How to plan your workout - Part 3

Don't know what to train on each day? Here are some tips

Now you know your training goal and frequency. We’ll move on to training splits. Your workout split or training split is the way in which you will divide your workouts across the different parts of your body that you want to train.

Various ways to achieve goal - How will I train?

There's no "one size fits all." Again, your training depends on your goals, energy system requirements, schedule, and individual differences. That being said, let's review the basic, proven splits for successful training. You decide which one fits your needs.

1. Total Body Training Split

Total body training splits are efficient and train the body as a unit rather than its component parts, so it is most recommended training routine for beginners, which doesn't necessarily mean it's easy (No, not at all!). It usually consists of 3 workouts a week with a day’s rest in between each training session.

Monday - Whole Body Workout

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Whole Body Workout

Thursday - Rest

Friday - Whole Body Workout

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

Pros

Total body splits are for those short on time who want full-body stimulation and to make good progress in the gym. It focuses on the core compound movements. As the nature of its high frequency stimulation of muscles and moderate training volume, it suits many goals, such as fat loss, strength building and hypertrophy.

Cons

Training any body part 3 times a week may be difficult to recover from. For example, stronger lifters may struggle with recovery from training legs 3 times per week. It doesn’t allow for as much exercise variation per body part as other training splits. Low intra-workout volume may hinder metabolic-stress related hypertrophy.

2. Upper-Lower Training Split

This splits are a novel progression for those accustomed to total body training splits as they offer a moderate training frequency and moderate-high volume for hypertrophy. You would generally hit 4 workout sessions a week using significant loading.

Workouts can be structured to focus on a particular movement i.e. pushing movements on Monday and pulling movements on Thursday or to hit the entirety of the body part on both days i.e. a combination of pushing and pulling on both Monday and Thursday. Please note that lower body training is brutal; doing it two times per week might be too much for the weak minded. Upper body and lower body days are alternated during the week.

Monday - Upper Body (Push Focused)

Tuesday - Lower Body (Squat Focused)

Wednesday - Rest

Thursday - Upper Body (Pull Focused)

Friday - Lower Body (Deadlift Focused)

Saturday- Rest

Sunday - Rest

Pros

Training frequency allows you to hit each body part twice a week, which works well for those who focus on building muscle and strength. Mid-week rest makes it easier to maintain workout performance as well as manage your energy for a day.

Cons

It's not recommended for those who are short of time as training usually takes more than an hour at a time. Also, unbalanced training times with upper body workouts taking much longer than most lower body sessions is another point to consider.

3. The Body part Split

It generally sees you training a single body part each day over 5 or 6 days of the week, which is typical 'bodybuilder' split. It allows for you to apply a greater focus and level of volume to each part as you’re only training one muscle group per session.

Increased volume and metabolic stress lead to greater hypertrophy than other splits. Just make sure you have a significant training base before diving into it. Many body part splits are cosmetic based rather than performance based – not the best option for athletes or beginners. A typical split would look something like this.

Monday - Chest

Tuesday - Back

Wednesday - Legs

Thursday - Shoulders

Friday - Arms & Abs

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

Pros

This uses greater exercise variations to target individual muscle group, and overall volume will 'shock' muscles into growth. It's particularly good for lifters accustomed train in total body training routines.

Cons

This training routine is time consuming and simply impractical for busy people with fluctuating schedules because missing one routine throws off the flow of the program. Due to limited rest on weekends and built-up fatigue, it’s likely that your performance will deteriorate as you progress through the week.

It's difficult to train with heavy multi-joint lifts without some degree of hindered recovery from previous workouts. You better have your workout nutrition, sleep needs, and other recovery essentials taken care of.

4. Push, pull Split

Push, pull split breaks training up by movement pattern with the addition of legs. The rear of the body usually responsible for pulling movement while the front of the body predominantly responsible for pushing movement. For example, hamstrings (back of your legs), back and lower back are the major muscle group for pulling actions, and chest, shoulders and quads (front of your legs) are for pushing.

Monday - Push

Tuesday - Rest

Wednesday - Pull

Thursday - Rest

Friday - Legs

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

Pros

This is an economical way to train and allow for flexible planning. Moderate frequency of movement is better for skill acquisition than the body part split.

Cons

This is a bit advanced for beginners who want to maximize their gains. As the nature of workouts that segregate the body by muscles working together, this is of limited use with athletic populations. You can never train both your chest and shoulders from fresh as they are both trained on the same day.

5. Intensive, Extensive Training Split

This routine bases training on the neural demands of workouts. For example, a heavy/explosive day is often followed by a metabolic/higher volume day.

Monday: Speed work, Olympic lifts plus compound push exercises

Tuesday: Metabolic/change of direction, pull emphasis

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Speed work, Olympic lifts plus compound push exercises

Friday: Metabolic focus, pull emphasis in weight room

Saturday/Sunday: Rest

Pros

This split is an advanced programming strategy for athletes who want to take the next step. They're great for training movement skills (like acceleration) together with resistance training. They also offer a sound progression for developing greater levels of performance.

Cons

This may not be ideal for hypertrophy-oriented lifters because split is focused on the inclusion of movement training, which may be detrimental to overall recovery for hypertrophy. Workouts are longer in duration on intensive days due to the neural recovery demands of intense exercise.

6. Specialization Training Split

This focuses on strengthening a lagging body part within a short time frame. This involves focusing 3+ days per week on one body part with one day per week for maintaining other body parts. Back Specialization program would look like below.

Monday: Low-Rep Horizontal Pull

Tuesday: High-Rep Vertical Pull

Wednesday: High-Rep Horizontal Pull

Thursday: Low-Rep Vertical Pull

Friday: Total Body Maintenance

Pros

Specialization workouts jump-start stagnant gains on a body part. High volume and frequency results in a dramatic increase in hypertrophy on the specialized body part. They're often a blast and great for more advanced lifters.

Cons

Specialization workouts neglect other body parts during the program, potentially leading to atrophy and a decrease in performance. Specialized programs are unbalanced, making it hard to maintain other fitness parameters.

Conclusion

There are a number of factors to consider when deciding which split works best for you. The answer to these questions will guide you to choose your workout split.

1) Overall Goal: Are you training for aesthetics, pure strength, sporting ability or general health? Depending on your goal some training splits will be more or less effective. When choosing yours you need to first know what you want to achieve.

2) Training Experience: Are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced weightlifter? If you’ve been training for a long time and are close to your genetic potential, then your training needs will be vastly different from that over a lifter still in their first year of training.

3) Your Age: Generally speaking the younger you are the better your ability to recover will be, along with your overall performance and capacity for training. A good rule of thumb is to stick to 3 - 4 days of training per week if you’re over 40.

4) Current Lifestyle: You must consider how busy you are when picking your workout split. Are having to work late most nights? Can you get to the gym in the morning? How many days can you really carve out 45 – 60mins to train?