Samson Fitness

The best workout split is….the one you can remain consistent with. That’s probably not what you want to hear. You want a simpler answer, but I’m not going to give you a simple answer. Instead, I’m going to break down how to choose the best workout split for you as an individual. Let’s first talk about what a “split” is.

When I use the word “split”, I’m referring to how you break up your workout sessions throughout the week. This includes the number of times you work out each week and how you organize which body parts will be worked out in each session. There are a number of ways to organize your workouts. Some of the things to consider when doing so are:

• How much time can you commit to working out
• Your training experience

You don’t have to work out everyday to get amazing results. A person that commits to working out twice a week and remains consistent will get greater results than someone who plans to workout everyday but is inconsistent. So when creating your own workout program, you want to consider a split that allows you to remain consistent. Take a moment and think about your other commitments, such as work, family, friends, hobbies, etc. How much time outside of those other commitments do you have?

Now, take this into consideration: you should be doing 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity). Now all of these minutes of activity don’t have to be dedicated to a structured workout routine. They can also be for recreational sports, walking your dog, or going for a bike ride. You can have fun with it. But you want to get your heart rate moving and you should incorporate both cardiovascular and weight training in your programming. In another post, I will talk about programming specifically related to weight training and cardio, but for today, I will just focus on the split aspect. So you know now that you should be getting AT LEAST 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity in a week. It is perfectly fine to do more activity than this, depending on your training experience and abilities.

Here are some different ways you could split up your workout sessions (some of these sessions can be done in the same day- 2 a days, though if you are a beginner, I would discourage you from doing so):

• 5 thirty minute moderate intensity sessions a week
• 4 forty minute moderate intensity sessions a week
• 3 fifty minute moderate intensity sessions a week
• 5 fifteen minute vigorous intensity sessions a week
• 4 twenty minute vigorous intensity sessions a week
• 3 twenty five minute vigorous intensity sessions a week
• 5 twenty minute sessions (a mix between vigorous and moderate intensity)
• 4 thirty minute sessions (a mix between vigorous and moderate intensity)
• 3 forty minute sessions (a mix between vigorous and moderate intensity)

Beginners (less than 6 months of consistent structured workout experience)

Full body workout routines are great for beginners and advanced lifters. The main reason I find these beneficial for beginners though is that if you miss a day of working out, you will still have hit each muscle group during the week. It allows room for error, which is important when first learning correct form, figuring out what you can commit to, and understanding what your body needs.

If you identify as a beginner, then I suggest sticking with a progressive full body split, scheduling either 2 or 3 sessions of full body work and 2 or 3 sessions of cardiovascular activity. Go ahead and take a look at the schedules you wrote that you could commit to above. Below are some examples of how those schedules could look, pending on their intensity levels.

• Moderate-Intensity
  • Monday/Wednesday/Friday= 30 minute walk, Tuesday/Thursday = 30 minute full body weight training
• Vigorous Intensity
  • Monday/Friday= 15 minute jog/run, Tuesday/Thursday= 20-25 minute full body circuit routine
• Mix of Moderate and Vigorous Intensity
  • Monday/Friday=10 minute jog/run, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday= 30 minute full body routine

The beginner schedule that I encourage the most is doing a 2-day full body split with 3 days of moderate intensity activity sessions.

Intermediate (6 months to 2 years of consistent structured workout experience)

Once you are solid and consistent about making your workouts, the way you split them becomes less restrictive. You can do a full body split, upper/lower, upper push/lower pull/upper pull/lower push, push/pull/legs, body part splits….the list continues. For many of my intermediate clients, I like to lean towards the push/pull/legs or upper push/lower pull/upper pull/lower push splits. I find that clients find these splits motivating and allow appropriate recovery time for the muscle groups.

This would leave you with a 3- or 4- day split, in which you can incorporate cardio sessions on your off days or on your training days, if desired.

Advanced (More than 2 years of consistent structured workout experience)

Again, the more advanced you are, the more freedom you have in your splits. The hardest obstacle I find that advanced clients have is knowing when to slow down. They easily surpass the activity recommendations listed above, which is fine, but if their splits are not monitored, they may not always schedule in appropriate recovery time. If you are reading this section, you are probably already well aware of the different splits so I won’t break that down for you. Choose a split that you can commit to, but be mindful of your training volume, intensity, annual progression plans, and deload periods so that you can ensure that you are stimulating your muscles appropriately and providing adequate recovery.

There is a lot of ways to split up your workouts. You should take the time to create an annual periodization plan based on your goals and choose a split that you can commit to. If you need help creating this plan, head over to my services!