I’m trying to recover some strength that I’ve lost over the last couple months due to sporadic training. I’ve also been really short on time lately, so I’m using an abbreviated program.
The program is what I call “3 and Out.” You can read about how to do it at the Men’s Health website.
This brings me to the concept of full body training vs. body part training.
If you’re really trying raise stength levels, then each time you train a specific movement pattern, the less fatigue the better.
Let’s make a comparison of fatigue accumulated in a training session and volume.
If I do a body part split and I’m doing 12 sets of pushing divided over 3 exercises, the second and third exercises for that movement pattern are starting from a deficit because of the accumulated fatigue from the prior sets already performed.
It looks like this (weights are arbitrary here):
Bench press 5 x 3-5 @ 225 pounds
Inclined press 4 x 5 @ 185 pounds
Military press 3 x 5 @ 155 pounds
Now had I started with Military presses in a fully recovered state, I may have been able to use as much as 20 pounds more. From a strength and even a muscle mass standpoint, wouldn’t the training effect be greater? Of course it would.
Now look at doing three full body training sessions per week and we divide those 12 sets over three separate training sessions.
Day#1
Bench Press 5 x 5 @ 225
Day#2
Inclined Press 4 x 5 @ 205
Day#3
Military Press 3 x 5 @ 175
Can you see by direct comparison, which program (full body vs. split) will give me a greater training effect?
Perhaps it’s time to reconsider your training program.
Bill
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