An exercise split is basically what you train or which kind of training you do on any given day of the week. For instance should you train your legs on Monday, back on Wednesday and chest on Friday, that could be an example of a training split. In the never-ending mission for enhance our training results, athletes, fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders have experimented with a number of different training splits - the right, others terrible. Here are some of my favorite splits I use for athletic training, fat loss and rehabilitation that you are a lot more than welcome to take or adapt for your purposes.
Burleigh heads personal training
Before I go further, there a few simple rules I have that you should know before designing an exercise split.
The first is that simple things work most effectively so don’t make it anymore complicated than necessary.
The second (and this one relates especially to athletes) is that you simply should always train speed before strength and strength before endurance through the week.
The third is that the upper body can usually handle more load as opposed to legs because the muscle groups aren’t as large and may recover quicker. This means you can train them more often within your training split.
The fourth rule is that I do not to regularly pair two big compound movements a single session e.g. a the bench press exercise with a pull up. By avoiding this, it allows the trainee to target more on the dominant exercise within the session. NB: Check out Bodybuiliding Split #1 to determine how I have done this.
The 5th is that you want to train antagonistic muscle groups in your sessions 60-80% of the time e.g. should you train the biceps, you additionally train the triceps or maybe you train the quads, you additionally train the hamstrings in the same session. By carrying this out, you get more overall work carried out the session and you will get stronger at a faster rate due to a neat nervous system function called reciprocal inhibition. However you can’t do that all the time especially if you start using the Olympic lifts and you will see how I have slightly modified the splits in Bodybuilder Split #2 and Fat Loss #3 to reflect this.
Burleigh heads personal training
The sixth is basically that you should design your split around a 7 day cycle since this is what most people will naturally be able to fit their schedule in to the easiest. I am not a fan of shorter training splits (e.g. 5 days) because most people (even elite athletes that don't have to work) are simply preprogrammed to be working on 7 day cycles.
Unlike training the splits, training splits help you organize your training
So check out these possible training splits for several scenarios that again you're more than welcome to take and adapt to your own training:
Football (AFL, League, Union, Soccer) Off-season #1 (Can train twice daily)
Monday AM: Speed
Monday PM: Lower Body Weights
Tuesday AM: Chest Weights
Tuesday PM: Interval Training/Strongman Training
Wednesday: Off
Thursday AM: Speed
Thursday PM: Lower Body Weights
Friday AM: Chest muscles Weights
Friday PM: Interval Training/Strongman Training
Saturday: Aerobic Training
Sunday: Off
Football (AFL, League, Union, Soccer) Off Season #2 (Can only train once daily)
Monday: Speed
Tuesday: Chest & Biceps
Wednesday: Legs
Thursday: Interval training workout
Friday: Back &Triceps
Saturday: Aerobic Training
Sunday: Off
Bodybuilding #1
Monday: Chest & Biceps
Tuesday: Quadriceps & Knee Flexors (e.g. hamstring curl)
Wednesday: Shoulders & Calves
Thursday: Back & Triceps
Friday: Hip Extensors (e.g. deadlift) & Abs
Saturday: Flaws (e.g. the body part the trainee feels allows them to done the most)
Sunday: Off
Bodybuilding #2
Monday: Chest & Shoulders
Tuesday: Quads
Wednesday: Back & Calves
Thursday: Hamstrings & Abs
Friday: Arms
Saturday: Weak Points (e.g. the body part the trainee feels lets them done the most)
Sunday: Off
Bodybuilding #3 (Could only train 4x week)
Monday: Chest & Hamstrings
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Back & Shoulders
Thursday: Quads & Calves
Friday: Off
Saturday: Arms, Forearms & Abs
Sunday: Off
Weight-loss #1
Monday: Upper
Tuesday: Lower
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Upper
Friday: Lower
Saturday: Interval/Aerobic Training
Sunday: Off
Fat Loss #2 (Can only train 3x week)
Week 1
Monday: Upper body
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Lower body
Thursday: Off
Friday: Torso
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Week 2
Monday: Lower body
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Torso
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