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About me

I'm 15 yo, can do 10 dips, 10 pullups, my max weighted pull up was 22 kg. My routine is the following(it's the Fierce 5 Dumbell Full-Body one):

Workout A

  • Split Squat 3x8 (each leg)
  • Bench 3x8 (If you don’t have a bench do floor press)
  • DB Rows 3x8 (One arm on bench, back parallel to floor)
  • Reverse Flies 3x10 Calf raises 2x15/French Press 2x10 Superset

Workout B

  • Walking Lunge 3x8 (each leg)
  • Overhead Press 3x8
  • Romanian Deadlift or Straight Leg Deadlift 3x8 (Use single leg version when you max out your weight)
  • Lat Pulldowns or Pull/Chin ups (Once you reach 3x8 begin adding weight)
  • Ab work 2x15/Curls 2x10 Superset (I don’t care what ab work you do)

I rest about 60 sec for isolation exercises, and 2-3 mins between compound exercises, and use 9kg dumbells for upper-body lifts, while using 11,5 kg dumbells for lower-body lifts.

I alternate these workouts like so:

  • Monday: workout A
  • Tuesday: rest
  • Wednesday: workout B
  • Thursday: rest
  • Fridat: workout A
  • Sunday, Saturday: rest
  • Monday: workout B

Problem

Recently I've started to look into rings more and more, they seem like a fun new way to exercise plus the added bonus of working out on the fresh air(I can't hang rings in my apartment, so I'll have to go outside). I've found a good ring routine: Body By Rings by Daniel Vandal, but it's a push/pull split routine. And recently I read an article on reddit, that split routines tend to be suboptimal for beginners.

My other argument towards bodyweight ring routine is that, in my opinion, it is harder to injure yourself with bodyweight exercises, for example, you won't be putting as much stress on your back while doing bodyweight exercises as opposed to doing heavy deadlifts. Yeah, those who deadlift a lot already have a strong core/back and deadlift with proper form, but I have never been to a gym and I think that rings are a safer bet for me, as somewhat a beginner, because after I will have followed a ring routine for a few months I'll have much stronger core/back and then will be able to do free weight exercises with a lower risk of injury, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Question

How do I know if I'll benefit from a split routine, or if it'll at least be as good as a full-body routine for me?

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Yes, it is generally preferable for inexperienced athletes to follow a full-body routine because, as the Reddit article mentions, it leads to greater repetition, mastery of the lifts, and multilateral development. There is no substitute for practice. And it is all too common that novices follow complex splits whose effectiveness is questionable even for the advanced athletes for whom they are intended.

So plainly, if I were to write or recommend a programme for you, in a perfect world, I would almost certainly be leaning toward a full-body routine comprised entirely of core lifts like squats, lunges, dead lifts, rows, carries, presses, and throws.

That said, we do not live in a perfect world, and all manner of real considerations have to made when we are engaging in a training routine. And the availability of equipment and space, and our personal enjoyment are extremely important factors to consider. We are going to have decidedly less practice if we have no motivation to train! So a fun, novel training routine is a perfectly reasonable thing to prioritise.

And of course, the validity of your programme depends greatly upon your goals.

So to answer your question plainly, if you are keen and motivated to follow this new routine, it will be of benefit. Whether it is as good as a full-body routine will depend entirely upon your goals and priorities. (I understand from a Reddit review that the Body by Rings programme lacks a real lower-body element, so you may wish to supplement it if that is important to you.) But motivation and consistency are the single most important determiners of success.

As a post script, I would like to add that I do not think that body-weight exercises are inherently safer than any other type. Yes, the load is limited by our body weight, but so too can the load with other types of exercise be graded. The safety of all modes of exercise depends on our maintaining control (technical mastery) and lifting within our abilities.

I hope that is helpful.

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    Thank you for a detailed answer! Yeah, Body By Rings has no leg exercises, but I have another bodyweight leg training program to accompany it. I like working outdoors much more than indoors, and rings just seem like a fascinating new thing to me. Also, I'm running out of dumbell weights at my home to keep progressing(adding weight) with my Fierce 5 program, so in a few weeks, I'm gonna start Body By Rings and update you guys on the results a few months later!
    – Kedel Mihail
    May 9 '20 at 18:27
  • P.S. Just to make my question helpful to other people, if you have the info, could you please update your answer to reflect at what stage of your training(e.g. how many years do you need to train, or how heavy do you need to be able to lift or another measure of your progress) you need to be, to be able to benefit from a split routine
    – Kedel Mihail
    May 9 '20 at 18:29
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    @KedelMihail: There is a general training principle that states that we should work from generality to specificity. Or as an analogy, we want to build the foundations before the house. There is no hard-and-fast rule that can tell us how long this should take, but like a house, the stronger the foundations, the greater the potential. Thus, foundations training should ideally be included throughout an athlete's career. But if an individual has achieved good general strength, and (importantly) has a good technical mastery of the core lifts, it is reasonable to begin a split.
    – POD
    May 9 '20 at 23:15
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    @KedelMihail: In my experience, that will typically take 1-2 years of consistent training, but it is dependent on so many factors. I hope that helps.
    – POD
    May 9 '20 at 23:18

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