The Practice and Science of FULL BODY Training

When it comes to resistance training (using resistance - whether bodyweight or external objects), there are numerous creative ways one can go about setting up his/her routine. Resistance training, as is the case in any other endeavor one would want to improve at, requires a well-balanced *routine *(a consistent habit) to be carried out for the long term. Deliberate repetition is one of the key mechanisms for mastering skills. It is not enough to merely practice mindlessly. It seems to be a good idea to "have a plan". In resistance training, having a plan corresponds to following a training program that is structured in such a manner to possibly elicit maximum results in a given time frame. To structure a training program, the training split employed must be decided intentionally (this is usually one of the first variables to establish when drafting a plan). There are several different ways one can go about designing a training split. Some of the most common nowadays include: full body, push-pull-legs, upper-lower, body parts split. These are the most used due to their well-balanced ratio of volume, intensity, frequency. Some of those workout splits are considered more beginner-friendly than others (e.g., full body is seen as more optimal for beginners/intermediates as compared to advanced trainees) (Bartolomei et al., 2021). In a deep dive into each of these training approaches, we will look at these popular methods of training one by one and as objectively as possible (i.e., studying the available evidence and starting from first principle). In this article, we are starting from the full body split. The full-body training split consists of distributing the training volume for each muscle group over the entire week by training every body part more than once a week. A full-body training regimen would have an athlete train, say, four times a week every muscle group (or almost every muscle group), hence spreading the workload over more than one session. Generally speaking, a full-body split is based on movement patterns as opposed to muscle groups per sé. Every muscle group is best activated when specific movements are performed through space (e.g., horizontal pushing moves target the chest and triceps). Full-body workouts leverage this fact to elicit optimal neuromuscular adaptation. In this article, we are going to ponder the advantages and disadvantages of a full-body training split, how to implement this type of training, and an example program using full-body training.