which workout method?

[fate1918]

I've been roaming these boards and others for a while now. When i first started coming here the two workout methods most people talked about were FBWs 3x a week and split workouts 3-4x a week hitting each muscle once a week and grouping them smartly(like chest with tri's, back and bi's, legs etc).

things people were saying were that FBWs were good when first starting weights but they were also good for more than just beginners. split workouts were also good because you only did each muscle once a week so you could lift heavier weight and hit it more intensly. it was also quicker to just do two to three body parts opposed to your whole body.

now i know both have their merits, and i know its important to switch up your workout every once in a while. i suppose the reason im bringing this up is because lately all the threads have been recommending FBW or upper/lower body splits(doing both twice a week). i havent really seen mention of the 'old' each muscle once a week split(which also means i havent seen any reasons why it is not as efficient). is this just a change where people are preferring FBWs more now or has there been new light/research/evidence shown to promote FBWs over the old split? what are the pro's and con's of each?

thanks in advance.

 

[msullimac]

I Think People Tend To Recommend Whatever Is Working 4 Them At Any Given Time. Personally I Rarely Do Fbw. I Have More Success On My Second And Third Or Fourth Workout 4 The Week When I Work 0ne 0r Two Body Parts Each Workout.
You Can Even Take Your Cycle Into The Next Week. Re; M-arms T-off W-back T-off F-chest M-legs T Off W-arms T-off F-back And So On

HAVE A COUPLE OF NICE DAYS 4 YOURSELF. IF YOU HAVE A SCHEDULING CONFLICT A FBW CAN REALLY FEEL NICE ONCE IN A GREAT WHILE . TAKE CARE.

 

[xtonymarsx]

Ok, I don't know what that reply was all about, but if it works for you, it works for you.

There are a couple of reason people recommend FBW's as opposed to splits.
1. It's show that most people develop faster when they work each muscle group 2-3 times a week.
2. It forces you to keep a high intensity while in the gym instead of sitting on your ass for 5 minutes between each set. (A lot of people complain that it's too time consuming to lift weights)
3. FBW's stress the fact of doing compound lifts vs. single joint movements, which teaches your body's muscles to work together. Splits often rely too heavily on single joint movements.
4. They are great for beginners because you aren't going to blast away at one or two muscle to the point where you can't move the following day.

Other people can feel free to add more reasons as well. I don't feel like going into all of it.

Upper/Lower or Push/Pull splits are used often for most of the same reasons. A main difference is that with upper/lower and Push/pulls are normally only done twice a week (2 upper/2 lower ..etc) and allows you to do more sets per body part per workout.

Sorry, this post is still pretty weak on my part, but I don't have much time to answer.