You absolutely can get great results from a full body workout. DC and HST are both full-body and there are several national level and even world-class competitors using these.

IMO A split wastes too many sets working up to the set that actually stimulates growth. Using a full body workout three times per week, you do the same number of sets of a given exercise in a given week except more of them stimulate growth. One thing to remember with this is that soreness is not an indicator that your muscles are not yet ready to train again. You can still train at max load even if the muscle is sore. Split training taxes the CNS much more that full body training, and this I believe is what leads to overtraining. Once I started using HST (now transitioning to DC training), I stopped running into overtraining syndrome and started growing.

As far as specialization goes, you can still include exercises for specific muscle that may be lagging in a full body workout. My current routine:

Leg Press
Leg Curls
Calf Raise
Incline DB Press
Dips
Pullups
Low Rows
Barbell Press
Barbell Curl
Tricep Pushdown
Abs

I do a warm up at the beginning of each muscle group, then one or two sets of each exercise to just short of failure. The key to both HST and DC training is to "beat the log book", meaning increase weight (HST) and/or reps (DC) every workout.

Originally Posted by youngandfree

It doesn't seem like anyone is hating on him. If you read how much the OP is actually doing every single day, for 9 weeks straight, his original question was "is this too much?" The OP also said he has always been small and apparantly his training routine has been constantly this way. And he doesn't really take an off day until sunday. He also wanted to know how to build a bit more muscle, without getting huge or anything. The type of workout he's been doing hasn't really gotten him where he wants yet, and everyone has just recommended changing his routine up to better work the muscles to stimulate some new growth.

I agree, full-body workouts do have their place. But his workout plan he posted just wan't going to help him acheive what he wants. We were just giving responses to help him get some new growth, that's all.

I think you got the threads mixed up...im the OP but i only workout FB 3x a week MWF, not exactly small at 5'11'' and 205lbs

Originally Posted by SRS2000

I've gained more mass in the past 5 years working mostly from a Westside template than I did in the previous 12 years doing "bodybuilding splits". I know it's a powerlifting workout, but it has worked best for me. Work up to 4-5 rep maxes instead of singles on the heavy days and go 10+ reps on all the assistance work. You would just have to choose your assistance exercises to meet your individual needs.

I agree, one thing Paul Childress wrote was that the mistake hes sees young trainers making is that they use 1 rep maxes for their ME days, if they would stick to 3's and 5's, they would gain more muscle from the exercises. This stuck in my mind for years and i tell it to all the kids i see starting this workout. I think part of the problem for westside is that is you have to change your training philosophy completely and that is hard for a lot of people to buy into.

mine is
monday chest,shoulders,triceps. all of them are 3tips 4sets 12reps
tuesday legs,back,biceps.
wednesday off
thursday chest,shoulders,triceps. all different tips as mondays
friday legs,back,biceps. all different as tuesdays
sat,sun off
before i train like
monday back 5 or 6 tips pyramid 12,10,8,6
tuesday chest 4 tips same pyramid
wednesday off
thursday legs 5 or 6 tips same pyramid
friday shoulders 5 or 6 tips same pyramid
saturday arms 3tips bis 3tips tris same pyramid
sun off
when i did pyramids i sot many changes in mine strength, but my body not really visually changes,but when i started do 3 body parts per day and twice a week,can say mine strength was same but mine body start look a bit leaner and more muscular..

I like integrating a full body day one day a week when I am cutting. It helps burn those extra calories.

I have to agree that HST is a great workout. HST is all about getting bigger, not so much stronger but you will none the less.

For those that have the time I know you can split into two workouts per day. I have never done that but i know people on the HST forum who do get real good results.

Most of the books that deal with being a cover-model type promote full body workouts. If you want to get toned and lose fat, they are ideal. If you are trying to gain a bunch of mass, probably just want to work each group hard once a week.