A relatively new debate has risen in the marketplace of fitness in regards to muscle hypertrophy. The most common approach to muscle building for the most part has been body part split routines, but now this method is being challenged by the idea that full body training is actually superior. There are even scientific studies that show full body training is the way to go. There’s a lot of nuance in this discussion, so I’m gonna break this down for you, so you can understand it from every angle.
Understand that no matter what training split you choose, it will only work if its implemented correctly. In regards to muscle building your program needs these 3 things.
All three of these factors have to be in your program with frequency and volume being the top priorities. The training split you choose will determine the levels that these factors will be implemented at.
Full body training is pretty self explanatory. On each training day you would target all the major muscle groups with mostly compound exercises that target,
Here’s what a week of training on a full body program would look like.
Full body training is all about high frequency training and the big compound movements. According to scientific research, full body training yields better results than body part split training because of the high priority on frequency. The high frequency also offsets the fact that volume is not going to be as high as a body part split. Doing 20 sets a week on all the big lifts will burn you out and ultimately cause you to lose muscle and strength. You can reach 15 sets weekly by doing 3 sets on each muscle group on the 3 days of training.
This training split would be ideal for you if,
The upper lower split is also pretty self explanatory. You alternate between an upper body training day and a lower body training day. Here’s what a week of training on an upper lower split would like.
With the upper lower split, frequency is reduced to 2x per week, but its easier to reach a training volume of 20 sets per week. This is the training split I use mostly and what I’ve known to work for most people in my experience. It gives you the benefits of a body part split without sacrificing too much frequency. With this split you also get 3 off days to work on things like mobility and cardio conditioning.
This training split is not for the faint of heart. This isn’t for the people who “just want to build some muscle.” This is for those who are truly dedicated to building a phenomenal physique. The 20 sets of volume is very easy to reach with this training split, and the intensity as well. The main draw back to this training split is that it is 6 days per week.
This type of training split makes room for a great deal of exercise variation and rep schemes. Hitting 20 sets per muscle group shouldn’t be a problem, as long as you do all 3 workouts twice per week. I wouldn’t advise you to do this training split if you struggle with motivation, consistency, and/or a busy schedule.
In conclusion, all methods work well if implemented correctly, but the determining factors in which route you choose depends on your lifestyle and goals..
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