The training effect leaves a lot to be desired? High time for split training! This is how you do your workout in portions to guarantee faster progress.
Everyone would like to exercise, but often there is not enough time. In the meantime, studies are already examining how people can do sports efficiently despite a lack of time. Split training is a great solution.
This form of training is particularly popular when maximum results are achieved in the shortest possible time—the highlight is that you never train the entire body but subdivide the activity according to body regions. We’ll tell you here how split training works, for whom it is suitable, and what your optimal split training looks like.
Split Training – What Does That Mean?
The split comes from the English “splitting” and means to divide. And no, we don’t want to learn a balancing act with you now. You divide your workout not just somehow but in units that focus on individual muscle groups.
During each training session, one region of the body gets down to business, while the other muscles relax so that you can give your all on the next day or the day after that. Because muscles only grow in the resting phase after exercise.
But if you like to train so much that you want to be active almost every day or finally want to set a new, harder, more intensive training stimulus, you split and do not have to neglect the important regeneration. As studies have shown, you save time but do not lose any of the training effects.
Also Read: BACK WORKOUT: SEVEN EXERCISES FOR A STRONG BACK
What Are The Advantages Of Split Training?
The most important one is: You can set an immense stimulus if you suddenly only concentrate on a few muscle groups during your workout. After all, the stress is greater, even though the rest periods are long enough. This combination helps advanced strength athletes to promote muscle building. But that doesn’t mean that split training can only be used for muscle growth. Strength and endurance can also be significantly improved through a divided training program.
If you train your whole body every day, you quickly reach your limits; there is hardly enough time to allow yourself regeneration breaks. But you have to because stressing insufficiently recovered muscles is less effective and permanently leads to overtraining. So it is a good and extremely profitable idea to defeat a few forces and put the others in a well-deserved state of rest.
You should also know: The time required per unit is significantly reduced with split training compared to a full-body program. Even with a 2-way split, you are through in half the usual time – in the truest sense of the word. On the other hand, however, the number of days of the week that you spend in the (home) gym increases.
Which Split Variants Are There?
From a 2 to a five split, everything is possible. Even bigger? Yes, you can do that by dividing up your muscle groups so that you work up a sweat twice a day. But then you are at a very high professional athlete level.
For the entry into splinter life, there are two variants. The upper and lower body division is often chosen; sometimes, biceps and triceps are also trained with the legs. The reason is simple: there are more muscle groups on the top than on the bottom. You can repeat the units 2 to 3 times, depending on your fitness level. However, the rule is not set in stone. By the way: You can just as easily divide your training into agonists and antagonists. In other words, on the second day, you challenge the opponents of the muscles that were active on the first day of training.
The 3-way split usually consists of a unit with pushing and pulling exercises and a bonus track for the legs. Up to 2 repetitions of each team are possible per week. As soon as you rely on a split of 4 and more, individual muscle groups focus on the training process every day.
What Does An Optimal Split Workout Look Like?
The composition depends on how many splits you do. You can easily divide the two by upper and lower body muscles. Since the legs are through pretty quickly, you can, for example, pull in the chest and triceps and put on back, torso, shoulders, and biceps moves in the other unit.
Example week two split :
Day 1 Monday: back, torso, shoulders, biceps
Day 2 Tuesday: break
Day 3 Wednesday: legs, calves, chest, triceps
Day 4 Thursday: break
Day 5 Friday: back, torso, shoulders, biceps
Day 6 Saturday: break
Day 7 Sunday: legs, calves, chest, triceps
Or you train the opponent, i.e., the biceps one day, the triceps the next. If you are ready for a 3-way split, divide the units into pushing and pulling movements. The legs get their training day.
Example: You start with the leg muscles (front and back thighs and calves); the next day, it is the turn of the chest, shoulders, and biceps and, in the last unit, the back, torso, and triceps. Most strength athletes put their feet up between workouts, but if your schedule doesn’t allow it, you can get started on three consecutive days. This also applies if you want to do the training twice a week, i.e., train for six days.
What Do I Have To Look Out For In Split Training?
To your health. So don’t get into weight training straight away with split training and increase your strength after six months at the earliest. So if you are fit with the 2-split, there should be at least ten months between the moment you first lift the dumbbell and the switch to a 3-split. Of course, having the technology on it is a basic requirement.
In addition, you should familiarize yourself a little with the tasks of the individual muscles. It doesn’t make sense to train your triceps for three days in a row. However, this is easy to do if you attack the chest on Monday, target the shoulders on Tuesday, and Wednesday is your arm day. All you get from it is pain, but certainly not stronger muscles.
When Is Split Training Not Useful?
If you don’t have time for training at least three times a week, it is better to stick with the full-body variant to get as much effect as possible from each unit. On top of that, of course, your goal plays a role: If you want to maintain your level, you can confidently stick to the full-body unit. Because compared to the individual team, more muscle-building hormones are released here than with the selected exercise selection.
However, if you want to build more muscles, more strength, or endurance, creating a new stimulus through split training makes perfect sense. Ideally, you don’t let the full-body unit fall into oblivion in your long-term planning. Muscles want to be surprised.
Split training is super effective for creating new stimuli. Split conditioning is just right for you if you train more than three times a week and have problems keeping the regeneration breaks. However, split training is not suitable for absolute beginners.