Comparing 5 Proven Training Splits for Strength (Push/Pull/Legs, Upper Lower, Whole Body) 

100% agree best starting point is how manny days you have available to train

Dont let yourself be put in boxes by programs If you need more back you can train more back if you need more squat squat more… Do what you need not what some programs say

Yes, this is especially important for recreational lifters who train for health and fitness. They shouldn't make training a burden on themselves that messes up with other aspects of life.

exactly after some months of training and not being consistent because of how many days i could go, i decided to go with a upper/lower split. just 4 days a week and if i can go another day i can go and do an extra session. like this i became much more consistent.

Most weeks i can only go twice so its full body for me

Same here, hail Caesar!

Me too 😂😂

i personally am a U/U/U/L/L but same

Same here, but they're starting to pull me to PPL. I just don't want to lift 6 days a week or run a split that doesn't match the week.

The lifter in me gives this a like, the psychologist in me says we seek out validation 😂

Dude who are you? I feel like you're my gym twin. I also feel the same about full body splits and keep coming back to them despite people shitting on them being for beginners. I program very similarly, mostly with 2 big lifts per day (squats and bench) and then some type of row or pullup and accessory work. I always try not to have more than 6 exercises per session, any more than that and it seem to turn into fluff. I also throw in an extra cardio/accessory day where I'll do calves/abs/bodyweight training and some conditioning. I superset pretty much everything as it's time efficient and builds work capacity like crazy. The main reason I always come back to full body is because I get great recovery and seem to progress better. Even when programming upper/lower routines I alway seem to have days where my strength/energy just isn't there. At first it might seem like you're sacrificing some movements using a full body template but because you're spreading things out over 3-4 days I actually don't find that to be an issue. Sure, you have to prioritize certain lifts over others, otherwise your middle day would become too difficult, but that's normal even with other splits. Your body only has so much recovery capacity, at least full body gives you a full 3-4 days of rest each week, unlike other splits. The biggest complaint people have with full body is that the sessions are too difficult and the workouts are too long but once you build your work capacity and understand that your movements per session have to be limited you should be good to go. My basic template looks like this: Monday-Heavy DB flat bench or incline (rotate each week) Pulldown Pause squat Seated behind the neck press Curl/extension Wednesday-Medium (this day is super flexible and seems to change the most) SLDL BW Pull-ups BW Dips Facepulls/Hypers or Leg curl Friday-Heavy Squat Bench or Incline (rotate each week) Row-your choice Curl/extension Leg accessory Saturday-Light Calves/Abs/Conditioning

​@@Soccasteve Lol, we definitely have a similar split, I also limit myself to ~6 exercises per workout. I usually superset everything after the main movement of the day as well for work capacity and to save time since I usually do my workouts in the middle of the work day. I usually can get through them in a bit over an hour. My Saturday day/conditioning is usually just me running over to one of the outdoor calisthenics areas in my neighborhood and doing gpp style training like a circuit of pull-ups, pushups, inverted rows, etc. Even though I'm not "old" I'm a couple months from being 30 and can definitely feel that I need to prioritize proper rest more than I could back in college years, which is partly why a Full-Body works so well for me. I'm fluid in that if I don't feel completely rested I am comfortable just taking an additional day off and picking up things the next day, not necessarily tied to a M/W/F type thing. This only happens once in a blue moon, but at least once in a while I just have to skip a day due to other responsibilities and full-body makes this super flexible from a mental standpoint imo.

@@Jcampz01 Exactly, skipping one day is no big deal when you have the opportunity to hit body parts 3 times a week. Super flexible. Haha yeah I'm 31 and I've always had pretty average to slightly below average recovery and always needed to make sure I wasn't in the gym too much. 3-4 days has always been the sweet spot for me. I actually progress pretty well with upper/lower splits every other day except I hate having a rotating schedule. Also I tend to neglect conditioning and some smaller muscle groups when I do upper/lower splits. Another pro for full body.

Brothers!! A and B full body splits. I love it!

This is almost exactly how I workout. I love it

It is a lot better for strength to work close to your max frequently instead of training once or twice a week with your performance going all the way down during the workout.

Link to slides appears to broken, or at least not working for me

@@brockmeade4450 Forgot to update this one. Try it now!

The worst!!

Upper lower pull push legs 🫶🏼

Would this be good for optimizing strength on the Big 3???

@@zaydgaf7547 yeah it’s great

This. I got tired of being told that I needed to somehow change my work and life schedule to fit a split instead of customizing a split to fit into my existing schedule and around obligations.

Agreed

@N. Hunt That can vary greatly. However my personal program is pretty similar to the guts program he has on his channel so you can go see it for yourself :)

@N. Hunt the starting point is an upper/lower, from there he adds whatever muscle needs more frequency, like calves on upper, back every day, arms on lower...

It's also important that the program be one that you can stick to and lack of boredom really helps.

I was thinking of doing something similar, although it might be a bit more in the direction of push/pull: weighted dips and back squats one day, deadlifts and weighted pullups the other day, training 4 times a week. To that I'll add some core work and some sport specific work (bouldering). I might switch up the exercises every 12 weeks or so (e.g. substitute dips for weighted ring pushups or OHP's, back squats for front squats or single leg squats, deadlifts for RDL's, Jefferson deadlifts, or kettlebell swings, pullups for chinups, wide pullups, etc.). Still wondering if I could get enough volume in with this though, as I'm used to training both horizontal and vertical push and pull exercises.

@@kewner8556 you can still do horizontal pushes/pulls as accessories. But also Deadlifts/weighted pullups on the same day ended up not working for me, cuz my grip would be f--ked. Unless you're okay using straps for one or the other.

Full body is so underrated and highly flexible. Plus recovery is pretty much a non issue assuming you're doing a normal 3 days a week setup. I find I like 2 heavy movements and no more than 6 total movements each session, so 2 big movements like squats and bench and the rest is back work and other accessory work.

yeah i think people think "full body" means doing everything on every day, but i use a loose definition of full body: if it has at least one upper body exercise and at least one lower body exercise, it's a full body workout. the emphasis can change, one day might be bench, pull-ups, rows, overhead press, curls, and squats, the next day might be RDLs, lunges, leg press, back extensions, facepulls, and dips. you can do full body 4x a week and still only do an exercise once a week (especially if you have a wide exercise selection).

I do similar, one day will have for example bench press and deadlift and the other will have overhead press and squat. I never understood why some people have trouble comprehending this and keep reading "full body" as doing all 4 in a single day.

Based

The only time you pull is to get the bar back into position to push again.

@@orkleth nah i do pushpull/pushpull/pushpull

I've had to switch to a bro split in my 30s,why,I just wasn't recovering from 2-3 times a week full body,plus now I'm able to incorporate more volume

​@@zezeti2246I've found exactly the same thing. Now at 36 I focus on higher volume and I use splits. Strangley enough when I focus on volume the strength naturally comes. With full bodies you have to rly hit those few sets with good intensity and at times it just beats you up.

Oh good, Im always in need of an ego boost! I had seen a handful of reviews months back but haven't checked in recently. Ill drop in!

I had a friend warn me early on that I was doing too much volume with my deadlifts and that this would likely occur. I declared the next week a deload and didn't even deadlift during it and when I resumed after that week was able to proceed again.

Yeah back, legs, and abs all have good stress responses for me. Something about heavy pressing just fatigues me so fast if I train bench/ OHP at near the same volume. It probably has a lot to do with load management though. I've found you don't have to roll off the weight too much on the squat before it becomes a lot more manageable fatigue-wise, but idk if it's the same with presses.

I had the opposite, I was quickly progressing for a while doing deadlifts just once a week but my chest didn't really start growing until I spread my bench sets across three days a week to keep resetting the clock on protein synthesis in those groups.

I did this sort of combination for quite some time. It definitely works if you have the ability to hit 5 days a week especially as you mentioned with a combination of upper lower and ppl.

@@ianchambers37 damn this was last year.. 😂 i stop doing this since i got busy but it does work if you have time. My current routine is a regular upper lower split 4 days a week

Consistently get a lot of requests for that. Its on the list!

@@AlexanderBromley Woot woot 💪🙌

I have perfect squat form in a matter of 6 months of training. Absolutely perfect. What is ass about your squat? Depth or form in general?

It would not be easy. I was doing Muay Thai last summer about 3-4 days a week and trying to run a 4x/week ULUL split and really got beaten down by it. If you want to do martial arts 5x/week you probably should do 2-3 days max lifting and really just focus on the main lifts and 1 variation for each. I wouldn't do any fluff work either. Honestly The Minimalist program from Base Strength is a good template to start from for someone in your position.

Go to Natasha Oceane, she has video about this. And a pretty solid training program.