Choosing a Weekly Training Split Part 1

This is part 1 of a series expanding on my short blog post of the same topic, to which I'll be adding over the next week or so. Keep checking back for more. 🙂 Several factors are at play in choosing a weekly lifting split; the amount of time you have to train- the more time you have, the more specific your splits can be, your training age- how long you've been training, and how long you've been on your current plan- been on the same program for the last 10 years? Only do bro splits, or have only ever done full body? The amount of work from which you can recover and the quality/ quantity of your sleep, other physical activities and outside stressors you have in your life, and any other health considerations you may have should all influence your choice in your weekly plan. Option 1 is to perform basic, full body routines 2 to 4 times per week. This is great for people very short on time to workout. If you're only lifting 2 to 3 days per week, you have no business trying to do very specific body-part splits. 😁😘 I also find some people (myself included) get better results from greater frequency (hitting muscle groups more often during the week) rather than greater intraworkout volume (doing a ton of work for one or 2 muscle groups within a single workout). This also allows for tons of flexibility in your workout week if your schedule tends to be erratic, but don't use that as an excuse not to fit in your workouts. In this case, workouts should be focused on upper body pushing, pulling, and carrying, and lower body squatting, hip hinging, and lunging. There is likely to be little time for isolation work, so use it only for those areas where you really need it. An example week might be performing an entire full body routine each on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You can fit your cardio in on the same day AFTER your lifting, or on separate days.  Sample workout: Goblet squat 4x6 (4 sets of 6) Cable row 3x8 Dumbbell deadlift 4x6 Dumbbell incline press 3x8 Split squat 3x8 each side Farmer carry 3x45 seconds