What is the best Workout Split for Muscle Growth?
There is no one-size-fits-all best workout split for everyone. The best split for you depends on various factors such as your training experience, goals, schedule, recovery ability, and personal preferences.
A workout split is just a way to manage and organize your training throughout the week to ensure balanced development, adequate recovery, and progression.
My general recommendation: train your muscles and often as you can, but ensure that your muscles are recovered when you train them again.
Choose a split that you enjoy and can stick to consistently.
By finding a workout split that fits your lifestyle and preferences, you’ll be more likely to stick with it, leading to better long-term results in muscle growth and overall fitness.
Here is an overview of popular workout splits:
Full-Body Workouts:
Frequency: 2-3 times per week
Overview: Full-body doesn’t mean training every single muscle in each session. Focus on major or priority muscle groups. You can focus on different areas on different days.
Pros: Ideal for beginners, balanced, easy to fit into a busy schedule.
Cons: Limited volume for each muscle group per session. Usually won’t be able to work out two days in a row as same muscle groups are repeated each session.
Upper/Lower Split:
Frequency: 4-6 times per week (e.g., Upper/Lower/Rest/Upper/Lower/Rest/Rest)
Overview: Upper body and lower body are trained on separate days.
Pros: More volume per muscle group, good for intermediates. Can work out two days in a row as all muscle groups worked usually won’t be repeated each session.
Cons: Requires more gym days per week.
Upper/Lower/Full Body Hybrid:
Frequency: 3 times per week
Overview: Combines elements of upper/lower and full-body splits (e.g., Upper/Lower/Full Body).
Pros: Balanced, good for all levels, flexible. Can work out two days in a row as all muscle groups worked usually won’t be repeated each session.
Cons: Requires careful planning to avoid overtraining.
Push/Pull/Legs (PPL):
Frequency: 3-6 times per week
Overview: Push (chest, shoulders, triceps), Pull (back, biceps, traps), and Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, abs) each get their own day.
Pros: Balanced, allows for high volume, good for all levels. Ability to give more focused attention to a specific body region.
Cons: Can be demanding, especially when doing 6 days per week.
Body Part Split:
Frequency: 5-6 times per week (e.g., Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms, Legs)
Overview: Each day is dedicated to a single muscle group.
Pros: High volume per muscle group, ability to give focused attention to a specific body region for an entire workout. If you have big muscles, they probably need more days to recover from training.
Cons: Less frequent stimulation of each muscle, can be time-consuming.
How to Choose the Best Workout Split for You
Training Experience:
Beginners: Full-body workouts or Upper/Lower splits are typically recommended.
Intermediate to Advanced: More specialized splits like Push/Pull/Legs (PPL) or Body Part splits might be more effective.
Goals:
Muscle Growth (Hypertrophy): Ensure sufficient volume and frequency for each muscle group.
Strength: Focus more on compound movements and lower reps.
Endurance: Higher reps and lower weights with minimal rest.
Schedule:
Limited Time: Full-body workouts 2-3 times a week.
More Available Days: Upper/Lower or PPL split across 4-6 days.
Recovery Ability:
Pay attention to how well you recover between workouts. If you feel overly fatigued or sore, you might need more rest, less volume or less intensity.
Personal Preferences:
Choose a split that you enjoy and can stick to consistently.
Does the Workout Split Affect Muscle Growth?
Yes, the workout split can influence muscle growth. The key factors are:
Training Volume: Total amount of work done per muscle group. The general recommendation is 10-20 working sets per muscle group per week.
Training Frequency: How often each muscle group is trained. The general recommendation for most is to train the same muscle groups around 2-4 times per week.
Intensity: Effort level in each session. General recommendation for hypertrophy is to train to failure or close to failure on most working sets. This could be 1-5 reps shy from failure, or even all the way to failure. As training to failure can be very fatiguing, I would recommend staying 1-3 reps shy from failure on most sets, and only hitting failure on the last set of most exercises. I would also avoid failure on very technical lifts like squats, deadlifts etc.
Recovery: Time and methods used to recover between sessions. My recommendation is to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night, eat enough protein and give yourself enough time to recover before hitting the sam,e muscle again.
Different splits can yield similar results if these factors are optimized. Although training a muscle more than once per week might be better for most people. It's important to find a split that allows you to balance these factors effectively.
