Why Switch to Full Body Workouts? 4 Benefits After 40

Nikkiey: Have you ever wondered why full body workouts are taking the fitness world by storm? I've made the switch, and today I'm spilling all the tea on this game-changing approach, sharing four key advantages to why I switched. Stick around, and especially don't miss the last point. It's the ultimate game changer.

Before diving into the core of today's topic, let me set one thing straight. Regardless of the workout style, the principle of progressive overload remains central. It's all about increasing the demands on your muscles over time, ensuring constant growth and development. Every workout style I adopt revolves around this concept.

And today I want to share four key advantages to why I've fallen in love with full body workouts recently. That doesn't mean I won't occasionally dip back into bro splits or explore other methods of training. Fitness is a journey, and it's all about finding what resonates with you at different phases of your life. So let's dive in.

The first key advantage to full body workouts is time efficiency. Full body training sessions are generally more time efficient compared to bro splits. Now, if you're unfamiliar with bro splits or have never dedicated a whole day to just legs, then you might be wondering what I mean. To put it in perspective, when I used to do bro splits, I spent about an hour to an hour and a half solely focusing on legs. This might sound intense, and it is, but the beauty of full body workouts is their efficiency. You get a comprehensive workout targeting all your muscle groups in a compact timeframe. This approach is a game changer, especially for those with tight schedules or limited time to dedicate to training. I can effectively work through each of my muscle groups in just 45 to 50 minutes, wrapping up my entire training session for the day. So the first major advantage is time efficiency.

The second key advantage of full body workouts is the increased frequency and volume that they provide to your body. When you engage in full body training sessions, you're training every muscle group with a higher frequency throughout the week. Let's break down what that means. By working out your whole body four to five times a week, you're creating more opportunities for muscle growth and strength enhancement. This regularly results in a higher cumulative training volume for each muscle group across those four to five training days.

Imagine this. You have a dedicated leg day as part of a bro split. During this session, you're in the gym, intensely working out your legs for a whole hour. As time goes on, your volume will likely diminish within the workout because naturally fatigue sets in. Say you start with heavy squats, but by the time you get to leg extensions at the end, you can only manage a fraction of your starting weight because your muscles are so exhausted. And while I'll go into more depth about leg day in point four, it's a useful illustration for now.

Now contrast that with a full body approach. By doing just one leg exercise per day across four to five days, you're distributing that leg volume over several training sessions. On each of these days, you can push yourself harder during that single exercise. Imagine focusing on just three to five sets of leg exercises in a day. You can give it your all. Over the week, you'll achieve the same total volume as you will with bro splits, but with greater intensity each day, leading to potentially lifting heavier weights.

A practical example of this: if on a bro split leg day you squat 135 pounds and you place squats midway through your routine, you might not lift as effectively as you could. This is because you have numerous other leg exercises lined up before that. Now, on the flip side, in a full body routine where squats are your sole leg focus for the day, you can dedicate more energy and potentially lift heavier. Without diving into my final point too early, the emphasis here is on maximizing weight. For instance, when squatting 135 pounds in a full body routine, you're not weighed down by a plethora of other leg exercises, allowing you to exert more effort on that singular exercise.

So instead of an exhausting hour-long leg session, or even two, in a bro split, you're doing a bit of legs almost daily in a full body routine. This strategy means you can challenge yourself with heavier weights consistently. So to wrap up point number two, increased frequency and volume. By adopting this method, you're better positioned to see substantial gains in strength and muscle size. This is because the distributed nature of a full body routine allows for more consistent and powerful exertion across exercises.

Now let's unpack the third key advantage of full body training sessions: the enhanced metabolic response. Full body workouts are believed to offer a heightened metabolic response compared to bro split routines. To break that down, when you engage in exercises that work multiple muscle groups at once, like compound exercises, your body's overall energy expenditure spikes.

Now, I usually advise against getting too hung up on the exact calorie count your fitness tracker displays, but my personal experience speaks volumes. Since I've transitioned to full body workouts, I've consistently felt a marked increase in the amount of energy I'm burning per session compared to when I used to do bro splits. Consider this for perspective. On a dedicated shoulder day, your calorie burn might not be as significant. That's not a slight against shoulder exercises. After all, muscle, being active tissue, constantly burns calories irrespective of the specific workout you're doing. However, the intensity and metabolic response you get from a full body workout are unparalleled. Imagine consistently pushing your body to that level of energy expenditure four to five times a week. This consistency can potentially offer a more sustained and heightened metabolic response. In comparison, specialized days like arm or shoulder days might not drive your body's energy use to the same heights as full body workouts do.

Now let's dive into the last key advantage to full body workouts, and the most important one to me: increased recovery time. For those who've been following me on Instagram, you might recall my struggles last year with recovery times, especially after leg days. Even breaking down the leg workouts between quads one day and hamstrings the other day became challenging, as recovery stretched to almost three to four days, leaving me sore and questioning my commitment to strength training. However, giving up strength training wasn't an option. It's my passion. This drove me to explore full body workouts.

The change was transformative. My recovery time improved drastically. After a leg workout, I no longer grapple with extreme soreness lasting days. With full body workouts, each muscle group gets a single exercise per session, allowing more rest time between sessions for the same muscle group. This approach has enhanced my volume and frequency of workouts without compromising on recovery.

Previously, training one muscle group meant waiting several days to train it again due to soreness. With full body workouts, I can hit the same muscle group almost daily, focusing on just one exercise, hence maximizing recovery. This format not only increased my workout volume over the week, but also significantly improved recovery between training sessions. For example, after a chest day, my subsequent back exercises would suffer because my chest, acting as a secondary muscle group, would still be too sore. This isn't the case anymore.

The decision to switch was personal. In the vast realm of strength training, from bro training splits to full body training, the key is finding what resonates with you. The primary focus should always be on progressive overload, ensuring consistent challenges and growth for your muscles. If you thrive on other workout regimes like bro splits and have effective recovery times, that's fantastic. I made the switch based on my needs, but I also acknowledge that as individuals, especially women in their 40s, 50s and 60s, we can demand more recovery time. Nevertheless, the intensity and challenge in workouts should not differ.

All right, you guys, that wraps up today's video. I genuinely hope this was enlightening and beneficial for you all. If you enjoyed this content, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more updates. Until next time, keep pushing and stay fit.