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Training Splits

Imagine you are just getting done with your first week of working out at the gym. You have worked with a trainer once, tried different machine weights, and become familiar with treadmills and ellipticals. You were overloaded with information from the complimentary session that was given to you when you signed up. Here is a guide on having a better idea of splitting up your workouts in a way that may work better for you.

Muscle groups are divided into some common groups that are standard for most weight training programs.

Generally, your biceps and back are trained together because any time you do a movement that involves pulling, you use your back and bicep muscles to pull the weight toward you. This also reigns true if you are doing pull-ups. You are pulling your body up, which uses those muscles together.
The chest and triceps (and shoulders) are commonly put together because the main movement that is happening is you are pushing the weight away from your body. When doing push-ups, you push your body off the ground; when you bench press, you lift the weight off your chest.
Leg days are usually the heaviest days in a workout split to cover all the muscle groups. The muscles to work would be the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves (and abductors and adductors, if available). They are also the heaviest because doing movements such as squats and deadlifts require all the muscles in your legs to work together to perform a successful lift.

A common word when working out is a “workout split.” A workout split is not a flexibility thing by any means! It is the way you “split” your workout routine. You must split your workout routine, so you don’t overtrain your muscles and allow adequate time for your muscles to recover. The most common workout split is “Push, Pull, Legs, “which is exactly what it sounds like. You split your full body into three days, starting with “Push,” consisting of chest, triceps, and shoulders. The next day is “push,” consisting of the back and biceps. The last day of your three days split would be “legs,” which would involve all the big muscle groups in your legs.

This 3-day split can spread Monday through Friday, doing a strength training workout every other day (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). For more advanced athletes, you can also do this training split twice a week, starting Monday and taking Sunday off as a rest day to recover. You can also sprinkle cardio sessions after each workout or longer duration cardio sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays if you want to do weight training only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

A workout split is NEVER a blanket approach. It all depends on who will be training and what the goals and capabilities of this person are. For instance, someone who just retired and is entering their 60’s will not be doing the same workouts as a college student. On the same note, women and men also have different training styles and routines. Men have 60% of their muscle mass above their waist while women have 60% below the waist. This could mean that a women may split her leg day into two days and do upper body one day if they are doing a 3-day workout split.

Next week I will talk about how many sets and repetitions to do for each workout and detail how to structure workouts for success with specific goals.

Disclaimer

**The workout split is a traditional approach to lifting and may not be for every individual person. It is just a guideline or a resource that is available.**