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Workout regimens differ from person to person.
Workout regimens differ from person to person. Depending on one’s weight loss goals and desired physique, one may change it as per their needs. Below is the common workout split example:
- Monday: Chest and triceps
- Tuesday: Back and biceps
- Wednesday: Legs and shoulders
- Thursday: Rest
- Friday: Chest and triceps
- Saturday: Back and biceps
- Sunday: Legs and shoulders
Typically, our muscles need about 48 hours of rest to recover. As per the above split example, each muscle group gets 3 days (or 72 hours) of rest as planned. Below are few advantages and disadvantages of split workout:
Advantages:
- Focus is set on two muscles for the entire session.
- It allows for full recovery.
- Less equipment is needed during your session.
- Less tiring because you’re not working out multiple muscles.
Disadvantages:
- If you miss a workout, it takes longer to catch up.
- You may become impatient waiting for a specific session.
- Some body parts may recover faster than others.
- Typically, working the lower limb muscles causes more weight loss than the upper limbs.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends resistance training (weight training) two to three times per week if you’re a beginner and four to five times per week for advanced training.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of full body workout and split training?
The advantages of a full body workout may include:
- Increases overall strength and power
- Improves nervous system activation
- Increases conditioning and endurance
- Improves movement patterns, coordination, and balance
- More hormonal stimulus for growth
- Burns more calories
- Improves metabolism
- More efficient; requires fewer exercises for one muscle group
- Only requires three to four workouts per week, at most
- Helps reduce age-induced muscle weakening
Disadvantages of a full body workout are as follows:
- Can be fatiguing because so many muscle groups are targeted during each workout
- Workouts are harder to recover from, especially as you increase volume and intensity
- Harder to target and grow specific muscles
Advantages of split training are as follows:
- Better for increasing the muscle size
- Allows you to target the specific muscle areas for more physique control
- Better post-workout “pump”
- Reduces muscle and strength imbalances if used correctly
- Less stressful on the nervous system because only one or two areas are targeted with each workout
- More rest days and recovery for each muscle group between workouts
Disadvantages of split training are as follows:
- Usually requires more workouts per week
- Less efficient; requires more exercises to target one muscle group
- Can lead to muscle and strength imbalances if used incorrectly
- Less overall calorie burning
- Less emphasis on movement patterns and quality
What are the different strength training regimen depending upon body types?
The three body types are ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph.
Ectomorph is naturally very thin, has narrow hips and shoulders, very low body fat, and very thin arms and legs. Strength training for ectomorphs may include:
- Train with heavy weights and lots of rest in between sets (2-3 minutes) and exercises (5 minutes)
- Only train one to two body parts per training day to avoid too much caloric expenditure
- Aim for 5-10 reps and 6-8 sets of each exercise
- Take plenty of rest in between workouts and never train a muscle group that is sore, and if you’re feeling sore, try out foam rolling for recovery
- Very minimal cardio
- Moderate- and low-intensity bike rides and brisk walks (think of them more as relaxing cardio activities to reduce stress)
Mesomorph can put on muscle easily and genetically are the ideal body type for bodybuilding. They have very strong legs, broad shoulders, and a narrower waist. Generally, they also have very low body fat. Strength training for mesomorphs may include:
- The more varied the training, the better the results.
- Light, moderate, and heavyweight training and bodyweight training with the adidas Training app.
- Basic exercises (squats, lunges, deadlifts, rows, chest press, shoulder press, etc.) with heavy weights, followed by isolation exercises with moderate/light weights.
- Aim for 8-12 reps for most exercises. When it comes to leg training, you can incorporate heavy weights with around 6 reps and light or no weights at around 25-30 reps for three to five sets.
- Add in any other strength training activity that you think is fun and want to try out such as this resistance band workout.
- 3 days per week of cardio for 15-30 minutes.
Endomorph tend to store more body fat throughout the entire body, especially in the legs and arms. It’s much harder for an endomorph to put on muscles and much easier to gain weight. Strength training for endomorphs may include:
- Total body workouts with compound movements to burn the most calories. This can be a mix of bodyweight training with the Adidas Training app and moderate weight lifting.
- Avoid heavy weightlifting with low reps.
- Aim for 8-12 reps and 3-5 sets for upper body and 12-20 reps for lower body.
- After reaching initial weight loss goals, it is okay to start to isolate muscles you want to shape a bit more.
- Incorporate cardio a minimum of 3× per week for 20-30 minutes in your target heart rate zone.
- Make your cardio training easy on the knees and low impact (swimming, biking, hiking, walking, and elliptical).