What is the best workout to target all muscle groups twice a week?

If you are a Professional Bodybuilder, then, the following suggestions will NOT apply to you.

Assuming that you are NOT a Professional Bodybuilder and that you are looking to get Fitter and Stronger Overall, the following are my suggestions:

First off, ANY Activity is WAY BETTER than NO ACTIVITY. Having said that…

Do NOT look at workouts from the point of view of Body Part Splits. Your body does works as one whole unit…does not work in parts. Think of needing to walk, run, swim, lift a bucket of water, smash as Tennis Ball with you Racquet…every time, your body co-ordinates and works as a whole unit.

Body part splits, work fine for Body Builders. Bodybuilding is a sport…just like Cricket for example. However, while Cricket is good in keeping you Active, you’ll agree that it is NOT the most Effective way to Keep Fit. The same is the case with Bodybuilding…nothing wrong in taking up Bodybuilding for Sport. But, that is NOT the most effective way to keep Fit, Healthy and Strong.

True Strength Training Exercises, which utilizes your body as a whole…is the way to go towards gaining Strength, Fitness and to Build Muscle too.

Other differences between a Body Part Split Routine (such as the ones used by Bodybuilders) use Lower Weights and Higher Repetitions. Strength Training Routines would have you workout with Higher Weights with no more than 5 Repetitions per Set.

Both these styles of workouts provide Hypertrophy…increase in Muscle Size and Muscle Mass. However, the Major Difference is that Hypertrophy that results from Body Part Split Routines (Bodybuilding) is Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy, where the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell increases with no accompanying increase in muscular strength. Doing Strength Training Style Exercises, you gain what is known as MyoFibrillar Hypertrophy, where Actin and Myosin, contractile proteins, increase in number and Add to Muscular Strength as well as an Increase in the Size of the Muscle.

Also, given that Strength really is the basis of all Fitness, for Athletes, Non-Athletes, Male, Female, Young, Old…. Gaining Strength (and Gaining Muscle Mass and Size) is the way to go.

For a Strength Training Regimen, Squat, Deadlifts, (Overhead) Presses and Bench Presses, along with Chinups would all be needed to get included. Squats would mean, Low Bar Back Squats… Deadlifts would mean Regular Deadlifts with no Bounce…

You need to have a good Training Program Designed, which has all the above lifts as well as the Concepts of Progressive Overload and Linear Progression as its Basis.

Following such a Training Program, you can workout a maximum of 3 days per week (2 days per week is the minimum).