One Simple Rule...

At heart I'm an artist. I have played guitar for 28 years, written songs for 18, played in bands, dabbled in piano, and taken singing much more seriously since the pandemic.

Just like music, fitness has never strayed far from my life either.

Not only is it my career, but it's been my passion for the same length of time as music, if not a little longer.

Artists paint the world as they see it. The songs I write are from what I feel in the world around me, and I use the patterns I see and hear on the guitar to create the means to express what I require.

That same lens has looked at my body throughout that same period of time. Taking in the information, the feelings, the sensations, and the results of various different training methods, practises, and pursuits to design what I require physically.

Just like with music, I'm not versed in all genres. I have my taste and styles I'm most comfortable with.

So too with training. I wouldn't know how to train ballet dancers, or speed skaters, nor could I take an athlete to the Olympics.

My genre is without question, functional strength and fitness.

The 'music' I write in the gym insures a physique either stays at, or arrives at, optimal.

Accomplishing balance across strength, mobility, body composition, performance, and longevity.

These all seem distinct categories, but in fact they aren't when you consider the one fundamental rule.

Train the body as a system.

How? Train everything all of the time.

I don't hate splits. They play their role.

If you have enough time, and dedication, body part splits can aid you to build up weak areas, or train for aesthetic goals. I'm not slating it. Certainly not if you're a fitness athlete, professional, or dedicated enough to never miss a workout and record everything meticulously.

For the vast majority though, the reason we need fitness the most is so that our bodies show up and perform for us whatever life brings our way. Looking good and performing well.

If I did chest Monday, then couldn't get to the gym again until Thursday because I got sick, or I had meetings, or it was my birthday, or it was someone else's birthday, then that may well mean I haven't trained legs since the Friday ten days prior; because last week, just like this week, my schedule got disrupted.

As much as we try to be impartial as well, we all favour a body part or exercise more than the next, and if push comes to shove, we will favour certain ones if we could only workout once.

This becomes problematic and hard to manage over time.

If you are regimented in your training to the degree you never miss a day, and you treat all parts and days equally, then this article is not really a resource you need.

I have found though over time, that given changing schedules and the fluctuations in daily energy, splitting body parts will inevitably result in denying the body the very thing it craves...balance.

Likewise, if I go to the gym and run, I miss out on strength training. If I default to only running three weeks in a row, I'm denying myself necessary strength gains.

If you only ate dessert four days running because you're oven broke down, and by freak chance all supermarkets decided to ban non-sugary foods, your system would start to lose its structure and possibly start to show signs of having gone astray.

As implausible as the supermarket reality may be, you get my point.

A dessert isn't bad, if the rest of the meal contains fibre, protein, fats and nutrients, and you don't over indulge on anyone one item.

Training chest isn't bad, if you also train your back and your legs!

The practicalities of the weekly schedule is one component of this.

Training intensity is another.

Your energy levels fluctuate no matter how stringently you control the variables.

Therefore training intensity will be different on each day.

On the day you train chest you might have more energy (and probably desire), and on the day you train legs you might have slept four hours (perhaps in anticipation of leg day).

Not so harmful as a one off, but if this pattern plays out over time, muscle groups will get neglected.

Though I joke about the leg day, the fact is, for many its the day that gets skipped most often, and for a whole group, it's not even touched!

The solution for me has been to include a bit of everything in each workout.

Rather than smashing any one body part to the point that it hurts until the next time you train it, how about do bits of each every workout.

A favourite of mine is split squats and incline DB press.

This superset is very effective. Why? Because I'm taking an exercise which is inherently hard - the split squat, and pairing it with an exercise which is always enjoyable - the incline DB press.

Psychology is as much a factor in workout success as the the reps or sets.

Then if you include other enjoyable exercises, be they rows, or shoulder press, triceps extensions, or woodchops, you can throw another leg exercise at the end, such as leg curl, or a sled push, and you've already got a decent stimulus on the legs and a very complete workout.

Repeat this approach for three training days, adding in the exercises you need to across the week, and you will guarantee a balanced output on all body parts.

Then if you consider the energy fluctuations I spoke of earlier, on the low days you would have hit everything, and on the high days you would have hit everything, so you would have caught everything at some point.

You can tailor it to your specific needs, but full body workouts ensure the most balanced, complete output possible.

In my opinion the gains are exponential and non linear.

I'm not saying suddenly you are going to smash through PB's every session, that is less the goal here.

But, training the whole system does something very important in the search for optimal.

It stimulates the body in the manner it was designed. All together.

We didn't grow muscle by muscle, we grew as a system.

The back and the hamstrings are not two distinct villages that only communicate through smoke signals during a time of crisis, but rather they are two completely interdependent districts whose function and stability are interwoven with each other.

One's true success depends on the other.

Not only do they constantly communicate and share resources, they can only truly grow into prosperous, thriving communities when there is constant mutual action, and zero boundaries.

Everything gets effected for the better this way.

Why I say the progress is not linear too, is because as each muscle gets impacted in a system, the release of hormones, the effect on circulation, the electron flow, and the nervous system, all become systemic and multiply outwards.

The effect is similar to hearing a song played by a solo artist, then the same song played with a full band.

Each additional instrument in the mix leads to more amplification, greater harmonic complexity, and an overall more immersive piece of music.

Then consider calorie burn.

You can burn X amount of calories in a training session.

If you're running, you will burn X amount for the run.

If you train one body part with resistance, you will burn X for the workout, plus X for the afterburn of that stimulated muscle group.

If you resistance train the whole body you will burn X for the workout, plus X for the afterburn of every muscle group afterwards.

This takes us finally to the AMPK pathway.

In short, its a metabolic process where the body improves its ability at using glucose and fat for energy, and stimulates the growth of new mitochondria in the cell as a result.

Effectively, increasing new batteries and making each battery more effective and efficient.

This is a very positive effect for the body metabolically, and it is stimulated effectively through training.

Importantly, the AMPK pathway is stimulated the most optimally through full body training.

So to conclude, the single best thing I have done for my training and the longevity of my fitness, my body composition, my enjoyment, my balance, and my flexibility, has been training the whole body every time I workout.

I don't overthink it or stress it either, as long as you do at least a little bit of everything, you are achieving the desired results.

For me, the quickest entry is to think push pull legs, but all on the same day.

You could do Olympic lifts, you could do kettlebells, you could do a circuit, you could do a push pull day then tag on a bunch of sled push at the end.

The options are limitless and the results are fun.

Just think, ONE. SIMPLE. RULE.