Full-body workouts are a good way to begin a weight-training program. These workouts allow you to tone and condition your entire body, and to benefit aerobically by keeping your heart rate up as you move rapidly between exercises. Full-body workouts are quick and efficient, potentially lasting less than a half-hour, and they can help you become familiar with all the equipment in a gym if you do not want to hire a personal trainer.
Purpose
The full-body workout is the format many people use when they start training with weights. Rather than the comparatively high volume of split training sessions, in which you do numerous exercises for one or two muscle groups, full-body workouts typically involve as few as one set for each muscle group. This approach allows you to begin conditioning your body to the demands of resistance training and build functional strength that will stimulate muscle-building and lay the foundation for more intense workouts.
Plan
Perform a full-body workout as a circuit, moving from one exercise to the next with about 30 seconds of rest. Select about 10 exercises that target all the major muscle groups. For each exercise, pick a weight that barely allows you to do about 12 repetitions. Good exercises to include in a full-body workout are barbell squats, machine curls and extensions for your legs; lat pull-downs for your back; bench presses for your chest; shoulder presses; barbell curls and tricep extensions for your arms; and crunches and hyper-extensions for your core. If you find that you have a lot of time and energy remaining after you complete one circuit, try doing it a second and maybe even a third time.
Alternatives
With split training, you would generally need access to a gym with complete weight sets and many different machines to perform all the exercises in your program. If your focus is on full-body workouts, you have other options. For example, you can do full-body circuit training incorporating only body-weight exercises, such as push-ups, pull-ups, squats and core work if you cannot get to a gym. You can do a circuit that uses only dumbbells, or only weight machines, if you prefer those modes to more strenuous barbell lifts. You can do a circuit of resistance band exercises, or medicine-ball exercises.
Considerations
Do not perform full-body workouts on consecutive days. Instead, aim for three days a week of weight training at the outset. Your body needs about 48 hours between sessions for recovery time during which your muscles actually grow and get stronger as a consequence of your training. If you do not give your body recovery time, your muscles will not have time to grow and you will be vulnerable to over-training symptoms, such as injuries and recurring fatigue. Light cardiovascular activity, however, may be appropriate on your off days from weight training.
Warning
When performing an exercise with which you have had little experience, use light weights to ensure you master the technique. You may even want to use an empty bar at first. Proper technique, especially keeping your spine rigid and flat throughout the motion, and not allowing the momentum of the lift to control you, is important to avoid injuries, such as muscle strains and joint damage. Poor technique also makes the exercise less effective.
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