Going from Full Body to Upper/Lower

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

I’ve debated going from a 3 day full body template to an 4x a week upper/lower split.

For those of you that also went that route did you notice anything different in terms of work capacity, recovery, etc?

The reason I’m asking is because I’ve pretty much only done FB training for the past 2-3 years. I think I would like a bit more variety in my training for a bit since I’ve hit a lot of my weight/strength goals. I find it too hard to add to a full body template because by exercise 4 or 5 I am SPENT.

But FB training is SOOOO embedded in me I feel like I might get weaker going to a upper/lower split because I’d be training a muscle 2x a week vs 3x (I know how ridiculous this sounds).

The reason I’m thinking about switching is because I think I could get more variety in training vs just doing the basics.

Any advice/opinions?

2

It’s good to mix it up from time to time. Keep the big 3 lifts in your program and add in some of the other stuff to meet your goals.
Hit the 3 lifts heavy at least once a week

3

It wasn’t a big deal for me, recovery-wise. I did 9 consecutive cycles of 5/3/1 full body and switched to Triumvirate on 4 day upper lower. I definitely didn’t get weaker. All main lifts continued to progress.

I wouldn’t sweat it one bit. You’ve had a lot of success with full body and I’m sure it will continue on a split.

4

Yeah I think the thing is I like higher frequency so the thought of doing something twice a week scares me for some stupid reason lol.

But a split will probably keep me fresher to attack lower/upper compared to a heavy 3 day full body type split.

5

I get it. I got really strong on full-body and I had apprehensions about changing that. I would think “Can I really get stronger only squatting once per week?” Turns out I could. My upper body lifts definitely benefited from the change.

I was probably a little bit more sore at the start because I introduced more variety, but that didn’t last long and I was definitely feeling fresher day-to-day in very short order.

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6

I do 3 day a week full body when I want to specialized on a handful of lifts and 4x week upper/lower when I want to start training more assistance exercises. It all balances out.

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7

This is what is most appealing is hitting sessions fresher compared to a bit more beat up.

That’s a good way to view it. I think I need a bit of variety for a bit of time to just let my joints not feel as beat up and to stimulate me mentally more than anything else.