Research

Energy balance

In well-trained males, full-body resistance training routines produce significantly greater fat mass loss than split-body routines when weekly training volume is matched.

If you are an experienced male lifter trying to lose fat, switch to a full-body routine (training all major muscle groups 5 days a week) instead of splitting body parts across the week. Keep your total weekly sets the same (around 75 sets). This approach will likely help you lose more fat because you will feel less sore and move more during the rest of your day, burning more calories overall.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
This study provides evidence that full-body is more effective in reducing whole-body and regional fat mass compared to split-body routine in well-trained males.
Marcelo A. S. Carneiro et al. · European Journal of Sport Science · 2024

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with matched volume, but small sample size (n=23) and short duration (8 weeks).

Source

Full‐body resistance training promotes greater fat mass loss than a split‐body routine in well‐trained males: A randomized trial

Marcelo A. S. Carneiro et al. · European Journal of Sport Science · 2024

DOI 10.1002/ejsc.12104

rct · n=23Cited 4×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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