Whole Body or One at a time?

[cwignall]

had some advice that whole body workouts are not as effective as specialised ones are?

i used to go 3 times a week and do the lot. id alternate machines according to body part. Ie: id do one bit on arms, one on legs, another on arms, another on legs etc...

but ive been advised to do one bit per sesh. one day do legs/bottom half. next shesh do upper body. thus allowing more time for each bit to recover.

which is better?

i thinking of doing one whole body, one legs, one upper. shesh per week.

any advice???

 

[Karky]

depends on your goals, ive been doing fullbody 3 times a week for as long as i can remember. people telling you its not as effective is pretty much wrong imo. Im not saying split routines are bad, they are good, it all depends on the person and the persons goals. With a fullbody routine you have to stay with big compound movements, which is a good thing, and you can workout the same muscles 3-4 times per week, but you cant hit them as hard as you can with a split routine. Just because your unable to walk home from the gym urself and move your arms because you hit them so hard doesnt mean its better than fullbody, and it very much depends how you do it. you say you have been using machines, freeweights are MUCH better, id suggest you try it sometime. If you tell us your goals im sure both me and others would be happy to help you with a routine, be it a split, one mucle per time or a fullbody routine

 

[Nobody]

Here's the thing:

With fullbody workouts, you need a LOT of rest, and a LOT of food in order to recover your entire body in time for the next session.

Also, doing the entire body in theory WILL mean being less effective on some body parts considering that if you begin the workout session with large compound movements such as benchpress, squats, deadlifts, ect., you will release TONS of hormones in doing just that exercise, and you'll use up your glycogen stores up quickly. By the time you're at your last workout, you'd probably have used up 95% of your glycogen and massive amounts of hormone that is needed to lift heavier weight. So, basically, full body workouts could indeed be less effective.

However, if you make a very good fullbody workout, with few exercises but that work almost all of your muscles, I don't see why it couldn't be as effective. But if your exercise sessions comprise of 12 different exercises, best of luck to you.

 

[Karky]

exactly Nobody, with fullbody you dont do tons of sets and tons of curls.

5x5 squat, bench, row.
5x5 military press, light squat, deadlift
5x5 squat, bench, row

theres a 3 day fullbody workout
People often look at it and say its too simple, well, you do it 3 times a week, if you did that once a week, it wouldndt be effective at all. And if you do compound movements it can be hard to do one muscle at a time, since compound movements work lots of muscles, me for instance HAVE to do fullbody, i do olympic lifts, god knows one of those work the entire body

 

[cwignall]

hmm

im thinking a combination:

monday:full body (as like a warm up for the week)

tuesday: short bike ride to work and back

wednesday: Upper body

thursday: Lower body

friday: short bike ride to work and back

saturday & sunday off: apart from my drumming)

i like that routine but do you think it could be too much?

 

[xtonymarsx]

Personally, I've never done a "full body" workout like that. To me, it seems more suited for cutting than it does for bulking...but that's just my opinion. It seems like it would burn more calories, and like it wouldn't stress the muscle as much. I think it would be good for power because you are doing all compound exercises...but I guess it's what your goals are. Personally, I like split routines becasue I get to focus on specific body parts, but I always have some compound movements at the beginning of my workout too.