From Fitness And Power
Well, according to sports scientist Brad Schoenfeld there is no significant difference over short periods of time, but there is a difference.
Whether they work out with full body workouts or use split schedules, bodybuilders make progress – but the progress they are making with full body workouts is probably just a bit better. This was the purpose of an investigation that the American sports scientist Brad Schoenfeld published not long ago in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. ()
The Study
Schoenfeld, who was affiliated with Cuny-Lehman College in New York, experimented with 20 male students, all of which were doing weight training for several years and had good experience with weightlifting. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks.
Schoenfeld divided his subjects into 2 groups. One group trained 3 days a week according to the split schedule that you see below, the other did a full body workout.
Split
Day 1
- Bench press – 3 sets
- Incline press – 3 sets
- Hammer chest press – 3 sets
- Lat pulldown (wide grip) – 3 sets
- Lat pulldown (narrow grip) – 3 sets
- Seated row – 3 sets
Day 2
- Squat – 3 sets
- Leg press – 3 sets
- Leg extension – 3 sets
- Stiff-leg deadlift – 3 sets
- Hamstrings curl – 3 sets
- Good morning – 3 sets
Day 3
- Shoulder press – 2 sets
- Hammer shoulder press – 2 sets
- Upright row – 2 sets
- Hammer curl – 2 sets
- Barbell curl – 2 sets
- Preacher curl – 2 sets
- Cable pushdown – 2 sets
- Skull crusher – 2 sets
- Dumbbell overhead extension – 2 sets
Full body
Day 1
- Squat 3 sets
- Stiff-leg deadlift – 3 sets
- Bench press – 3 sets
- Lat pulldown (wide grip) – 3 sets
- Shoulder press – 2 sets
- Hammer curl – 2 sets
- Cable pushdown – 2 sets
Day 2
- Leg press – 3 sets
- Hamstrings curl – 3 sets
- Incline press – 3 sets
- Lat pulldown (close grip) – 3 sets
- Hammer shoulder press – 2 sets
- Barbell curl – 2 sets
- Skull crusher – 2 sets
Day 3
- Leg extension – 3 sets
- Good morning – 3 sets
- Hammer chest press – 3 sets
- Seated row – 3 sets
- Upright row – 2 sets
- Preacher curl – 2 sets
- Dumbbell overhead extension – 2 sets
You got to note that the loads, the rest periods and the training volume in both groups were the same in both types of workouts.
Results
When the 8 weeks were up, the students in both groups had gained a little bit of muscle and strength. Almost always, the progression was a bit better in the full body group, but the differences were not statistically significant. Except the increase in muscle mass of forearm flexors – which was significantly greater in the full body group than in the group split.
Source: http://www.fitnessandpower.com/training/bodybuilding-misc/is-full-body-training-superior-to-splits
