FITNESS

Dr. Jessica Warnecke

Do I need full-body workouts or body part split?

When you only have a few days a week to train, prioritise full-body workouts that use compound moves like front squats.

A body part split routine works for those people who can train at least 4 days a week, and who want to work on aesthetics or developing a specific body part. This type of training will work best if you can keep a consistent schedule, to ensure you get enough stimulus to the muscle groups you’re wanting to grow and to schedule adequate recovery time between sessions.

Generally with full-body training, you do fewer isolation exercises (which target specific muscles, e.g. biceps) – so if that’s important to you, split training may be better.

If our goal is to build strong and sculpted arms, for example, should we still train our lower body during the week?

Any time you have a particular goal to grow one body part, it has to be exercised at least 2 times a week, or even consistently 3 or 4 times a week for faster adaptation changes.

If you want strong arms, I always recommend you keep training other body parts because our body works as one – everything should be trained to help keep it healthy and moving functionally. Working your bigger muscle groups helps to stimulate your central nervous system and can enhance growth hormone effects that feed into smaller muscle groups such as your arms.

If strong arms are important for aesthetics or function (such as holding your child), you have to work your back and shoulders effectively to see true results. since the arms are stabilised by your scapular muscles, pecs and lats. These muscles also work to stabilise many lower body movements such as deadlifts, lunges or step-ups when you’re training with weights. So even though you may not be directly lifting with your arms on leg day, the stabilisation that occurs allows your arms to get an isometric contraction and be stimulated for growth.

Now, if you are feeling really sore after arm day, then doing a leg day without arm involvement (e.g. no weights) is beneficial as it allows you to rest your arms, while still getting your heart rate up and increasing circulation to assist with full-body recovery.

If you’re doing a body part split routine, be sure to use unilateral (one sided) exercises to avoid imbalances.

How can we avoid muscle imbalances if we’re training to strengthen a particular body part?

One of the best ways to reduce imbalance is to use unilateral movements – working one side at a time. This allows you to recognise any compensation patterns you may have, then work on reducing these so that your stronger side doesn’t take over when you’re working both sides together.

It’s also important to train with good technique, through a full range of motion, and in all planes of movement. Often we tend to train by moving up and down (squats) or forward/backward (lunges), but forget to train side to side or with rotation. The sideways and rotational movements are impactful for full-body stabilisation and help prevent injuries, while enhancing your strength and helping you achieve functional goals.

What should our recovery routine look like when training on a body part split?

SLEEP! Sleep is crucial for muscle recovery. It’s recommended that adults aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night. In addition, eating enough calories and getting enough protein will help your muscle growth, energy levels, recovery, and overall wellbeing.

When you’re lifting weights, your body burns calories both during the workout and up to 72 hours after due to muscle protein synthesis, so this means you have to ensure you’re fuelling it with enough nutrients and water to keep up with the demands of training.

Serious training demands serious shut-eye. Get yours with these 8 tips to help you sleep better tonight.

From a physical standpoint, prioritising a warm up AND cool down with your workouts not only helps with recovery but can prevent injuries. It doesn’t take much, just 5 minutes of dynamic movement before your workout is enough to prime your muscles, joints and nerves, and enhance the range you can move through and the loads you can lift. Stretching for 5–10 minutes after training can help reduce stiffness and muscle soreness so you’re ready for your next workout.

Can we focus on training one part of the body indefinitely, if that’s what we care about?

Some people are just generally disciplined and enjoy the process of regular workouts focused on certain body parts. If you don’t get bored, you can continue doing this – but you will have to adjust some components of your workouts at least monthly to see continued adaptations and changes. It may be the type of muscle contraction you perform, specific exercises, intensity, or your number of sets and reps.