Split workout vs full body

I have been doing split workouts for a while now and I do see some gains, however I was reading about full body workouts like mon/we'd/fri being good for gaining muscle.. I was wondering which would be best for my personal goals.

So I am not necessarily trying to lose weight as i feel i am near where i want to be..but i do want to trim down some body fat so i can see my abs more.. I know full body workouts are best for muscle building. I have seen gains from my split workout but which would be best for me? I want to lose some body fat in the process.. Will I need to move to full body to gain muscle or can i achieve that w a good split ?

Try a full body split such as Starting Strength and perform HIIT 2-3 times a week. Your nutrition will produce the results so make sure that is in check

It's hard to tell but I myself did try full body workouts and it ended up bad (well not bad, but not as it should've ended), well thing is whatever i do some muscle i want to do it in a proper way and i want that muscle to get ripped hard, and if i were doing that to each muscle in my body starting from neck to my heels it would take quite some time and effort. I would need like 3 hours to do whole body + after some time i would get so tired i wouldn't be able to do rest in a good form.

So if u want to do each muscles properly i suggest u do split workouts, then u dedicate one day for certain muscles and do them right instead whole body in a sloppy way.

The question of the century

If you don't know the difference between a full body program and a split then do this:

1. read up on All Pro's Beginners routine and do it 3x a week.
2. read up in the nutrition section and figure out your TDEE then start with a small cut of around 10% of your TDEE.
3. ????????????????????
4. Profit.

[QUOTE=nuggets2218;905417793]I have been doing split workouts for a while now and I do see some gains, however I was reading about full body workouts like mon/we'd/fri being good for gaining muscle.. I was wondering which would be best for my personal goals.

So I am not necessarily trying to lose weight as i feel i am near where i want to be..but i do want to trim down some body fat so i can see my abs more.. I know full body workouts are best for muscle building. I have seen gains from my split workout but which would be best for me? I want to lose some body fat in the process.. Will I need to move to full body to gain muscle or can i achieve that w a good split ?[/QUOTE]

From experience and reading around this forum I can tell you that FBW is far better. Yep split will give you "some gains" and then after few months you say **** it, its not worth it. On a FBW you see linear progression much faster than on split so obviously your muscles will grow faster. There's also the thing about frequency, more workouts tend to benefit beginners much more than 1bw/w split. Gaining/losing mass (fat wise) has all to do with the diet not the workout program).
Also you won't gain much muscle while cutting, so either build mass or cut. Doing both is kinda counter productive as to lose fat you need to be in caloric deficit whereas to build muscle you need to be in caloric surplus. Upto u.

People here make far too big of a deal about this. Firstly, a split is just a way to organize a workout. Push/pull/legs, upper/lower, etc are all splits. So just saying "split" doesn't tell the reader anything, and only someone without any real knowledge of what a split is would say "oh splitz are bad broe, i readed that on teh intarnet!"

Higher frequency is typically better for beginning BBers. That can be in the form of full body or not. After a few months any real difference is probably negated, assuming you have good exercise selection and a focus on progression.

The most important thing is consistency and the decision to never quit. You'll figure the rest out through trial and error along the way, provided you aren't dumb. Don't overthink and overanalyze. The people that change everything all the time in their search for the "right" thing to do are usually the ones spinning their wheels.

[QUOTE=Brucelats;905479173]

So if u want to do each muscles properly i suggest u do split workouts, then u dedicate one day for certain muscles and do them right instead whole body in a sloppy way.[/QUOTE]

What?

[QUOTE=ThickAsABrick;905503413]Higher frequency is typically better for beginning BBers. That can be in the form of full body or not. After a few months any real difference is probably negated, assuming you have good exercise selection and a focus on progression.[/QUOTE]

To give some actual parameters, you want to hit each body part 2-3 times per week, generally. 3 if you are a virgin lifter and 2 if you have some idea of that you are doing. After that, you won't need us to help you.

[QUOTE=ThickAsABrick;905503413]People here make far too big of a deal about this. Firstly, a split is just a way to organize a workout. Push/pull/legs, upper/lower, etc are all splits. So just saying "split" doesn't tell the reader anything, and only someone without any real knowledge of what a split is would say "oh splitz are bad broe, i readed that on teh intarnet!"

Higher frequency is typically better for beginning BBers. That can be in the form of full body or not. After a few months any real difference is probably negated, assuming you have good exercise selection and a focus on progression.

The most important thing is consistency and the decision to never quit. You'll figure the rest out through trial and error along the way, provided you aren't dumb. Don't overthink and overanalyze. The people that change everything all the time in their search for the "right" thing to do are usually the ones spinning their wheels.[/QUOTE]


Yeah but every beginner that wants to do split here picks like 4 day split, with each part being hit once a week. They don't usually talk about upper/lower split or such. I meant it this way, that fbw is much better than these splits. For a total nub FBW will prob also be better than an upper/lower workout as I don't think you can hit 1 muscle group 3x week using split. Oh and split isn't "just" a way to organize a workout. It determines your intensity/recovery and so on.

[QUOTE=MikeKK;905558543]Oh and split isn't "just" a way to organize a workout. It determines your intensity/recovery and so on.[/QUOTE]

Two different lifters can each do varying amounts of volume and intensity if they are on the same split, leading to drastically different recovery times. "Split" also tells you nothing of exercise selection, which also factors in to recovery.

It's primarily a method to organizing a workout. The rest is splitting hairs.

Both of them is okay, IMO. For me If I bored with fbw, then i'll do split.
then simply analyze the difference which one works best for you.
IMHO, Our muscle also need different routines so it will grow faster, because if we do the same routines months by months then the grow is getting slower and slower.

Full body.

[QUOTE=nuggets2218;905417793]I know full body workouts are best for muscle building.[/QUOTE]

^ NOT TRUE! I think full body workouts are better utilized for fat loss (especially for beginners).

[QUOTE=ThickAsABrick;905503413]

The most important thing is consistency and the decision to never quit. You'll figure the rest out through trial and error along the way, provided you aren't dumb. Don't overthink and overanalyze. [/QUOTE]

Couldn't have said it any better.

[QUOTE=Brucelats;905479173]It's hard to tell but I myself did try full body workouts and it ended up bad (well not bad, but not as it should've ended), well thing is whatever i do some muscle i want to do it in a proper way and i want that muscle to get ripped hard, and if i were doing that to each muscle in my body starting from neck to my heels it would take quite some time and effort. I would need like 3 hours to do whole body + after some time i would get so tired i wouldn't be able to do rest in a good form.

So if u want to do each muscles properly i suggest u do split workouts, then u dedicate one day for certain muscles and do them right instead whole body in a sloppy way.[/QUOTE]

That's the main issue though, a misunderstanding (usually by both parties) When people say do a full body workout 3 times a week, the worst way to approach this is by picking an exercise or two per bodypart and going down a list of 10-120 movements. 5x5, SS and programs like them are full body programs. You hit a few exercises really hard, hit every major muscle group with these exercises, but keep volume low enough that you can basically do it again in a few days, several times a week.

Your approach, and its not just you, I did this way back when as well, is basically taking a an exercise or two from a bodypart split and tossing them all into one day, assuring you don't get enough volume per body part for growth, don't get enough intensity out of your workout because I don't care what you say, by exercise number 8 the intensity is gone, you aren't lifitng what you should be for that movement. Finally, you are getting the frequency you desire but it is pretty useless if you are doing it with 10+ movements. If all you did was squat bench and deadlift/row 3 times a week for a year, you would be bigger and stronger overall everything else being equal to if you picked 8-10 different exercises and tried doing the same thing. Its like a decathelete, they are pretty good at 10 events but they most likely only excell at a few.