Why don't bodybuilders just do full body routines?

Jesus H. Sherdog said:
Some do full body routines. It’s especially popular with natural bodybuilders. The 3DMJ group is especially known for this, and they focus on natural bodybuilding and powerlifting.

But other than that professional bodybuilders don’t miss workouts, so that’s not an issue.

I like a PPL split best because doing full body I feel like I need more time warming up each body part. But I also do full body workouts for some training cycles, especially if I’m doing a strongman competition.
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Full Body is great if natty.
 
Ogata said:
I mean they can ease up on the load until they build their nervous system to handle the pressure + focus on deep sleep and recovery. I would imagine you can still build muscle with full body routine if you choose correct set rep and intensity to go with proper diet and recovery protocols.
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Yes you CAN build muscle with full body, but it's not optimal if your goal is pure bodybuilding. It's still a very underrated imo, especially for naturals and people who aren't after maximizing muscle mass gains and want a more "balanced" approach to training(mix of strength-muscle).
 
It's pretty simple. Full body workouts are usually more taxing and less specific if your only goal is hypertrophy. Having a high frequency and splitting body parts up allows bodybuilders to A- devote more time to address specific muscles and weak points and B- increase the volume on individual muscles without worrying about fatigue carrying over from other exercises.

That doesn't mean that full body workouts aren't great, especially if you only have 2-3 days a week to go to the gym or you have multiple goals. I've seen some of my best results physique wise on full body routines, but it took a few years before I knew how to effectively manage my fatigue. Also, I don't want to be in the gym >5 days a week.
 
Loiosh said:
Don't you find that these days cardio is driving less skilled fighters through guys who are arguably better?
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Personally, I regard skill as still being the most important factor. But you're right, of course. Sometimes the more skilled fighter will gas and his opponent will take advantage. However, by definition that means the less skilled fighter has to take punishment until his opponent is running on fumes. So it's a risky strategy.
 
Ogata said:
It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.
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Also, who did you mean by bodybuilders? If we're talking IFBB pro's, full body is inadequate for their goals, and my first replystands, if we're talking regular gym bros than you're totally right and more people should do it, and it would also help with toothpick legs pandemic.
 
Loiosh said:
Don't you find that these days cardio is driving less skilled fighters through guys who are arguably better?
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I think Frank Shamrock showed how a well-conditioned athlete can weaponize cardio.
 
Out of everything I've tried, full body has given me the best results in terms of strength and muscle gains. I've never taken steroids though so I think that's a factor.
 
Ogata said:
It seems like an overcomplication + if you miss a day of split routine, it can through you off kilter. George Eiferman did a full routine, and he was pretty jacked.

I would imagine its better for cardio since you are working the entire body and also it allows you to see which muscles are weaker than others and work towards balancing it out.

Yet everywhere in the weight lifting and fitness circles, they try to sell you split routine as superior method.
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Some do full body routines.
Some do, but depends on which training program they are on.

For those that don't, a multitude of reasons.
1. Recovery time differs for the different body parts. You would potentially be under training certain parts and over training (under recovering) others.
2. Time in the gym could be too long.
3. Run out of energy mid-session. Even if the muscle groups are different, after doing 500 pound squats and 600 pound leg presses, your bench will be underperformed.

Finally, in the training circles they are not only talking about split methods. A number of specialists talk about full body routine benefits, when to do it, and how to do it.
 
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