One of the questions you will find most commonly asked over the Internet when it comes to resistance training is which method is more effective, full body workouts or single muscle group splits, or should you train each muscle group more than once per week? You will find many debates over the answer, especially across many muscle building and fitness forums. To be perfectly honest, there is no perfect answer to the question, likewise no perfect training routine exists, perhaps only for the individual. The meaning behind this is someone may train each muscle group once for a week for several years, then change the frequency to more than once a week and suddenly find they achieve much greater and quicker gains. Somebody else might choose to adopt the same approach, eat the same nutrition, get the same rest, only to find the routine less effective. It is therefore down to the individual to try both types of routine and decide which one works best for them.

It can be very confusing choosing a workout, especially if training for the first time. If you were to browse many of the forums, the general consensus seems to sway towards full body workouts or training each muscle group more than once per week. However, if you follow the routines performed by professional bodybuilders and so called cover model workouts you will notice they sway towards single muscle group splits. Many personal trainers often advise full body workouts, especially for beginners.

This is because full body workouts enable you to concentrate on the heavy compound lifts, which utilise more muscle groups when performing, compared to isolation exercises often performed in single muscle group splits. This also enables you to lift heavier, and combining an exercise which enables you to lift as heavy as possible, perform more than once a week (which is also ideal for perfecting technique), and utilises more than one muscle group at a time, is going to be very effective when it comes to size and strength gains. This is especially true when training for the first time, and is a method often used by power and strength trainers because it allows them to lift as heavy as possible.

The above few sentences sound like full body workouts already hold an advantage over single muscle group splits, however this does not mean you should disregard the latter too quickly. Below we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of full body workouts versus single muscle group splits, after which it is up to you to try for yourself and decide which one produces the greater gains.

Advantages of Full Body Workouts

• More compound moves used per workout - As previously mentioned full body workouts allow you to focus on heavy compound lifts. This means you train several muscle groups at once leading to quicker size and strength gains, and the heavier you go the stronger you get, the stronger you get the bigger you get (providing you are eating enough of course). It also means you are working your body as a whole unit, which will result in your muscles looking overall more evenly proportioned than if you were just training your mirror muscles once a week then neglecting other body parts.


• More aerobic training - Performing exercises that use more than one muscle group is bound to be more taxing on the body, which means full body workouts can lead to more calories being burned. Popular believe is that you can get away with eating more calories when performing full body workouts without sacrificing too much lean definition, this is especially useful if trying to increase size and minimize fat gains.


• Increased frequency per muscle group - Training each muscle group two to three times per week means they get much more frequent stimulation than training just once a week. Compare against training each muscle group once a week for forty-eight weeks out of a full year, you would have trained your muscles potentially ninety-six to one hundred and forty-four times compared to only forty-eight. This is also beneficial if you ever miss a workout because you would still have trained the muscle on one of your other training days, whereas if training each muscle group once per week you would have to wait a full week for your next session.

Disadvantages of Full Body Workouts

1. Potential of over-training - This also depends on other factors such as adequate diet and sleep, however training a muscle group two to three times a week can lead to over-training if the workouts are not adhered to correctly. When not training to failure, pro bodybuilder Dillon Jersey recommended with full body workouts, the general believe is the majority of us need to give forty-eight hours for our muscles to recover. This can be longer depending on the individual; therefore, if you continue to train whilst your muscles are still sore from your previous workout you could end up burning yourself out long term. To counter act this, apart from not training to failure, you should mix up your set and rep range per workout by performing one heavy day with low reps and more sets, one light day with more reps and fewer sets, then perhaps one day in-between the two ranges.


2. Can lose energy quickly - Again this can depend on other factors, however if your first exercise when performing full body workouts involves chest, followed by back and then shoulders, by the time it comes to training your triceps you may not be able to give it your all. This is down to the fact you would have already worked them twice following a big chest then shoulders compound move.


3. Cannot focus on a specific muscle group - As you will be training each muscle group per workout, you cannot really perform more than one exercise per muscle group. This means you cannot concentrate solely on one muscle group at a time, which is not ideal if you feel you have a lagging body part. On the plus side, you will be stimulating the muscle more than once a week and more often than not developing it through other compound moves.

Advantages of Single Muscle Group Splits

• Enable to focus on individual muscle groups - If you do feel you have a lagging body part, or are not interested in adding size all over or being proportioned, then single muscle group splits are the way to go. You can focus more on the areas you want to improve, wider shoulders or a much-desired V shaped back for example. Splits allow you to perform various exercises on each muscle group to work the muscle from all different angles.


• More energy per muscle group - Concentrating on one or two muscle groups per day means you will not be too fatigued when it comes to training another muscle group on a different day compared to training all muscle groups in one day. If you trained chest on a Monday for example, you might not train shoulders or triceps that are also involved when performing chest exercises until later in the week, compared to on the same day when performing full body workouts.


• Better recovery per muscle group - Single muscle group splits allow you to really push each session and muscle to failure. Whether the need to go to failure is required on every set is a topic also open to debate, however a number of bodybuilders or gym goers do not feel they have trained efficiently unless they are unable to take their tops off or raise their arms to wash their hair after a workout. To some this can play quite a big psychological role when it comes to performance in the gym.

Disadvantages of Single Muscle Group Splits

1. Potentially disproportionate strength and muscle groups - The problem with being able to focus on individual muscle groups at a time is that you can take it to the extreme and get far too carried away. If you concentrate purely on arms and can never be bothered to train legs for example, you might look a little funny walking around in shorts and a t-shirt.


2. Less aerobic training - Full body workouts and performing several big compound moves throughout the week will not only get the heart pumping quicker however will also burn more calories at the same time. Think about it, which exercise is more taxing on the body, performing dumbbell kickbacks where just the triceps are being worked, or a clean to press which is working the quads, hams, glutes, abs, forearms, traps, shoulders, and triceps.


3. Less frequency per muscle group - You may be able to perform more volume on each muscle group, however you will be hitting it less frequently. This can be a problem if you miss a workout or two during the week, as juggling it around to catch back can be difficult. The alternative is to leave it until the following week, which means two weeks may have passed since you directly trained it last.

So which workout suits which person?

Another difficult question to answer however perhaps easier than asking which method works best. Full body workouts are suitable for any trainer at any level, they are used by everyone from bodybuilders to power and strength trainers to strongmen and professional athletes. They are practical for beginners, as they let you perfect your technique on the main compound moves and add size quicker than single muscle group splits because several muscle groups are working at the same time and lifting heavier weights. This also makes them ideal when training for strength, as concentrating on a heavy shoulder press two or three times a week whilst progressively adding weight to the bar is certainly going to strengthen your shoulders a lot quicker than performing lateral raises once a week with a light weight.

Full body workouts are also better suited to those looking to lose weight or burn body fat, as previously mentioned you get a much more aerobic workout out of them and can burn numerous more calories. Those with high body fat percentages should definitely look into performing full body workouts before moving onto single muscle group splits. Lastly, if you are looking to improve overall fitness and conditioning, then full body workouts are a must.

Single muscle group splits can be better suited to those who have been training for a number of years, already have a decent amount of size on them, or are reasonably strong. If you enjoy working your muscles to failure and feeling the pump you get from the build-up of lactic acid, then single splits are definitely for you.

To summarise, as mentioned at the top of the article, it can all boil down to the individual. The important thing is get your diet and nutrition spot on before choosing or designing any routine, then mixing it up to find out what works best for you. You will see some gains following all routines in one way or another, whether it is building muscle or burning fat. Just make sure you enjoy the routine you are following, and that you are able to stick to it.