Introduction to Training Splits

If you’re new to weightlifting, been out of the game for a while, or are looking for a way to improve your current workout routine, you may need a tune-up lesson on training splits. This article will identify what a training split is, their advantages, and how they can be optimized to achieve your fitness goals.

When personal trainers, fitness magazines, or gym rats mention a training split, they are referring to a strategy for dividing workout sessions according to specific, pre-determined, body regions.

The primary advantage to split routines is that you get bigger results in less time. A full body routine, though often extremely effective, can take two hours to complete. When you are able to focus on specific body parts, you will be able to decrease the amount of time you spend in the gym to less than 60 minutes. Other advantages to split routines are that you can increase the intensity of your workouts (because they are shorter), maintain focus and energy, and reduce the possibility of “overtraining”.

Consider the following tips when designing your own training split:

1.       Prioritize Body Regions

Find your weak points, or the body parts that you feel are lagging behind in strength, and train them earlier in the week. If you can bench press 1.5 times your bodyweight, but can’t do a single chin-up, prioritize exercises that train your back muscles earlier in the week than your chest. Even if you’re training both chest and back in the same workout, perform the back exercise first. Therefore, you can devote more energy and focus to improve strength in weaker body parts.

2.       Work Big to Small

In general, during your workout you should perform exercises that work larger muscle groups before those that isolate smaller muscle groups. Larger muscle groups include quadriceps, chest, and back. Smaller muscle groups include shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, and forearms. The smaller muscles contribute to support heavier lifting movements. If you exhaust them before big lifts, you will reduce the amount of large muscle fibres broken down. This will lead to slower gains where they matter most. For example, if you’re training both chest and triceps in the same day, do your bench presses before triceps extensions.

3.       Include Rest Days

Your muscles repair and grow when they’re at rest, not when you’re in the gym. Therefore, it is extremely important to include rest days in your training split. Generally, rest days are incorporated mid-way through the week, and at least once on the weekends. This way, you avoid training the same body region on consecutive days, which could lead to overtraining. Additionally, to optimize muscle repair, you need to sleep at least 8 hours a day. Make sure to have at least two days a week when you’re not inside a gym, and maintain a regular sleep schedule to maximize results.

4.       Maintain Workout Intensity

Higher intensity means greater workout efficiency and improved muscle breakdown, which will both contribute to faster results. Generally, you should keep the rest time in between sets less than 1 minute, and the rest time in between different exercises less than 2 minutes. This way, you maintain a higher heart rate, and minimize the amount of time you spend in the gym. Do NOT stop your workouts to socialize. Focus on your training, and it will show. Save the chit chat for the locker room.

5.       Redesign Every 4-6 Weeks

The human body incredible at adapting to various stressors. This is a fantastic trait when you get the flu, but isn’t good when you’re trying to improve strength and fitness. If you consistently train the same way for a long period of time, you may begin to plateau. This means, you will notice slower gains in strength and weight loss/muscle gain (depending on your goal). As a rule of thumb, you should switch up your training split at least every 4-6 weeks. This can be as simple as changing around the order of your weekly workouts, or as complex as changing from a two-day split to a four-day split.

There are a huge number of variations for training splits, and certain ones are more effective at certain points in your training progression. For example, professional bodybuilders will often train only one muscle group each workout, and may workout up to three times per day. Obviously, this is not necessary, or recommended, for beginners. The best way to utilize training splits is to adjust them according to your fitness level. Increase the intensity and number of exercises for each specific muscle group as you become stronger and fitter. Simple as that.

In the coming weeks, we will provide examples of training splits for you to follow. Stay tuned!

One Easy Trick to Maximize Muscle Growth

Our apologies for the hanging title. Trust us, when you read this article, you’ll be the smartest one in your gym. Well, maybe not (depends on the gym!), but at least you’ll have something cool to tell your friends.

If you gain nothing else from this article, the take home message is that you must constantly mix up your workout routines to achieve maximal gains in muscle strength, size, definition, and to avoid plateaus. Some have cleverly marketed this concept as “muscle confusion”, and it is one reason why we have outlined several training techniques on our blog to help you train smarter to achieve better results than just training harder. Just click around and you’ll find them!

Without getting too scientific, you should know that resistance training (lifting weights), targets specific muscle fibres. These muscle fibres are anaerobic, meaning they function without oxygen, and are capable of fast and powerful movements. Ever heard of fast-twitch?

New research in the European Journal of Applied Physiology (catchy title, we know) reveals that there are different subtypes of fast-twitch anaerobic muscle fibres in bodybuilders. Interestingly, the most abundant fast-twitch muscle fibres are dual capacity, meaning they function for both power AND endurance.

Therefore, if you only train using low-rep sets, you’re only utilizing half of the ability of your most abundant muscle fibres, and your gains in size and strength will reflect that. You need to train to exhaust both power and endurance components of your fast-twitch muscle fibres.

The perfect example of a bodybuilder who trained this way?

 

Arnold often used a technique we have already described, pyramid sets, where he would increase weight over a number of sets on his compound moves like bench presses. When he reached his heaviest weight for around six reps, he would then reduce the poundage for two "burnout" sets, 12 to 15 reps each.

He also often used double-drop, or strip sets, which are three progressively lighter sets back to back to finish off an exercise.

Therefore, he crushed the power component of his muscle fibres early in his set, and then got an immense pump with the lighter sets towards the end.

Therefore, the trick is:

Use a lighter weight and get a higher number of reps at the end of a set of compound movements.

There are many techniques and names for these lighter sets (burnout, drop sets, strip sets, double-drop sets, etc.). We will write about each in detail in the future. For the meantime, use one of them to integrate both power and endurance into your workout routines.