There's a good chance you're making a massive mistake in the gym that's sabotaging your gains; you're not using a program! Planning your workouts to track your progress is the most powerful tool and is actually a necessity to make consistent progress.
Now, the foundation of your program is the training split you use. It tells you what muscles you'll train on what day and how often – it's your blueprint to building muscle. The only issue is there are quite a few to choose from. We're going to go over the most common types and see what the best training split is for different situations.
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What Is A Training Split?
A training split is how you organize your workout routine by dividing muscle groups or types of exercises across different days. This tells you what muscle groups to work together and how often.
While a simple concept, they hold a ton of value and are essential for success. Here are just a few reasons you need to use one.
- Fatigue management and recovery¹
- Maintain appropriate levels of volume
- Simplify your training and provide specific goals for the day
- Ensure full-body training
- Provide structure
There are quite a few different splits to choose from, as we'll go over them below. While some are more beneficial than others in certain situations, keep in mind that any structure split is better than none!
What Are The Muscle Groups?
Before we go further, we need to first go over the muscle groups and how they might be divided. Keep in mind that muscle groups may be divided by location (upper, lower) or function (push, pull). Some body parts are always trained together, so they'll be listed together
- Quadriceps - Lower body, pushing
- Glutes & hamstrings - Lower body, pulling
- Chest and shoulders - Upper body, pushing
- Back - Upper body, pulling
- Biceps - Upper body, pulling, arms
- Triceps - Upper body, pushing, arms
When it comes to core, you can actually put these on whatever training day you think it's appropriate or fits best.
The 5 Best Workout Training Splits
We'll first go over the 5 primary splits that are used in the gym.
Afterwards, we'll review some different variables that can affect what training split would be ideal for you.
We'll also provide some sample plans just to help visualize how a plan might look. This will let you see what muscles are trained together on specific days along with the exercises.
1. Full Body Training Split
Full-body training splits are exactly as they sound; you train the entire body every session. Another way to think about it is to train each muscle group every session.
Since you're training every body part, the full-body training split should only be used when training 2-3 days a week. This is to ensure you have an adequate amount of recovery in between your sessions, as a general rule is to never train the same body part two days in a row.
As you're training each muscle group, this means you'll only use 1-2 exercises per muscle group. Further, as you must make the most out of your time in the gym, full-body workouts generally rely on compound exercises.
A very basic full-body workout training split might split the sessions like this.
Session 1
- Squat
- Chin-up
- Romanian Deadlift
- Incline Bench Press
- Z-Press
Session 2
- Bench Press
- Rack Pull (Knee)
- Hip Thrust
- Bent Over Row
- Lunges
- Dumbbell Overhead Press
Session 3
- Deadlift
- Seated Barbell Overhead Press
- Hack Squat
- Cable Row
- Dips
An effective tactic is to use a form of periodization with these sessions known as daily undulating periodization.² This means you'll use a variety of loads to train each muscle throughout the week.
2. Upper/Lower Training Split
An upper/lower training split divides your body parts into upper and lower bodies and trains them in separate sessions. You will then alternate through these sessions during the week.
This type of split obviously works perfectly with a 4-day training frequency. However, some people like this split but want to train 5 days a week. This is definitely possible as you could add a day of accessory work such as;
- Core
- Isolation Work
- Conditioning
As we hinted above, this works well for some who follow a strength-based program, as it allows rest between training the lower and upper body parts. This is a favorite split as it really allows you to focus on what you're training.
Here's how a simple split might look.
Upper 1
- Rack Pull (knee level)
- Overhead Press
- Bent Over Row
- Dips
- Rope Upright Row + Face Pull
- Lateral Raise + Bicep Curl
Lower 1
- Squat
- Hip Thrust
- Leg Press
- Goblet Squat
- Calf Raise
Upper 2
- Bench Press
- Chin-Up
- Seated Dumbbell Press
- Chest Fly + Reverse Fly
- Lateral Raise + Triceps Pushdown
Lower 2
- Deadlift
- Hack Squat
- Romanian Deadlift
- Walking Lunges
- Calf Raise
3. Push/Pull Training Split
Another popular training split for a 4-day training frequency is a push/pull split. This divides the muscle groups into functions with the following muscle groups.
- Pushing - Quads (squats), chest, shoulders, triceps, calves
- Pulling - Glutes, hamstrings (deadlifts), back, biceps
As you see, we have squats with the pushing muscles and deadlifts with pulling. Now, technically, these movements will train your entire lower body as it's impossible to isolate your lower body pushing and pulling muscle with compound exercises.
Realistically, this means you're training legs 4 days a week, so you need to be mindful and adjust the intensity.
One way to deal with this is to change the intensity of the exercises and primary muscle groups that day. This is how it would look.
- Pushing 1 - Lower body (heavy, strength) / Upper body (moderate, light, hypertrophy)
- Pulling 1 - Upper body (heavy, strength) / Lower body (moderate, light, hypertrophy)
- Pushing 2 - Upper body (heavy, strength) / Lower body (moderate, light, hypertrophy)
- Pulling 2 - Lower body (heavy, strength) / Upper body (moderate, light, hypertrophy)
On the heavy/strength for a muscle, you'd focus on your big, compound movements. Then, on the second training day with moderate/light/hypertrophy, you'd focus on more accessory work and isolations.
Again, you can pair this with a 5th training day focusing on weak points, core, conditioning, or other areas of interest.
Here's an example plan:
Pushing 1
- Squat
- Overhead Press
- Hack Squat
- Dips
- Leg Extensions + Triceps Extension
Pulling 1
- Rack Pull
- Romanian Deadlift
- Bent Over Row
- Nordic Curl + Face Pull
- Leg Curl + Bicep Curl
Pushing 2
- Bench Press
- Front Squat
- Landmine Press
- Bulgarian Split Squat
- Calf Raise + Lateral Raise
Pulling 2
- Deadlift
- Chin-Ups
- Hip Thrust
- Seated Cable Row
- Step-Ups + Bicep Curl
4. Push/Pull/Legs Training Split
A push, pull, and legs (PPL) training split has become popular over the past few years. The muscle groups are training together as such;
- Push - Upper body push
- Pull - Upper body pull and deadlift
- Legs - Lower body
Many people report really liking training splits, which seem to work with strength and muscle hypertrophy.
Right off the bat, you'll notice that this lines up for 3 sessions during the week. This doesn't mean you have to train 3 days a week. In fact, most people who use this split will train 4, 5, or even 6 days a week.
For these, you'd just rotate through the 3 sessions; it would look like this for training 5 days a week.
- Monday - Push
- Tuesday - Pull
- Wednesday - Rest
- Thursday - Legs
- Friday - Push
- Saturday - Rest
- Sunday - Push
Regardless, here's how the sessions might look.
Push
- Bench Press
- Overhead Press
- Dips
- Chest Fly + Lateral Raise
- Bicep Curl + Triceps Pushdown
Pull
- Deadlift
- Chin-ups
- Bent Over Row
- Seated Cable Row (Unilateral)
- Face Pull + High Pull
- Bicep Curls
Legs
- Squats
- Hip Thrust
- Hack Squat
- Romanian Deadlift
- Lunges
- Leg Curl + Leg Extension
5. Body Part or "Bro" Split
The "body-part" split, also known as "the bro split," is one of, if not the most popular type of training split, or at least it was.
You used this training split if you trained in the '90s or even early '00s. As the name implies, this training split involves training a specific body part during an entire session.
There is some variation on what muscle groups to work together, but a basic training split would look like this;
- Chest
- Legs
- Shoulders & Core
- Back
- Arms & Core
The idea is to concentrate on a specific body part every session, train it with the highest intensity, and "cause as much damage" as possible. It was believed that more damage to the muscle would result in greater growth. We know this isn't exactly true, but it's still used heavily today, especially by bodybuilders.
Regardless, due to its nature, a bro split requires a high training frequency to train every body part weekly. This means you must hit the gym 5-6 days a week.
Training Variables That Affect Determine Your Training Split
Now that we've discussed the different training splits, we want to discuss some important variables that could affect which training split is best for you.
Training Frequency
Training frequency refers to the number of times you want to go to the gym every week and has a massive effect on the best training split for you.
Your answer could be anywhere from 1 to 7 days. However, under normal conditions, we think that 3 to 5 days is ideal for most.
Now, if you are very limited on time or just want to train to support other goals, you could get away with training for two days. On the flip side, more experienced lifters or bodybuilders could also do six days a week.
Regardless, the most important thing is being honest when you decide, as this will significantly influence your training split.
For example, if you say you're going to the gym 5 days a week, you'll get a training split optimized for training 5 days a week.
However, if you only go 3-4 days a week, that program would be suboptimal and you would do better with a split designed for 3 or 4 days a week.
Training Goal
Training for strength or muscle growth may affect your training split, specifically what muscle groups are worked together.
For example, if you're a bodybuilder, you probably want to hit the gym more frequently. This means you need a training split that accommodates this. A full-body split would not be ideal unless you're simply limited on time.
On the other hand, a strength athlete would probably do better with an upper/lower or push/pull split. Now, above we went over some of the nuances with these but the fact remains these work really well.
This is secondary to training frequency, but it's still a factor to consider.
Training Level
Your training level or age could also affect what a good training split is for you to use.
If you're a beginner, there's no reason you need to be in the gym 5 or 6 days a week. Therefore, you should stick with a training split better suited for training 3 or 4 days a week.
On the other hand, if you've been in the gym for a couple of years and still want to make significant gains, you'll probably need to increase your training frequency. In this scenario, a full-body training split would not be ideal.
At the same time, maybe you've been in the gym for a few years. However, you've hit a point where you just want to maintain your progress. In this scenario, you could get away with training just 3 days a week.
Age
Another factor is your age. When you're young, your body runs at optimal levels and can recover relatively easily, assuming you're eating properly and getting enough sleep.
However, as we age, this ability can begin to decrease, and you may need to decrease the frequency of the number of times you hit the gym. As your frequency decreases, it can affect what training plan you use.
With that said, there is nuance to this and all the other variables.
What Is The Best Workout Training Split?
Now that we've discussed the different training splits, the next question is: What is the best training split?
We can't answer that as it's 100% dependent on your personal situation. With that in mind, with no other information, we find that a 4-day split using a push/pull or upper/lower split works great for a lot of people.
If you wanted, you could add a fifth day for arms, isolations, core, or conditioning. This would allow you to concentrate on those larger movements during the initial four days and then smaller accessory work and isolations on the 5th day.
What's The Best Training Split For Training 3 Days A Week?
Now, if you're limited on time, a full-body split works really well, so long as you follow some basic rules;
- Keep at least one rest day in between workout sessions
- Alter training intensities and loads for muscle groups during the week
- Be sure to hit every muscle group.
What's The Best Training Split For Beginners?
Another common question is what's best for beginners.
First, we need to clarify what a beginner is;
- Have you ever been to the gym?
- Are you active and athletic outside the gym?
- Are you coming back from a long hiatus?
These things can slightly affect the answer. That said, if we're talking about someone who has just started training, we think a 3-day, full-body split works great.
Training three days a week creates plenty of time to recover from the workouts. Also, because you're not in the gym as much, you won't waste time on fluff; you'll simply concentrate on your primary movements.
Pick The Right Split For You
You now know your options and what factors can affect the right one for you. Spend some time to look at your situation and your goals. Pick one you think works best and run with it!
In reality, any of the above options could be a good workout split for anyone so long as they train with intensity. Therefore, make an informed decision but don't stress too much on if it's the best for you. Choose, get in the gym, train and you can adjust if needed!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Have the program customized to your personal needs with one of our expert...
References
- Schoenfeld, Brad J., et al. “Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Sports Medicine, vol. 46, no. 11, 21 Apr. 2016, pp. 1689–1697, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27102172/, https://ift.tt/EU8TzvC.
- Prestes, Jonato, et al. “Comparison between Linear and Daily Undulating Periodized Resistance Training to Increase Strength.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 23, no. 9, Dec. 2009, pp. 2437–2442, https://ift.tt/jmnbrfH.
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