12 Training Splits for Maximal Gains (#42)
Find the program layout right for you
There are countless training methods and styles that you could use. Ultimately finding the right one for you is going to take trial and error. Most recently high intensity training has experienced a resurgence. Generally speaking, the more intense training is the lower volume needs to be. Oftentimes higher intensity usually means lower frequency (amount of times per week) as well. There are examples of high intensity, low volume, and high frequency programs like the squat everyday plan that requires hitting a squat max daily.
Common Training Styles
High Intensity & Low Volume
Low Intensity & High Volume
How Much Should I Train?
I recommend first determining how many days per week you can train before deciding on the degree of intensity and volume you’ll need. Four days a week seems to work best but we’ll go over splits for training from 2 to 5 times per week in this article. Over time I recommend experimenting with intensity, volume, and frequencies. A Full body split is great for beginners coming into the gym 2x a week, but it can also be a solid option for more advanced trainees trying to train 3x a week as well. The devil is in the details.
Regardless of which split you choose, I still recommend conjugating your training. This means training every quality within the week. Training endurance, strength, speed, power, all within the same week instead of taking weeks or months to train one at the expense of the others. How you go about conjugating the training depends on your frequency.
Asynchronous Push Pull Leg split involves doing push, pull, leg then repeating that but with 4 workouts per week instead of 3. This means you hit 4 push days, 4 pull, and 4 leg days in 3 weeks (Training 4x a week for 3 weeks for 12 total workouts). There’s no rule that says a week of training need to evenly match an arbitrary 7 day calendar. Do whatever you want, just avoid leaving less than 48 hours between working the exact same muscle groups intensely.
These are my preferred training splits for most people. I’m a big fan of mini workouts (10-30 min in duration) throughout the week as well to address weaknesses or simply to improve conditioning. Mini workouts can include sled work, kettlebells, mobility, stretching, jumps, body weight work outs, prehab, and more. In a future article I can go over how I fill in the blanks for each of the above days.
Each split has nearly infinite possibilities since the structure of the workout becomes more variable depending on the individual’s goal. For example, I use more giant sets or super sets for immobile and out of shape folks who can only make it into the gym 2-3 x per week.
If you have any questions drop them below or just send me a message, DMs are always open.