There are basically only two types of weight workouts: full body and split routine. If you do a full-body workout, you exercise each major muscle group--legs, chest, shoulders, back, arms and abdominals--every time you go to the gym. You work every muscle group using a split routine, too, but you do it over a two- or three-day period. A full-body workout plan for men is essentially no different than one for women, although men more often customize their routines to significantly increase muscle mass.
Setting
The ideal setting for a full-body workout is a gym or fitness center. You can quickly move from one station to the next without interruption and increase the fat-burning element of the workout. However, if you prefer working out at home and have all the necessary equipment--a minimum of a bench, dumbbells and a pull-up bar--a home-based workout is certainly doable. In fact, the Answer Fitness website advises against relying on machines for a full-body workout.
Frequency of Workouts
You should do a full-body workout only three times a week, unlike the four or more days you must devote to a split-routine workout. Using a split routine, you may exercise only one or two muscle groups per workout and go for days before working those same muscles again. Muscles require at least a full day of recovery time to rebuild after a vigorous workout. The Full Body Workout site warns that overtraining is the biggest hindrance to fitness gains.
Exercise Numbers
According to Answer Fitness, you should do only one exercise per muscle group per workout. The focus of a full-body workout is intensity, not volume, and you will be temporarily breaking down your entire body every workout. The site also recommends doing two sets of each exercise and no more. Naturally, if you're doing barbell bench presses for chest on Monday, you will do dumbbell bench presses or incline bench presses on Wednesday, for variety. If you mainly want to increase muscle size, you should use a weight that allows you to perform 8 to 12 repetitions of an exercise before reaching "failure."
Sequencing Exercises
Because you are exercising all muscle groups during a workout, you need to give some consideration to the ordering of your exercises. Smaller muscles such as biceps and abdominals should be done at the end because these muscles should be fresh to assist in exercising your larger muscle groups such as legs and chest, which should come first as a general rule.
Considerations
A full-body workout is not complete without about 20 minutes of aerobics to extend the cardiovascular and fat-burning benefits of the workout. You will need all of your energy and strength to complete the weight workout, so save the aerobics for the end. However, before embarking on a full-body regimen, check with a health care professional to make sure you are healthy enough.
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