Choosing a training split is one of the more exciting parts of the fitness lifestyle. You know your goal, all you need to do now is choose ( or create ) a split that suits them, carry out the split with impeccable consistency and a diet that aligns with your goal and you’ll be on your way to reaching it in no time. However, with that many splits to choose from out there, and if you lack the proper knowledge to create your own, it can be quite confusing to choose the right one for you.
Here’s a few things you should know whilst deciding on your perfect muscle split;
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If you choose a push and pull routine, they allow a moderate amount of flexibility and because you can perform the same movement twice in one week, are better for skill acquisition than some other splits.
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A hypertrophy specialisation program can help build a body part that is lagging. This is done by putting major focus on the lagging area for 3 or more sessions a week and putting other parts into a maintenance. The key word here is specialization, nearly every workout can be for hypertrophy if you are in a calorie surplus.
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All training splits should be decided on what goal you have, how long you have been training for, your ability to recover and your schedule.
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If you are training for a sport, full body workouts are best
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A split that has a sole focus on one or two body parts per session can be time consuming but is very good for hypertrophy.
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There is and never will be a perfect training split for everyone. Training splits are always going to be individual to you. It's rare that someone will have the exact same recovery, training age and metabolic response to a workout as you.
So, if I was to take the knowledge above and start my training from the very beginning, what splits would I choose to build the maximum amount of muscle in the shortest time possible?
Full body
Now I know I said full body workouts are best for those who play sport, this however, doesn’t mean in the slightest that its no good at building muscle. Full body workouts provide a lot of stimulation in the form of frequency across the week. You can, if programmed correctly, train every muscle 3-4 times. This program split really does suit everyone from beginners to advanced trainers as the flexibility to increase or decrease volume and frequency throughput the week is unrivalled in other splits.
Push and pull
Much like full body, push pull training allows for the trainee to be flexible with their volume and frequency and can be manipulated for increased skill of a lift or for more of hypertrophy-based workout. See below the muscles that are trained once each day, from there you can pick your exercises and determine volume.
Push – chest, shoulders, triceps, quads, abs and calves
Pull – Hamstrings, back and biceps
Upper and lower
A great split for building muscle whilst progressing at a steady rate and perfecting movement patterns. It allows more training volume and recovery between sessions whilst using moderate volume and frequency. The perfect set up would be lower, upper, rest, lower upper for the week. A final day can be thrown in to work on any weaknesses and can be called a weaknesses day. This day could typically be used to bring up any lagging body parts that you may have.
Although any training split can build muscle over time, the ones I have outlined above in my opinion, have the best ratios between volume, frequency and recovery.
