Full Body vs. Split Routines - Which to Choose?

[BendingBench]

I personally choose the whole body work out because some days of the week I may not be able to attend my gym. Also I have weekly programs and I would be very frustrated changing a whole program just to follow up from previous week's failure. Thus I tend to loose certain days and the days muscle group is always left behind.

[CharonRower]

full body 3x a week vs upper/lower split 6 times a week? Id say the upper/lower could be better for a beginner, since you could add a bit more isolation, whilst still maintaining the workload requency on the big 3 (assuming muscles recover within 48 hours). Thoughts?

[MrUnknown32]

Back before I hurt my back I was doing 4times a week splits. Chest, tris, then back and bis, then legs and abs, then shoulders and calves.

Now since it's been 2+ months since I've been in the gym, I'm looking to go to full body workouts, 3 times a week.

Trying to find a good routine to get into featuring mainly compound exercises with a few isolation exercises in between.

Going to stick with full body workouts for maybe a month and a half to two months, just to get my strength back up and get a ill mass added on.

[myrenga]

I do both. upper/lower body splits 4 days, and whole body 1 day. It works for me. Sometimes I may do split for 2 days, and whole body for 2 days if I have a crazy work week.

[Jared1495]

I had done full body workouts all throughout high school. And after not lifting for a year and a half or so I started back up 4 months ago with full body workouts. I'm finally switching over to a 5 day split just to build more muscle, but once I'm done with it in 12 weeks I'm probably going to go back to a 3 day split. I haven't decided if I want it to be full body or not yet.

Overall, I think fill body routines are great for anyone, not just beginners. No matter what your strength, size or experience.

[aram90]

great thread!!!

[HusseinKasim]

They both have pros and cons. I reckon Splits work very well mainly if you have the time to commit. If you have the time to commit and you split your days into 4 days you will notice a different, however at one point in my lift i was only able to commit to 2 days in the gym due to working 5 days a week, therefore a split workout never benefited me. In this instance a full body workout would be more beneficial or I could have split my training days into upper and lower over the two days for example.

[tienfei]

Just looking for some experienced heads on some advice for my training

Currently on a cut (overweight), am 26 years old, am 2 weeks in to my lifting doing 3x splits. I like smashing a muscle, I like doing at least 4 excersises for each muscle group, so whole body workouts never really appealed to me, but theres a lot of love for them in this thread so I'm curious.

Currently I'm working out Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. I hate having a 3 day rest period, I just spend all of my day in the office on Mon/Tue/Wed and have all the free time in the world on Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun

As I would understand it, doing a full body work out on back to back days isnt good, so splitting makes sense for now, but would I still be better served forcing time on Tuesday and doing full body work outs Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday, or keep to my current schedule where I feel pretty good however dont really have the knowledge/experience that you all do

[Artissssss]

Yep I agree. Full body split are for begginers mostly.

[mikedito]

I'll do splits Sun through Thursday and then do a full body workout on Friday. I feel like having a full body day at the end of the week is a great way to close things out before my rest day. Just my opinion though.

[MouseInaMaze]

I'm currently on a 4 day split and have had steady progress since late april.

Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Back/biceps
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Shoulders/triceps
Friday- Legs
Saturday - off
Sunday - off

[marcinanddawid]

Thanks for that. We do the split routine.

[anonymous]

Great post , I agree , I think beginners have a tendency to miss days aswell ( we all know that one guy who skips legs ). So by doing a 2 day split routine that means they can focus on big compound lifts, proper technique and macros

[noobgains87]

thanks for the useful info!

[markmoelen]

As i'd like to distant myself from the full body workout (been doing that for my first 2 months at the gym, 5-6 times a week), without focusing on muscle groups just yet, I was thinking splitting in two days & alternate.

-- DAY 1 -- FRONT --

15min X-Trainer
4x Glute
4x Seated Row
4x Assisted Dips
4x Chest Press
4x Arm Curl
4x Pec Fly
4x Ab Crunch Machine
4x Side Ab Crunch Machine
4x Plank & Oblique Knee Tuck
4x Dumbell Side Bend
10min HIIT Treadmill


-- DAY 2 -- BACK --

15min X-Trainer
4x Glute
4x Seated Row
4x Assisted Chin up
4x Shoulder Press
4x Triceps Extension
4x Rear Delt
4x Lat Pulldown
4x Ab Crunch Machine
4x Side Ab Crunch Machine
4x Plank & Oblique Knee Tuck
4x Russian Twist
10min HIIT Treadmill


Would that make sense? I'd like o giv eit a go this month and see what resuls I can gain from it...

[bennmuz]

As i'd like to distant myself from the full body workout (been doing that for my first 2 months at the gym, 5-6 times a week), without focusing on muscle groups just yet, I was thinking splitting in two days & alternate.

-- DAY 1 -- FRONT --

15min X-Trainer
4x Glute
4x Seated Row
4x Assisted Dips
4x Chest Press
4x Arm Curl
4x Pec Fly
4x Ab Crunch Machine
4x Side Ab Crunch Machine
4x Plank & Oblique Knee Tuck
4x Dumbell Side Bend
10min HIIT Treadmill


-- DAY 2 -- BACK --

15min X-Trainer
4x Glute
4x Seated Row
4x Assisted Chin up
4x Shoulder Press
4x Triceps Extension
4x Rear Delt
4x Lat Pulldown
4x Ab Crunch Machine
4x Side Ab Crunch Machine
4x Plank & Oblique Knee Tuck
4x Russian Twist
10min HIIT Treadmill


Would that make sense? I'd like o giv eit a go this month and see what resuls I can gain from it...

You have already been informed that this routine is crap. You're not going to get the answer you're looking for by asking other people.

[markmoelen]

You have already been informed that this routine is crap. You're not going to get the answer you're looking for by asking other people.

still trying to understand why it is 'crap'

[CRIMEDAWG]

I squat or deadlift pretty much every workout... split up into a push/pull hit chest/delts when I squat hit back/hams/core when i pull

[zagaboi]

I worked out for 2 years then stopped 4 years ago. I did a 4 day split which was good for me at that time. When I started to workout 3 weeks ago, I noticed that I lost strength, so I am starting with a full body routine because I feel like a beginner again, a 3 day full body routine to build strength. And once I feel I can lift like how I used to, I'll go ack with the 4 day split.

[paulsheerin]

i started doin leroy colbert full body workout every other day 2 weeks ago, & im seeing good results already. Gonna stick with it for a while.

[NarutoSasuke]

Can I do this 3 days in a row

1st day chest triceps
2nd day back shoulders biceps
3rd day legs

[navdeeprana]

Considering your question, I will suggest you to read this article that consists of full week training program and also tells ou which muscle to train on which day, what exercisers to do and how many reps and sets to do. This helped me a lot but remember to stick to the plan for at least 2 months to see full results.
indianmuscles.com/workouts/full-week-training-program.html

[xantoo]

I see that basically everyone here is for full-body workouts, but how about combined strength/bb 4day split, based mostly on compounds, for a beginner (few months of regular kind of splits, nothing serious)? Flat/Incline Bench Presses, Squats, Hack Squats, Deadlifts, RDL's, Dips, Military Presses, Tricep Presses, Bent-Over Rear Delt Raises, Pushdowns, DB Rows, Lateral Raises, Lat Pulldowns, Calf Raises, Shrugs, DB & BB Curls. Everything for 3 sets with 4-6 reps. I also checked ICF 5x5 (tried), SS and SL workouts, but I feel like ICF volume is a bit too much (1.5hrs when this split is around 60mins) and SS, SL a bit too less. So the question is, can I go with this split or it would be "a crime against humanity" and should go with ICF (that's the one of those 3 i like the most)? Thanks for any advices.

Monday: Chest & Triceps
Tuesday: Back & Biceps
Wednesday: Shoulders
Friday: Legs

[supramax]

Obviously, I haven't read the entire thread, but nothing came up in 'search', so I'm posting this video for your edification and enjoyment.

[supramax]

i started doin leroy colbert full body workout every other day 2 weeks ago, & im seeing good results already. Gonna stick with it for a while.

Link, please or post the workout.

Thank you.

[primalmotion]

I find that if I am doing sport during the week and I miss a training session, as long as I am doing full body workouts,it does not matter as if I was doing splits, lets say If I missed chest day.then I could not hit chest untill the next week

[Jasonk282]

I find that if I am doing sport during the week and I miss a training session, as long as I am doing full body workouts,it does not matter as if I was doing splits, lets say If I missed chest day.then I could not hit chest untill the next week

Yeah, because doing chest the next day and bumping back all your other lifts a day would just ruin your entire split...lol

[Drivenheights]

Is it fine to include 2 leg exercises in a 3 day full body split, maybe 1 of the days I add a second leg exercise?

Add some mass and toned are goals.

[sphexius]

fantastic post!

[stretchmarkshop]

great tips would put them into practice