Compoud or Split

[NotBigNuf]

Ive heard soo many different things from too many people, people with quality experiance, personal trainers, old school trainers etc etc

So i pretty much wanna know whats the best program for me to gain wieght get bigger. im 62kg, 7% body fat, 175ck tall

I dont want this to turn into an argument thread all i wanna know is:
What u do?
Have you done both?
which did you see most results?

please vote and thankyou

 

[NPR]

Split style training took me from 78kg - 92kg. I could only bench 105, squat 145, deadlift 160 and MP around 65. WEAK!

Compounds took me from 92-110kg. I can now bench 145, squat 190, deadlift 230 and military press 95kg.

I'm now 108 and leaner than I was at 92, I look a million times bigger. I never train body parts I just train lifts and make sure I have a balanced program

 

[Kyle Aaron]

First up, you are mixing up terms.

Compound exercises are those where two or more joints move, eg bench press (shoulder and elbow) and squat (hip and knee).

Isolation exercises are those where only one joint moves, eg curls (elbow) and leg extensions (knee).

Full-body routines are where the person trains everything in one workout - eg bench press, squat and deadlifts combined with 30 minutes on the treadmill. But usually people saying "full-body" will mean just resistance training, not cardio stuff.

Split routines are where one aspect or part is trained on different days, eg fullbody resistance training on Mon/Wed and cardio on Tues/Thurs. However, usually when people here speak of "split" routines they mean splitting the weight training up, eg Monday chest/shoulders/tris, Wednesday back/biceps, Friday legs.

Isolation exercises commonly go with split routines, otherwise you'd just have one or two exercises in a workout.

Now, as to me... years ago when I did it I did lots of isolation exercises and compounds both. I got routines from Flex magazine and didn't really understand them, so there were 8 exercises for biceps and 12 for chest and 11 for legs, well I did them all. Used to spend 3-4 hours in the gym. I grew a lot - for three months or so, then stopped. I wound it back and did isolation stuff, didn't increase much in strength or size. The training was broken up a lot by work, though.

Then this year I went in and got given a routine of isolation exercises, I did them and grew, but not much. However I could barely remember all the exercises and had to keep waiting for machines and things so didn't have much intensity.

Then I switched to my own routine, did compounds for my upper body and not for my legs, since all the leg compounds involve your lower back, too, and that's a problem for me. So I did isolation work for legs. My upper body grew and my legs didn't. Then I said, "fuk it" and did compounds for legs, and now they're growing.

Fact is, in the first three months or so of training an unfit and weak person, almost anything works if they do it hard and stick to it. It's just such a shock to your body that you're actually training it that it responds. After that... compounds for a couple of years. After that, well it depends on the person's goals.

 

[PTC]

Plenty of lifters have built stacks of muscle using either routine.

There is no right or wrong.

The key is the effort, not the program.

 

[Fadi]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: weights, exercises, programs, and all that is in between are tools in our hands to manipulate to suite our needs at the time.

Ask Kyle in his capacity as a chef about food ingredients: would it be better he had all the ingredients from which he could choose from, or would he rather stick to a selected few and make the best he could with that?

I'd say a holistic approach to training would be best. After all, no human being is made up of only one system or one type of muscle fiber or one anything; we are a bit of everything.

A quick example is in order here: a weightlifter gets very strong and powerful whilst using a particular set of repetitions, and they not 10 or 20, but 1-5. Now how can this weightlifter become fit to be able to handle huge weights without suffering a heart attack in the process? By employing different types of training to serve that purpose of getting fit, (like a weightlifting circuit for example). In other words, there's a time and place for everything.

Unfortunately what you have today is that some elite bodybuilders would tell you that one type of training is superior to another type of training. What these bodybuilders fail miserably in telling you is the fact they employed all different sort of training as they were coming up the ladder of muscle kingdom. You see him doing his 20 reps and he swears by them; or you'll see him doing his 4-8 reps and telling you that nothing under the sun did it better for him. Both these bodybuilders did before what the other is doing now and won't admit it unless honest enough.

Fadi? You name it; I did it. Period.

Nothing like a mixed and colourful salad. Why limit your options when you can expand on them instead!


Fadi.

 

[jboy]

I prefer to do compound exercises and have seen the most growth by using them. I think it has to do the body having a more synergistic effect ( all muscles working together) and you also use moreof your inner core stabilisers. I think you will build a far better base to start on and then maybe add in some isolation excersises to tweak body parts

 

[Josh_GTiR]

If you are 7% bodyfat, to put on weight you simply have to EAT and LIFT. If you are a beginner, you will blow up quick. I would recommend compound lifts, something like a 5x5 or starting strength?

At 62kg, you could put on a heap of mass in a short period of time. Eating is more important than lifting at this point to achieve your goals.

 

[modo]

i would say compunds, i wanna do a compounds routine again i liked it.

 

[Josh_GTiR]

I don't know how I ended up posting twice.

 

[Mikasadan]

""Plenty of lifters have built stacks of muscle using either routine.

There is no right or wrong.

The key is the effort, not the program""

Spot on, try to keep it simple for yourself. try some different things then ask yourself...

What u do?
Have you done both?
which did you see most results?

Here's yet some more advice...

Compound lifts in a split routine... sounds good.

Try:

Split #1 - Back, abs,calves
Split #2 - Legs, abs,calves
split# 3 - Chest, shoulders,arms,abs,calves
Split#4 - REST

back;Chin ups,Pull downs,rows,Deadlifts
Legs; squats,squats,squats,deadlifts
Chest; bench press (incline,flat decline, bbell & dbell)
delts; press ohead (seated,standing, bbell & dbell)

as for me...

What u do? Always train hard and vary routines every 8-12 weeks
Have you done both? see kyles post
which did you see most results? imo (i prefer) 3 sets of 4-6 per exerz, 4 exerz per body part for size and strength gains. LIFT HEAVY WEIGHT OFTEN and EAT to enable you to do it again.


MD

 

[Josh_GTiR]

Why so much abs and calves?

I haven't done any ab work for a while, though since I am only doing compounds they are getting stronger and becoming more pronounced. I was surprised by this at first, but it makes perfect sense.

That split #3 looks hectic!

 

[Morgan]

I (like most) started on a full body routine, got results, then thought I would do a 3 day split routine and I got results, now I've ditched that and gone back to a full body workout 3x per week

Full body > ALL in my opinion.

 

[Mikasadan]

Why so much abs and calves?

I haven't done any ab work for a while, though since I am only doing compounds they are getting stronger and becoming more pronounced. I was surprised by this at first, but it makes perfect sense.

That split #3 looks hectic!

I do calves every workout, they are the hardest muscle to build so they need the most work, Abs i was basically reffering to some crunches etc, I usually do them between sets, keep the blood flowing and keeps your recovery times consistent. You are absoulutely correct, compound excercises such as squats incorperate the core muscles activated easily enough to fullfill the work needed for them, IMO (only) i dont do any weighted work for abs specifically.

Split 3 hectic? Why so? Chest (2-3) and Shoulders (2-3) thats 6 sets.. throw in a set of curls and a set of tris', some crunches and of course ye olde calve raises and your as good as done.

MD

 

[Josh_GTiR]

Well you didn't list specifically what excersizes you were doing. I just saw the list and thought, man that is hitting alot given the fact you do isolation work?

 

[Shrek]

Splits with emphasis on compounds.

 

[Rugby88]

Splits with emphasis on compounds.

This.

I dont know why people think there is a difference - split, no split, 3 days a week, 2 days a week, 6 days a week - always include some compound movements.

Just build your program around them.

i.e

Legs -

Squats
Leg press
lunges
Leg extension
Hamstring curl

Back -

Deadlifts
Barbell row
DB row
seated row
Lat pulldown

Shoulders -

Mil press
DB press
Lateral raise
Rear delt raise
Shrug

Chest -

Bench
Incline bench
DB Bench
Dips
Flys

 

[Bradders]

It's really not that complicated is it... couple of compound movements and a couple of iso movements splitwise

 

[spartacus]

http://www.ergo-log.com/high-frequency-training-low-frequency-training.html

Does not really matter; work muscle and rest as necessary

 

[zygote404]

I'm at the gym 6 days a week since I work there. So I can easily afford to do a 6 day 2 muscles per workout high intensity split while if I was working in my old job doing security nights I would probably be doing a moderate 3 or 4 day split. IMO the main thing is to retrain every muscle you want to grow before it returns to your pre-workout baseline strength and size and not what kind of split you use, and to avoid retraining it too soon.

Edit: regarding compound or isolated exercises I prefer compound bench, squats, deadlifts, dips, barbell curls etc. Can do more for less time with compounds imo.

 

[JazDSpaz]

Ive heard soo many different things from too many people, people with quality experiance, personal trainers, old school trainers etc etc

So i pretty much wanna know whats the best program for me to gain wieght get bigger. im 62kg, 7% body fat, 175ck tall

I dont want this to turn into an argument thread all i wanna know is:
What u do?
Have you done both?
which did you see most results?

please vote and thankyou

You wanna get bigger eat craploads of food, heavy squats, deads, bench and ohp, 3 times a week and plenty of rest.