Train the Whole Body As One Piece!

"They aren't connected to the head. But the whole body grows from the head. The muscles and tendons hold the body together. And God causes it to grow." - Colossians 2:19

I'm posting the information below from one of Alwyn Cosgrove's recent blogs.

In some of my previous blogs, I talked about focusing on movement patterns and compound, multi-joint exercises to achieve a variety of fitness and fat loss goals. The information below reinforces what I said before. The study below proves that isolation exercises are not as beneficial compared to compound, multi-joint exercises.

All the talk about bodypart training versus full-body routines, isolation exercise versus compound exercise, etc. is based upon a fundamentally flawed concept: That hypertrophy is somehow completely regionally specific.

Here’s a study that examines this in a bit more detail:

Rogers et al.

The Effect of Supplemental Isolated Weight-Training Exercises on Upper-Arm Size and Upper-Body Strength

Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University, Muncie, IN.NSCA Conference Abstract (2000)

The researchers compared the effects of a weight training program on 5RM strength and arm circumference and divided the subjects into two groups.

Group One performed four compound upper body exercises.

Group Two used the same program but included bicep curls and triceps extensions.

The results showed that both groups significantly increased strength and arm size. However, the addition of direct arm training to group two produced no additional effect on strength or arm circumference after 10 weeks of training.

The additional localized training did not result in anything that the bigger compound exercises didn’t provide.

Let me present a hypothetical example:

Twin brothers eating the same diet and working at the same job. Three times a week for the next 52 weeks: Both brothers undertake a progressive resistance training program – each adding weight, sets or reps in a logical manner over the whole year.

One difference: The first brother does deadlifts only. The second brother does arm curls only.

After a year, who do you think will be bigger overall? Including bigger arms? Obviously, it will be the first brother who put more overall stress and load through his system. Even though he didn’t bend his elbow at all.

Charles Poliquin is fond of quoting that in order to gain an inch on your arm, you’d have to gain 15lbs of muscle mass. If that’s true, it will happen a lot sooner with an exercise like the deadlift than it will with the dumbbell curl.

Bottom line is that muscle growth is a systemic issue not a localized one. If I put a stress on the forearm only it would grow, of course, but there would be a limit to that as the systemic load is small. But if you performed deadlifts, the systemic load would be so big that everything would grow.

And when we think about anabolics or anything that can enhance muscle growth, they are injected or consumed into the system. You don’t inject steroids in equal amounts into every muscle group. You don’t rub Surge or another post-workout recovery drink on your arms. Increased protein synthesis is a systemic phenomenon.

Therefore why not develop training strategies that target the entire system at once if fat loss or hypertrophy is what we want?

Choosing the Right Exercises

"Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?"

- Job 6:12

To get the most out of your training, focus on compound, multi-joint exercises. Compound, multi-joint exercises use movements across two or more joints. These multi-joint exercises not only better imitate our natural movements but also work more muscles in the process.

All of the muscles and joints in our body are linked, so movement in one area will in some way affect the rest of our body. This is called the Kinetic Chain. As with any chain, it is only as strong as its weakest link, so by isolating one muscle you are making one link stronger than the rest of the chain. This will cause an imbalance and, therefore, dysfunction (which could present itself as pain).

In order to create optimal function, you need to ensure that all the links are as strong as each other. This will mean your body is in balance and functioning at its best. These compound, multi-joint movements will not only carry over more readily into everyday movements, but will also save you valuable gym time by working many muscles at the same time.

The use of single-joint, single muscle exercises is time consuming and usually calls for gym routines to be split into training a particular muscle group one day, and another the next and so on. By focusing on compound, multi-joint exercises, you can train more of your muscles in each training session with more frequency. These compound exercises are also proven to produce more strength gains than isolation exercises and burn more energy leading to better fat loss and increased muscle mass.

At Christian Athlete Fitness Training, we utilize training programs that focus on a variety of compound, multi-joint exercises such as:

Squats and their variations (front squats, back squats, overhead squats, etc.)
Deadlifts and their variations (Romanian deadlifts, goodmornings, etc.)
Bench presses and their variations (barbell and dumbbell flat or incline presses)
Chin-ups and Pull-ups and their variations (using a variety of grips and additional weight)
Rowing exercises and their variations (barbell rows, seated rows, dumbbell rows, body rows, etc.)
Overhead pressing exercises and their variations (barbell presses, dumbbell presses, etc.)
Explosive exercises and their variations (cleans, snatches, jerks, jump squats, lunge jumps, etc.)

We also utilize a variety of methods to accomplish our goals. We are not restricted to using only barbells and dumbbells. We also use odd objects in our training such as sandbags, kettlebells, sleds, car pushing, bodyweight exercises, bands, medicine balls, ropes and more!

Although the same basic movement patterns and exercises are used throughout all of our training sessions, we change implements in order to add variety and to make the workouts harder depending on our purpose.

Be sure to use compound, multi-joint exercises in your training, and you will get more bang for the buck.

According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of your results come from 20% of what you do. If you focus on using compound, multi-joint exercises for the majority of your training, you will achieve 80% of your muscle mass, fat loss, strength and other goals. The other 20% will come from the "special" exercises or other factors needed to get you to the 100%.