Should you do total-body workouts or split routines? The answer depends on your goals.
One of the most frequently fitness question, is in regards to training split, or how frequently to train each body part.
For general fitness and weight loss, we recommend 3 whole body workouts per week, lasting 30 to 45 minutes in length and with 48 hours between sessions.
For rapid fat loss and more advanced trainees, we recommend 2 to 3 strength sessions and 2 to 3 cardio sessions per week. You would alternate between strength and cardio sessions each day and take at least one full day off each week.
For muscle gain and strength, we recommend an upper/lower split where you do 2 upper body workouts and 2 lower body workouts each week. For example, Monday is Upper Body 1, Tuesday is Lower Body 1, Thursday is Upper Body 2, and Friday is Lower Body 2. This split allows for a greater volume of work per muscle group and more total recovery for your muscles and nervous system.
For aesthetics, we recommend a training frequency that caters to your strengths, weaknesses, and goals. Weaker or lagging body parts and movement patterns should be prioritized and trained more frequently. This way you can put more focused effort and recovery resources into building more symmetry and proportion to your physique.
For example, my calves are undeveloped and I’m really trying to build up my shoulders right now. So I’m training my calves and shoulders 5 to 6 times per week. But I have very dominant glutes and hamstrings so I only need to hit them once per week. Everything else I tend to hit two to three times per week. Obviously this split changes and gets tweaked as you progress.
At the end of the day, the best training split for you is the one that you can consistently follow. And it’s good to switch up your training splits over the course of the year to prevent plateaus and make more gains. If you can, try all of these splits out and see what works best for you.
