Full-body workout every day?

Just the idea of doing a full-body workout every day sounds completely impractical, right? …

It is generally recommended to take at least one full day of rest between full-body workouts that target the same muscle groups.

Training a muscle group seven days a week does not give you enough recovery time and will only destroy your joints, stress your central nervous system, and cause your muscles to shrink.

However, some research shows that training the same muscles 4 to 6 days a week is not as crazy as once believed.

The science vs. the controversy

A few years ago, researchers at the University of South Florida compared two programs that involved training the same muscles three or six days per week in what is known as full-body training.

The subjects who participated in the study were young men aged 25–28 who had been lifting weights for at least six months.

To be eligible for the study, they had to be able to squat at least 125% of their body weight, bench press 100% of their body weight, and deadlift 150% of their body weight.

• The subjects were divided into two groups and performed squats and presses 3 or 6 times per week.
• Deadlifts were performed once a week in the 3-day group and twice a week in the 6-day group.

The number of weekly sets performed by both groups was identical, but distributed differently. In the end, there were no statistically significant differences in strength or size gains between the two groups.

The men in the 3-day and 6-day training groups gained approximately the same amount of muscle.

Full-body training: what should you do?

The study shows that there is nothing substantially wrong with doing full-body training 4 to 6 times per week, but this is not the best approach for everyone.

High-frequency full-body training is best reserved for someone with several years of experience behind them, and even if you are one of them, you should be careful not to push too hard too quickly.

You cannot simply do a typical 5 × 5 workout, with multiple heavy sets of bench presses, squats, and deadlifts, and try to do it every day—that is not going to work.

If you are just starting out, it is better to choose a full-body workout performed 2–3 days a week, or an upper/lower split, where each muscle group is trained twice a week.

Once you progress, you can establish a full-body training routine 4–5 times a week specifically for that purpose, with the volume and intensity of each session adjusted to the increased training frequency according to your fitness level and individual recovery capacity.