weight training splits
One-Day-On, One-Day-Off
With this split you work half your body on one day, take the next day off, and work the remaining half on the third day. There are several ways to split the body. Dorian Yates, in his excellent book “Blood And Guts”, stated that on day one he worked chest, back and deltoids. On day three he worked legs, biceps and triceps. I would concur in that this is a logical split for both synergistic results and the equal division of workout time.
Three-Days-On, One-Day-Off
A majority of pros utilize this routine but it requires excellent recuperation. Dorian Yates states that “there was no way I felt I could recuperate after going three days in a row 100 percent all out on every exercise every workout”. Remember, though, that most people don’t train at Dorian’s level of intensity, and many great bodybuilders have gotten great results with this routine. As an example, Lee Haney used this routine. In my opinion, I would only use this routine for a short period of time to avoid overtraining. The most popular split of this routine is Chest and Arms on day one. Legs on day two, and Back and Shoulders on day three. Lee Haney supported the “Push Pull Principle” ,the Lee Haney split is as follows:
Day 1: Biceps and Chest (AM), Triceps, Calves & Abs (PM)
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Day 2: Front Thigh (AM), Hams (PM)
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Day 3: Back & Abs (AM), Delts & Calves (PM)
Two-Days-On, One-Day-Off, One-Day-On, One-Day-Off
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Day One: Chest and Arms
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Day Two: Legs
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Day Three: Off
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Day Four: Back and Shoulders
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Day Five: Off
Five-Day-Split
This program was developed by “Health for Life”. This company is highly recommended in that they produce excellent quality products and services. As you can see, with this routine you train three days on, take a day off, train again for two days, and take another day off. You continue to rotate your training days, which means it will take you three weeks to complete the full cycle.
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“L” Day: Legs and Abs
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“B” Day: Back and Biceps
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“C” Day: Chest, Delts and Triceps
Routine Summary
The following are a listing of the training splits presented thus far. I’ve summarized them in table form and have listed them from easy to hard.
Training Splits |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thur |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
|
1 |
3 Day |
On |
Off |
On |
Off |
On |
Off |
Off |
2 |
4 Day |
On |
On |
Off |
On |
On |
Off |
Off |
3 |
1 on, 1 off |
On |
Off |
On |
Off |
On |
Off |
On |
4 |
3 on, 1 off |
On |
On |
On |
Off |
On |
On |
On |
5 |
2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off |
On |
On |
Off |
On |
Off |
On |
On |
6 |
5 Day |
L |
B |
C |
Off |
L |
B |
Off |
|
|
C |
L |
B |
Off |
C |
L |
Off |
|
|
B |
C |
L |
Off |
B |
C |
Off |
The three day, four day, and one-on, one-off routines can be considered beginning to intermediate training splits. The last three splits are advanced with the three-on, one-off being the most rigorous. Regardless of the training split that you use, you must change your workouts regularly. Most importantly, you need to train instinctually, and know when you are beginning to over-train and back off.
