How do you split your training sessions? This has to be one of the most frequently debated topics in the muscle building community. Part of the reason this is such a controversial subject is that there are so many options to choose from. A lot of people automatically go for the so-called “bro split”. This structure is where muscle groups are isolated and trained once per week. For example: Monday - Chest Tuesday - Back Wednesday - Legs Thursday - Rest Friday - Shoulders Saturday - Arms Sunday - Rest While a split like this can be effective for some people, it’s not ideal for everyone. Training a muscle just once a week ignores the fact that muscle groups actually recover in anywhere between 72-96 hours. Therefore, training them once a week may not provide the best stimulus for growth. This is especially true for beginners, and intermediate-level exercisers. People in this category may not train to their “max” and cause the type of muscle damage necessary to warrant an entire week between workouts for the same body part. So, to that end, here are some alternative splits that may be more effective for muscle gain than the traditional “bro split”. 1. FULL BODY WORKOUTS Right up until the 1940s /1950s full-body workouts were the preferred method of training for bodybuilders. Nowadays, full-body workouts are often thought of as being most effective for beginners. Realistically, full-body workouts can be incredibly effective for all fitness levels. Instead of doing all your sets for a particular muscle group in a single training session, full-body workouts allow you to split those sets over several workouts. This allows you to potentially train more intensely. A perfect example is legs day. Your workout may include variations of squats, leg presses, and lunges. For many, after performing all of these exercises consecutively your performance may be exhausted. However, if you changed your split and spread those same exercises over three separate training days, you may be able to give each exercise maximum effort. You could do this using heavier weights, and increasing rep range. For a full-body workout to be effective, you should focus on compound exercises, and use a variety of movements to work your muscles from a variety of angles. For example: Monday Wednesday Friday 1 Squats Deadlifts Leg press 2 Leg curls Leg extensions Romanian deadlift 3 Barbell bench press Incline dumbbell bench press Dumbbell bench press 4 Cable row Chest supported row One-arm dumbbell row 5 Dumbbell shoulder press Shoulder press machine Dumbbell shoulder press 6 Pull-ups Lat pulldown Chin-ups 7 Triceps pushdowns Close grip bench press EZ bar skull crushers 8 Biceps cable curls Dumbbell biceps curls EZ bar biceps curls 9 Stability ball crunches Cable woodchops Abs wheel rollouts 2. UPPER / LOWER BODY SPLIT Depending on your fitness level, full-body workouts can also be limiting. As your weights, technique and effort increase, it can become too taxing to work every muscle group three times a week. You might also feel like you need a little more training volume and variety to maintain your progress. Upper body/lower body splits are a great solution. They allow you to train your main muscle groups twice per week and also allow you to include move volume and variation in your workouts. For example: Upper body Lower body Upper body Lower body 1 Bench press Squats Barbell shoulder press Deadlifts 2 Bent over row Leg curls Chin-ups Leg extensions 3 Cable crossover Bulgarian split squats Lateral raises Romanian deadlifts 4 Cable rows Hip thrusts Last pulldowns Lunges 5 Dumbbell pullovers Seated calf raises Cuban press Standing calf raises 6 Barbell skull crushers Cable crunch Triceps pushdowns Abs roll outs 7 Barbell curls Dumbbell side bends Dumbbell curls Cable woodchops 3. PUSH/PULL SPLIT Most exercises can be classified as a push or a pull. With this in mind, this training split involves a “pushing” day, and a “pulling” day. Each workout is repeated twice. A total of four sessions per week. In this split of training, you will perform a lot of similar exercises in each session, which can also be a disadvantage in the training style. Doing a lot of similar exercises back-to-back can lead to accumulated fatigue, especially in smaller muscle groups. For example: Push Pull Rest a day and repeat the workouts using different exercises or, at least, a different set and rep scheme. 1 Squats Deadlifts 2 Leg extensions Leg curls 3 Calf raises Back extensions 4 Bench press Chin-ups 5 Dumbbell flys Cable rows 6 Shoulder press Upright rows 7 Lateral raises Reverse flys 8 Barbell skull crushers Barbell biceps curls 9 Triceps pushdowns Dumbbells biceps curls So, which split should you choose? The answer is all of them! For the sake of variety and progress, follow each one for 6-8 weeks. Then, when you have completed all three, start back at the beginning but change your exercises and rep/set scheme. After a few cycles of these programs you may well feel you are ready for a classic “bro split”, but don’t be surprised if you end up returning to these more effective split routines afterwards.
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