What is a workout split?
A workout split is a way or organizing your workouts over a week in order to train certain muscles on more of a schedule.
Which one is best?
No workout split is better than another….but the best workout split for you depends on your schedule, your experience level, your goals, and which muscles you want to develop.
Should men and women have different splits?
Men and women shouldn’t have different workout splits because of their gender. They should only differ because of their long term goals.
For example: Men normally want bigger and more defined pecs, biceps, and upper body. Women usually want more defined legs, butt, and lower body. That may not be the same for you.
What are your long term goals?
When is it time to change your split?
It is recommended that you wait 12-16 weeks. This will give your body enough time to build and recover without too much change.
Think about when you first started lifting or running. You were probably sore and unable to walk for days. But, once you have a month or two under your belt, you find yourself increasing mileage or increasing weight without being as sore as you were when you first started.
With that being said, as you become a more advanced weightlifter, you’ll probably want to switch to a higher volume, or higher frequency training split.
How long have your been lifting or working out?
Have you been weight lifting for less than a year?
- Maybe try starting off with a 3 day per week full-body workout split. You have to learn to love working out before you can progress so this is good because it provides structure but with a bit more flexibility.
- Then, once you’re comfortable, try a 4-day per week push pull legs workout split. (I’ll explain this more below)
Been weight lifting for more than a year?
welcome to the dark side…ha ha
• Try a 4- or 5-day full-body workout split
or
•Try an upper/lower workout split.
Ask yourself what you are looking for in your workouts….
Below I’ll talk about different splits and some pro’s and con’s for each.
3 day per week, upper body focus? 3-day per week push pull legs split.
Push and pull refers to upper body workouts like back/bicep or chest/shoulders/triceps. With back and bicep you usually pull. With shoulders, chest, and triceps, you usually push.
Want to train each muscle group separately? Try the body-part split
Here’s a body-part split, or something like it depending on the days you workout:
Monday: Back
Tuesday: Shoulders
Wednesday: Arms and Abs
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Chest
The body part split is great for high volume (lots of reps and weight), and getting a good pump in.
The not so good aspects of this workout split, is that it doesn’t provide enough frequency for the body parts. After two to three days, your muscles have gained all of the muscle they can from a workout, and they’re ready to be trained again.
Want to train more legs? (this is common for women
Day 1: Upper Body
Day 2: Legs (quads/calves)
Day 3: Chest/Back
Day 4: Legs (glutes and hammies)
Day 5: Shoulders & Arms
Day 6: Legs (quads and calves)
Day 7: Rest
Want to divide your workouts into upper/ lower?
This alone calls for a very long workout. Imagine doing chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and biceps all in one day? So, an upper vs lower body workout is good for people just starting out & want some structure but not so much as to working out specific muscle groups on specific days…yet
Try:
Upper vs lower
Day 1: Lower
Day 2: Upper
Day 3: Rest
Repeat
Are you new to weight lifting and want to strengthen your whole body with a simple split?
Try Push vs Pull
Day 1: Push
Day 2: Pull
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: Rest
Repeat
This split is simple, can be only three days per week, and it’s easy to schedule. But, some women may not like the fact that this isn’t very glute focused, but more overall body strength.
This is because you’re spending about double the time working your upper body as your lower body.
Monday: Legs
Tuesday: Push
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Pull
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
Beginner? Woman? Three days per week only? Need quick muscle recovery?
Full Body could be for you….
Full body workouts train all major muscle groups multiple times per week. It’s easy to schedule, making busy work or family life easier to juggle with your workout.
Similar to the upper/lower workout split, full-body workouts can be longer.
Growing Healthies 
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