If you enter a weight room or your home gym without any kind of strategy, you’ll undoubtedly spend 20 minutes browsing Pinterest in quest of a strength-training workout that sounds at least somewhat appealing. The program, however, won’t match your ability level or align with your fitness objectives until around halfway through.
Utilize workout divides to ensure that you never have to endure another pointless internet workout. In the sections that follow, you’ll learn from actual fitness professionals how useful workout splits can be, the different kinds you can use, and how to incorporate them into your personal regimen.
A WORKOUT SPLIT IS WHAT? Don’t be misled by the ambiguous phrase; a workout split is merely a means to organize and plan your workouts for the following week, according to Erin Taylor, F.N.S., C.E.S. , a strength coach and NASM-certified personal trainer. Target muscle groups, movement patterns, or specific exercises can be used to divide up a workout. According to her, it’s usually determined by how many days you’ll workout during the week as well as your own fitness objectives. In this manner, “it sets up what you’re going to be training and focusing on muscle group-wise when you get into the gym each day,” she continues.
Exercise splits can be used to plan other types of movement in addition to the strength-training exercises that are often planned using them, according to Taylor. She suggests setting up a schedule that includes two days of full-body resistance training, one day of yoga or Pilates, and one day of cardio. Although it can be used for various purposes, she says, “I would say it’s largely founded in strength training.”
THE ADVANTAGES OF SPLIT WORKOUTS Whatever its application, workout splits can be helpful for anyone introducing movement into their regimen, including fitness beginners, according to Taylor. Here’s the skinny on why they’re so valuable.
MAKE YOUR TRAINING EFFICIENT AND STRENGTHEN CONFIDENCE Making a thorough workout split before your training session guarantees that you won’t squander your valuable gym time considering the exercises you’ll perform and the equipment you’ll require. As a result, Taylor claims that your workouts are substantially more effective. According to Taylor Neal , an ACE-certified personal trainer, “It gives them a plan of action, and that’s generally the biggest point of failure for a lot of folks when they’re going to the gym because they don’t necessarily know what to do.” It’s a way of stating, “Okay, this is what I need to do today,” to create a separation.
Additionally, Taylor argues that having a well-thought-out training schedule before entering the weight room is a proven method to eliminate any usual gym nervousness. “It kind of makes you feel like a pro if you know ahead of time what you’re doing, not only for that day but for that week,” she explains. You’re not just winging it entirely, which inspires you a little and boosts your confidence.
Make sure you’re gradually overloading. You’re more likely to correctly implement progressive overload training, according to Taylor, if you stick with a well-balanced exercise split created with your individual goals in mind and update it over time. Progressive overload is difficult to achieve if you combine random routines every day and every week, according to her. ICYDK, in order to notice increases in your fitness, progressive overload training entails gradually increasing the volume, load, or intensity of your workouts in a planned manner. According to Taylor, “Progressive overload is the cornerstone of how you observe success in particular strength training.” Therefore, when you have a workout split set up, you can see the reps, sets, and weight that you utilized last week and grow from week to week.
SPLITS OF WORKOUT TYPES Although there isn’t just one perfect exercise split, there are a handful that are frequently employed in the strength training community. The number of days you can exercise is most crucial when choosing which to include in your own fitness regimen, according to Taylor.
ENTIRE BODY SPLITS The experts recommend that your workout split include full-body strength training for each of your sessions if you can only work out one to three days a week due to time constraints. This makes sure that all of your muscle groups are effectively trained and challenged while still giving your body enough time to recover between sessions. Taylor advises using all five of the key movement patterns in every workout when choosing your exercises: hinge (such as deadlifts, hip thrusts), push (such as bench presses or triceps dips), pull (such as rows, lat pull-downs), squat (aka knee bend), and brace/carry (such as planks, suitcase carries).
PULLER-PUSH SPLITS A push-pull split is one of the most popular exercise splits since it is designed around particular movement patterns. According to Taylor, it is frequently employed during four-day training splits that alternate two push days with two pull days. On push days, you’ll concentrate on movements like push-ups, triceps dips, shoulder presses, squats, step-ups, and lunges where you’re pushing a weight or the ground away from your body. On pull days, Taylor advises working on movements like bent-over rows, pull-ups, lat pull-downs, biceps curls, deadlifts, and hip thrusts where you draw a weight toward your body.
ABOVE-BELOW SPLITS An upper-lower split for strength training is an additional option for a four-day workout split. You’ll concentrate on upper-body exercises on day one, and lower-body exercises on day two. After that, Taylor says you’ll repeat the procedure for days three and four. On the other hand, your lower-body and upper-body workout days could concentrate on various muscle groups. According to Neal, “the bodybuilding community is very widespread, so one day for the upper body can focus on the back and biceps. The following upper-body day would then concentrate on the chest, shoulders, and triceps
The scientists claim that because of this structure, upper-lower divides and push-pull splits frequently overlap. On your first upper-body day, you might perform “pulling” exercises (think: rows, curls), which put pressure on your back and biceps. Neal adds that “pushing” exercises, such as presses and extensions, can be done on your second upper-body day and involve your chest, shoulders, and triceps. She claims that it is possible to have an upper-lower split that also works as a push-pull split. In fact, Taylor often advises clients who exercise four times per week to just perform an upper-lower split and see their push and pull as movement patterns.
SUPERCHARGING SPLITS Some splits, like those for powerlifting, are designed especially for a particular niche sport. ICYDK, powerlifting entails developing and evaluating your one-rep maximums for the bench press, deadlift, and squat. Therefore, these athletes might adopt a training split that emphasizes certain exercises in addition to other routines that help them advance. Taylor says that in a five-day powerlifting split, the first day may be dedicated to squats, the second to bench presses, the third to deadlifts, the fourth to overhead presses, and the fifth to exercises intended to promote hypertrophy (also known as muscle growth). Again, unless you’re a powerlifter, don’t use this exercise split; it’s not essential (or even helpful) for the ordinary strength trainer. Instead, think about using one of the splits indicated above.
MAKE YOUR OWN WORKOUT SPLIT: HOW TO DO IT Determine how many days a week you can commit to working out before creating your own workout split, advises Taylor. Don’t overestimate. “You’re only going to hit a few muscle groups if you make a five-day split and you only make it to ‘the gym’ for two days,” she explains. This early overzealousness may hinder you from achieving your fitness objectives in the long run. A full-body workout split is best if you intend to exercise one to three days per week. On the other hand, if you’re strength training four days a week, Taylor advises using a push-pull or upper-lower split.
The next step is to design each of your weekly workouts. According to Taylor, you should generally strive to include two compound movements—that is, movements that include several joints and target numerous muscle groups—two to four accessory actions (i.e., movements that involve a single joint), and one core movement in each training session. For instance, back squats and deadlifts would meet the need for a complex exercise, biceps curls and triceps extensions would serve as your accessories, while planks and deadlifts would test your core.
To use progressive overload, true novices may wish to start with simply two accessory motions and add another one to their split after four weeks. You can essentially plug activities in and out as long as you have that foundation, according to her. In the end, Neal advises that you should work every significant muscle group, including your back, chest, legs, arms, shoulders, and core, at least once each week.
In order to ensure that your body is being challenged in a variety of ways, Taylor advises that each day of your training split should include a few slightly different moves. In an upper-lower split, she explains, each upper-body day should consist of a separate set of exercises. Additionally, Taylor advises that you avoid favoring one movement pattern over another. “Don’t simply execute knee bending exercises when working out your lower body; but include hinging. Don’t only work your chest and triceps on your upper-body days; also work your ‘pull’ muscles, your biceps, and your back delts.”
The most crucial factor, according to Taylor, is that you should truly like your workout split. Find something that encourages you to enter the gym, she advises. “Don’t get too caught up in what is best or the ideal workout split. “Your training split may change as you become more advanced and as your goals become more focused. Therefore, avoid comparing your split to anyone else’s. Find a solution that suits you.”
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR WORKOUT BREAK? Depending on your goals and your coach, if you have one, you should typically stick to your workout split for four to 16 weeks, advises Neal. As she notes, “changing your split up too frequently prevents your body from adapting to the activities itself.” “I’m getting a little stronger, you may think. I’m beginning to see improvements in these areas, but if you alter your split too soon, you won’t develop the desired level of hypertrophy, muscular growth, and definition or become any stronger in a particular lift.”
If you’re not making improvement (for example, if the weight you can lift doesn’t increase) or it’s getting boring, you should reconsider your exercise split, advises Neal. A sound generalization? Every eight weeks or so, Taylor advises changing up your workout split to assist you keep improving your fitness and achieving your goals. “Changing it up with different tempos, variations, stances, grips, or even completely switching an activity like a back squat for a front squat for a front squat,” she continues, “just provides the body a little bit of new stimuli.” And it enables you to avoid growing stale or bored with your current routine.
