[Jezzz]

REPOST from my 'Training Logs' post, which I think was the wrong place to put it.

Okay, after reading the Sticky Post titled "Split Training - All Wrong?!?", I decided to end my 2.5 month spree of split-training (Back, Biceps / Chest, Triceps / Legs) and start up a full-body routine as was recomended in the particular article I read.

I think the results speak for themselves:

Last Wednesday (Beginning of Full Body Routine):

*Clean / Press: 40kg @ 4 reps of: 8/7/7/7
*Squats: 75kg @ 3 reps of: 10/10/10/
*Bench Press: 70kg @ 4 reps of 8/7/6/6
*Bent Over Rows: 40kg @ 10/10/10/10
*Upright Dips: 3 reps of 7/7//6
*Bicep Curls: 35kg @ 3 reps of 9/7/6
*Calf Raises: 40kg @ 3 reps of 8/8/8

Today (Most Recent Session):

*Clean / Press: 45kg @ 4 reps of: 7/8/6/5
*Squats: 90kg @ 3 reps of: 10/10/10
*Bench Press: 75kg @ 4 reps of 8/8/6/6
*Bent Over Rows: 50kg @ 4 reps of 10/10/10/9
*Upright Dips: 3 reps of 8/8/8
*Bicep Curls: 40kg @ 3 reps of 8/7/6
*Calf Raises: 60kg @ 3 reps of 10/9/8

With the splits, I found I gained in mass, but not once did I move up in strength. Turns out the splits resulted in massive over-training. Quite the kick in the nuts when you think you know what you're doing.

Up with Full-Body, down with Splits.

[mr_bhana]

wow, that split seem really demanding and alot of hard work! how often are you gonna be doing full body WOs? good luck with it!

[Demon Knight]

Good work, Jezzz. That's terrific progress!

I'm an ex-split follower and moved onto full body with better results.

Do some sort of periodisation though as gains quickly become stale doing hard workout after hard workout. Concentrate on the squats for example (do the other exercises too but not to your full capacity) and cycle from 70kg of 3x10 to a new PB of 100kg 3x10.

Strength and size is not a direct correlation but it's a strong correlation nonetheless.

Are you working out 2/3 times a week or simply every 3-5 days?

[Shwitt88]

yeah man, how many times a week do you workout with that routine?
it looks pretty sick, i might want to try it out sometime

[Jezzz]

In response to questions: We (me and 'Tripower') are working out at 2 to 3 times a week, normally Monday, Wednesday, Friday with the weekend off.

We often change it around a bit to provide variety, such as chins instead of rows, close-grip instead of dips etc.

[Tripower]

Full body WO has indeed been working well for us. Rocovery rate has increased, despite the large workout, probably because of the huge endocrine response caused by full body work.

[MikeNYY420]

Wow that's some good gains, but do you think your hitting all areas of the body as well as you could with splits? Like upper pecs for example, maybe through in some deadlifts to mix it up for back exercises.

[Demon Knight]

Originally Posted by MikeNYY420

Wow that's some good gains, but do you think your hitting all areas of the body as well as you could with splits?

That's the case for AND against split training. Is it really beneficial to split your workouts as such to hit a specific bodypart with higher intensity on the day? Or is it better to hit all major bodyparts with less intensity on the day?


Split training is not the enemy as such, but the idea that intensity on a given bodypart is what builds muscle is incorrect the way the magazines/media use it. At least,for the genetically average and drug free individual.

Any workout will not work unless there is some progress. In the case of weight training/bodybuilding, if you're not adding weight/reps to your exercises, it's not working. It really is irrelevant how many forced reps/drop sets you do or how much protein/supplementation you are taking if you're still lifting the same weight year in-year out.

You don't lift more, you don't get bigger!