Choosing the right workout split

It always amazes me how much b.s. is out there about the fitness industry. We are so quick to adopt anything a ‘fit’ person says about how to lose x amount of pounds or how their glute bridges made them grow a butt.

In reality a lot of people out there spitting ‘facts’ should keep their mouth quiet because they’re going to ruin a lot of peoples bodies (sorry not sorry).

I’ll get off my rant of the day and get to the actual content now..

What is a workout split?

A workout split is simply a term used to say what body parts you’re going to train on each day of the week. I’m sure you’ve heard of the most common split I see: back/biceps, chest/shoulders, and legs. Then you rotate through that split twice a week or 1.5 times, depending how much you were going to go to the gym.

Why do we use workout splits?

Workout splits are super helpful in the recoverability of your muscles to be able to train throughout the week. If you did full body for every workout, you would probably get 2-3 solid workouts before your body revenged against you – it can’t take that much build up.

Your body actually grows muscle in the time away from the gym. So if you’re never giving your muscles that rest and constantly utilizing those same movement patterns, they will wear down quickly!

We can also use workout splits to work on certain body parts. For example, if you really wanted to tone your glutes up, we could hit your glutes 2-3 times a week vs just once.

Your body also doesn’t need a new workout every time you go to the gym and you’re good to stick with the same split for a couple weeks before switching it up! That’s called progressive overloading and it needs it’s own blog all about it!

How do you pick the right one?

This is kind of a trick question. There is no one ‘right’ split to stick to or one right way to train. Everybody is different and will need to look at their previous lifting history, diet, goals, realistic expectations with themselves, etc. to create a solid plan.

However, the biggest thing in scientific research coming out is that in order to increase muscle mass in a certain muscle group you need to train it at least twice a week.

Therefore, you want your workout split to take that into consideration and as a coach, I like to hit every body part at least twice if possible! Then you will switch out your split every 3-6 weeks.

There’s a ton of workout splits you can copy online and if you want 1-1 training programs, apply here because it is the biggest game changer I’m telling ya. Even as a coach, I have a coach to create my workout plans and it’s the best money I spend every month!

Anyways, some split ideas for you (obviously switch some around depending on how often you train)

1. Upper/lower/rest/upper/lower/rest x2
2. Posterior/anterior/rest/posterior/anterior/rest x2
3. glutes,hamstring,delt / back, chest / rest / glutes,hamstring,delt / back,chest / arms / rest
4. glutes,back,delt / hamstring, chest, arms / hamstring, upper back, rear delt / rest / hamstring, chest, arms / back, delt / rest

Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but you can take some of these ideas and incorporate them into your next training!

Still confused and need help? Apply for 1-1 coaching and let me help you create your dream body!