Full Body Or Split Routines?

There are dozens of ways you can set up a resistance training routine. But generally speaking, they can be categorised into one of two types:

• A full-body routine where each muscle group is hit at every session
• A split routine where each muscle group has a dedicated workout day (e.g., chest day, back day, shoulder day, etc)

Although split routines are very popular with gym goers and social media influencers alike, I still think distributing weekly volume over the week is a better idea for the majority of people versus trying to cram it into one session by training splits.  

For one thing, how many hard sets can you really do for one muscle group before your performance starts to take a hit?

Let’s assume you’re a fairly trained lifter who needs to do 15 sets per muscle group per week. How many of those 15 sets are really going to be productive? Maybe the first 3-5? The remaining sets are just being done for the sake of getting your weekly volume in. On the other hand, if you distributed those same 15 sets over two weekly sessions, the workload is more manageable and this will translate to higher quality sets..

Here’s an example to help illustrate the above. 

15 sets completed in one session:

• Bench press – 5 sets
• Incline DB press – 5 sets
• Cable fly – 5 sets

15 sets completed over two sessions:

• Workout A
  • Bench press – 4 sets
  • Cable flye – 3 sets
• Workout B
  • Incline DB press – 4 sets
  • Pec Dec – 3 sets

Which of the above do you think is going to lend itself to a more productive session? In the first example, where you’re doing 15 sets in one workout, you’ll likely be fatigued by the time you’ve completed the bench press. And you won’t be able to push as hard in the second and third exercises. 

Compare this to the second example where you spread this volume over two sessions. Because volume is better distributed, each session will be of higher quality.

The second problem is time. Most people can’t spend hours training. If you’re trying to cram 15 sets in one workout and resting adequately between sets to ensure you’re fully recovered for the next set, you might end up training close to 2 hours. And if you try to cut rest periods too short, you’ll likely see a drop in performance because you’re not recovered between sets.

Finally, a higher training frequency can help reduce muscle soreness. If you’re only training a muscle group once per week, you’re going to be sore each time you train which, other than making you hate your life, could negatively impact your performance at the following session. For instance, if you trained chest on Monday and are still experiencing crippling soreness by the time you train shoulders a few days later, the discomfort may prevent you from pushing hard enough to see progress.

In any case, many roads lead to Rome as they say, and the important things to consider are your individual needs, goals, and what makes the most sense for you. Ultimately, ‘optimal’ in research may not be optimal or practical in real life. Do what you can stick to and be consistent. Those two things matter more than anything else.

Building Muscle – How Much Can I Gain?

It’s not uncommon to find people claiming unrealistic amounts of “muscle gain”, especially on social media.

I once saw a Herbalife rep claim that he gained 8lb of muscle in a single month, and, more recently, a personal trainer claiming that one of their clients gained 15lbs of muscle in just 8 weeks 🤦‍♀️

Building muscle (naturally) is a slow process, even under optimal conditions with plenty of factors (such as genetics) dictating potential.

Optimal conditions for a natural lifter would involve:

🔸 Heavy weight training whilst providing progressive overload
🔸 Dialled in nutrition, consuming adequate protein and a small calorie surplus. (Supplementation, such as creatine, can be beneficial for some).
🔸 Making sure you recover with plenty of sleep (easier said than done 🙈).
🔸 Training consistently.
🔸 Having bloody great genetics and being a high responder, (especially for those looking for the higher end gains each month).

If you were to apply all of the above, then you could expect the rough estimates of muscle growth shown in the inphographics below, which are probably the lower end of the spectrum for most people.

It’s important to realise that, unless under exceptional conditions, most people won’t be gaining the upper end every single month. But an absolute beginner under correct training (and nutrition) protocol can still expect to gain quite a lot of muscle in their first year. Some people call this “newbie gains”, since the person in question has only just tapped into their source of potential. As you become more experienced, it becomes a lot harder to gain muscle.

For those that claim they have gained an unrealistic amount of muscle, (let’s say 15lbs in 8 weeks 👀), then there are a few possibilities. Firstly, they may be making the mistake of basing their progress on their overall weight change, which doesn’t take into account that our body weight can fluctuate dramatically due to a multitude of reasons. The second most obvious, (and most probable), answer is that they are just shitting liars. The other reason that comes to mind is the elephant in the room, which is steroids.

If your goal is to gain lean muscle, (and for the majority of people it should be), don’t get disheartened by unrealistic claims made on social media. Consistently put in the effort, trust the process, and the gains will come 💪

Take The Leap

Yesterday, despite my initial reservations (and following some “gentle” persuasion from friends and colleagues 😆), I took myself completely out of my comfort zone and tried a Pole Fitness class with LAPD Pole Fitness! 

To say I enjoyed it would be an understatement! This sport is so much fun, albeit much harder than it looks, and a great way to improve strength, endurance and flexibility all in the same workout. 

More than anything though, taking this class reminded me that although a good workout plan combined with good nutrition and hydration are crucial, the most important ingredient to fitness is FUN. 

If you are not enjoying you’re current training regime, then why are you doing it? Try something new.. you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Satisfying That Sweet Tooth..

Everyone that knows me knows I have an exceptionally sweet tooth, and so it comes as no surprise that I often wake up wanting cake or chocolate for breakfast.. and today was no exception 😆

Thankfully, these super quick and easy (reduced carb) fluffy pancakes take minutes to make and always satisfy my urge to stack, drizzle and eat.. not to mention that damn sweet tooth 😜 

Ingredients (Serves 2): 

* 1 banana

* 30g coconut flour

* 3 large eggs

* 125ml egg whites

* 1/4 tsp baking powder 

* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

* Handful dark chocolate chips (optional) 

* Coconut oil (or oil of choice) for cooking

* Toppings of choice (maple syrup, toasted seeds, fruit, nut butter, Greek yoghurt and choc shot all work well)

Method:

1. Blend all of the ingredients, (with the exception of the chocolate chips and toppings, if using), in a blender (I used my NutriBullet). 

2. Gently stir in the chocolate chips (if using). 

3. Heat a greased pan or griddle over a low heat. 

4. Add the pancake mixture to egg rings or free hand small pancakes into the pan. 

5. Cook the pancakes over a low heat.. you will need to be patient here! Flip the pancakes when almost completely set and slowly cook the other side. 

6. Top, eat and enjoy! 😋 

Things you SHOULD NOT do when you want to improve your figure!

Drastically cut your calories – either from following the latest ‘fad diet’ or from generally just eating a lot less. These courses of action are likely to cause all sorts of complications.. such as lack of energy and fatigue, making simple daily activities far more difficult. Your metabolism is likely to drop at a drastic rate too, which will result in your body burning fewer calories throughout the day. In addition, any weight you do lose is unlikely to be body fat, and far more likely to be water and muscle mass. So, although you may see an initial drop in scale weight, you will not actually be losing any body fat, and will, instead, be reducing your lean muscle mass, which is, essentially, your main ‘calorie burner’. This would not only prove to be bad for your health overall, it would ruin your figure.. no-one wants to be ‘skinny fat’, and you cannot have definition or ‘tone’ without increasing lean muscle!

Cut out an entire food group – by this I mean “avoiding carbs” or “going low fat”. This is often the first thing people think of when they say they have to “lose weight” and it really isn’t necessary or good for you! Each food group serves a purpose. Carbs are our main source of energy, and given that fruit and veg are carbs, they can also be packed full of vital vitamins and minerals. So no, there’s absolutely no reason to overly restrict or eliminate all carbs from your diet. Then we have fat, fats are needed by our body to absorb vitamins A, D, E and K, and are also key to maintaining healthy cells. So again, there is absolutely no need to eliminate or drastically reduce this particular food group, especially fats coming from nuts, seeds, avocados and oily fish.

Do excessive amounts of cardio – there is no need to spend two hours on a treadmill every single day. There are much more effective ways of burning fat, such as high intensity interval training and weight training. Workouts like these will raise your metabolism not only during your workout but post workout too, meaning your body will continue to burn calories at a higher rate hours after your workout has finished! Sure, if you enjoy doing cardio, you shouldn’t stop, but I’d always advise picking up some form of weight training as this will help strengthen your muscles, help prevent injury as well as improving your figure!

Make too many changes too soon – drastic changes to your lifestyle will be hard to maintain. There is no need to live a deprived and restricted lifestyle just because you want a better figure. You simply have to set yourself realistic goals and create habits that are both achievable and sustainable. You will not be able to create your dream figure overnight, and it may take quite a while until you are truly happy with what you see in the mirror. This is why it is important for you to enjoy what you eat as well as enjoy the exercise you do. You need to create a journey you want to be on, not a journey where you dread every step.. creating a healthier lifestyle is not a punishment!

Break The Stereotype

Ladies, what are you frightened of?

Weight lifting for many women can be an extremely daunting prospect, despite its well documented benefits… not least, feeling healthier, moving pain-free and quite simply looking good in the buff! So, why don’t more women prioritise pumping iron? 

In the past, I was a self-confessed cardio queen, and would shudder at the thought of picking up a weight heavier than 5kg! Completing hours upon hours of cardiovascular training and going through phases of getting skinnier but losing my curves, or acquiring too many curves and never getting to a place of being entirely happy with my appearance… oh how I wish I knew then what I know now! 

Your SIZE will be dictated by your DIET, but it is your training that will determine your SHAPE! For a lean body with curves in all the right places, you need a combination of diet and training. None of this 80% diet 20% training nonsense, BOTH diet and training are equally as important. With the risk of over simplifying, when you diet you lose fat and muscle mass, which is why you lose your curves yet end up with a jiggly bottom no matter how skinny you get (especially if you are older than your mid-twenties). By incorporating resistance training while being in a calorie deficit, you will maximize your fat loss while minimizing muscle loss, with the end result being all the right curves in all the right places.  

But what about cardiovascular training? On the same basis as diet, cardiovascular training will help to dictate your size by burning more calories, but will do very little to define your shape. “I don’t want to get bulky” is a phrase I hear all too often, and my response is always the same… you won’t! Women do not produce enough testosterone, (a key muscle building hormone), to build the same muscle size, strength, density and hardness of their male counterparts. This response is usually followed by “but what about the female bodybuilders?” and again, my answer is always the same, in that the majority of top female bodybuilders have not only been lifting weights for years, they also use synthetic drugs to sculpt their current physique. So you have nothing to fear! Sure, training with weights can increase lean muscle mass, but this won’t happen overnight. You will need lots of time and dedication and even then, you will not look ‘bulky’ or ‘manly’. However, if you really don’t want to increase your muscle mass, but want to get that ‘toned’ look, remember that diet = size, so make sure you are eating at either maintenance level or within a calorie deficit to get that lean ‘bikini body’ every girl dreams of!

Aesthetics are not the only reason women should consider introducing resistance training into their exercise regime though. As an independent woman, I always like to carry my own things and absolutely hate it if my strength becomes a limiting factor. After all, who likes to struggle to carry shopping bags? No girl should ever have their shopping trip restricted by the number of bags she can carry! Joking aside though, resistance training will make you feel like Wonder Woman without looking like The Hulk, and day-to-day tasks, like walking upstairs, carrying grocery or lifting your children up, will suddenly get a lot easier to manage. 

In addition, because of our female hormones, women are at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis (brittle bones) as they get older. By the time we reach adulthood, our bone density is at its peak and starts to deteriorate from there, putting elderly women at higher risk of fractures and injuries. However, resistance training has been linked to not only increasing the strength of our muscles, but also the strength of our bones, thus reducing the risk of osteoporosis developing. And the great news… resistance training will improve bone density no matter when you start training. Additionally, because there is little-to-no impact with resistance training, it is safer for people of all ages. By strengthening muscles, bones and connective tissue, resistance training can improve balance and coordination, thus making it less likely to fall and break or strain a body part, and improve joint stability, which could help prevent the development of osteoarthritis and back pain. 

Not all the benefits of resistance training are physical though, with various links between exercise and mental health being documented. In particular, several recent studies have shown that as little as ten weeks of resistance training can reduce clinical depression more effectively than that of standard counselling, and I couldn’t agree more with this evidence! The one thing I never considered when I started my weight training journey was the sociological change it would bring about. Feeling stronger is very empowering! As my weights increased, I not only felt a lot stronger physically, I developed a lot more self-confidence and became a lot more assertive.

So, what are you waiting for? Get lifting ladies!

Don’t know how to get started? Resistance training comes in many forms. If you are a total beginner, body weight and resistance bands may be sufficient during the initial stages, but the body quickly adapts to new stimulus, so as you progress it will be necessary to add weights to facilitate further improvements. If you need help with your training, remember I am always here! Contact me via my website JD Fitness and Health, call into TJ’s Gym and Exercise Studio, or hit me up on my Facebook Page Joanna Derry – Personal Trainer, and together we can make your journey effective and enjoyable!