You’ve probably heard the expressions “keep your body guessing” and “hit a plateau.” These expressions both refer to the fact that our bodies adapt incredibly quickly, and sometimes change is necessary in order to maintain progress. Your body doesn’t like change; it likes stability, and does whatever it can to maintain the status quo. This is why we use weights--to change the size of the load, to force your body to adapt to lifting that load by creating more muscle. In order to create a new challenge for your body to adapt to, you can change rep and set schemes, diet, workout nutrition, or as we’ll talk about here, your program.
A lot of weekend warriors stick with “old reliable” – the full body workout. It’s consistent, it’s familiar, it’s good for fat-loss, and it generally gets the job done. However, if you are looking to take things to the next level, or looking to overcome a plateau, splits may provide just the change you need. Splits are a great way to change the workload by “splitting up” your workouts, typically isolating muscle groups to allow for more focused work. Below are six different split workouts that will change things up and stimulate your body in a way you aren’t used to.
Note: you may notice that I didn’t put any planned rest days in and also left the choice of exercises open. I’m assuming that if you are looking for a split program, you are advanced enough to have moved beyond a beginners program. You should have a good grasp of how your body works, so I’ll let you insert your own rest days where you need them, and choose the exercises that stimulate your body best. It’s usually recommended to take an off day between cycles to allow for better recovery, but with many of these split programs, you might see that the days where you are working a different muscle group allow you enough time to recuperate so you can string them along continuously. The goal is to give your body a new stimulus to adapt to and force a change, so tweak the program as necessary to fit your needs.
Push-Pull Split
Day 1: Push (i.e. Press, Squat)
Day 2: Pull (i.e. Pull-up, Deadlift)
Day 3: Push (for a change - Dip, Lunge)
Day 4: Pull (change to Row, Raise)
The push-pull setup is a good first split to try because it is similar to a full-body workout. You focus on the movements, not the muscle groups, but it effectively splits the body with by what muscles are recruited for each movement.
Front-Back Split
Day 1: Posterior parts (Back, hamstrings, glutes, calves)
Day 2: Anterior parts (Chest, quads, shoulders
This is similar to the push-pull in that it will allow for an easy transition from a full-body routine, but this split puts the focus on the muscles instead of the movements.
Upper Body- Lower Body Split
Day 1: Upper body only (chest, back, arms, shoulders)
Day 2: Lower body only (quads, hams, glutes, calves)
The upper-lower split is one of the most effective routines you can try. Forcing your body (particularly your legs), to do multiple big lifts can be devastating and really stimulate growth. This split might require more rest days between work days than other programs.
Specialization Split
Day 1: Quads
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Shoulders, Abs, Arms
Day 4: Hamstrings
Day 5: Chest
With this split, you are working a different body part every day, so off days are optional, although I would recommend throwing in at least one per cycle to give your body some time to fully recover. The benefit of this split is that you are really focusing all your efforts on one body part during each workout, and you can really wreck a particular muscle system knowing that you won’t have to worry about that part for another week (kind of).
Opposites Split
Day 1: Chest/Back
Day 2: Quads/Hams
Day 3: Biceps/Triceps
These workouts pair opposing muscle groups together, making it particularly easy to superset the exercises, moving back and forth between exercises with little-to-no rest. As you are working one muscle group, the opposing muscle group will be resting, allowing you to get more work in with less time.
Primary/Secondary Split
Version 1: antagonistic movers
Day 1: Chest/Biceps
Day 2: Quads/Shoulders
Day 3: Back/Triceps
Day 4: Hams/Abs/Calves
Version 1 combines the primary moving muscles (or big muscles such as your pectorals, latimus dorsi, etc) with a secondary mover (smaller muscles such as triceps, biceps, etc) that works in the opposite direction of the primary mover. For example, you work the primary moving muscle group for your chest which primarily works in pushing and pressing motions, and work the opposing secondary group in the biceps, a muscle usually associated with pulling and curling motions.
Version 2: synergistic movers
Day 1: Chest/Triceps
Day 2: Quads/Calves
Day 3: Back/Biceps
Day 4: Hams/Shoulders
Version 2 pairs the primary and secondary movers together, which is really effective for hammering these muscles since they are typically used together in big movements.
Splits are a great tool for challenging your body. Using any one of these programs can help you take things to that next level and achieve those new goals you never thought possible.
Peter Bauman – Peter is a chef first and personal trainer second. With a background in the biological sciences and degree in psychology, Peter knows how to make food that tastes great and keeps you lean and healthy.