Full Body vs Targeted Training

[Heavy D]

What are the benefits and downsides of training full body 3/4 times a week vs. training 5/6 times a week while alternating upperbody, lower body?

I only ask because I can only make it to the gym 3 times a week, with maybe a random day here or there, so I do long, intense full body workouts.

[GutShot]

doing full body workouts is not the best way to train IMO as your just knackering yourself out, not really putting much focus onto one muscle group and rinse repeating it 3 times a week.

i would do:

1*chest/shoulders/biceps

2*Leg/abs

3*Back/triceps/forearms

[AdamGB]

it depends if you are working to work out the specific muscle or the body as a whole. In boxing you are using pretty much all of the major muscle groups in teh body pretty intensely. It makes sense to stress your body in this way if you goal is to train the cardiovascular and energy systems to be able to cope and function better under these stresses.

What are your goals Heavy, are you trying to get fit enough for competition or are you just looking to increase your muscle size and strength?

its a case of horses for courses. Training all of your muscles individually for an event which requires using them all at a high effort for an extended period of time will not be as efficient in increasing the required fitness. Other way round though training your whole body as one will not be as efficient if your goals are to target and improve a specific muscle group's strength and endurance.

[Heavy D]

I'm actually looking for a bit of both. Since I quit sports in college (4 years ago now,I think?) I've fallen pretty out of shape. I'd like to get back in better overall shape. However, I've started taking some martial arts lessons from my boss (no particular art...basically a crash course at the moment in Kempo, Aikido and BJJ to start, then moving on to more in depth of BJJ, when I plan on also joining a boxing gym and refining my skills in that regards), and would like to get myself into fight shape once I feel I've gotten into decent overall shape.

When I do workout, I workout pretty much to exhaustion, and go home pooped and shaky :P

[GutShot]

dont workout to failure, all your doing is trashing your CNS (central nervous system) and extending the recovery time required.

[EricB]

In my opinion, and personal practice, i go what with gutshot says.

i just do legs/calves at the end of the week.

My girlfriend being certified as a personal trainer ( not that she is one) recomends the same thing.

She also says that you can, and i do, Abs 6 days a week.

Here is a sneek peek of the next entry to The Blog Of EricB...

ERICS PIC OF THE WEEK................

www.freetrainers.com - This is a great FREE website that will give you a basic workout program according to your goals. You have options between general training, mass gaining etc. It also has nutrition plans and recomends supplements. not that i pay attention to the latter 2 but they are available. You can also input all of your data from your work out and it will chart your progress. not that i do that either. I just print out my 3 day work out every sunday, and throw it in my gym bag so i have it for the week. You might have to play around with the website a little bit, adjusting your profile to get a workout you LIKE. even if you input the exact same information it will give you different workouts for the week. I like to find a work out that i LIKE, before i begin, not any lifts that i may be uncomfortable with. There is an optional paid subscription to the website that just has a couple of other functions that make it easier to use but i just use the basic FREE membership. It works great and CHECK IT OUT!

P.S. CHECK OUT THE BOXING BLOG OF ERICB.

Thanks,

ERICB

[Heavy D]

Might as well throw this in here....

Would I be better off changing my routine every time I workout (cycling 3 or 4 different routines) to avoid my muscles getting used to any certain one, or would I be better off sticking to one routine until my returns start to dimish, then switch to a new routine, and cycle 3 or 4 different routines like that? Or does it not even make a difference? 'Preciate it again.

[GutShot]

if its for a full body workout, have 4 different workouts that you can interchange... it stops boredom as well as stagnation in terms of mucle growth/devlopment.

a muscle has to have progressive stresses placed upon it to force it to adapt... tapping it with light weights will only get you so far before you heavily plateau.

depends on your goals, sport orientated muscle training or bodybuilding.

i am a martial artist so i cater my workouts like wise to allow explosive movements as martial arts sparring matches are one 3 minute round, hardly a 12 round marathon so i need strong fast twitch muscle fibres.