Most workouts now a days are labelled as ‘Leg day’, ‘Arm day’ and the such. These are what we call splits or focusing on a particular muscle group rather than a workout that does it all or also know as full body workouts. Every program wants you to build muscle, get strong, or lose weight. Choosing between full-body or specific focus routines, however, isn’t easy.
So why should you do full body workouts?
During a full body workout, your target every major muscle in your body (Chest, Back and Legs) and the minor ones (Arms, Hamstrings and Abs) EVERY workout. This is made possible by doing compound movements like squats, dead lifts, overhead presses. Compound exercises generally require more energy and thus burn more calories.
The upside is that when you work out the same muscle groups by doing the same or similar exercises multiple times each week, you improve your overall body strength, rather than just in one area of your body.
If you’re a beginner, in a rush, or are more interested in shedding some pounds, you should be doing full body workouts.
For the beginner, these programs are more simple, help you learn and constantly practice the major compound exercises, and can lead to major strength gains because of how often you’re working out the same muscles. In fact, beginner strength programs, like Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength and Mehdi’s 5×5, emphasize those full-body movements to help you lay down a firm foundation in your lifting journey.
Similarly, compound lifts engage so many muscles that they skyrocket your heart rate and burn more calories, making them more ideal for weight loss goals. For someone who doesn’t have much time to work out, full-body workouts are more efficient, so you don’t have to train as often throughout the week.
Train with Eytan in Hendon/North west London/NW4
