protein, high fat, low carb diet?
I’ve been reading some stuff about the effects of simple carbs, high GI foods on Testosterone levels, and it basically blunts them massively. Now, where possible, I’m trying to avoid simple carbs, also alcohol (also blunts testosterone levels) and replace carbs with fat.
June 5th, 2009 saat: 11:21 pm
Interesting bro, intriguing to follow as you settle into the patterns that work for you. Keep it up.
June 8th, 2009 saat: 10:42 am
nice post thanks
there is nothing wrong with splitting your workout but doing 30 sets per body parts is counterproductive. if you do 30 intense sets you will surely overtrain your muscle.
June 25th, 2009 saat: 5:05 pm
i find a full body circuit workout done 3-4 times a week mixed with cardio can lead to great results. the great thing about full body circuits is that you feel the burn right away and it barely takes 45-minutes out of my day when done correctly.
July 1st, 2009 saat: 6:38 am
I’m also a firmly in the full body camp. Personally I follow a my own slightly modified version of Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength routine. (Tris you should review his books).
However I don’t agree that you need steroids to make the 4/5 times a week training work. It’s just that most people are don’t pogress beyond what Rippetoe terms the novice stage (he has a proper description but for simplicity if BW = BodyWeight then for a novice their Bench < BW, Squat < 1.5 x BW, Deadlift < 1.5 x BW). Personally I rarely see anyone sqaut or deadlift in my gym, let alone at anything approaching BW.
It’s only once you are beyond this novice stage that you need a more complex training programme and longer recovery between work outs.
August 15th, 2009 saat: 2:12 am
I do full body workouts and I’m 16 years old. Trust me they leave you sore everytime but that doesn’t mean that it is time to take some steroids.I’m no expert but I’m also no beginner I’ve been working out since I was 14. Instead of steroids try eating a pre workout meal and a meal after your workout. Those meals should be eaten 30 mins before and after your workout. But my full body workout consists of
3setsx10 reps of shoulder press with 30lb dumbells
3setx10 reps of bicep curls
2setsx50 pushups
2setsx50 reps tricep dips
2setsx75reps crunches
3setsx10reps squat jumps
2setsx10 deep lunges (each leg)
2setsx10 reps bent over rows
3setsx10 reps single leg calf raises(each leg)
*ps I do this full workout everyother day and a watered down recovery version of this workout everyother day so I’m working out 5days a week and resting on weekends*
And also if this helps I play basketball and that is what I designed this workout for
January 31st, 2010 saat: 8:54 am
You would get better results do a split routine for example:
monday - chest & forearms
tuesday - biceps & Triceps
wednesday - shoulders & traps
thursday - back & lats
friday - legs
Do 2-3 different exercises on each muscle and 4-5 sets. Your muscle are going to get to used to doing a full workout eveytime and you will find it hard to make gains.
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