A common question regarding exercising involves whether one should perform full-body workouts or routines focused on specific muscle groups. Search engines frequently feature blogs, articles and similar web pages arguing for either side, leaving one confused. Finding a definitive answer to this puzzle seems relatively critical for those who desire to exercise, as one could reasonably want to make the most of their exercise due to any number of circumstances. As such, this article intends to dissect the benefits and downsides of both types of routines to determine which type provides more benefits.
A reasonable place to begin research into this question comes from scientific research. Intriguingly enough, BioMed Central’s Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation Journal analyzed the differences in the side effects of both exercise styles and discovered no drastic difference between the types of routines. Participants undergoing a full-body workout twice a week showcased aptitudes on par with those who performed focused exercises four times a week. These results reveal how exercise routines act as different paths to the same destination and how both types of routines seem potentially indistinguishable from each other.
However, just because no statistical difference between these routines exists does not indicate a complete lack of differences. For example, a full body workout could take longer than focused exercises if one desires casual workouts instead of intense exercise. This may dissuade people from committing to these types of exercise routines if they lack the time to complete it, as seen in the BioMed Central study wherein a handful of participants dropped out from the experiment as they did not have the time to spare.
One may also want more focused workouts as they get older. The Harvard Medical School notes how exercises targeting one’s leg and thigh muscles become tantamount to maintaining health since one utilizes these groups frequently when performing everyday tasks like “squatting and climbing stairs”. While the Harvard Medical School specifically refers to people aged 30 years or older when commenting on the importance of leg muscles, this factoid showcases the crucial nature of workouts that focus on certain groups.
However, the most crucial aspect of this debate does not come from determining whether one type of exercise seems inherently worse than the other, but rather how one can utilize both types of routines to best suit their schedules and current potential. None of the realistic differences between either type of workout do not detract from the overall health benefits one can receive from exercise, which allows one to fine-tune exactly how they want to increase their health.
Sources:
https://bmcsportsscimedrehabil.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13102-022-00481-7 https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/building-better-muscle
