Menno Henselmans on the Benefits of Full-Body Workouts

Want some help building your best body ever? Here are 5 ways I can assist whenever you’re ready: www.mikematthews.co
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It’s time for another contentious topic, my friends. No, not volume, frequency, or intensity. Today, we’re talking about workout splits. Specifically, full-body training.
Full-body and higher-frequency training has become more popular lately. And if you’ve followed my work over the years, you know I haven’t been a big proponent of full-body workouts. In fact, in previous editions of Bigger Leaner Stronger, the workouts had typical “bro-split” names (even though the workouts themselves were more like a Push Pull Legs split with added accessory days).
So, it’s not too surprising that I frequently get asked for my thoughts on full-body training versus body part splits and the “best workout split” in general.
Well, full-body workouts can definitely work well in certain situations-like when you’re a beginner or when you can only train one or two times per week. But for this episode, I decided to bring in a big proponent of and expert on full-body training, Menno Henselmans.
Menno has been a repeat guest on my podcast, but in case you’re not familiar with him, he's a bodybuilding coach, writer, and published scientist who’s also on the Scientific Advisory Board of my sports nutrition company, Legion Athletics.
In this episode, we chat about …
- Why you should use a full-body split if you training infrequently
- The primary benefits of full-body training (optimizing volume and work capacity)
- How to properly program "supersets" without hurting performance (and actually improve it)
- How to program an effective full-body routine
- Saving time in the gym, inter-set rest time, and exercise order considerations
- Periodization and why you shouldn't change exercises too frequently
- Situations when full-body routine wouldn’t be the best choice
- And more …
So, if you want to learn all about full-body training and whether you should give it a shot, listen to this episode.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
8:03 - What qualifies as a full body workout versus something else?
17:32 - Do full body workouts give you more high quality volume?
19:02 - What is a superset? How would you implement supersets without impairing your performance on the exercises?
28:04 - How do you like to program your full body workouts?
31:04 - Is that your exercise or is there another component to it as well?
32:08 - How do you like to order your exercises?
35:45 - How do you like to periodize this type of training?
40:30 - Do you do your heavier workouts earlier in the week after a rest period?
41:39 - As far as volume, what are you shooting for?
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Mentioned on The Show:
Menno Henselman’s Website: mennohenselmans.com/
Menno Henselman’s Instagram: / menno.henselmans
Books by Mike Matthews: legionathletics.com/products/...
Beyond Bigger Leaner Stronger: legionathletics.com/products/...
#fullbody #workouts

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Want some help building your best body ever? Here are 5 ways I can assist whenever you’re ready: www.mikematthews.co

[@vintersorg5501]

I have trained full body 6 times per week for almost a year now. Best natty gains in a long time. Highly recommend.

[@christophpurstl3204]

could you explain your training style in more detail , im interested to see how you train with full body 6 times per week. I do fb two days 1 day off repeat.

[@vintersorg5501]

@@christophpurstl3204 I experimented a bit with volume but I will give you the basics. Day 1: Squat Bench Barbell Row Day 2: Deadlift Overhead Press Pull ups All 3 set of 5. I do not go to failure, I stop as soon as the reps slow down. Maybe failure would've been at rep 7. After I was adapted, I added in isolation movements etc etc. It has been great. Not only have I made a significant amount of size and strength gains. I have also gotten very efficient with the movement patterns. Highly recommend, here are some sources: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2TGiKiJrrCSirM kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3nJhnVmhtx8Z6s kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4XbgGiQgt2WqcU kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKnMpKVndsafhMU kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3ibhoaGmpibd8k

[@christophpurstl3204]

@@vintersorg5501 Sounds interesting , thanks!

[@bigbobabc123]

Vinter Sorg what have your strength gains be?

[@richburmond6761]

@@vintersorg5501 9 sets total per session? thats not a lot

[@VegetaPrinceOfSaiyans]

Full body has been my favorite method. During the pandemic i did it 5 to 6 times a week with different intensity and modalities, trained outside majority of the time, so it was really fun. Lately, full body every other day with two sessions being near 2rm and then two sessions of explosive versions of the same movement, and with two variations of workouts, gave me really good strength progress and felt like my volume was perfectly tailored. Every lift got hit twice per 8 days and every muscle four times.

[@alkemyfitchef8870]

Breath of fresh air 🙏

[@commonsense5188]

Antagonist super-sets or as Menno called them "combo-sets" are what I employ and they work wonders. Instead of going straight from bench to chins for example, I'll do a hard set of bench, rest a minute, then hit Chins, rest a minute, then hit bench etc. Works great because you end up getting about 2 minutes or so rest between your bench sets as well as your chins. You get more work done in less time without compromising the second movement when doing traditional antagonist sets where you go from one movement DIRECTLY into the second. The trio set that was touched on around the 28:30 mark is also very intriguing. For instance, Chins rest a minute, then do Standing Landmine Press, rest a minute then do weighted split squats, rest a minute then repeat. You're getting plenty of rest for each movement with the over lapping rest and none of those movements should interfere with one another. You could do the same for something like Dips, rows, leg press for instance. The possibilities are endless and unless you're EXTREMELY strong, or specifically doing powerlifting-esque training, I see no reason this wouldn't work just fine if pairing the correct movements together.

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Definitely! Check this out: legionathletics.com/supersets/

[@michaelworley8866]

hard to do in a public gym that is relatively busy for the average man . I don't not find this practical long term and cause more frustration in my opinion .

[@bennygilligan]

That was quality, very interesting

[@TheAmericanAfrican]

Wow. Amazing info. Thanks.

[@jasonwelsh417]

I typically grab a couple heavy kettlebells now and do a bunch of cleans, snatches, clean and press, front squats, clean and jerks, and also a bunch of calisthenics basics and leaded carries most days of the week. I can't imagine training my body by body part or any kind of split. Your body works as a full unit. I am also not a bodybuilder by any stretch though.

[@lynuzzz]

I've been doing full body every weekday for some months now. The best thing is: BEAUTIFUL PUMP EVERY SINGLE DAY.

[@Witchblade112]

Good stuff.

[@GB-ld6lf]

My Full body 3X a week program: -Squats (main knee flexion) - Db Bench (secondary horizontal push) -Cable Rows -Seated Leg Curls superset Lateral Raises -Bicep isolation superset tricep isolation of choice -Abs -RDLs (main hip hinge) -OHP (main vertical press) -Pull Ups -Leg Extensions -chest Isolation superset with traps -Abs and rear Delt isolation -Bench Press (main horizontal press) -BB Rows -Lunges (accessory legs) -Back Extension -Bicep isolation + long head tricep isolation -abs superset face pulls

[@stassenchr]

How many sets and reps for each of those?

[@donnycollins1797]

I'm 50 years old and I'm doing full body four times a week. Due to the intensity of each working set, I find it difficult to do it all in one session, so I split upper/lower body into two 30-minute sessions per day, one before my first meal and one before my second meal. This keeps my energy really high for each session, doing two working sets per body part. 30 minutes per session is perfect for this. I eat a very good, satisfying meal after each session, putting me at about 1800 calories in a 6-7 hour eating window. OMG at the moment I'm loving this. This checks a lot of boxes for me.

[@ThePeterR66]

great routine. Thank you for sharing. From France

[@pvpmartins]

I just wish menno's mic was a better one

[@thetraininggroundministry3079]

Love your channel. My question is, if you are a newbie lifter, is it ok to do a full body workout 5 or 6 days a week. I've been lifting consistently for about a year and did a 3 day full body split. I just started a full body at 5 days a week and am feeling a change and improvement for me. Loving this split.

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Thank you! Full-body 5x per week is overkill for newbies, but if you're enjoying it, go for it!

[@adrianx8243]

Since I've started 4-5x a week full body I've gotten the best natural gains ever vs when I did splits

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Great job!

[@NilsAubroeck]

Can you share some research links on the atagonistic superset theory. Found this especially interesting, and it sounds like there is consensus between multiple sources.

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

I share some of the research in this article: legionathletics.com/supersets/

[@NilsAubroeck]

@@MikeMatthewsFitness thank you🙌

[@forno_nicolas]

12:30 Man 10 sets to true failure is a LOT. Most people dont get that 10 sets are a ton of load because they dont push the sets to the max. Most people train light

[@absurd0000]

even 10 sets at 3RiR in a single workout seems like junk volume territory

[@Bushcraft242]

Personal trainer specialist sports nutrition 25 years bodybuilding

[@blockbusstar]

The hardest thing for me is programming. How do you prgram all the exercises mehn

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

You can definitely find some basic templates on the Legion blog. :)

[@budgetking2591]

I can't do 10 proper worksets for 1 muscle group in 1 workout, it sounds insane to me, if for example chest, i do 3 sets of benchpress, 3 sets of dumbell fly's, my chest is done for man, or should i lower the intensity and add 2 sets per excersise?

[@cd6662]

What

[@absurd0000]

yea, major red flag to how this guy must be training

[@vulturesiii6450]

How many years training approx wud it take an ectormorphy to get a physique at least 85%of mennos?

[@ssdabel]

85%? 2 years, 3 max

[@vulturesiii6450]

@@ssdabelnice to know. Then maybe another year or 2 on top of that to get 100%?

[@ssdabel]

@@vulturesiii6450 if your genetics are similar to his, yes

[@iRafael]

Ectomorph.. And other morph body types has been debunked for a long time now its bullshit

[@XTheSpartanX7]

@@ssdabel Good to see Abel here. Man knows his shit and his channel is GOAT.

[@thelibertines111]

Do anyone have a Menno workout routine example?

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Any progressive overload program with proper rest between sets will work. Just make sure you hit each muscle group 2x a week to follow his method. Menno also likes the full-body workout approach. No ego lifting, keep your technique clean.

[@thelibertines111]

@@MikeMatthewsFitness thanks.. I've been on BLS consistenly for a couple of years... I'm now exploring other rep ranges, which allow higher frequency and volume but take me less time in the gym. I'm still strong in the Big 4 😂 btw

[@Hungrybird474]

Yes . Full body is super beneficial but personally I can’t go all out to failure and lean and shredded is the result after a few months so if that’s what you’re looking for go full body every day . Push and pull equally. Getting large takes years folks . Just work out and don’t think about it too much . Main thing is consistency

[@MikeMatthewsFitness]

Thanks for the comment! Consistency is definitely key. As far as training to failure goes, you might like this article: legionathletics.com/training-to-failure/

[@EnellGmz]

I switched to full body calisthenics 3 months ago

[@SlimShady-wl8ly]

How is it going so far, and what split did you use before

[@EnellGmz]

@@SlimShady-wl8ly Well I've been on a calorie deficit all 3 months so I don't think it's ideal. I was on Mike's BLS but stopped working out and for 2 years and got some fat... It's going well. I have lost fat while keeping my muscles. I've gained reps on pull ups and dips and push ups and learned pistol squats. Losing 7 kg helped my reps increase of course.

[@rvdoever]

Very informative, but Menno's speaking way too fast for me, make me nervous, doesn't give me enough time to digest the information so I converted to MP3 and slowed down to 75%.

[@stefdiazdiaz7067]

but here in youtube there is an option for slower or faster video reproduction speeds

[@abnarty6793]

Workout A: Squat 5x5, Overhead Press 5x5, Deadlift 1x5, Chin Up 3x5 Workout B: Squat 5x5, Bench Press 5x5, Barbell Row 5x5, Chin Up 3x5

[@frankcolliton10]

Oh yeah, that'll do a body good! 😊

[@Silvio_Spina]

So 10 sets of bench in one session are not grueling?! What kind of sets are those!? 5 reps at 50% of your one rep max!?!?😂

[@Hitman-44]

No disrespect at all , why don't you do video podcasts it's so much better.

[@sascha736]

Because lots of people like to listen to audio podcasts when they are working out, walking the dog, or sitting in the car on their way to work?

[@Hitman-44]

@@sascha736 Sure , video can do all of that I believe

[@sascha736]

@@Hitman-44 Video-while driving a car, or walking in the forests....?

[@Hitman-44]

@@sascha736 I mean he's sharing the podcasts on other sites too I believe.

[@Hitman-44]

@@sascha736 KZbin audio while driving also doesn't makes sense too

[@Deliciousindignation]

I am trying a full body split. I workout 2 times a day 7 times a week. In the morning; 1 set of squats, bent over barbell rows, slight incline bench press, incline dumbbell skull crushers, and seated bicep dumbbell curls. In the evening I just do 2 sets of everything I did in the morning. Every set is to failure and each rep is ideally around 8 to 10 seconds focusing on negative.

[@kaipai6366]

decent knowledge. but annoying fastfoward voice

[@absurd0000]

lol ten sets of lower body not too grueling? you're not working

[@unmodernize]

😂 pure going thru the motions

[@c_rob1]

This dude seems pretty clueless about work capacity and volume. It's entirely feasible to get 10 quality sets for any given muscle group. And who TF is resting five mins between sets? This isn't powerlifting.

[@budgetking2591]

for me 6 worksets for chest for example is a lot, i can do 10 sets, but then i must lower intensity, do you think i should?

[@c_rob1]

@@budgetking2591 if 6 is getting you results, no need to change it

[@budgetking2591]

@@c_rob1 Yeah maybe up it once i plateau, i never did that, only put more weight little by little, will go for more sets once i stagnate on weight again.

[@cd6662]

Splitting your sets across the week with full body workouts gives you higher quality sets with out doubt

[@EmilWestrum]

Longer rest peiods give better hypertrophy.