Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2845: Full Body vs. Push Pull Legs - Which Split Builds More Muscle?

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Sponsors: Rho Nutrition: rhonutrition.com/discount/mindpump MAPS PPL: mapsppl.com  Full body or Push Pull Legs... which one actually wins? You are going to walk away knowing exactly which style of training fits YOUR goals, YOUR lifestyle, and YOUR experience level.  If you have ever wondered why you are not getting the pump you want from full body training... or why your split routine keeps falling apart because you keep skipping leg day... this episode is going to hit different. Adam breaks down how he personally evolved from full body training all the way to a double PPL split during his peak physique competition years, and WHY that progression made total sense. Sal lays out the intensity, recovery, and exercise selection differences that most people completely overlook when comparing these two approaches.   Key Topics • Full body training protects you when you miss a workout because you never skip an entire muscle group the way you do on a split routine • With a PPL split, missing one day means missing an entire category of movement, and the day people skip most is almost always leg day • Total weekly volume can be identical between full body and split routines, but the exercise selection looks completely different: full body leans compound, splits open the door to isolation and sculpting work • Split routines allow higher training intensity per session because you are not hitting that muscle group again for a full week, meaning you can push harder without it hurting your next workout • Full body routines are shorter per session when volume is matched because you warm up for each compound lift separately, while a PPL session only requires one warm up before you fly through the rest • You CAN spot build specific muscle groups through resistance training even though you cannot spot reduce fat, and split routines lend themselves naturally to prioritizing lagging areas • Adam ran a double PPL (six days per week, PPL twice) during his peak competition years, strategically reducing volume on less important muscle groups and adding volume to whatever he was trying to bring up for the next show • The pump you get from training one body part in a single session is dramatically greater than the pump from a full body session, and that experience matters for long term consistency and muscle connection • Full body training is better for beginners because it teaches appropriate intensity and movement practice, while the inability to fully recover before hitting the same muscle again punishes those who tend to overtrain • Split routines are an easier mental sell on low energy days because a chest, shoulders, and triceps session feels far less daunting than squatting, pressing, rowing, and overhead pressing all in one session   Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:20 MAPS PPL  0:49 Sponsor: Rho Nutrition 2:07 Full body vs. split overview 2:28 What full body and split routines actually are 3:13 Adam's progression from full body to split 4:42 Why missing one day destroys a split 5:34 Why beginners should train full body 6:51 How exercise selection changes between full body and split routines 8:17 Spot building 9:38 The pump 10:24 Why split routines tend to be faster even at equal volume 11:43 Intensity differences 13:41 Using splits to bring up lagging muscle groups 17:44 Adam's double PPL strategy 19:46 How to adjust volume 20:00 Splits are an easier pill to swallow on low energy days 20:40 Sal's personal experience switching to a PPL style split 21:35 What the data actually says 23:42 MAPS PPL details, discount code, and at home version

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump. Mind Pump with your hosts. Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded Fitness, Health and Entertainment Podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode, Full Body versus Split. And the split routine that we're using to compare is a traditional PPL split.

That's push, pull legs. By the way, we have a brand new MAPS program. Maps PPL. And it's 40% off right now. It's a three-day-a-week strength training routine. It's a push-pull legs split. Again, it's 40% off. Go to Maps ppl.com.

The code for the discount is PPL. Now, this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, Roe Nutrition. So Roe Nutrition, they're experts in liposomal technology. So what is that? This is when they take a compound, a supplement. They encapsulate it in a lifestyle. liposome, which is a tiny fat, which helps protect the compound and increases its bioavailability. That means that you absorb more of what you're taking than if it wasn't in liposomal encapsulation.

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If it's not liposomal, you don't absorb much. So if you want the energy benefits, the vitality benefits of NAD, try Roe Nutrition's NAD because of the liposomal technology, you're going to absorb more and get more of what you're looking for. They also have other products like glutathione. Anyway, go through our link. get 20% off. Go to rownutrition.com. That's rhh-o-nutrition.com forward slash discount, forward slash mind pump. The code is mind pump for 20% off. All right, real quick, if you love us like

we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mindpumpstore.com. I'm talking right now, hit pause, head on over to mindpumpstor.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. What's the better routine for you? You want to sculpt your body, shape your body, shape your body, build muscle, burn body fat, is it full body split or is it a split type of routine? We're going to compare the two pros and cons. Let's go. Let's do it.

What do you think? It depends. Yeah, it does. I think a lot of this, and we'll break them down, but let's first kind of address and break down both of them. Right. So full body split is you work your entire body each time you work out. Then you have a split routine, which is where you break the body up.

typically into body parts. Very common split would be push, pull legs would be a really common split. Now, all things have to be equal here if we're going to compare the two, right? Volume. Set. Yeah. So, like, that would have to kind of be equivalent for us to compare. Although that's not really a fair statement because I think one of the reasons why people like split routines, for example, is the amount of volume that they can do in a routine.

I know, Adam, you trained as a physique competitor, and you did kind of split-style routines. Eventually, I started off, though, with more traditional maps anabolic. So I kind of progressed over the three years of competing, and what it looked like was maps, and then kind of performance, and then aesthetic. And then eventually from aesthetic

is when I started to break up the body parts after that. And so, and then it looked more. like a body part split where it was more like a like a double up of our ppl or like an upper lower type of a split. I just found that I was I was in the gym six, seven days a week. Right. And I had already scaled my volume out there so my body could handle it. I was a full time working out, you know, it was like my my diet, sleep exercise around there. And so it made sense to start to split it up like that. In the beginning, early on, when my training volume wasn't in, high, it made more sense to, you know, do a full body type of routine. But eventually it got to a point

where I'm spending an hour plus in the gym, six, seven days a week, that made sense to start to break the body up. Yeah, I've done a lot of both style routines. And one of the benefits of a full body, and this is why I like full body splits for a lot of people, is that people tend to miss a workout here and there. And when they do that, they're not missing, uh, for the week, they're not missing an entire body part. In other words, if you're working out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, full body. So you're doing your legs, your back, your chest, your shoulders, your arms, core calves, right? The whole body.

If I miss one of those days, I've still worked all of those areas. Whereas with a split, let's say it was a push, pull legs split, right? If I miss one of those days, I've missed an entire category. Category of my body. Yeah. And that's just the reality for a lot of people. A lot of people. I'd say most people.

Yeah, a lot of people just aren't so consistent that they don't miss a day. And then what tends to happen, again, this is human behavior is the day that they tend to miss the most. Tends to be the area that don't work. Yeah, the one they don't want. They avoid it like conveniently. Yeah, so it's like leg day. Yeah. It's like the famous like I skip leg day, you know, type of deal.

Yeah. So it becomes a push-pull workout with no leg day. Well, I would say this is the con of body parts splits. That's right. And the pro for the full body. Yeah. is that, you know, you, every, almost every client that I've ever trained, and granted, remember, a majority of the people that we train are average day people that, uh, fitness isn't their job.

Um, they are trying to become healthier and fit. And so you consider that as a trainer when you build a routine for somebody is like, okay, I know that the reality this person is going to probably miss some days here and there. and so what serves them best? And it seems that full body is the way to go. Now, for someone who's more of a fitness enthusiast who is, and this is why, again, like, I scaled to eventually that, is like, I wasn't missing.

Yeah. I'm not, I'm concerned. I'm dialed in. Yeah. I'm consistent. Yeah. I'm not missing workouts. And so this, to me, it was like, okay, this makes a lot of sense with the

amount of volume that I'm doing and that I'm, is consistent. I am. But for the average, person that has not proven that consistency, I'm almost always going to lean towards encouraging them to do with the full body first. Yeah. Now, the thing with the split, it doesn't have to be this way, but it usually works out this way, is that the exercise selection tends to look different. So what I mean by that is, let's say you're on a push day, right? So chest, shoulders, and triceps. And so we'll just say, we'll just say chest. When I'm doing, let's say 12 sets,

for chest because that's the one day I'm working chest. Yeah. So I'm doing 12 sets on that day. Yeah, it's a lot. Versus if I'm doing full body, I'm not doing 12 sets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I'm typically doing four on Monday, four on Wednesday, four on Friday. So I'm still doing 12 sets for chest. It's just split up, right? The exercise selection looks different.

Exercise selection for chest on a full body split is pretty much compound lifts. It's going to be like flat bench, incline press, and maybe a dumbbell chest press. When I'm doing all 12 sets in a workout, it tends to incorporate some of those more isolation, sculpting type routines, which I know bodybuilders like a lot, right? I think bodybuilders really like focusing on different parts of a muscle. I can see the fun in it, though. I mean, there is a lot of novelty and a lot of exercises you normally wouldn't do that you can do in a split.

That's right. It's like you're just building up a little bit lower intensity volume. and you're really focusing on that specific body part. Well, I think this is the part that even attracts the average person who may not consider themselves a bodybuilder, but is interested in sculpting the physique. And that's one of the coolest parts about resistance training is you can do that. Although we cannot spot reduce.

You can spot build. We can spot build, which is cool. And so... Especially large muscles. You want rounder, more developed delts? Well, then you could program that. You could program a routine that puts more emphasis on that. Or recognize that, oh, I don't have a lot of rear delt, but I have a lot of front delt.

And so programming more rear delt exercise in there so I can now shape and sculpt my delts. And so that is one of the coolest parts about strength training is that you can do that. And the average person, let's be honest, that would buy personal training from you cared about how they looked. Many times that was the main motivator that got them into the gym was, I don't like the way I look or I want to change the way I look. And so the fact that you can do that through resistance training is pretty cool. And so I think it, even though it may not be the best routine for the very beginner, it does appeal to even the beginner because I think the people are attracted to that.

Yeah, the other thing, and this, you don't want to say lightly, because I think everybody tries to compare based off of results, but we can't take out the experience because you're going to be doing this routine or you'll be working out, hopefully for the rest of your life. And so the enjoyment in the experience itself cannot be discounted.

It's not just about results, although results are very important. It's also about, like, how I enjoy it, this kind of workout, do I enjoy it? And the thing about split routines is they're fun. I mean, I get a good pump. Like if I do full body each time, I'm not getting a crazy pump in my entire body.

I get a little bit of a pump in each the areas I'm training. Yeah. But when I'm just training back and biceps in a workout, nasty pumps. You get a crazy pump and a lot of people enjoy that feeling. It helps them connect to the muscle. Yeah. It feels really good.

And even if the volume is equivalent for the whole week, split routines tend to be done, tend to take less time. So when I'm doing a full body routine, even if all the volume is this, even if the total sets are equivalent. When I'm going into a workout and I'm going, you know, squats, you know, bench press, rows, overhead press, curled. It takes a second to get into those compound lifts and train them appropriately.

I got to really warm up and do a little mobility before each one. When I'm just doing chest, shoulders, and triceps, like, I'll warm up for my press. And then the rest of the chest workout, there's no more warm. I just go right into the exercises. Right in. And so split routines, even if the volume is equivalent, they just tend to happen faster because I'm not, it's not about getting into the groove. I don't need to focus so much about getting into the right groove and doing the warm up and, you know, foam rolling or doing mobility. I could just, that happens in the beginning, but then I fly through the workout, the rest of the work.

Well, you mentioned the pumps. This was my biggest challenge with converting over to a full body routine. Yeah. is I was so attracted to that feeling and I trained that way for so long that it was really difficult for me to fully adopt the full body routine because I like that. You know, even though I accepted that it may be the better program for where I currently was at when I was training like that, it was also hard because I was like, oh, man, I miss that. And so I would chalk this up as one of the cons of the full body routine and one of the pros of the split. That's a major pro for the split is that. if you like the feeling of a pump,

the look of it, the feel of it, you get more of that in a body part split, like a push-pull legs, then you get in a full-body routine where you do two or three sets of your squats and then you're on to the next thing. It's just like, I'm barely... You just got warmed up, essentially.

Yes. There's also a difference in intensity, and it doesn't even have to be intentional. It just works out this way. Like, if I'm doing my whole body three days a week, there's a certain intensity that I try, train at. And if I go beyond that, it doesn't work very well. When I'm working a body part once in a week, right, you know, chest, shoulders and triceps is once. Back biceps is once. Legs is once in the

week. Even if the volume is the same, number one, I can train with a higher level of intensity because I'm not hitting that body part again for the rest of the week. And number two, the exercises that I tend to incorporate don't tend to cause as much damage to the body. Like if I'm working out my legs, on a full body workout three days a week. It's a lot of squatting. It's like squatting, front squatting, Bulgarian split stand squat. I'm not going to go, you can't go super intense every single one of those days. You'll fry, most people get fried.

But if I'm doing a leg day, it might look like squats, leg extensions and leg curls or something like that, right? I'm still doing three sets of each, so like, you know, or four sets of each, 12 sets. Some leg press, yeah. But I'm going harder. I can trade with a higher level of intensity. which is more appropriate with some of those quote unquote easier exercises. And also because I'm not hitting that body part again until the following week.

And so it's just a different feel. It really is. And it's a different mindset. I could definitely really enjoy the mindset of practicing lifts that I get in a full body workout. Like full body workout, I tend to go in and practice the lifts. There's a sufficient intensity. Don't get me wrong. But I'm really practicing the lifts is what I'm.

I, what it feels like when I'm doing a PPL or a split, I'm kind of like, I'm really working the body part. I'm hammering the body part. And the intensity is much higher. It's a very much. Yeah, very much of a feel. Yes. And I'm trying to describe that.

It's like, you know, a bit of a burn. And it's like, you know, you're kind of grinding your way through. But also you're getting that reward of it being bigger. And, you know, that, that pump that's associated with that versus, you know, yeah, when you're just doing the full body thing, you're just going for that strength output. Like, what can I get up? like and uh you know you're going to hit it again later on the week so yeah like you said you just can really get after it and i think this is too where some of that mentality that we see a lot uh you know

the sort of heroic type uh workouts you start seeing that i i see this as a pro anicon that's yes totally for the full body and i'll say the pro of the full body here is that the practice argument you make this is why again i lean towards this almost always to a beginner because i think the practice is so important. The con to that, though, is it leaves less room for air for the measuring intensity. And so that was another difficulty I had when I switched over to... You don't get a full week of recovery for that body part. And coming from a guy who trained more splits earlier on in his career.

I guarantee you overdid it early. Oh, so did I. Yeah. Honestly, if I have a tendency to still do that, because that's so ingrate, that intensity level towards an exercise is so ingrained into my training that I can't apply that. So I can't go to Maps Anabolic and apply that same mindset in a, that I did in a split. Because a split, like you said, I have plenty of days to recover if I overdo the intensity. But with Maps Anabolic, I'm right back in another two days. And I'm back to train in those legs again. And it's like,

I can't afford to have overreach that much or else it's going to hinder that workout. And so, So it does, it does. Now, again, why I like it for beginners is it teaches them kind of that appropriate intensity level and practice. And that's so beneficial to someone who's more of an advanced lifter who wants to increase intensity and push it and kind of get after those muscle groups. That makes it a con, I feel like, for the full body and more of a pro for the split because it's like I can get away with kind of pressing the intensity lever a little bit more because I got plenty of recovery days ahead of me. That's right. And there's also, again, this is kind of a feel thing. because at the end of this, I'm going to kind of break down what the data says.

Okay. But when you have a specific part of your body and area that you really want to bring up, like you're like, I really want to develop my back. Or it's my legs. It's my lower body. Or it's my chest. It's lagging. With a split routine, and you can do this with both.

Okay. So trainers and people who understand workout program, you can definitely do this with both. But a split routine lends itself really well to higher volume and more. intensity on the body part that I want to train unless on the days I don't need to develop as much. I mean, I'm going into a back workout. I'm like, you know what? I'll take some volume off the other days. And I'm going to go hard on my back with intensity and volume all in one day. And it tends to lend itself well just from a behavior standpoint. Now, again, you could do this with a full body. Like, I could totally do this with full body. I could cut down the volume on the other exercises,

add more to the area I want to focus on. But there seems to be something about just the behavior aspect of I'm going to really get after hammering my hamstrings or whatever body part you think you need to develop. And split routines tend to lend themselves well to that mentality, I would say. Yeah, when you have kind of the lower risk category type exercises, yeah, you can kind of flirt more with failure. And I think, you know, that's appealing on that, that end of it to be able to really like get the maximum output you can of these muscles. Well, just to back up the point you're making right now, this is what led me down this kind of like, I'd say when, you know, peak bodybuilding, I was running kind of a double PPL. So this is a lower volume PPL. Yeah, this is, we're talking Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but you probably went every, yeah, every, yeah, six days. Yes. So it was PPL and so, but what that looks like for the audience to get the understanding of like how I would use that and use the point that you're making right now is, let's say, for example, on a push day. So every, between every show,

I always had a muscle group, an area I was trying to improve from the, to the next show. And so when I was on, like, let's say a push day where I'm doing push exercises, what it might, and let's say the focus on this time for the next show is delts. I'm backing off, and I'm also doing chess that day, I'm backing off some of my checks exercises, and I'm increasing the shoulder exercises or the sets, you know, either. You're getting after it. Yeah. And so it becomes the price.

And so it's really easy because it's just like not much. changes other than that. It's like, oh, I have the same amount of time in the gym. Today is all these push exercises. The only difference is I'm leading with this muscle group and I'm going to do a little bit more work here and then a little less in these other ones. And so it does lend itself really easy for programming for the person who's just trying to focus on one or two things at a time or bring up certain muscle groups without really over-complicating like trying to track volume to it. I mean, I took it to that level, but for the average person, this is a real easy way. to go like, okay, this is how I kind of play with the volume like we talk about and take it away

from somewhere else. It's just like, okay, this is your push day. Well, which one of those muscle groups do you care about the most? Okay, well, we're going to do one or two more sets than that versus the other and they're going to take away from these other ones. Yeah, there's also, it's an easier for many people, it's an easier pill to swallow when it comes to going to the gym when you're not feeling tons of energy in regards to a split. Like, if I'm training my whole body, sometimes it can be hard to motivate yourself when you're not feeling tons of energy. Now, if you're like sick or you had a terrible night of sleep, you should skip the gym. But, you know, there's those days. You're like, man, I'm not feeling it. Like, damn, I got squats and bench and rows and

overhead press all today versus, you know, I'm going to go in today and just do chest shoulders and triceps. And, you know, two-thirds of those are going to be isolation exercises, let's say. For some people, it helps with consistency. Except for leg day. Leg day is always rough. You know, it's one of those it's kind of easier pill to swallow on some of those days. And for some people,

that encourages consistency and they're less likely to not do the workout because it's kind of an easier workout when you look at it on paper. Oh, it generally... Definitely.

So, since we launched PPL, I've been running, I've been running like a split like that. Before that, I was doing more of like a MAPS 15 protocol. Now I'm running more of a split like PPL. And one of the things that the first thing that I recognized was exactly that was that it's been nice that there's this like I don't have to like get up for like this like this full body routine that's ahead of you, which I find that a lot easier. It's like, oh, today's, you know, just a push day. I can handle this stuff like that. This is not that much like to do where when you're running a full body routine like you said and there's a lot of compound lifts in it, it's like there's a lot of like mental. Okay, I got to be I got to be up for that. It's a lot easy. I find the splits a lot easier to get up for. And with most splits, there is a day that each person

may find more challenging. And it's easier for me to like focus on that one day. It's like, okay, this is going to be the hard day of the week. And like, make sure. The other two or whatever. Yeah, yeah. The other two are easier for me to get through. And so I think that's also another pro to the split. Now, what you're hearing a lot of from us is preference stuff. Yeah. What you're not hearing a lot of is you're going to build the most muscle, most strength. Now, I can make a little bit of an argument for getting stronger at particular, especially compound lifts, let's say with full body. There's more opportunity to practice them throughout the week.

I could definitely make that argument. But generally speaking, it kind of boils down to which one you like. And honestly, if you've done one style for a long time, you'll get great benefits by switching to the other one. If you've been doing full body for a while, a PPL split is definitely going to move things in the direction. you want them to go. And it's going to be really fun for you. And then vice versa. If you're a PPL guy or split, you know, girl or whatever, do the full body and watch what happens. It does literally do that. Almost always in this, especially in this case, boils down to your preference. Well, the reason why you're not making that case is for over a decade now, we've made the

scientific case for why full body is better. Yeah. I mean, for the average person that doesn't know where to start, I still think that full body is, is the place to start. I think this is a great option for someone who's done that already. Like you've done that. We've made the case for that. You've experienced those gains. You've practiced those lifts. And maybe you've been doing anabolic or a routine like that for a while now.

And you haven't done a split either ever or in a long time. Then it's awesome. Or you recognize it about yourself that you just like doing that better. And preference-wise, because that trumps what scientifically is better. And what's cool about this, because we have maps people. PPL, which we just released, is typical split routines are four or five or six days a week. Maps PPL is a three day a week workout. So if you're used to working out three days a week, full body, you're still only going to the gym three days a week.

But now you're doing a split routine three days a week. This is a moderate volume split routine. And most split routines that you'll find online or whatever are high volume. They're just inappropriate for most people. Our other map split program is that. All right. We have other split routines. are very high volume.

Yeah, we have MAPS split, which is a high volume. That's right. But MAPS PPL is a three day a week, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, whatever, moderate volume routine. Where if you're relatively fit, you've been working out for a little while, you don't have to be super advanced. You're not to have perfect everything. And you're like, yeah, I'd like to try a split. This would be a great routine.

And because it's a brand new program, it's 40% off right now. So if you're interested in that program, go to Maps pPL.com and then use the code PPL that will give you 40% off. And there's a bunch of free stuff that we're throwing in. By the way, it also includes an at-home version, which is dumbbells only. So if you only have dumbbells at home, you can follow Maps PPL. Otherwise, the program is set up for barbells, dumbbells, benches, squat racks, the whole deal. There's also, we also have a male and female version of this, which is unique to anything that we've done before, too, or we just put more emphasis on certain exercises that most of our female clients like.

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