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Option 5 is chest and triceps/ back and biceps/ legs/ shoulders and arms. This or slight variations of it are pretty common, particularly among bodybuilders, and allows for both a high volume of work for the upper body in general, and a high volume of accessory and targeted isolation work. This is a good choice if your main goal is building size in the upper body, but is usually too little work for the lower body, unless it's short-term (more on specialization in a later post). Some lifters go one step further and split quads and hamstrings to their own days, or focus a 2nd leg day more on glutes. The only people who should be doing this type of split are those who unfailingly lift 4 or more days per week, can devote adequate time to recovery and nutrition, want to put on muscle (as opposed to their top goal being fat loss), AND can perform a large volume of work for one to two muscle groups within an individual workout. It is not well-suited for athletes as it divides muscles into small groups rather than training the body as a whole. An example week might look like Monday chest/ tri Tuesday back/ bi Wednesday legs Thurs shoulders/ arms Fri abs, 2nd leg day, or supplemental day for another lagging muscle group Sample workouts: Chest/ tri- Bench press 5x5 Incline press 4x6 Dumbbell chest fly 3x12 Tricep dips 3x8 Cable tricep pressdown 3x12 Back/ bi- Barbell bent over row 5x5 Pulldown 4x6 Dumbbell chest supported row 3x8 Face pull 3x10 Dumbbell bicep curl 3x12 Legs- Barbell back squat 5x5 Romanian deadlift 4x6 Hip thrust 3x12 Quad extension 3x12 Hamstring curl 3x12 Shoulders/ arms- Military press 5x5 Side lateral raise 3x12 Reverse fly 3x12 Skull crusher 3x12 Hammer curl 3x12 Abs- Hanging leg lift 3x12 Plate side bend 3x15 each side Reverse crunch 3x15 Cable chop 3x12 each side Ab roller 3x12
