The 5 best workout splits explained (and how to choose the right one for you)

Your workout split is the backbone of your training routine. It determines how often you train each muscle group, how fast you recover, and how quickly you make progress.

But with so many options out there, Push Pull Legs, Full Body, Upper Lower..... It’s easy to get lost in the noise.

In this article, I'll break down each of the five most popular training splits, explaining how they work, their pros and cons, and which one is best for your fitness goals.

Table of Contents

• The Bro Split

• Upper Lower

• Push Pull Legs

• Full Body

• Strength - Cardio

• Build your own

Workout split 1: the bro split

The bro split, or body part split, involves hitting each muscle group individually each day. It's a classic, most gym goers have done it at least once, and it can work if you train hard enough.

Sample workout week:

• Monday: Chest

• Tuesday: Back

• Wednesday: Legs

• Thursdsay: Shoulders

• Friday: arms

• Saturday: abs and weak spots

Pros of the bro split

• It's a classic, and it's fun

• Very easy to organize each day

• Very easy to track volume and progress

Cons

• It better suited for either beginners or advanced lifters

• Intermediate lifters don't benefit from newbie gains and don't have the technique to train hard enough to elicit muscle growth

If we take a sample chest day, it would usually go something like this: bench press, incline bench press, dips, flys, pull overs, machine chest press, maybe some cable flys.

By the time you get to the dips, your pecs are probably tired and not firing at a 100%. The contraction you get is of lower quality than if you were fresh.

Remember the size principle: the large motor units require a lot of force to be activated. I don't think that intermediate lifters have enough technique to ellicit this type of contraction when their muscles are tired.

If we take a look at it from another angle, let's say you can do 15 dips when you are fresh. You then do the chest day above, and after doing the bench press and incline bench press, you can only do 10 reps of dips.

Now don't get me wrong, these 10 reps will FEEL hard, and you probably will feel a good burn. But is that really building new muscle tissue if your muscles can usually do 15 reps?

The answer is most likely no.

I do believe the bro split works. Dorian Yates, a 6 time Mr Olympia winner, was using it. It worked for him because he was keeping his training volume low and using extremely heavy weights, demonstrating that perfect technique is must for this split to be effective.

Listen, if you haven't tried this workout split, give it a go. It's fun, you'll have a good time, but you'll most likely plateau pretty quickly and will need to chose one of the following plans.

Workout split 2: upper - lower

Alternating a day of upper body workout with a lower body workout day is an easy to way to keep things fresh, recover properly, and build strength and muscle.

Sample workout week

• Monday: Bench press, pull ups, shoulder presses, bicep curls

• Tuesday: Squats, lunges, hamstring curls, calf raises

• Wednesday: Rest

• Thursday: Lat pull down, dips, barbell press, tricep extensions

• Friday: Deadlifts, leg press, leg extensions

• Saturday and Sunday: Rest

Pros of the upper - lower split

• It's easy to modify, as long as you alternate an upper body day with a lower body one it doesn't really matter which days you workout on

• It's still easy to track volume and progress

Cons

• If you have a very specific goal, for example to lift a certain amount of weight on a certain lift, you might not be able to practice that lift enough of times throughout the week

The upper - lower works is a great split for a general approach to weight lifting and can work for almost anyone.

Workout split 3: Push Pull Legs

Push, pull, legs, or PPL, is one of the most solid workout split out there. It's one of the best to make you strong and put on serious muscle.

Sample workout week

• Monday: Push day, Bench press, shoulder press, incline bench press, skull crushers, cable tricep extensions

• Tuesday: Pull day, Pull ups, bent over rows, close grip lat pull down, barbell curls, hammer curls

• Wednesday: Leg day, Squats, Romanian deadlifts, leg press, step ups, calf raises

• Thursday: Rest

• Friday: Push day

• Saturday: Pull day

• Sunday: Legs

• Following Monday: Rest

Pros of the push, pull, legs workout split

• You hit every muscle group twice per week, which is plenty of volume for muscle growth and strength

• It's another classic that works

• It's great for all levels

Cons

• The only one I can think of is that to be it's most effective, it's a rolling schedule. It operates as a four day routine: three workouts, one rest day. This might be tough for some people who have fixed schedules, or work shifts.

PPL is one of the best workout splits out there, it's almost impossible to go wrong with it.

Workout split 4: Full body

The full body workout split was my favourite for a long, long time. It's also one I've used on hundreds of clients to help them reach their goals.

Sample workout week

• Monday: Squats, incline bench press, seated rows, bicep curls

• Tuesday: Rest

• Wednesday: Barbell lunges, lat pull downs, dips, shoulder press

• Thursday: Rest

• Friday: Deadlifts, single arm row, bench press, tricep extensions

• Saturday: Over head press, split squats, cable curls, bent over rows

• Sunday: Rest

Pros of the full body split

• Allows you to hit each muscle group intensely 3 - 4 times per week. This is the biggest advantage of this workout plan.

• Can be turned into a DUP program

• Allows for tons of variety, either do the same workout if you like routine, or have a different workout every day

• Super easy to fit in a schedule that changes often, like shift work, or having a family

Cons

• Can be tricky to track volume and progress

I will maintain, until proven otherwise, that this split is the most flexible, and hence a very solid option for 90 percent of the population. Everyone can make this plan work according to their schedule and as long as you know how to track your workouts, you will progress.

These are the four most popular workout splits that will work for almost anyone who tries them. From here, there are tons of options you can do to create your own workout split.

The next one is a workout split I am currently on and have enjoyed a lot.

Workout split 5: strength - cardio

Alternating a strength workout day with a cardio day is another way you could organize your training.

You focus on building muscle and strength one day, and increasing your cardiovascular capabilities the other.

Sample workout week

• Monday: Deadlift, bench press, lat pull down, bicep curls

• Tuesday: Cardio intervals (4 x 4, 3 x 10, sprint repeats...)

• Wednesday: Squat, dips, pull ups, shoulder press

• Wednesday: 30-60 min zone 2 cardio

• Friday: Leg press, lunges, incline dumbbell press, seated rows, reverse flys, tricep extensions

• Saturday: Long slow cardio or a different cardio interval than tuesday

• Sunday: Rest

Pros of the strength and cardio split

• Allows you to develop two different physcial abilities simultaneously.

Cons

• Useless if you have no interest in cardio.

This is an example of how you can start to create your own workout splits. Your training will evolve, your goals will change and your schedule will vary. Knowing how to create your own workout split will stop you blindly following splits that are made for everyone.

How to create your own split

The two important goals of a workout split are:

• To give your muscles enough stimulus to adapt to the demands you place on them

• To give your muscles enough time to recover

As long as you respect these two aspects, you can pretty much do anything you want.

Here are some recommendations.

Always aim for the minimum effective dosage

This means finding the minimum amount of stimulus that ellicit change. If I can progress by doing 3 sets, why would I do 5 sets?

If I can grow my muscles by working out for 45 minutes, why would I workout for an hour and a half?

If I can improve my VO2max with a 30 min workout, why would I do an hour one?

Aiming for the minimum effective dosage will force you to train with purpose and quality. It's a great way to find what works and quickly discard what doesn't.

Aim for a minimum of 12 sets per muscle group per week

I don't recommend doing all twelve sets in one day. Breaking it up into two workouts is good, breaking it up into three workouts is best.

Keeping the same working split for 3 months is good, 6 months is better

Being consistent is the name of the game.

A good workout split should help you progress regularly. Sticking to the same workout split for a long time is the best way to do this.

Do not program hop

Changing workout splits every month is the best way to remain stuck.

If you don't see progress on your workout split, take a good look at it and see what are some paramters you could tweak. Try it for another month and reevaluate.

Do a split you enjoy

You're in this for the long term, so take the time to find a split you enjoy doing.

I could give you the best, scientifically backed workout split in the world, but if you hate doing it, you're not going to stick to it, rendering it as effective as a collander in a sinking ship.

Conclusion: which workout split is better?

Each workout splits we talked above works.

They all have their pros and cons which means they will be better suited for different people at different times in their workout journey.

They key is to do the right one at the right time. Someone starting out could go through them in the order presented in this article. If that person sticks to each of them for six months, that's a two year journey.

Once you've tried all of them, you'll have a better idea of how to create your own workout plan.

If you’d rather skip the guesswork, I can build your custom split for you. Check out my online coaching here.

Happy training,

Clem