Training Splits

It's been a while, I know. I thought I'd bring back my blog posts because according to website numbers (these really are the things you have to look at when you have a business), people like them.

I wanted to come back with a topic that both; gets me rambling for hours and frustrates the hell out of me. When a beginner is looking to start training, one of the first things they think about is which body part to train on which day. That's exactly where they go wrong, they split their training by allocating ONE body part to ONE day of the week.

Something important to understand is that the people out there that have "leg day" or "back day" often have 2-3 of them per week. This is what is known as frequency, which is a really important aspect of programming and results. So what happens when we take that leg day mentality and give it to someone who can only commit to 3 days of weight training per week? We are left with someone who has too much volume at the beginning of their training, not enough frequency and motivation that is going to burn out as fast as a tea candle.

There are many important aspects of a program, but we mainly want to look at frequency & recovery. We need to put our muscles under tension frequently, and also give them adequate time to recover (this is when the muscle growth occurs). So if you're a beginner who can only commit 3-4 days to your training, does this mean you won't get results? NO. It means you need to drop the mentality that the only way to grow muscle is by training 7 days a week, and start using your time and recovery to your advantage.

I have always trained 4 days per week, no more, and sometimes less. This allows us to place our muscles under tension, recover, and train each part more than once. But then we run into the next question (which I get asked constantly), "how can I fit 7 days of training into 4?". The answer is simple; you don't. You fit 4 days of training into 4 days. You might be wondering why I won't just shut up and give you a program, and the answer to that is simple too. Unless you understand what I'm talking about, you'll never shake the belief that you can only get results from spending your life at the gym.

So let me put this simply. Hugh Jass comes to me and says "I want to build muscle on my legs, but I can only train 3 times per week". Some PTs might twitch and demand he make more time. A good PT will explain that by training multiple body parts, or by doing full body sessions, he can train his legs 2 - 3 times per week, and this is more than enough volume, intensity AND frequency to reach his specific goals. See, when you take a step back and look at the whole picture, what is better? Training legs one of out three days for an hour, or three out of three days for half an hour, with adequate recovery between each session. If you've paid attention, you'll have chosen the latter.

This might leave you wondering why people still have leg days, if doing it this way is obviously better... and I have another simple answer. Some people are advanced lifters, who train 6 days per week and can fit multiple leg only sessions into their week. ADVANCED... really remember that word. We are beginners, we are the average Joe's who are looking to get some results, build some muscle and enjoy exercise. Jumping straight into advanced programming will A) bruise your ego B) ruin your motivation C) likely lead to injury D) exhaust you. You're just a young grasshopper, and you will soon graduate with the potential of full leg days in your future. For now, learn how to move correctly, fuel your body and enjoy all of the small AND big victories that us intermediate and advanced lifters wish we could have again.

Did you really think I was going to ramble on and not put a sample split in here?

This split is still very advanced, and if you're a beginner, it will be hard to get through. BUT guess what it doesn't have? 1 body part to 1 day. Enjoy it, or don't, what do I care.

Just please, before you start overtraining when you're just starting out, understand that more is not always better. You don't need to train 7 days a week. Your training and results will train drastically when you realise it's quality over quantity.

Your coach & friend,

Maddy