This is a VERY common question we get at TCM (what’s the best workout split?), because the reality is there are SO many options when it comes to what your weekly training split should look like.
But because of that, I’m going to take you through the 4 most common weekly training split s; critiquing each with pro’s and con’s so you can make a smart decision on how you should be training every week.
Each split will have pros and some will have cons, but how you need to truly determine what is the right split for you and the results you’re looking to achieve – comes down to 1 simple aspect, that over rules EVERYTHING else inside of training (nutrition as well, actually)…
ADHERENCE
If you’re unable to consistently adhere to the weekly training split, I’m talking over the course of months and months, it’s just not the right training split for you. Even if it sounds like the best way to build your physique, because of the science supporting it – without consistency, nothing works well.
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4 Day – Upper/Lower Training Split
This is one of my personal favorites, because it was the program that took me from a 155lb skinny fat kid to a 175lb built, but lean, man. Literally.
After my 50lb weight loss journey, I found myself a bit skinny fat. Not exactly what I expected, because like most other people… I saw instagram fitness junkies and assumed that I’d look jacked like them after dieting hard and doing cardio every single day.
WRONG. I was skinny fat and had to switch my mindset from fat loss, to building muscle.
But this doesn’t mean this is a “muscle building only split”, because the reality of fat loss is that you SHOULD be training to build muscle in order to maximize fat loss. Which is why we use this training split on a lot of men and women who work with us, whether their primary goal is fat loss or muscle growth.
Here’s how this weekly training split breaks down:
|
Sunday |
Rest |
|
Monday |
Lower Body |
|
Tuesday |
Upper Body |
|
Wednesday |
Rest or Cardio |
|
Thursday |
Lower Body |
|
Friday |
Rest or Cardio |
| Saturday |
Upper Body |
As you can see, you have 2 upper body days and 2 lower body days. Depending on your work and life schedule, you can lay out the sessions however you please as long as each session is completed weekly – but the way I’ve broken it down in the table above, shows the most optimal way to recovery between sessions and balance out volume across the week.
PROS |
| Allows you to have one max effort day and one dynamic or repetition effort day for both upper and lower body, each week. This is essentially a strength focused and a hypertrophy focused day, each week. This, in my opinion, is the #1 benefit of a split like this because now we can truly optimize muscular gains – studies have shown the most optimal way to periodize training is to have an undulation exactly like this, where you can prioritize both strength improvements and muscle growth. |
| Keeps lower and upper body isolated, which for the majority of people can help them truly connect to their body and get a better mind muscle connection. I find this to be extremely beneficial for people who struggle with muscular activation in specific areas. With a full body split, we switch what we’re working on throughout the session – this causes blood flow (the pump) to switch so frequently that we cannot stay focused on one area for an extended period of time. This split, however, allows us to do just that and can help us learn how our muscles activate and work much better. |
| Helps us increase total volume more effectively and more easily. There is a volume threshold that needs to be met when we consider building muscle – in other words, we need to hit a minimum amount of sets/reps per muscle per week to see progress. When we have 2 days to hit each muscle group, we can more easily accomplish that minimum volume requirement. |
| Hits the ideal amount of frequency according to science. Science has shown repeatedly that 2x per week, per muscle, is the optimal frequency – some science may argue for 3x a week as well, but what we know is that 1x a week isn’t enough and 4x or more per week doesn’t provide any extra benefits. To maximize recovery and allow the anabolic response from training to ride out, it’s recommended that we have about a 48-hour period between muscle groups. This basically states that we should place 2 days between each muscle group and the reason is because after we train legs, the tissues will be repairing and building for about 2 days. Once that process stops or slows down, we should train them again. |
| It’s 4 days per week, which is not overwhelming on most people’s schedule but it’s also enough to be in the gym quite often. It’s a great balance between not enough and too much, for most people. |
| Flexibility of this program is pretty good, because it’s only 4 days and that gives you 3 days of rest – which allows you to switch around the days pretty easily if your schedules change and you need too. |
CONS |
| For a beginner or someone who is very novice to lifting, the isolated upper and lower body days may create too much DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Because we have a full day of prioritizing one half of your body, it may be a bit much to recover from if you’ve yet to dive into a solid training program. |
| If your schedule changes so frequently that you never really know how often you’ll be able to get into the gym or not this week, then this may not be the best option because you’ll leave muscle groups left untrained and in your case – a full body approach may be best. |
Full Body – 3 or 4 Day Weekly Training Split
This is tied with the upper lower split for how often I use it with clients, simply because these two JUST WORK. They’re also very pliable, but we’ll get into that in the tables below.
|
Sunday |
Rest |
|
Monday |
Full Body |
|
Tuesday |
Rest or Cardio |
|
Wednesday |
Full Body |
|
Thursday |
Rest or Cardio |
|
Friday |
Full Body |
| Saturday |
Full Body, Rest, or Cardio |
PROS |
| Can be very enjoyable for most. When doing a fully body training split, you’re hitting literally every muscle in your body and every movement pattern your body can functionally perform (well, if you’re programming the right way). Because of this, it keeps it very engaging and keeps you interested in the program itself – very rarely do these feel stale! |
| It’s a great way to increase the metabolic aspect of your training and burn more calories. When doing a full body training split, as mentioned above, you’re hitting every muscle group, which in itself will increase your heart rate and get your body burning more calories during the workout. So if fat loss is your main goal, this may be a great solution for you simply from the caloric expenditure aspect. |
| Just like the upper lower split, with a full body split you will be hitting the optimal amount of frequency no matter what because each muscle group will be trained a minimum of 3 times per week. This means from a science perspective, you’re doing the job of maximizing muscle activation frequency – which itself has a very anabolic benefit to it. |
| This is by far the most adjustable program you can use, because whether you can only train 2 or 3 or 4 times per week – you accomplish the job of training each muscle group! I use this (as well as all the others) inside our membership site, The Boom Boom Elite, because it allows people to follow a 3-day full body split WITH an optional 4th day, if they decide to level up their training. |
| This program limits the volume you can use depending on the amount of times in the week you’re training, which is why a 4 or 5x a week plan may be better for maximal muscle growth for a more advanced lifter. But this downfall is actually also a benefit, because some people fail to see results because they do too much and end up in an under-recovered state. This program allows you to manage total volume better and keep it to where YOU are personally at. |
| May be optimal for strength specific goals, rather than hypertrophy. The reason for this is because we can train each body part more often throughout the week without experiencing a lot of muscle soreness. When we can train each movement, we can increase our neurological ability and skill behind the actual movement or exercise itself, which is actually the foundation of how strength is built (strength is nervous system dominant). |
CONS |
| I’ve found in my experience that the mind muscle connection ability inside a full body training program is lessened unless you’re a very advanced individual who can simply THINK and activate a muscle. The mind muscle connection is not everything and isn’t the most important aspect for growth, some will argue that it’s even needed. But when we consider proper form, injury prevention, and joint health – it’s MASSIVE. When training full body, we may go from working your chest to your glutes within 1-2 sets. This causes blood flow to go else where, focus to go to a different area of your body, and by the time you hit your 3rd set of chest and are finally getting a pump… we switch it up! Where as an upper lower split will allow you to bathe in the pump and create that connection for a while before switching. |
| It can be tough to get enough volume for anyone who is over the beginner stage, not always but this is a concern for most. The reason is because in order to get enough volume on a 3, or sometimes even 4 day, split you’ll have to spend at least 1 hour, sometimes a bit more, in the gym each session and for some people’s lifestyles that’s just not possible. So it’s not a con for everyone, but for some people it becomes a limitation. |
| Programming becomes more difficult. This isn’t a con for people like me, who have been coaching for 8 years and who have written thousands of programs, but for those who are less experienced in writing workout plans. There is more to think about when writing a quality full body program. Posture, frequency, joint health, volume minimum requirements, movement patterns, etc… Now I must also preface, you SHOULD be focusing on all these no matter what type of weekly training split you’re creating – but it can be a bit trickier inside a full body routine. |
Push/Pull/Legs – 6-Day Weekly Training Split
This is a more advanced training split, one that I rarely program for clients but will when I get an advanced and competitive physique athlete if I feel they need it to make progress.
This split can be a 6 days split on a 7 or an 8-week microcycle. A microcycle is essentially your weekly training block, which most people see as a normal 7-day week. But we could extend that to 8 or 9 or even 14 days depending on how you program. So there are 2 ways to use this effectively:
|
Sunday |
Rest |
|
Monday |
Push |
|
Tuesday |
Pull |
|
Wednesday |
Legs |
|
Thursday |
Push |
|
Friday |
Pull |
|
Saturday |
Legs |
|
Sunday |
Rest |
|
Monday |
Push |
|
Tuesday |
Pull |
|
Wednesday |
Legs |
|
Thursday |
Rest |
|
Friday |
Push |
|
Saturday |
Pull |
|
Sunday |
Legs |
|
Monday |
Rest |
As you can see, the first option gives you 1 day of rest each 7 day week and the second option provides you with an extra day of rest to allow more recovery – but the downside being your weekly training days change week to week, which for some people doesn’t fit their schedule.
PROS |
| It will guarantee that you get enough volume in!! As you can probably tell, it’s plenty of days per week – which is going to allow you maximal volume, because you have so many days per week to ensure you’re training. |
| Going back to the idea of maximizing your ability to enhance the mind muscle connection, this may be the best option to enhance this because you stay on PUSH (chest, shoulders, triceps) for an entire session – keeping blood flow in the same 3 muscle groups, which all work together when training. |
| Like the upper/lower spit, this is allowing us to maximize the 3 big keys to seeing progress – intensity, frequency, and volume. We’re hitting each muscle group 2x per week, we can split those into strength and hypertrophy days, and we can ensure that we’re maximizing our volume threshold. Because of this, from a science perspective, this is an outstanding split. |
| Because you are segmenting your days into movement patterns, I find it really helps people from a knowledge perspective because you have to truly think about the way your body functions, how your joints move, and what muscle support what functions. |
| Lastly, just to echo all of the above, for very advanced individuals who are focused on maximizing their gains and are very committed to the gym – this may be the most optimal split to break through to new gains when you’re getting closer to your genetic potential. |
CONS |
| It’s a lot of gym time, plain and simple. For most people – 6 days a week in the gym for roughly an hour apiece is just not feasible for a consistent amount of time. That makes this split suboptimal for a lot of people. |
| Can cause extreme DOMS in many individuals, simply because volume is sky high and you’re constantly resistance training. The recovery time in this split is small and therefore I often see people burnout from a nervous system perspective. So it’s more important to pre plan deloads with this plan and to make sure both nutrition and sleep are prioritized. |
| Joint health can often be compromised if you’re not programming intelligently, especially with your shoulders. Pushing for an entire day is a lot of scapular protraction and without any retraction, you’re asking for impingements and extra joint stress – possible bicep tendon stress as well. So when programming this way, I add plenty of rows or scap retraction in the warm ups of the push days and extra posterior chain work on the lower body days, to avoid any hip flexor issues. |
Upper/Lower + Push/Pull/Legs – 5 Day Weekly Training Split
This is a more advanced training split, but not as serious as the 6 day P/P/L split. In fact, for an advanced individual who is plateaued this is absolutely my favorite weekly training split to take them through!
|
Sunday |
Rest |
|
Monday |
Upper – Strength |
|
Tuesday |
Lower – Strength |
|
Wednesday |
Rest |
|
Thursday |
Push – Hypertrophy |
|
Friday |
Pull – Hypertrophy |
|
Saturday |
Legs – Hypertrophy |
PROS |
| Allows you to have one max effort day for both upper and lower body while also having a hypertrophy day for each movement pattern, each week. This takes the upper/lower split up a notch in specificity. This, in my opinion, is the #1 benefit of a split like this because now we can truly optimize muscular gains – studies have shown the most optimal way to periodize training is to have an undulation exactly like this, where you can prioritize both strength improvements and muscle growth. |
| Like both the upper/lower and the P/P/L split, we are staying in the same area of focus allowing you to really find that mind muscle connection and work on the activation of muscles. This goes along way in the skill of training and building muscle. |
| Helps us increase total volume more effectively and more easily. There is a volume threshold that needs to be met when we consider building muscle – in other words, we need to hit a minimum amount of sets/reps per muscle per week to see progress. When we have 5 days to hit our minimum, it’s not hard to do so. |
| Hits the ideal amount of frequency while still allowing the recovery needed to facilitate the actual muscle growth process. The 6 days per week pushes this a bit too far for most, but the 5 days per week, when programmed properly, can maximize both gains and recovery. |
| When we have a 5-day split, we have more opportunity to specialize. What I mean by this is we have the ability to specialize in a specific area, bringing up your weak body part or lagging muscle group. The reason for this is simple, we have 5 days to train and it’s split up in a way where we have multiple days each week to work on each muscle group for an entire session. |
| Like the 6 day split, this is often the type of program that can help an advanced individual break through a plateau and onto new gains. It’s a lot of volume, but doesn’t over load the nervous system for most. |
CONS |
| For some, it’s a bit too much gym time. So if your schedule doesn’t consistently allow 5 days per week in the gym for about an hour, it’s probably not the program for you. |
| For a beginner or someone who is very novice to lifting, the isolated upper and lower body days may create too much DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Because we have a full day of prioritizing one half of your body, it may be a bit much to recover from if you’ve yet to dive into a solid training program. |
| If your schedule changes frequently or you travel a lot, so you never really know how often you’ll be able to get into the gym or not this week, then this may not be the best option because you’ll leave muscle groups left untrained and in your case – a full body approach may be best. |
Training Splits Not Mentioned
THE SPLIT |
REASON |
| Body Part Split (Aka – Bro Split) | This is our classic bodybuilding split, where you train one muscle group per day – i.e. Chest, Back, Quads, Arms, etc… The reason this is NOT listed, is because it is not beneficial to train this way unless you’re using anabolics. The frequency is too low (1 muscle per week, at best) and because you are hitting one muscle so hard each day, your volume subsequently drops lower and DOMS rises higher. |
| CrossFit | It’s just not a split, in reality. CrossFit may be 3 days per week, 6 days per week, 5 days per week with AM and PM sessions (total of 10 per week), etc… CrossFit is a modality and/or a sport, so to list it in this article is just too difficult. It deserves an entire article going over all the different ways to approach training inside CrossFit. |
| Anterior/Posterior (or Full Body Push/Pull) | This isn’t mentioned because it’s not as common and it’s rarely used, although I do like this approach. With this, you’re doing full body each day and typically training 6 days per week, with each session being fairly short. Example would be Day 1: Squat/Bench, Day 2: Deadlift/Chin Up, Day 3: Lunge/OHP, etc… Each day has an anterior (quad/shoulder/chest) focus or a posterior (glutes/hams/back) focus. You can do this and get away with 2 “compounds” or main lifts, followed by just 1-2 accessories – per session. |
To echo exactly what I started this article with; if you’re unable to consistently adhere to the weekly training split that you choose after reading this, I’m talking over the course of months, it’s just not the right training split for you. Even if it sounds like the best way to build your physique, because of the science supporting it – without consistency, nothing works well.
So when going through this and deciding on what YOU should be doing, first step is considering what you will be able to adhere too!
