Full Body Routines vs Split Body Workouts

As a hardgainer, actually for anybody looking to build muscle, you are faced with the question of should you do full body routines or split body workouts. Well Jason Ferruggia suggests you do full body routines if you are a hardgainer, but my friend Dave Ruel, The Muscle Cook, has written a great article that tells you what you must consider before deciding.
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If you’re getting ready to get started with a workout program, one question you might be asking yourself is whether you would be best off with a full body workout routine or if a split approach would be superior.

It can be difficult to decide as you’ll hear mixed opinions coming from both sides. In order to make the best decision, you should consider a few different factors that will allow you to easily see which variation of workout routine will be best.

Let’s have a look at what you need to know about the full body routine versus the split body routine.

The Full Body Advantage
In many situations, the full body routine will hold a number of important advantages. First, it only calls for you to be in the gym two or three days per week. For those who are just starting out or for those who are participating in other sports or want more time for their cardio training, this proves to be an advantage since it frees up your schedule.

Plus, you’ll still maintain a frequency of hitting each muscle two to three times a week, which is imperative for good results.

For those seeking fast fat loss, the full body routine can also be helpful since it’ll burn so many calories. The more muscles you can work in any given session, the more total calories you are going to burn.

The Split Body Advantage
On the other hand, there are many advantages to a split body routine as well. First, since you are dividing the body up into upper and lower sections, this allows you to perform a few more exercises total for each muscle group.

For those who do want to zero in and improve one particular muscle, this can prove to be quite the advantage. With a full body workout routine, since you do have to work so many muscle groups in that session, you’re limited with how many exercises you can do.

Another nice thing about the split body routine is that for more advanced trainees, it can help to provide them with the volume they require to see good results.

As you get stronger and more advanced, you will require more overall weight loads being placed on the body and this can be achieved well using the split body workout sessions.

Insane Muscle Assault is a 5 day split workout that pushes you to the limits and increases overall training volume for the intermediate to advanced trainer…this is a great example of a split routine.

Finally, for those who really do like weight lifting and don’t want to devote a lot of time to cardio training, the split body routine will get them into the gym more frequently, but due to the nature of the design, they can still train without worry about overtraining as each muscle group will still have its needed 48 hours of rest.

So there you have the main factors to know about the full body versus the split body workout routine. The answer as to which is best really depends on your individual situation and personal preferences. No one routine will ever be 100% the best, but rather, you need to match the routine to your needs.