Full Body Workout Vs. Split Routine (What’s the difference?)

Should you do a body part split or should you be training your full body?

Honestly, it depends on your body type and what your goals are. Both techniques have their pros and cons.

Full Body Workout

Full Body workouts are good for beginners and are done three days a week. When doing a full body workout, you are 3 days on 2 days off and back on for three days.

Pros of a Full Body Workout

• Biggest advantage of whole body training are the metabolic benefits it offers.
• Can train the whole body more frequently per week therefore stimulating muscle growth more often per week.
• Burns more calories in a session than a split workout.

Cons of a full Body Workout

• Tough to give any one area complete focus or extra work if needed.
• Must utilize more equipment in each session if available.
• Spend more time at the gym in a day.

Split Body Workout

A split routine is a resistance training format in which specific muscle groups are trained on specific days of the week or at predetermined intervals. The common split is legs and butt in one session or arms, back and chest in another session.

Pros of a Split Body Workout

• Less drained each workout since only a relatively small area of the body is trained each session.
• Allowed recovery time for each body part.
• Takes less time, when working out one body part you are at the gym for a shorter amount of time.

Cons of a Split Body Workout

• Each body part is trained less frequently.
• Burn less calories in each workout.
• With most training split routines, you are going to hit each muscle group once per week, so if you miss a workout, two weeks will go by before you hit that muscle group again.

Conclusion

Which workout is best for you? To decide based just on the handful of pros and cons listed above is challenging, so you need to make this personal. As stated before, it depends on your body type and what your goals are.

If you have just started weight training or general fitness you should be doing the Full Body Workout. If your goals are developing muscle mass then you should be doing the Split Body Workout.

However, no matter what workout style you choose. It is important that you stay hydrated during your workouts and are getting the correct nutrition.  If you feel dehydrated during your workouts, here is an article with tips on how to stay hydrated – Conquering Dehydration