If you want to tone up, trim your waistline, strengthen your core and become stronger while burning off fat, this strength training article is for you.
If you aren’t 100% certain that lifting weights is helping you get the body you want, then you should definitely read this article.
If you need to get in shape in the fastest time possible but your strength training workout consists mostly of training specific body parts i.e. arms and core, then you NEED to read this article.
This article will teach you the difference between Body Part Strength Training and Full Body Strength Training.
Learning how to do full body strength training will be the most significant change that you can make to your workout programs to get you the fastest results in the shortest time possible.
What is Body Part Strength Training?
If your lifting sessions target just one or two specific muscle groups each session, then you are doing body part strength training.
Examples of Body Part Strength Routines:
Example #1
After your cardio, you hit the weight room to work “arms” and “core”.
Example #2
This typical strength training session could look something like this:
Lat Pull Down Machine: 3 Sets of 15
Bicep Curls: 3 Sets of 15
Chest Fly Machine: 3 Sets of 15
Triceps Kickbacks: 3 Sets of 15
Crunches: 3 Sets of 15
Bicycle Crunches: 3 Sets of 15
Example #3
If you are a more experienced gym goer, it might look something like this:
Monday: Back and Biceps Day
Tuesday: Cardio & Core
Wednesday: Chest and Triceps Day
Thursday: Cardio and Core
Friday: Leg Day
Saturday: Cardio & Core
Although body part focused weightlifting is common, it’s a time-waster for most of the people I meet. Like you, the people who are attracted to my program are very busy and don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to exercise. Yet, you still want to get remarkable results from the time you invest in training, right?
Here are a few reasons why body part training isn’t working for you:
First, it’s very time-consuming to do: it requires 3-5 days a week of strength training plus another 2-3 days a week of cardio. To get the benefits of this type of workout program you would need to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week in the gym.
Second, it’s not making a significant contribution to fat loss. Single joint movements, like bicep curls, won’t create a great enough energy expenditure to help you burn stubborn body fat. Simply put, you could spend an hour in the gym doing body part strength training and not see any body fat reduction.
Third, it creates excessive soreness that can make it very hard to get through daily tasks. This is because in order to stimulate the individual muscle group to grow, you have to train it to failure. This “failure” goal of training creates a great deal of isolated muscle soreness and stiffness for 2-3 days after each workout. Being stiff or sore all the time will make you more likely to skip workouts or just give up altogether.
There is a better way to use weights to help you burn fat, tone up, become stronger, flatten your tummy, and get the body you want. It’s full body strength training. I’ve been using the ‘Full-Body-Five’ with my clients successfully for years and the results are amazing!
The ForeverStrong Guide to Full Body Strength Training
Instead of working out individual muscle groups, we strategically use exercises that require as many muscles as possible to work together to lift the weight. This means that we design a workout based on movement, not muscles. This results in an incredibly easy weight lifting method that works for busy people.
Compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and pull-ups require more muscle groups to engage and work together in order to perform the lift. This requires a greater amount of effort to execute the lift and results in an increased amount of work performed during the workout.
A full body strength training workout utilizes many muscle groups at a time to perform ALL 5 of the following functional movements EVERY session. Use this list as your workout guide:
1.) An Upper Body Push
(Examples: Kettlebell Overhead Press, Bench Press, Pushups)
2.) A Upper Body Pull
(Examples: Chin-ups, Bent Row, Inverted or Suspended Row)
3.) A Lower Body Pull (or hinge)
(Examples: Deadlift, Hip-Bridges or Thrusters, Kettlebell Swing)
4.) A Lower Body Push
(Examples: Squats, Step Ups, Lunges)
5.) A Tension Drill or Carry
(Examples: Hard-style Planks, Farmer’s Walks, Turkish Getups)
If your workout included one exercise from each category above, you have a complete full body strength training workout. At ForeverStrong, we call this the ‘Full-Body-Five’.
7 Surprising Benefits of Full Body Strength Training:
- Fewer individual exercises means shorter workouts. When you’re short on time, you can get more work done in less time, because you’re multi-tasking your workout instead of single-tasking.
- Create lean body mass faster. Full body workouts can build more muscle by targeting any given muscle group at almost every workout. This creates a greater demand on the muscles to repair, rebuild and improve more frequently than body part workouts.
- Become stronger. If your goal is to become functionally stronger, movements that require you to use more weight will help you get stronger. Compound movements that are “heavy” require more major muscle groups to execute. After just a few weeks of full body workouts, everyday tasks like picking up heavy items from the ground and carrying them will become easier.
- Burn more calories in less time. When major muscle groups work together in compound exercises, like swings and squats, a greater energy demand is placed on your metabolism than isolation exercises like bicep curls. Simply put, it takes more energy to require lots of big muscles to work together than it does to work smaller muscles isolated in one location. More energy expended equals more calories burned.
- Reduce risk of straining muscles and/or becoming excessively sore. With body part training, in order to get enough work to stimulate the muscle to grow, you need to train the muscle to failure. This causes severe microtrauma to the muscle and results in extreme post-workout soreness. You will not have time to do as many repetitions of each exercise during a full body body workout as you do during a body part workout, so you are less likely to over-train muscles. This also prevents repetitive stress injuries that can occur when you only work one area of the body over and over.
- Strengthen your core. Performing full body movements requires core engagement during every lift. This means that each and every movement you do is activating your abs, glutes, pelvic floor muscles and helping them get stronger. Your entire core is being worked without having to do extra crunches.
Before You Begin
Ready to get started? There are a few considerations when beginning a full-body strength program.
Make sure you invest time in learning the proper form. Lifting heavier weights requires skill and takes time for you to become proficient. Look for a coach who focuses on technique, not just hard work.
The process of learning compound movements could expose dysfunctional movement patterns. This sounds bad, but it’s actually a good thing. If you have limited range of motion in some joints, undiscovered orthopedic issues, or your strength is not balanced, compound movements will expose these deficiencies. In these cases, a corrective movement strategy can supplement your workout routine to help you improve the quality of your movements, reduce your risk of injury and help you reach your goals faster.
Want More Results in Less Time? Use the ForeverStrong Full-Body-Five Method, an Incredibly Easy Weight Lifting Method That Works
If you need to get into shape, become stronger, fitter, have more muscle tone, trim inches from your waistline and strengthen your core in the fastest time possible but don’t have a lot of time in your schedule for exercise, start a full body workout program.
Learn how to safely perform compound movements with weights like Deadlifts, Goblet Squats, Inverted Rows, Pushups, and Turkish Getups.
Design your workouts with big movements and forget about which muscle group you are working. Create every workout using the ForeverStrong Full-Body-Five method: an upper body “push”, an upper body “pull”, a lower body “push”, a lower body “pull” and a tension drill or carry.
The ForeverStrong Full-Body Five method is one of three breakthrough components of the ForeverStrong Fitness Formula. For more information about how to finally achieve the body you’ve always wanted with ForeverStrong call us at 301-452-5547 to schedule a complimentary consultation. We’ve helped hundreds of people in Marriottsville, Turf Valley, Waverly Woods, Woodmark, West Friendship, Eldersburg, Sykesville, Woodstock, Cooksville, Ellicott City, Mt. Hebron, Clarksville, Fulton, Laurel, Burtonsville, Highland, Silver Spring, Columbia, Ellicott City, Glen Elg, and we’d love to help you too.
