What’s a Full-Body Workout?

There’s not much guesswork here. A full-body workout is exactly what it sounds like - one session where you target all major muscle groups:

- Legs

- Arms

- Back

- Chest

- Shoulders

- Abs  

This type of workout aims to work all muscles equally and effectively stimulate muscle growth across the board. In contrast, a body part split workout hits select muscle groups—like back and biceps—only in one session. 

A full-body workout is perfect for practically anyone. Depending on the weight you choose to lift, you can use this workout to emphasize lean muscle or build strength and grow muscle.

As a new gym-goer, this exercise style is excellent for building a foundation where you can learn your body’s mechanics and sharpen your skills.

To be blunt—you can’t go wrong with a full-body workout. 

Beyond this initial introduction, a few key benefits may have you switching up your workout the next time you hit the gym. 

Benefits of a Full-Body Workout 

Whether you’re looking to optimize your time or make headway on your fitness goals, there are benefits for all when it comes to a full-body session.  

Saves You Time

Everyone’s looking to make the most of the scarce time they have on their hands. Not everyone can make it to the gym for an hour or five days a week.

Since whole-body routines require you to hit every major muscle group in one swoop, you need adequate rest between sessions for your muscles to recuperate. You’ll still get the anabolic response from your muscles that you’re looking for without going to the gym five days in a row.

Plus, by focusing on multi-joint exercises that work your whole body—like back squats and dumbbell thrusters—you can spend 30 minutes in the gym and feel the burn everywhere.

Stimulates More Muscle

This one’s a no-brainer. When doing a full-body workout, you’re working muscles all over, from the legs to the glutes, back, arms, and chest. You’re getting more bang for your buck and building an overall stronger body.

The key here is to incorporate full-body movements instead of performing one isolated exercise per muscle group. Before you know it, you’ll notice that you feel stronger all over and look it too.

Maximizes Calorie Burn

Great news for all you calorie-burning fanatics: if you’re searching for another way to burn calories quickly that doesn’t involve a dreaded treadmill, a 30-minute full-body workout will help you do just that.

When muscle groups work together to perform a compound movement—like a kettlebell swing, for example—it requires more energy and increases your heart rate, stimulating calorie burn. This isn’t the case when solely working back and biceps. 

So not only does this style of workout stimulate more muscles, but it maximizes your calorie burn, too. It’s the best of both worlds.

How to Optimize Your Full-Body Workout 

You only have so many hours in the day but still want an efficient workout. A full-body training session is your solution if you know how to make the most of it.

The main thing to focus on with this workout is performing compound movements. These are exercises that work various muscle groups at the same time, such as:

- Barbell deadlifts

- Back squats

- Kettlebell swings

- Barbell bench press

- Dumbbell goblet squats

The list goes on, but be sure to complete exercises targeting multiple core muscle groups. Based on your goals, you can do heavier weight with lower reps to build muscle or low to moderate weight with higher reps to tone them.

Recovery is another essential factor in optimizing a full-body workout. Since many muscles are exhausted during a session, rest days between workouts are ideal to allow your body enough time to recover and repair.

Starting this new style of working out can be exciting, but one last thing to remember is the importance of proper form and technique. This prevents injury and maximizes each exercise’s effectiveness.

For help along the way, you can work with one of our Fit Factory trainers to get you up and running toward your epic goals.

Get Moving 

Now that you’ve got an idea of what exactly a full-body workout is and how to make the most of one, nothing’s stopping you from giving it a go!

Remember compound movements are your best friend, recovery between sessions is essential, and you don’t have to dedicate more than 30 minutes to a session. It’s as simple as that, and of course, we’re here to help if you need us!