With the recent invasion of powerlifting and sports performance training methods, many coaches and individuals are advocating full body routines... Here are several splits broken down to help you find what works best. Learn more.

When it comes to the "best" training split for size, arguments abound. There are multiple schools of thoughts at play; some swear by the traditional one body part/once a week routine.

With the recent invasion of powerlifting and sports performance training methods into the physique world many coaches and individuals are advocating full body routines with their support being that no muscle works in isolation. Who's right and who's wrong? In my opinion, the best way to figure out what's right for you is to look at all the methods that are out there.

Trying to increase muscular size and definition isn't mutually exclusive to body part splits, there's a few other ways to get it done. Let's take a short Pro/Con approach.


Different Splits: Pros & Cons


Knowing that the three characteristics to muscle growth are volume, intensity and frequency we see that each split has their own advantages and disadvantages.


Body Part Splits Once A Week:



Pros

Highest amount of recovery
Potential least Central Nervous System fatiguing
Highest volume per body part
Cons

Infrequent muscle stimulation
Inability to use greatest total load per session
Least amount of total muscle recruitment per session
Lower amount of calorie usage
Body Part Splits Once A Week
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Body Part Splits Twice A Week:



Pros

More frequent muscle stimulation
Greatest total volume per body part
Lack of full recovery
Cons

Greater likelihood of adrenal fatigue
Potential for wasted energy
Inability to use greatest total load
Body Part Splits Twice A Week
Two-Day Get Big Workout
Big Gains In Two Days A Week
Twice A Week, Feel Complete!

Total Body Training:



Pros

Frequent muscle stimulation
Ability to use more total muscle
Ability to use greater total loads
Cons

Inability to significantly improve a specific movement
Lack of isolation exercises may leave specific body parts under stimulated
Impaired recovery
Total Body Training
Championship Training
The Dirty Dozen
Total Body Burn

Upper/Lower Split:



Pros

Increased focus on specific areas
Appropriate mix of frequency and intensity
Ability to significantly increase lifts
Ability to focus on weak areas
Cons

Lack of significant volume


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Upper/Lower Split With Body Part Training:



Pros

Appropriate mix of volume, frequency and intensity
Mix of recovery and lack of recovery
Ability to increase lifts while focusing on specific weaknesses
Cons

Increased risk of fatigue if training isn't monitored correctly
Increased likelihood of wasted exercises on body part days
Upper/Lower Split With Body Part Training
4 Day Upper/Lower Body Split Workout
4-Day Program For Muscle Building
Strength Building Upper/Lower Split

Split Breakdown
Which Is The Best?


As you can see, each split has positives and negatives. One is not better than the other and each split is appropriate at certain times. Breaking each split down according to volume, intensity and frequency categories produces the following:

Volume Splits:

Body part splits once a week
Body part splits twice a week
Total body training
Upper/lower split with body part training
Intensity Splits:

Upper/lower splits
Upper/lower splits with body part training
Frequency Splits:

Body part splits twice a week
Total body training
Upper/lower splits with body part training
When we look at the breakdown, we see that only one method falls into each category:

Upper/Lower Splits With Body Part Training

This method not only allows us to focus on increasing specific lifts but also to have direct work on the areas that we need to improve. In short, we have increased volume with proper intensity and frequent muscle stimulation. That's where my money goes!