Why don't bodybuilders just do full body routines?

[Ogata]

It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.

 

[revoltub]

They're trying to milk it

 

[Flower2dPeople]

They are not trying to develop cardio or farmer's strength.

 

[650lb Sumo]

 

[Ogata]

They're trying to milk it

You still can with full routine if you are working your nervous system.

They are not trying to develop cardio or farmer's strength.

I understand but through full range of motion, you can still build muscle with full body routine.

 

[djacobox372]

The issue is recovery, it takes more than a day to recover from the sort of intense routines that are needed to build body-builder sized muscles... even if you're on the gear.

 

[dildos]

bodybuilders should stop lifting all together and just do yoga.

 

[revoltub]

You still can with full routine if you are working your nervous system.



I understand but through full range of motion, you can still build muscle with full body routine.

Nice edit

Anyway its probably safer if you want to focus on pure aesthetics. Plus you can focus on certain specifics you might not with full body.

It is basically a risk reward thing.

 

[Ogata]

What is the meaning of this?

The issue is recovery, it takes more than a day to recover from the sort of intense routines that are needed to build body-builder sized muscles... even if you're on the gear.

I mean they can ease up on the load until they build their nervous system to handle the pressure + focus on deep sleep and recovery. I would imagine you can still build muscle with full body routine if you choose correct set rep and intensity to go with proper diet and recovery protocols.

bodybuilders should stop lifting all together and just do yoga.

You can do yin yoga post training. It actually helps big time because it relaxes the mind and muscle which leads to deep sleep which helps a great deal with recovery.

Nice edit

Anyway its probably safer if you want to focus on pure aesthetics. Plus you can focus on certain specifics you might not with full body.

It is basically a risk reward thing.

Isn't safety a matter of proper lifting technique as well as nutrition, recovery as well as progressive overload in terms of how much you lift and rest between sets vs split routines?

 

[RollSonnenRoll]

A lot of the silver era bodybuilders that inspired the Arnolds and Ferrigno's of the world often did do full body routines. It's just usually very time consuming, you're talking 4 or even 5 hours a lift and extremely taxing to recover from. It also makes you very big and a strong physique but still not up to Golden Era aesthetics. Think like Reg Park

 

[Jesus H. Sherdog]

It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.

Some do full body routines. It’s especially popular with natural bodybuilders. The 3DMJ group is especially known for this, and they focus on natural bodybuilding and powerlifting.

But other than that professional bodybuilders don’t miss workouts, so that’s not an issue.

I like a PPL split best because doing full body I feel like I need more time warming up each body part. But I also do full body workouts for some training cycles, especially if I’m doing a strongman competition.

 

[lsa]

Because you touch your self at night.

 

[gspieler]

Full body is optimal for strength, power, and athletic performance. Splits are optimal for adding the most mass possible, to any one specific muscle group. As others have stated, there's only so much adaptation one can get from a single training session, even with drugs.

Having said that, even someone who wants to bodybuild, would be better served doing full body until a good size/strength based is achieved.

 

[rckoltrane]

I know the answer to this but I won’t share it.

 

[Plutoburn]

I think time could be an issue. To train every muscle to failure take a long time.

 

[William Huggins]

bodybuilders should stop lifting all together and just do yoga.

Hot yoga.......

 

[William Huggins]

A lot of the silver era bodybuilders that inspired the Arnolds and Ferrigno's of the world often did do full body routines. It's just usually very time consuming, you're talking 4 or even 5 hours a lift and extremely taxing to recover from. It also makes you very big and a strong physique but still not up to Golden Era aesthetics. Think like Reg Park

The Steroids had evolved a bit too..... And became more widely available in the gold era.

 

[Prefect]

It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.

Because bodybuilder go for hypertrophy and not strength. High reps over a long period of time gives you ridiculous farmer strength. Most people train too hard than not hard enough.

 

[ssBaldy]

It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.

Why don't ufc fighters just train boxercize?

 

[KnightTemplar]

Because a bodybuilder's goal is maximum hypertrophy. In order to do that, he needs to work each specific muscle group as hard as possible. Usually with high reps.

Compound movements are very taxing. Good luck doing Squats, Bench and Deadlifts with high intensity, and still having enough time and energy to work other muscle groups, with isolation exercises on top of all that. It's much easier to recover from if you split the body into component parts and work each one while allowing others to rest.

Even powerlifters use splits. But they split the exercises rather than bodyparts. So Bench one day, Squats the next etc.

Full body workouts are great for athletes who don't need maximal strength or hypertrophy. For example, fighters. Two or three days full body training will give them all the strength they need, while leaving plenty of time for skills training, which is much more important.