Gym workouts can take a number of forms. Some people prefer to arrange their workouts in a split routine that involves working different muscle groups on different days of the week. Other people prefer to adopt full body workouts where the entire body is exercised in a single session. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, both options are effective for developing fitness and strength but split routines are generally favored by bodybuilders because this type of workout allows for a higher volume of exercises to be performed.
Advantages
Full body gym workouts require fewer visits to the gym than most split routines. A split routine will often require four of more workouts but a full body workout can be done twice a week and still achieve good results. Also, if you plan to perform three full body workouts per week but only manage two, you will still work each of your muscles groups twice. Missing one workout from a weekly split routine can result in the muscle in question not being trained until the missed workout is caught up. Full body workouts tend to be more balanced than many split routines. A balanced workout includes an equal volume of exercise for all major muscle groups. many split routines favor one particular muscle group, for example the chest, to the detriment of other muscles. This can result in a muscular imbalance.
Disadvantages
To exercise each of your major muscles, a full body workout should consist of between eight to 12 exercises. This large volume of work might prove prohibitive if you only have a limited amount of time to exercise. Full body workouts generally take longer to perform than many split routines, but for many exercisers this problem is offset by the lower frequency of gym visits.
Creating a Workout
In the book "Designing Resistance Training Programs," Steven Fleck and William Kraemer suggest that when designing a full body workout you should endeavor to place your exercises in an order that allows you to perform each exercise well. Put the more challenging and complex exercise at the beginning of your workout when your energy is highest and the smaller, easier exercises near the end. Avoid overlapping muscle groups that will only result in reduced exercise performance. For example, do not perform biceps curls immediately before lat pull downs as this ordering will make the lat pull downs unnecessarily difficult.
Exercise Choice
According to the National Association of Strength and Conditioning, resistance training exercises can be classified as isolation or compound. Isolation exercises involve movement at only one joint whereas compound exercises use multiple joints. For example, the squat uses the hips, knees and lower back whereas the leg extension machine only engages the knees. By selecting compound exercises you can ensure that you work the maximum number of muscles and joints using the least number of exercises. Choosing compound over isolation exercises will reduce your overall workout time.
Including Cardio
Cardiovascular exercise is important for fitness and should be part of most people's exercise routine. You have a number of options for cardio exercise when performing full body gym workouts. You can include it at the beginning of your exercise session by increasing the duration of your warm-up to 20 minutes or more, place it in the middle of your workout to break up your resistance training or place it at the end and perform an extended cool down lasting 20 minutes or longer. Some people prefer to keep their cardio and resistance training separate and perform it on the days in between their resistance workouts.
Another option is to perform your workout as a circuit. Instead of performing sets of repetitions separated with rests, work though your training plan by moving from one exercise to the next with little or no rest. Working out in this way will elevate your heart rate and get a good cardiovascular workout despite not performing any actual cardio. Perform multiple laps where you would have performed multiple sets of each exercise.
References
- "ACSM's Resources for the Personal Trainer"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2009
- "Designing Resistance Training Programs"; Steven Fleck and William Kraemer; 2003
- "Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning"; National Strength and Conditioning Association; 2008
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