Full body vs Split ?

Hi,

I’ve been doing a plot routine for 5 months now and I’ve lost 22lbs so far and gained some muscle. I’m around 14-15% BF and felt like it was time to switch things up a little.

So I did my first full body workout today and I intend to do it 3 times a week.

Squats: 3x10
DL: 3x10
Bench Press: 3x10
Bent Over Row: 3x10
Overhead Press: 3x8
Push ups: 3xFailure
Biceps Curl: 4x7-8
Calf Raises: 2x15

Coming from months of focusing on one body part for the entire workout instead of the whole body, I want to know if one exercise per muscle (with 3 sets) is enough for muscle gain ?

Replies

  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    As far as volume goes Dr. Mike Isratel of Renaissance Periodization has done quite a bit of research on volume benchmarks for different muscle groups and includes them in their hypertrophy guides. Some redditor put them together in a summary spreadsheet (https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/aoxuaa/mike_israetels_hypertrophy_guide_summarized_in/)

    I've put these in practice for my last few programs and have found them to be pretty good guidance.

    When I've done full body splits I favor the classic antagonist superset approach, which it looks like you're doing and split things up into movement planes. A legs push/pull, horizontal push/pull, vertical push/pull, and arms push/pull. As such, I'd swap out push ups for pull-ups to get a vertical pull and ditch calf raises for a tricep isolation to go with the curls. Add in some ab work and you've covered all your bases.

    This is more of a personal preference thing but I would consider varying rep ranges and alternating between 3 x 3-5 and a 3-4 x 8-12 schemes. Maybe try high load legs with hypertrophy ranges for the rest and then the reverse on the next workout.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    weedspot wrote: »
    Hi,

    I’ve been doing a plot routine for 5 months now and I’ve lost 22lbs so far and gained some muscle. I’m around 14-15% BF and felt like it was time to switch things up a little.

    So I did my first full body workout today and I intend to do it 3 times a week.

    Squats: 3x10
    DL: 3x10
    Bench Press: 3x10
    Bent Over Row: 3x10
    Overhead Press: 3x8
    Push ups: 3xFailure
    Biceps Curl: 4x7-8
    Calf Raises: 2x15

    Coming from months of focusing on one body part for the entire workout instead of the whole body, I want to know if one exercise per muscle (with 3 sets) is enough for muscle gain ?

    Depends on your entire programming.