Full-Body Training
It should go without saying that our training programs should reflect the goals we are looking to achieve. Yet for some reason, the large majority of people still train like they’re a bodybuilder from the 80’s. Back and Bi’s Monday, Chest and Tri’s Tuesday, Legs Wednesday - you get the drill. While I have no doubt there would be a few eager, testosterone-fuelled adolescents that wouldn’t mind looking like a prime Franco Columbu, I struggle to accept that this makes the majority. So why do people train like this? While theres a few mitigating factors, the reality is bodybuilders were there first. Originally, weights were primarily used in the relentless pursuit of packing on as much muscle as humanly possible. So later down the track, when everyday people started attending the gym for other reasons, such as health and fitness, they sought guidance from the experts - the bodybuilders. Fast forward to today, science has made massive advancements and we have a far more nuanced understanding of how various stresses (training) on the body can provoke different adaptations. Enter full-body training. Full-body training offers a plethora of advantages that seperate it from the rest of the pack, I’ll endeavour to highlight the important bits:
Stress - Adaptation
The underpinning of any effective program is finding a stress that will induce a desired adaptation. The stressor in traditional programs is fatiguing muscle via a large amount of volume (lots of sets and reps) that consequently develop lots of little tears in the muscle fibres, called micro-tears. The body adapts by mending these tears and in the process those fibres become bigger and stronger. Hypothetically, the more significant the stressor (fatigue), the more significant the adaptation. However, this is accompanied by a greater recovery time and increased risk of injury. An interesting study by Moran-Navarro, et al. (2017) found that resistance training done to the point of failure slowed down recovery by an additional 24-48 hours even when compared to resistance training of the same volume just spread over more sets (3x10 vs 6x5). As full-body training allows an individual to work muscles more frequently, chasing failure becomes increasingly unnecessary. More frequent stress has the potential for more frequent adaptation and a decreased risk of injury as recovery time is optimised.
Fatigue
Another advantage of migrating from our traditional ways is how we feel and operate throughout the week. If I smash my legs for two hours in the gym, you can bank on the fact I will be unable to summit a simple set of stairs without great difficulty. Then, lets say, the following day I abuse my arms for two hours. Now I can’t use them either. So routinely, day after day, week after week, my body is yanked from one bad posture to another. This doesn’t really sound like the symptoms of a healthy and sustainable program, does it? Full-body exercises utilise movements that are more in accordance with how we actually move in everyday life/ on the playing field. The post-workout fatigue and soreness is mitigated and more evenly distributed, leaving us feeling robust rather than wrecked.
Metabolic Stress
This part is relatively intuitive. As bodybuilding-type training hones it focus on a few muscle groups at a time, it is reasonable to suggest that full-body training allows one to utilise more muscle (recruit more motor-units) and heavier weight. This has several implications for the training’s effects on factors such as caloric demand and our hormones. It almost goes without saying that the more muscle you use in a session, the more calories you are going to burn. Additionally, it makes sense that full-body training allows us to use heavier weights as we can do multi-joint, multi-muscle movements known as compound lifts. As discussed above, the greater the stress, the greater the adaptation. Remember too, the body continues to burn calories in response to a training stress far after the session is finished, this phenomenon is known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). One study by Elliot, et al. (1992), found that the EPOC following a heavy resistance training session was almost DOUBLE that of a 40 minute cycling class. It should be noted, however, that cardio generally burns more calories DURING the session when compared to weights. I’m yet to see any good science comparing the caloric expenditure of full-body versus split-training but for the aforementioned reasons it is highly unlikely spilt-training programs would burn anywhere near the same amount of calories.
Another implication of a greater utilisation of muscle and heavier weight is an increased demand of nutrients by the muscles, via an increase in a thing called muscle cell insulin sensitivity. While I’ll touch on this in far greater detail in another article, the gist of it is we want the food we eat to assist in the recovery and development of the muscle rather than be converted into fat. The greater our muscle cell insulin sensitivity, the more likely this will happen.
Gains
Now, if you’re like me, all that is easily over-looked if it gets me those sweet, tender, juicy gains like no other. Unfortunately for our bodybuilding predecessors, it doesn’t. Finally, research in this field is starting to reveal that full-body splits are better even for strength and for size. One such example is a study conducted by Schoenfeld, et al. (2015) that found full-body training, when compared to a more isolated body part style of training, induced greater gains in muscle size (hypertrophy) and slightly better strength. Conversely, a study by Nigro, et al. (2020) concluded that full-body training protocols were more optimal for maximum strength improvement but slightly less effective at improving muscle thickness. Either way, we should at very least be questioning the convention that bodybuilding training is the optimal way to get big or strong.
Now surely theres a caveat? There is but with good planning it is easily avoided. The downside of full-body training is that it is easy to overdo it, particularly if you still apply the old mentality of train everyday at full intensity untill the body gives out. Under the guise of full-body training we should start to appreciate the art of sub-maximal efforts. Sub-maximal efforts is a topic that too warrants it’s own article but for now think: leave something in the tank. Think you can grind out that extra rep or set? No need. You can use the new-found time to research important things like: how to lose all your money in meme-coins or whether the corona-virus was orchestrated by lizard people.
References:
Moran-Navarro, R., Perez, C., Mora-Rodriguez, R., Cruz-Sanchez, E., Gonzalez-Badilo, J., Sanchez-Medina, L. & Pallares, J. (2017). Time course of recovery following resistance training leading or not to failure.
Elliot, D., Goldberg, L. & Kuehl, K. (1992). Effect of resistance training on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption.
Schoenfeld, B., Ratamess, N., Peterson, M., Contreras, B. & Tiryaki-Sonmez, G. (2015). Influence of resistance training frequency on muscular adaptations in well-trained men.
Nigro, F., Bartolomei, S., Lanzoni, I., Masina, F., Di Michele, R. & Hoffman, J. (2020). A comparison between total body and split routine resistance training programs in trained men.
