Training Splits - The Right Way To Workout

Creating an effective weight training routine can be a very confusing task. With so many different exercises to choose from it takes some trial and error to find and organize the ones that achieve the best results in the least amount of time. Furthermore it is almost impossible to isolate a specific muscle group since many others are also called into play in the process. For example, the benchpress is primarily a chest exercise but also requires tremendous effort of the shoulders and triceps, making it counter-productive to train either of those two muscle groups the day following a chest workout unless overtraining is the desired goal. However it is possible to develop a solid routine that works the entire body to the max while allowing sufficient recovery time for each muscle group.

Some lifters resort to either 2-3 full body workouts or 1-2 upper/lower body training splits per week. Although both of these can be effective, with so many muscle groups to train on a given day it becomes very difficult to completely work all of them since time usually only allows 1-2 exercises per group. The most effective method of training is to split the body into 3-5 different workouts spread out over a 7-10 day period since it allows for both a much quicker session and places more concentration on each area of the body. It is ideal to keep workouts in the 30-60 minute range - after that time cortisol (also known as the "stress hormone") is released causing the lifter to become more sluggish and less productive. Another advantage to this is it muscle groups trained near the end of a full body workout or upper/lower body split are more able to perform at their best, having not been nearly as fatigued from the large number of previous exercises. A good example of this is training the entire upper body in one session. Since it makes the most sense to train the largest muscles first the chest and back would be trained first, bringing into play the shoulders and arms. After struggling to work the shoulders in this weakened state, the arms become completely drained of energy when it comes time to hit them. This problem is further amplified in the full body workout which involves squats and (hopefully) deadlifts - both of those power movements are very energy consuming and any lift performed after will definitely suffer.

Splitting up the body into smaller sessions is far more productive than trying to get it all done in a session or two. It also makes workouts less tedious and more enjoyable. This is what almost every experienced weight lifter (including professional bodybuilders and powerlifters) recommend and do themselves for one good reason - it works.