The Best Training Splits

A training split is basically what you train or what type of training you do on any given day of the week. For instance if you train your legs on Monday, back on Wednesday and chest on Friday, that would be an example of a training split. In the never-ending quest to enhance our training results, athletes, fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders have experimented with a number of different training splits - some good, others terrible. Here are some of my favorite splits I use for athletic training, fat loss and rehabilitation that you are more than welcome to take or adapt for your own purposes.

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Before I go further, there a few basic rules I have that you should know before designing a training split.



The first is that simple things work best so don’t make it anymore complicated than need be.



The second (and this one relates especially to athletes) is you should always train speed before strength and strength before endurance during the week.



The third is that the upper body can usually handle more load than the legs because the muscle groups aren’t as large and will recover quicker. This means you can train them more often in your training split.



The fourth rule is that I do not to regularly pair two big compound movements in one session e.g. a bench press with a pull up. By avoiding this, it allows the trainee to concentrate more on the dominant exercise in the session. NB: Check out Bodybuiliding Split #1 to see how I have done this.



The fifth is that you want to train antagonistic muscle groups in your sessions 60-80% of the time e.g. if you train the biceps, you also train the triceps or if you train the quads, you also train the hamstrings in the same session. By doing this, you get more overall work done in the session and you will get stronger a lot quicker due to a neat nervous system function called reciprocal inhibition. However you can’t do this all the time especially if you start using the Olympic lifts and you can see how I have slightly modified the splits in Bodybuilder Split #2 and Fat Loss #3 to reflect this.

 

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The sixth is you should design your split around a 7 day cycle as this is what most people will naturally be able to fit their schedule into the easiest. I am not a big fan of shorter training splits (e.g. 5 days) because most people (even elite athletes who do not 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 different scenarios that again you are 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: Upper Body Weights



Tuesday PM: Interval Training/Strongman Training



Wednesday: Off



Thursday AM: Speed



Thursday PM: Lower Body Weights



Friday AM: Upper Body 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



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: Weak Points (e.g. the body part the trainee feels lets them 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 (Can only train 4x week)



Monday: Chest & Hamstrings



Tuesday: Off



Wednesday: Back & Shoulders



Thursday: Quads & Calves



Friday: Off



Saturday: Arms, Forearms & Abs



Sunday: Off



 



Fat 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: Upper body



Saturday: Off



Sunday: Off



Week 2



Monday: Lower body



Tuesday: Off



Wednesday: Upper body



Thursday: Off



Friday: Lower body



Saturday: Off



Sunday: Off



 



Fat Loss #3



Monday: Quads, Back & Biceps



Tuesday: Hamstrings, Chest & Triceps



Wednesday: Off



Thursday: Quads, Back & Biceps



Friday: Hamstrings, Chest & Triceps



Saturday: Interval/Aerobic Training



Sunday: Off

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