Are Full Body or Split Routines Better? 

You are periodizing your upload frequency. You're gonna make all kinds of subscriber gains.

In my experience, full body always gave the best results, but its a bit complicated. can't for example, do 4-5 sets of squats, then 2-3 sets of deadlifts, and maybe 2-3 sets of overhead press and bench press, all done in the strength-training fashion, high intensity, low volume, i would litteraly die from that. I can, however, do 3 sets of squats, 3-4 sets of bench press, maybe 3 sets of pullups or barbell rows, and then an isolation exercise or two at the end. Thats manageable. There are people out there making great gains off split routines, but i feel like with full body, big gains are almost guaranteed no matter who you are or what your genetics are like, and with a split its kind of a gamble, you may or may not get gains, that depends on your genetics. Personally i never make gains off a split, especially a bro split where you hit all your muscles once a week, that shit don't work at all for me, a twice a week split works better, but more for maintenanse than anything else, a 3 times a week full body has always produced tons of gains for me. But the thing is, with full body you really gotta be careful, as too much will burn you out completely. I know, i've been there. After my burnout on a full body, i switched to upper/lower, and that was ok, but i didn't notice any further growth of gains, and sometimes, due to life, i couldn't hit the gym 4 times a week, thus leaving certain muscles trained only once a week, so i was in some ways back to square one. Now i'm going back to full body again, but this time, i will make sure not to make the same mistake the first time, and manage my workouts alot smarter so i do just enough and not too much. So thats how i think it works. Its all about how you train. you can deadlift everyday if you want to, but not 500 pounds every day. It speaks for itself really. Train based on your energy levels and don't overdo it, no matter what split your on.

Greg, the information you put out has really helped and has re-kindled my interest in strength training after a long hiatus. Thanks for all this great content.

Finally a video done intelligently and professional. Thank you. So many on here just swear and act obnoxious you can't really get anything from it. You did a great job!! Very informative!!

Can you give me a beard growing routine? I've stalled pretty hard.

first time I've visited one of your advisory youtube sessions. I like your analytical and temperate presentation. Thanks.

Best channel for strength training on RU-vid. Dead serious. I will drop everything I'm doing when you put out a video. Thanks

Hell ya Greg!!! Love the frequent uploads!!!

Good to see you back on RU-vid Greg!

Been setting up programs like this for years. Fantastic video Greg

There are no magic programs , it depends how fast you can recover & bang it out again

please make more videos. i could listen to you talk for days.

downloading this in offline to listen from time to time.. good information for beginners to advanced lifters

great video you gave me alot of information I didn't know 👍👍

Well said. Good stuff man!

Hey gregg please continue uploading content !

Wow this explanation blows my mind - i train 6 times a week and because of you I can change my plateau!

This Channel deserve more views

Great to see you back man! Finally getting to learn some real shit on youtube! :D

Stumbled on this Good stuff. Put some references up. cheers mate

Thank you for your good information

+Strengtheory Greg, bud. Watched the How To Squat vid last week. Awesome dude. You and Omar knocker the ole girl out of the park. Ended up buyin the Lifting Lyceum about 5 minutes into the video. I just started the squat program that comes with it and am lovin it. Thanks for putting so much thought and passion into your work man.

Hey Greg, I started a wendler 5/3/1 Programm 2 months ago, what's your take on this one? Do you think it's legit, or would a different program be more beneficial to me? Have been training upper/lower for a year before and got to a plateau on every lift. In total I've been training for 3 years, first year was mostly bodybuilding though..

Thanks for the vid Greg. So essentially you recommend periodizing splits and fullbody routines.

So the study was kind of set up to favor the benefits of high frequency since most subjects trained low frequency? I'm always going to advocate high frequency but that's an interesting point you made about cutting back frequency as one stalls. Keep the vids coming Nucks!

Awesome video Greg! thanks a lot for this, I think it may be time for me to dial back on the frequency for a bit, please keep 'em coming! :)

at 5:45 when you say you can ramp frequency back up, do you mean while dialing volume per session back as well (so you're back where you started with full body splits)? So essentially switching between the 2 split types back and forth when one plateaus?

Very usefull and meaningful tnx

Hi Greg, really interesting video. I was just curious, if training with greater frequency is better for getting bigger and stronger in general, why do you think it is that high volume six day a week split routines are so popular for bodybuilding? Are there other considerations that come into play if your goal isn't to improve on the powerlifting lifts, or do you think bodybuilders would also see better progress if they switched it up once in a while and tried full body training?

2 videos in 3 days.. Is this the comeback!? Would splitting a full body routine into an upper/lower or the opposite have much of an impact on performance over time?

In your 28 programs, how would i go about running bench and ohp as their own main lifts? Would running a seperate cycle for bench and ohp at the same time be too much pressing? eg. 2x/week bench and 2x/week ohp

love that poster. that book used to be my shit!!!!! good vid.

Greg is very intelligent and one heck of a super swell guy!

hey Strengthteory. I am trying out a programm vom Dr. Marco Toigo (muscel scientist at the ETH zürich) i have 4 days 1 legs day 1 back and biceps day, 1 chest and triceps day and 1 deadlift variation for oly lifts day) i tend to have 6-7 excercices for the back and chest and 1 for the arm and i only do 1 set of 6-9 reps but with at tempo of 4-2-4-0 until i cant even hold the wieght isometric. legs i use the german volume training (but 5 for front 5 for backsquat insteat of 10x10) Deadlift day is a bit different. whats your opinion on it? i train 4 days per week now.

+Strengtheory just wondering where you got your numbers for MPS for experienced lifters? You mentioned as little as 12-24 hours in this video, I tried finding a paper that dealt with MPS in experienced lifters and came up short. Can you lead me in the right path?

Great video thanks iv been watching Jason Gallant on uou tube he does high frequency low to medium volume might be worth a view

Wassup brotha man! Really big fan of your work. I was wondering if you had anyone in your network that geared their line of work towards stregnth training for a combat sport athlete. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

How do I know when I have "plateaud" I'm 17yrs old and having been on an Upper-Lower Body Routine for about a year and switch from strength and hypertrophy phases(increasing tonnage via reps) and have been able to add volume overtime. Does this mean that I should stay on this upper lower body routine until I literally can't add more volume. Or how can I determine when I should change frequency? Thanks.

Great video plus that beard is looking much better :P

great video Greg! when you set down that example,you said when you plateau in 3-4 frequency training,you should decrease frequency and up the volume,wouldn't it be better if you up the volume in those 3-4 sessions? you would still be getting higher frecuency aaand more volume split into 3-4 sessions which according to all your info,it tends to work best. Thanks for all the info you put out!

How much volume per body part would you recommend for your average trainee who has both size and strength goals on a full body routine? Either in sets per body part or working reps.

I was trying Lyle's mcdonald bulking routine (upper lower), but idk, i wasnt recovering well, then i change to 3 days on 1 off... and to be honest i kinda enjoy it better... is weird to even explain it... at least i can recover better... i hit chest arms.... legs.... back shoulders.... rest... repeat

So, would doing the full body version of your Average to Savage program possibly produce better progress? Or is it a matter of just doing it one way for awhile, then switching?

Hey Greg, can you make a video on scoliosis and lifting? How can one go about getting bigger and stronger with the imbalance that scoliosis causes?

Where the Wild Things are poster on the wall?

Very informative video. What would be your nr. 1 option if one had to pick a book about periodization? I'm currently considering buying Bompa's Periodization book or Issurin's Block Periodization, but if there are better options I would love to hear it!

when are u coming back?

but for beginners, which type of training will be more beneficial ? btw just subscribed. your knowledge is amusing. you are truly making people learn

This is interesting because you are saying that when you move onto a bro-split even though your per-week volume decreases, your per-session volume (per bodypart) rises, which obviously disrupts homeostasis more. What you're essentially saying is that the novelty of increased single session volume is more important than weekly volume to hypertrophy. Does this mean that you can somehow decrease the weekly volume required to make gains, while still making gains, by switching to a bro split program?

Hey Greg, an off topic question here I went for a sumo deadlift pr and found I have increased to 325 from 295 and I have been traning for 6 weeks following wendler but I'm thinking of switching to conventional because of my leverages r for it I haven't really trained conv like my sumo ever and I heard for beginners they should pull conv and I havnt now I don't kno how to switch over and what percentages to use for conv or if I should even switch. I just want to optimize my strength. Hope u can help. Thanks

I have been surfing your channel. Great content, I also noticed I couldn't comment on the oxygen mask video. Greetings from Pasto, Colombia. Can living at high altitude help with strength progression or does it mostly benefit endurance athletes?

Not sure what you record with, but provided it's a DSLR camera, I highly recommend a tripod. The distorted perspective from your camera being low makes it seem like we're in a Skype call. So if it's leveled with your head since you're only showing the shoulders up in your videos, it would look better. It will also stabilize your camera so when you put your hands down or whatever you did, it won't shake the camera. That's just some tips from a guy who loves working in Video Production, I enjoy your content so if there's anything I could offer as a subscriber to improve the quality of said content aside from spreading your videos, then I'm all for it. As far as relevance to the video, I appreciate all the hard work you put into them and I am glad to see you posting pretty frequently. I'm also a newish subscriber and I plan to be for a long time at this rate. Keep it up, man. Also if you were recording with a phone, disregard everything I said above :P

This is excellent Greg, particularly for those with strength goals in the short-term. However, lets say I am not going to compete for 4-6 months and want to spend 1-3 months doing purely hypertrophy with no need for periodization. Is there a practical guideline on how to structure hypertrophy only training? Say someone has 6-days to structure their training?

hey greg, love your videos and articles! i'm interessted in your view on wendlers 5/3/1, especially the advanced template (1. week: 5x5 75%, 2nd week: 5x3 85%, 3rd week: 5x1 95%) the rep scheme and the percentages look similar to some of your free strength programs. also interessted if somebody else has some experience with it. greetz

greg can you explain the int/adv squat in your 28 free programs a little more? I'm struggling with which weights to pick for the rpe day and am I supposed to set a PR on each "RM" day? thanks

You often read that consistency is key - constantly switching programme is detrimental to your progess. Since change is beneficial to progess, is the problem with switching simply because you would never get past the foundation weeks of any programme before starting the foundation weeks of a new programme, and therefore not benefit from the progression built in to the later weeks?

I've found that training for about a month and a half with Full Body Workouts, and then taking 2 weeks off before resuming my training, has given me the best results.

Upper/Lower Crew Checking In

woah mah dude greg the master of beardness is back and active

Are you from Virginia?

Hey Greg! Great video. I have a problem/question that I'm hoping you could give me some insight on. I cannot do heavy squats, over 185, and I cannot deadlift due to serious chronic back pain. I stick to split style training, because as you can imagine the only compound movement I can do is bench press so I have to do a lot of accessory type movements/machines. Would it even be beneficial for me to attempt a full body split and if I did would I be able to bench press every session? I really hate only being able to do one compound lift.

Brain hypertrophy 😍😍😍

Hi Greg. I really want to go into the profession of weightlifting coaching. I'm in the final year of an Accounting & Finance degree however so can't really afford to go back to university to study straight after this. I do a lot of reading (currently enjoying artscience and also Practical Strength Programming from Rippetoe,Pendlay etc) but I was wondering what qualifications are necessary and what the best academic route would be for me to start a career here. Thanks

Would this imply that per session volume IS important, to a degree? If so, what would you think the minimum would be?

I understand that Greg is trying to give a balanced take on the question of volume/intensity/frequency, but it left me confused, particularly those last comments about "novelty". It is hard to know what conclusions I should draw for myself. The body does continually adapt to changes in training. However, when you change how you train, don't you also run the risk of losing desirable adaptations you have already made? The range of possible modifications you can make is so vast. A strength athlete with exactly the same goals might conceivably train with a rep range of anywhere from 1x1 to 10x10. I am left with an entire universe of possibilities. And I only have a few years remaining to me in which to make more gains. Perhaps Greg is looking for some sort of unified theory of programming-- something that can reconcile all these conflicting principles. However, at this point, nothing even remotely like a unified theory exists as far as I am aware. For myself, I would like something a bit more practical and concrete--a specific "theory" about a specific aspect of programming that I can test out, if I find it compelling enough. Perhaps he has done this somewhere, but if so, I am unaware of it. To me it seems like he is wary of committing to anything terribly specific. *You're stalled out on your training? Well, you could try some different combination of volume....or intensity....or frequency....something like that ought to do the trick.* Very interesting stuff, but leaves me with little to go on. That said, I recognize there is a place for talking about unified theories.

Hows the cut going Greg ?

Full body is better imo. I'm not on steroids so I need to train body parts 2-3x a week instead of just once a week. But my overall volume is low so I prefer low volume with high frequency i.e. 5x5

Im really trying to watch and learn and all, but I keep getting lost in your eyes Greg.

Greg: Is this channel obsolete considering it's named after your old website?

hnnnggggg dat video frequency

This is the best answer to this question on YT, for sure

You train your nervous system the most

Please post graphs (arbitrary units okay) or other visual aids for your lectures. I understand and retain info much better that way. Else I have to watch your video 3-4x just to memorize the info presented. Great content, though.

Where the wild things are poster!

It all depends on the individual,genetics,lifestyle and how bad you want it,easy job done!

full is better but harder. if you want all your body to be sure. can take days of rest

I will say full body is more efficient for time lacking people. Like a person who cannot be certain to train 5 times per week....

where the wild things are

What's better: Full body, split routine or the new Star Wars? ....sorry, this is just the only place on the internet without Star Wars being mentioned so I got confused.

Couldn't the full body person just add another session rather than going back to a split? I thought that in science training volume was the biggest factor for growth and strength gainz?

nice 10 min stall!!

Except progressive overload disrupts.

Queshten

listen Leroy Colbert 😂

Just say 'Bulgarian Method' already haha

FIRST BIAAAATCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES

Sorry....Zzzzzzzzz

Lol, bro, 6 days split is where it's fat for aesthetics. Full body if you want to look like Jason Blaha.

I can't take advice from someone fatter than me lol

borrrring