When you want sexy shoulders or bulging biceps, you may think that an isolated workout is the way to go. If you can only afford a quick workout during your lunch hour, why mess with a full body workout—when you care most about a specific area of your body? But, despite how tempting it may to target one area of your body, it’s a full body workout that gives you the most reward in the quickest time. Learn the benefits of both types of workouts, and just how it affects your metabolism, energy, and overall strength.
Why Full Body Workouts Rock Your Body and Mind
Whether you only have 20 minutes (or you’ve got all the time in the world), a full body workout is all about making the most of the time you’ve got! Especially if one of your primary fitness goals is to lose weight, a full body workout will allow you to burn the most calories possible—in the shortest time possible! Why? Because when you engage in a round of squats, lunges and dips, you are engaging many muscles groups (as opposed to just one with isolated training), which allows you spend more energy, and burn more fat!
Focusing on a full body workout several times a week will allow you to make more progress, by targeting all muscles groups in an effort to build more muscle. See the results in a shorter period of time! Do you want to improve your flexibility? Exercises that require your body to work together and simultaneously will allow you to make more headway than a few isolated workouts. In a shorter period of time, full body workouts give you the results you dream of.
You’ve Got 30 Minutes—When You Should Choose an Isolated Workout
If a total body workout is great for multiple purposes what is an isolated workout good for? As it turns out, an isolated workout (where you’re targeting a specific part of your body) serves its purpose in multiple ways, too. A great benefit to isolating your workout is if you’ve recently come back to the gym after suffering from your workout. Got a bad knee or back? Focus on that part of your body that’s weaker or more prone to injury than the rest of your body. Placing your undivided attention on ‘problem areas’ can allow you to minimize risk and injury, while improving its strength, flexibility and agility in record time.
Both full body and isolated workouts offer their own individual benefits. Adjust and customize your workout routine based on your needs and goals. Then, no matter what type of workout you focus on, you can meet each and every goal you have!
