Callisthenics Full Body Vs Split

Callisthenics are a great way to build strength without breaking the bank, regardless of your training expertise.

Both veterans and beginners can take full advantage of this, but the best type of callisthenics may vary from one person to the next. Full body workouts may be suited for some, while others prefer splitting their session into training specific muscle groups.

While both are perfectly fine ways to go about training your body, one may be more favourable for you on a personal level. It all comes down to what you want your body to look like in the long run. But knowing that from the first day of your training can be a challenging prospect.

So, here’s a complete guide on full body and split callisthenics workouts to help you gauge which can help you reach the desired fitness goals. Read on to have all your dilemmas cleared on the subject!

Full Body Callisthenics Workout

The full-body workout routine involves training every major muscle group for balanced body development. By performing a few compound exercises, you will have put enough work in to cover all the body parts without requiring any equipment.

This workout program is intense and demanding, particularly if you’re just starting out. It’s no wonder that experts recommend performing full-body exercises no more than four times a week. You will have exercised enough to build strength, agility, coordination and stamina in the long run by doing your due diligence.

Although it is a high-intensity training routine, a full-body program is generally favoured due to its efficiency. The core exercises don’t take particularly long, and they are performed infrequently enough during the week to allow you enough time to indulge in personal hobbies. And the gains relative to your body weight are quite lucrative through regular workouts.

Becoming stable and athletic is something many strive towards with callisthenics, and full-body workouts enable just that. People who train regularly experience a marked improvement in their stability and athletic abilities, contributing to the popularity of callisthenics.

Benefits Of Full Body Callisthenics

1. Consistent Body Development

Full-body workouts involve several compound exercises that train numerous muscle groups simultaneously, which can help you build muscle evenly. Your body will continue to develop in a balanced manner so long as you stick to a properly-structured training routine.

This also removes any chances of a particular muscle group becoming more developed than the rest. The repeated use of certain muscle groups in each workout session is what keeps the muscle gains high.

And since you perform complete movement patterns while exercising, you develop functional strength that can be applied outside the gym as well. The lack of isolation while training keeps your entire body ready for most life applications of strength.

2. Greater Calorie Burn

Since full-body workouts implement such a large number of muscle groups, the resulting caloric burn is also quite high. This is particularly true in comparison with isolation training, where you only train a specific muscle group.

The reason for this is that your body exerts itself more to pull its weight while exercising, which burns more calories. Full-body workouts are great for fat burning for this very reason while building muscle mass at the same time.

Be sure to consume an ample amount of protein and rest well when you do settle into a full-body workout routine!

3. Low Training Frequency

As mentioned earlier, full-body workouts tend to be quite taxing for your body. Each time you exert a muscle group, the fibres in your muscles form micro-tears. When these tears heal, the repaired fibres are much stronger. So, you will need a proper amount of recovery time before your body is ready to train again.

Most experts recommend fewer full-body training sessions each week compared to other training methods. Your body will find enough time to recover during rest days, and you will develop the desired muscular gains despite the low training frequency.

4. Missing Workouts Is Not A Big Deal

This plays into the previous point about low training frequency. If you happen to miss one workout session, you can simply make up for it on one of the other days of the week.

A typical full-body workout is performed once every other day of the week for a total of three or four times. Should you miss one, you can catch back up in one of the other two or three sessions.

Schedule readjustment simply isn’t necessary when it comes to full-body workouts. All the muscle groups stay on the same page while training, so none of them is left behind.

The Disadvantages Of Full Body Callisthenics

1. Difficult To Develop Callisthenics Skills

Callisthenics skills require a lot of strength and focus, with some skills like the planche requiring a ludicrous amount of strength to perform well. Some of the other skills require equal parts of strength and focus, which is typically not an ideal prospect with a full-body workout.

Full-body training is the jack-of-all-trades of callisthenics. There are several aspects to keep track of, and as a result, it can become quite difficult to develop a specific skill without isolation training. Training for good form and technique, two of the most important aspects of callisthenics, can be quite difficult as a result.

2. Workout Intensity May Be Difficult To Manage 

Overtraining is a real issue with full-body callisthenics workouts. Keeping up with three or four workout sessions each week may seem simple at first glance, but the reality is much different.

Should you extend workouts beyond the designated three sessions, your body will have exerted itself to the point of damaging all the hard-earned progress. Not only does this deteriorate your mental focus, but it can also be demoralising. And being unmotivated is the last thing you want while exercising.

Managing your workout intensity and frequency and developing adequate strength before progressing to complex routines and skill development is the way to go. But this is easier said than done, especially if you’re a beginner, which is when it might be better to rely on isolation training.

Split Callisthenics Workout

A split callisthenics workout laser-focuses on a particular muscle group during each training session without training the rest of the body. The training session is spread apart far enough to allow a trained muscle group to rest while you focus on a different muscle group. Naturally, split callisthenics workout routines are performed a couple of times each week.

While not as taxing on your body overall as a full-body routine, you will be feeling the muscle group fatigued post-training splits. And in exchange for fast and active workout sessions, you will have a series of split routines that allow you to target a body part.

Naturally, this approach has its own benefits and drawbacks, being beneficial where full-body workouts weren’t and vice versa.

Benefits Of A Split Workout Routine

1. Greater Body Development Potential

While full-body workouts keep all of your body engaged, split workouts can help you focus on building strength for a particular body part. This type of workout schedule is what bodybuilders use to develop that sculpted look, which is typically not as feasible with full-body training.

You can perform one or two compound exercises from the full-body routine and still work on one muscle group at a time. This will help you build endurance while achieving that chiselled look on each body part.

Consider adding a cardio session to your split routine once a week to build endurance as you work on the split callisthenics session.

2. Higher Scope Of Routine Modification

Provided that you don’t skip working out altogether, you can swap training one muscle group over another freely. So, your workout sessions don’t adhere to a rigid schedule and can be as flexible as you desire. This affords split workouts plenty of versatility, allowing you to modify your workouts based on personal goals.

You can further divide workout focus on a particular muscle by altering your routine. As soon as you find the desired progress with a body part, you can split the workout even further to focus on, say, the upper body.

3. Greater Skill Development Potential

Let’s say you wish to develop enough strength to perform planches. With a split routine, you will be able to build enough upper body strength required to execute these exercises successfully. Your workouts are designed with a specific goal in mind, rather than a general improvement in strength.

The ability to pinpoint weak points in your training and hone them to the point of perfection is made possible by a split training routine. And the aforementioned flexibility allows you to keep the progress constant and fruitful rather than hamper your progress with needless movements.

4. Better For Seasoned Veterans

Workout frequency is much higher for split callisthenics routines than full-body routines. So, seasoned gym-goers who are used to intense workouts can pin down a specific goal and adopt a split routine.

They receive all the benefits of a split workout routine with the benefits of their earlier training. As a result, they are much more effective at building strength and muscle for their particular goal, climbing steadily until they reach it.

The Disadvantages Of A Split Workout Routine

1. Requires Frequent Workouts Per Week

If you’re someone who finds it difficult to exercise five to six days a week, the split workout routine may not be for you. Split workouts require a much more rigid commitment than a full-body workout.

A split workout routine demands that you cycle through exercises each session, or else you may risk overtraining a particular muscle group. This is why spreading these sessions across a full week is generally advised for most trainers. It allows your muscle groups to find an appropriate amount of rest before they are ready to be trained once again.

2. May Cause Unbalanced Body Development

There’s a chance that you favour one muscle group over another while training with split routines. It’s a natural turn of events as one muscle group is typically stronger than the rest, and our bodies tend to rely on that strength.

If you refrain from cycling between training major muscle groups, you will experience unbalanced muscle growth. It is far from an ideal outcome, as the whole point of training is to build your whole body equally well.

Being mindful of this will avoid this issue, which will allow you to grow stronger at a much faster rate.

Full Body Vs Split Workouts: Which Is Better?

Each training philosophy has its own share of benefits and target trainers. A major difference between the two boils down to whether you’re looking for general strength or something specific.

If you’re a beginner to callisthenics, have a hectic professional life or want to lose fat, full-body workouts are for you. Your body will be quick to respond to training, so you don’t need to worry about specialisation. And since you don’t have to exercise more than thrice a week, you won’t have to commit as heavily to the routine.

But if you’ve been working out for a while already and have stopped seeing progress, consider switching to split training. Full-body routines are not as efficient at advanced strength gains as split training, nor are they as strikingly impactful on your body shape. 

Push-pull legs split is an effective workout plan, as an example. You can achieve that chiselled look that makes some bodybuilders appear similar to ancient Greek heroes by adopting such split routines.

Final Words

Choosing between full-body and split exercising routines has never had a correct answer that applies to everyone. They are nearly opposites of one another, with one covering areas the other doesn’t.

It all comes down to what you’re looking for from your exercise routine. Full-body routines are more beginner-friendly and require a relatively low commitment, while split workouts are highly specialised.

At the end of the day, the satisfaction you get from a workout routine is what matters the most. No matter the training style, your callisthenics journey will help you reach it!