Most of the bodybuilders do a full body workout in their beginner stage and as they become stronger, they substitute it with a more “advanced” split routine. The full body workout, however, has its own place in bodybuilding and not only beginners should use it.
In the old days, the pre-steroid era, full body workouts were a common type of training. Many famous bodybuilders like Reg Park, Steve Reeves, Marvin Eder, Casey Viator and even Arnold were doing full body routines.
You may ask why would you do full body workouts when there are more advanced split routines? Let us tell you about the benefits of a full body workout:
The 5 benefits of full body workouts
1. Muscle balance
Have you ever seen people in the gym that always work their favorite muscle group? Take for example the kid that trains biceps curls so hard, that his bench press is almost as equal as the weight he curls.
Or the guy that constantly blasts his pecs hard and only remembers to work his back or legs from time to time. A full body workout is efficient because it places an emphasis on working the entire body in one session.
This kind of training allows all the body parts to develop at the same rate and is beneficial at increasing strength and (if the nutrition is in check) muscle mass as well.
2. Low volume
At one exercise per muscle group you reduce the chances of overtraining.
Yes, it is still possible to overtrain on this kind of workout but when compared to a regular split routine, where you do multiple exercises for a single muscle group in one training session, super sets, drop sets, rest pause sets etc. the chances of overtraining are smaller.
3. Compound exercises
The exercises that are done in a full body workout are mainly heavy compound movements for obvious reasons. Movements that activate more muscle mass are included, because you are not doing 3, 4 or more exercises per muscle group.
4. Greater Glycogen depletion and faster fat loss
When it comes to burning fat and depleting the glycogen levels, you can’t compare split routines and full body routines. With a full body workout you expend greater amount of energy than training only one or two muscle groups.
Training your whole body in one session means that a lot microtrauma has occurred and more muscle repairing hormones are released to repair the damage done to the muscles. With this you created a perfect hormonal environment for building muscle.
5. Greater frequency of stimulus
With a regular split routine every muscle group gets worked 4 times a month (except the cases where you train 6 days a week ), while with a full body routine every muscle group gets trained 12 times a month.
If the volume is not very high and the diet is in check, you are sending a signal to your muscles to grow 12 times in a month. This means a faster progress than with the regular split routine.
A workout example:
Workout A
Bench Press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Behind the Neck Press 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Barbell Rows/Chin Ups 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Squats 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps
Curls 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Triceps Extensions 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Calf Raise 3 sets, 15-20 reps
Crunches 3 sets, 15 reps
Workout B
Incline Bench Press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Lateral raises 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Leg Press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
Deadlifts 3-4 sets, 8-12 reps
Curls 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Triceps Extensions 2 sets, 8-12 reps
Calf Raise 3 sets, 15-20 reps
Crunches 3 sets, 15 reps
Full body workouts rock. People say that they are for beginners, but if you use them right I think they are providing real benefits.
Full-body is very effective workout and they are for beginners/intermediate people – the problem is no one seems willing to concede that’s what they are. While the net provides a ton of fitness knowledge, the downside is rookies using advanced techniques and supplements when they spend an hour a week at LA Fitness.
I agree, with that. I will add that even advanced trainees can benefit from full body workouts as a change of pace from time to time. Many advanced trainees including the legendary Reg Park (who used to bench press 500lbs) are using full body workouts.
How many times a week should you do this routine?
Usually 3 times a week
Up to the individual. Ensuring enough recovery and rest is accomplish. 3 days are for the average. But those intermediate and advance. 5 to 6 days is also possible. Look up at the late Leroy Colbert workout routine on google and youtube. Check Jeff Nipard 5 days workout also. These people will give you the example of full body anabolic workout. Even p*rnstar Johnny Sin does Fullbody workout.
Enjoyed your article however you haven’t mentioned what weight to start off with and then progress from that weight.
There are the individuals still believe to their sets to failure which can lead if not carefull for injuries .
However the most important is diet eating correctly.
As a rule you can start a weight that you can do 13-15 reps with. And do 10 reps with it while leaving 2-3 reps in the tank. As you progress in strength you can slowly increase your weight and follow the same principle.
When training full body and higher frequency you can’t afford to go to failure every workout and on every exercise, because you risk injury and overtraining in a short period of time.