full body vs split

[RaisedFist]

Okay I'm bulking right now and I don't know which to do a full body a few times a week or a split. I've been training for about 2 yrs now and still need to put on alot of mass because I'm an ectomorph. Okay I was wondering with a full body split wouldn't you overtrain because you'd be working same bodyparts more than once a week? why? why not? a split or a full body for mass?

[TwoWalks]

For mass building I use a simple split that does not work the same body parts but once a week:

Monday
Bench Press
Bent over Barbell Rows
Flyes

Wed:
Squats
Dead Lifts
Calve raises
Crunches

Friday:
Seated Press
Curls
Tri Extensions

Works for me

[BigBadT51]

Big fan of the 4 day split here....

Mon: Chest/Tri's
Tue: Legs
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Fri: Back/Biceps
Sat: Rest
Sun: Rest

[ironaddict]

I usually do a 2-day split:

Day one:
bench press
incline press
incline/flat flys (alternate workouts)
dips with extra weight
skull crushers
tricep pushdowns
seated rows
abs

Day two:
squats
leg presses
hamstring curls
bent-over rows
seated rows
dorsi bar pulldowns/wide-grip chins (alternate workouts)
compound shoulder press (the Arnold press)
2 to 3 types of biceps curls

However, last year I had a rotator cuff repair and then an illness over the summer. Both events kept me from working out for a time and I wanted to accelerate my recovery and muscle growth.

I started doing a full body workout 2 or 3 times/week based on how I felt I'd recovered from the last workout. I kept it up for 2 months before going back to the 2-day split. The catch is that I started each workout with squats: 1 set of 20 reps and increased the weight 5lbs each workout; then I move to the bench press. At age 49, my results have been phenonmenal. I plan on doing another 2 months starting in January.

[Gator]

I understand that yer bulking right now. But are you leaning towards the powerlifting side of it or not ?
Just curious..

Gator

[BuckyBoy]

Originally posted by RaisedFist
Okay I was wondering with a full body split wouldn't you overtrain because you'd be working same bodyparts more than once a week? why? why not? a split or a full body for mass?

Not sure which is right for you, but I think I can answer the question regarding a full body and over training. Now I may be wrong and probably am, but my understanding is this.

In a full body workout you are not doing the quantity of exercises per body part that you would do in a split routine. Of course you have to give your body time to recover and for many people that means working out only twice a week.

[RaisedFist]

My muscles take atleast 7 days to recover if I hit them with alot of intensity and go to failure.

[back2it]

Originally posted by RaisedFist
My muscles take atleast 7 days to recover if I hit them with alot of intensity and go to failure.

.... If that is the case then doing a full body routine a few times a week will kill your gains . Continue to work with high intensity and do a 2 day split . Do mostly compound exercises and try to keep the back and legs in separate workouts . The deadlift and squat work the lower back and glutes so if you separate these 2 exercises to separate days you get an overlapping workout for those muscles . What I do is go light on one or the other on rotating weeks .

[RaisedFist]

Should I keep the intensity so high and just do a 2 day per week split? Or should I lower the intensity and not train to failure and stay with a full body split? Would that hinder my gains much?

[back2it]

I am doing hit and going to failure in every exercise except for what I explained earlier . It has been about 5 weeks now and so far I have been able to add weight to the compound movements every workout . I have been eating like a small pig and sleeping an extra hour each night over the 7 hours I had been getting for quite sometime. As for what you should do I think you are still in the experimental stage of you training career . You will have to try different things and give them time to work or prove that they don't for you . I am going to recomend a book I think you should try to get your hands on . "Beyond Brawn" by Stuart McRobert .It is very good and I wish I had read it when I was younger .

[tracyb555]

When I first started out, my trainer had me doing a full-body routine. However, he recommended that as my experience level increased, that I may want to switch to a split routine. Also, everything I've read just advocates full body routines for beginners. Not sure why that is, but seemed a common thread in everything I've read.

[ironaddict]

I have a slightly different perspective on full-body routines. Much of the bodybuilding information in books and magazines is directed at those who choose to use drugs to supplement their growth. If you don't want to do that, and especially if you're older, your gains will be less, whatever your goals are.

Periodically taking 8 weeks or so to do just full-body workouts will kick your body into compensating for the increased load you're asking it to handle. I don't know whether that means increased GH production or what but I do know from experience that my muscles began to rapidly grow after about 3 weeks and I was able to dramatically increase my poundages.

The important thing during the 8 weeks or so is to be sure to give yourself time to recover. Some weeks I can get in 3 workouts, so only 2 and I gave myself a week off after the sixth week. I've been for about 16 years and I've never had better improvement in such a short period of time.

[rjmacbay]

With the full body that I am currently doing (HST) I have seen a 6# increase of mass in 4 weeks and the BF has decreased.