If you're a beginner, doing 3 full-body workouts per week will work all of your muscles often enough for you to build muscle as fast as possible, and having a day (or two) of rest between your workouts will give your body a chance to recover.
A 3-day full body workout is the most effective way to target all muscle groups without spending all week at the gym. You probably have a busy schedule that does not allow you to devote several hours, 6 days a week exercising.
While a full-body workout training split has its advantages, it's best not to do it every day. It's important that your muscles have adequate rest and recovery time to prevent overtraining. So, if you prefer a full-body workout training split, keep it to 2-3 workouts per week for the best results.
The main goal of a full-body workout is to target all of your muscle groups to efficiently and effectively promote muscle growth. Whether you're a bodybuilder of any level, are underweight, or want to build muscle following an injury or illness, a total-body workout can help you gain muscle and strength.
Full-body workouts generally yield a higher total energy expenditure per session (i.e., you burn more calories). It's no big deal if you miss a workout. If you train three times per week and miss one workout, you've already worked all of your muscle groups twice.
You don't have to follow a professional bodybuilders 5-days a week workout routine to build a solid, strong and muscular physique. In fact, if you are a novice, beginner, or just weight training for general fitness, you'd most likely benefit best by training only 3 days per week.
While full-body workouts have a wide range of benefits, a split workout regimen may be the best choice if your goal is to increase mass. Because a split workout allows for increased intensity, volume, and recovery time for each muscle group, it is more conducive to building muscle mass.
A training frequency of once a week will get you bigger muscles, but research as highlighted below shows that a training frequency of 2-3 times per week is more effective in reaching this goal.
Specifically, rest is essential for muscle growth. Exercise creates microscopic tears in your muscle tissue. But during rest, cells called fibroblasts repair it. This helps the tissue heal and grow, resulting in stronger muscles.
Most beginners will see noticeable muscle growth within eight weeks, while more experienced lifters will see changes in three to four weeks. Most individuals gain one to two pounds of lean muscle per month with the right strength training and nutrition plan.
High protein foods are very important for gaining muscle, but carbohydrates and fats are also necessary sources of energy. If your goal is to gain lean muscle, you should focus on exercising regularly and eating more calories each day from muscle building foods.
A typical full-body workout of 3 sets x 10 reps of 8-10 exercises with 45-60 seconds rest between sets, if performed correctly, should take approximately 45-60 minutes.
By using a full-body workout routine, you can keep muscle protein synthesis elevated all week long, even with a limited number of sessions per week. This leads to increased muscle growth – also known as hypertrophy.
There is nothing wrong with only training 2 or 3 times a week, and most of the research shows that this is the perfect amount for most adults. As I mentioned, you should strive to lift weights 3 times a week, but if you can only make it twice, you will still get most of the benefits.
“We're all individual in our make-up, thus the rate at which we see changes to our body will be different in each person.” That being said, Hughes explained that if you stick to your workout regime and you're training between three and five times a week, you can expect to see results within a month or two.
Recover to rebuild
If your goals are more aesthetic than athletic, or if you're racking up weights that make the barbell buckle, full-body routines can become problematic. The higher your training volume the more recovery time you need. If you're hitting the same muscles hard every two days you hamper growth.
Current research indicates that three primary mechanisms are involved in exercise-related muscle growth: muscle tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress (Schoenfeld 2010). Muscle tension. Tension exerted on muscles during resistance exercise is generally considered the most important factor in muscle development.
To increase strength and power, the best rest period is 2-5 minutes between sets. To increase hypertrophy (muscle growth), the best rest period is 30-90 seconds between sets. To increase muscular endurance, the best rest period is 30 seconds or less between sets.