Workout Splits

 1/17/2025 Issue #3



            Fit Tip: Workout Splits.     

What workout split is best for you? Perhaps you have been strength training using a typical body part split: Monday is chest, Tuesday is back, Wednesday is legs, or something like that. Maybe you have taken the Push, Pull, Legs approach. Another option is a full body split, where you might do only one exercise per muscle group, but you hit them all in one workout. My advice is that most people should probably lean towards a full body split unless you can handle consistently doing 4 or more strength training workouts per week. My main reason for this is prioritizing the frequency applied to each muscle group. Say you work your legs on Monday, but your workout layout does not have you hitting legs again for a whole 7 days (and that’s if you are consistent.) Even if you blasted your legs, a week long break from when you last engaged the legs is a long enough time that the strength adaptation you are hoping for just will not come as quickly. 

Alternatively, you might set up a full body routine. This would allow you to hit legs 2-3 times in one week and each time you are exercising you are not exhausting the muscle group beyond effectiveness. (If you only had one day completely dedicated to legs, you might have 12 sets of legs, the last of which you are quite tired and unable to really give 100%.) Another advantage of a full body routine is the ability to go from one exercise to the next with a much shorter break since the following exercise will be using a fresh muscle group. Another reason I enjoy full body splits is that it avoids the confusion of where to put certain exercises like the deadlift, which is really a full body exercise in and of itself. 

If you are following a routine like this, you will want some sort of rest day in between your strength training days. This could be an active rest day or some type of cardio. 

If you really want to train 4 days a week you might split it this way: Upper, Lower, Rest, Upper, Lower. Or you could split like so: Push, Pull, Legs, Rest, Full Body. If you can consistently train 5 days a week you might follow: Push, Pull, Legs, Upper, Lower. 


           Media Resource: The MindPump Podcast  . 

I have listened to hours of fitness podcasts so that you don't have to! The one that I probably racked up the most listening hours on was the MindPump podcast. Three dudes who all have extensive personal training backgrounds talk about all things health and fitness. Often the podcast layout includes a long intro where they just chat current events and share personal stories, but they end the episode with listener questions. After listening to enough advice they give you become pretty well armed with fitness knowledge and have a much easier time navigating your own fitness journey or helping others do so. An awesome resource they developed to save you a lot of time is an AI search model that allows you to type any fitness question you have and then provides a short answer and clips from their huge bank of episodes to consult. Check it out: https://dexa.ai/mindpump 



            .Challenge for the Week: Drink Water.


I know a ‘drink more water’ challenge is nothing new and exciting, but the fact remains that many people do not stay optimally hydrated. Rather than tell everyone to get a big jug of water to finish each day, I will simply give you a simple habit to work to fit into your life: always have a drink of water between anything else that you drink. In other words, don’t jump from Diet Coke to coffee to flavored water, to Diet Coke #2. Allow yourself those things, just make sure you are at least having a glass of plain old water in between. 



Win the weekend!


Brad


Durable Dad Training

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