What are your favorite training splits ?

[mogulator]

I do FBEOD - full body every other day, with low volume and just high intensity going to near failure to manage my CNS fatigue.
Doing this for a couple of months now and I‘ve seen great progress and it allows me to train 4x a week which I find is plenty. I do find the very science based lifters to be complicating everything which I abstain from.

 

[dinfar1337]

chest + bb overhead press + lat raises

back + rear delts + traps

legs(QUADS/HAMSTRING SEPERATE) + ass + calves, dont train stomach!

arms + forearms

rest

repeat

i run volume from 4-16 sets.

i do 4 sets and increase volume by 1 set every week.

until i reach 16 and stay there until i stagnate in progress

then i deload for a week

and repeat

make sure to incorporate heavy compound excersies and lighter squeezing isolation sets.

and you're hitting every pathway you can for growth

 

[adrenalytic]

I'm currently doing PPL on MTW, Thursday cardio, Friday Upper Body, Saturday cardio, Sunday Lower. All high volume (9-12 sets per muscle per session).

I like this hybrid split because it allows me 2 days off and I can still hit every muscle twice a week (yes, I consider cardio days as days off. Active recovery basically).

PPLPPL (which is what I used to do) only gave me 1 day.

I may change it up again as I go into a cut. Or maybe just lower volume, haven't decided yet.

 

[buck]

What split i used to put on muscle in my first year training and eating was different then what i used 5, 10, or 20 years later to grow muscle. No way to know what would have been optimal for me as i can only say what i did. But in general what works best is what a person likes to do. as that is what they will apply themselves the best to is my experience.

 

[Liter O' Test]

I'm doing Upper/Arms/Lower

 

[Alian]

I love bro splits.
I don't care that it's not optimal, I just really enjoy doing one body part per week. I've done PPL, full body, upper lower, Arnold's split etc but they always felt like toture.

 

[AlexDavis43]

Westside Barbell

2 upper body days, 2 lower body days

1 speed/dynamic day for each, 1 max effort day for each

"undulating periodization" or whatever tf that means xD

 

[Buffed Shark]

I really love this topic as this has been a side quest that evolved and changed much in over a couple decades in the gym. As Cliche as it may sound the best split is the one you can adhere to and has a resonable sense behind it.

For one to optomize and get the most out of your workout routines. 2 factors come in play.

1. How many times you wanna be at the gym
2. How many times you want to hit a muscle group per week.

For example if the answer for question is 3 and question 2 is 1

A resonable split would be PPLR- repeat

Another example is myself i like, taking 2 rest days(1 active rest day/hit a lagging muscle if i'm well rested) also i want to hit each muscle twice.

This is my actual split at the moment. P,P,L,R, chest&Back, Sholders+ Arms,R

I only need to hit my Legs once as its one of my stronger muscles i also do 45-60 mins stairmaster on one of my rest days.

I saw someone have a similar split but they did U L instead of Arnold split minus Legs. The reason i dont like UL is i feel there are too many muscle groups for the Upper day and i've also never seen a pro do this split unless its a deload.

For those who can only go to the Gym twice a week. I think you are better of splitting muscle groups on 2 days rather than UL. Something like Push + Quads and Pull + hams+ glutes.

It just boggles me sometimes to see so many lifters who know alot about gear but lack basic training design for their own goals. I see alot of gym bros doing PPL or Bro split aimlessly just because thats whats trendy now or their fav. Influencer's routine.

 

[AlexDavis43]

For those who can only go to the Gym twice a week.

I 100% still support you lifting, but twice a week isn't going to cut it for bodybuilding

The Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, etc., programs have been debunked a million times -- they got big on traditional high volume, high frequency bodybuilding-style training

Dorian maintained his large size with high intensity training and there are rumors that Mentzer never even did it (just wrote about it in his meth-addled newsletters)

 

[Buffed Shark]

I 100% still support you lifting, but twice a week isn't going to cut it for bodybuilding

The Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, etc., programs have been debunked a million times -- they got big on traditional high volume, high frequency bodybuilding-style training

Dorian maintained his large size with high intensity training and there are rumors that Mentzer never even did it (just wrote about it in his meth-addled newsletters)

Thats exactly what i mean. People see a video for someone that could be genetically blessed "searching for clout" or selling a product and justify why his split is the based. Backed with the physicque and all.

Unfortunately we weren't all created equal trainning frequency and splits should certainly reflect that too.

Side note: i dont think people who life twice a week are on this forum. This was just an example that could be better than UL

 

[Liter O' Test]

I 100% still support you lifting, but twice a week isn't going to cut it for bodybuilding

yeah i cant imagine taking gear and going to the gym less than 5x a week

 

[AlexDavis43]

Side note: i dont think people who life twice a week are on this forum. This was just an example that could be better than UL

There are absolutely some people who go to the gym only twice a week on this forum; some pretty active members too

I wouldn't even call what they do "lifting," and they definitely don't live a lifestyle remotely close to what anyone would consider bodybuilding

 

[Alian]

My opinion is that whether you hit your body part once a week or twice a week the extra hypertrophy gained is negligible to the naked eye.

If you got two identical twins the one that would gain the most muscle will be the one that is the most consistent, has their diet in check and manages to make increments to their program - increasing weight on the bar, getting that extra rep etc..

As for protein synthesis, I always understood this to be a reaction to trauma, hence why it's elevated for 48 hours after a workout, it doesn't mean the muscle is fully healed. Happy to be proven wrong on this.

Make sure the stimulus is enough to cause microtrauma, have enough nutrients to help heal and then repeat the process again

 

[AlexDavis43]

My opinion is that whether you hit your body part once a week or twice a week the extra hypertrophy gained is negligible to the naked eye.

If you got two identical twins the one that would gain the most muscle will be the one that is the most consistent, has their diet in check and manages to make increments to their program - increasing weight on the bar, getting that extra rep etc..

As for protein synthesis, I always understood this to be a reaction to trauma, hence why it's elevated for 48 hours it doesn't mean the muscle is fully healed. Happy to be proven wrong on this.

Bryan Haycock has written a lot about this

Easy to find his articles on Google

 

[Liter O' Test]

i think frequency is super important
and i dont believe in intensity as much anymore or weight , just frys me and weaken the muscle before i can get any meaningful volume in.
you get stronger by getting bigger in the bodybuilding context

I changed my split to chest a.m back p.m / Shoulders a.m Arms p.m/ Legs / Off but I might just move back to the off day, i really cant stand rest days

doubled my sets and doing 12 reps now

 

[Gonz0]

i think frequency is super important
and i dont believe in intensity as much anymore or weight , just frys me and weaken the muscle before i can get any meaningful volume in.
you get stronger by getting bigger in the bodybuilding context

I changed my split to chest a.m back p.m / Shoulders a.m Arms p.m/ Legs / Off but I might just move back to the off day, i really cant stand rest days

doubled my sets and doing 12 reps now

It was hard going from a bro split to hitting everything twice a week, really had to cut back the volume but now that I’ve stuck with my current split I don’t think I could go back to a bro split

 

[Gonz0]

My opinion is that whether you hit your body part once a week or twice a week the extra hypertrophy gained is negligible to the naked eye.

If you got two identical twins the one that would gain the most muscle will be the one that is the most consistent, has their diet in check and manages to make increments to their program - increasing weight on the bar, getting that extra rep etc..

As for protein synthesis, I always understood this to be a reaction to trauma, hence why it's elevated for 48 hours after a workout, it doesn't mean the muscle is fully healed. Happy to be proven wrong on this.

Make sure the stimulus is enough to cause microtrauma, have enough nutrients to help heal and then repeat the process again

I’ve progressed more in not only size but also strength since increasing frequency to twice a week. My nutrition and drug protocol has also improved a lot, so maybe if I continued hitting everything once a week the results would have been the same lol. There are so many variables with enhanced bodybuilding I think you’re 1000 percent right when you mentioned consistency being the most important part.

 

[Gonz0]

There are absolutely some people who go to the gym only twice a week on this forum; some pretty active members too

I wouldn't even call what they do "lifting," and they definitely don't live a lifestyle remotely close to what anyone would consider bodybuilding

To minimize fatigue I’ve actually just been watching Kevin Levrone edits and skipping the gym completely

 

[AlexDavis43]

To minimize fatigue I’ve actually just been watching Kevin Levrone edits and skipping the gym completely

science-based lifters for real hahaha

 

[birdland]

Great topic. Imo split is not important and if you follow science or evidence based content your doomed.

Dc training, Dorian, bro split...pick one. Full body too but imo this is inferior and miserable lol