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- CHAPTER 7 -

CONSTRUCTING YOUR

WORKOUT ROUTINE

FREQUENCY IN FULL-BODY ROUTINES AND SPLIT ROUTINES

There are three general types of routine structures used when training: full-body routines, splits, and body part splits. There is vibrant debate about which type of routine is most effective. The fact of the matter is that the best type of routine depends entirely on your goals. Full-body routines are the fastest and most effective way to build overall strength for beginners, but it is important to recognize the pros and cons of the other templares as well, so we will examine each one for its advantages and disadvantages and to see if there are any cases in which they might be useful.

In the full-body routine templare, the athlete performs more compound exercises and eliminates isolation exercises. This allows you to work more muscles in gross pattern movements than in a split routine, which typically has a mixed bag of compound and isolation exercises. The full-body routine is also highly recommended for beginners because of the non-specific neurological components of strength, such as recruitment, synchronization, and rate coding. With full-body routines, the net gain of working compound exercises with higher frequency is enhanced, and as a result, full-body routines which are performed two to three times per week tend to be more effective than split routines for gaining strength.

If your goal is hypertrophy, then full-body and split routines provide essentially the same result if the overall volume on muscle groups is similar.

The full-body routine allows for a higher frequency of use of each exercised muscle group. A typical split routine divides a workout to focus on a single group of muscles: biceps/back, triceps/chest, or legs "split" across the different workout days. This hits each muscle group approximately once to twice each week. In comparison, with the same number of training sessions, a full-body routine would work each one of these groups of muscles three to five times a week.

It is a simple truth that the more often you work the movements you want to master, the faster you will improve. One part of developing muscular strength is predicated on repeating the same exercise and improving upon it. Some of the neural adaptations for strength, such as contribution and motor learning, are movement specific. Performing a variety of exercises will not build strength as effectively as executing the same exercise repeatedly and progressing in it. If you establish a split routine such as push/pull/legs with a rest

day in between, you would do each exercise approximately twice a week. But if you were to use a fullbody routine, you would increase your frequency of each pushing, pulling, and legs exercise to three times a week. These extra exercises add up over time.

Let's look at a real-world example: a beginner athlete wants to significantly improve in the planche, a pushing-type exercise. In a typical push/pull split routine, this athlete would perform pushing exercises one day, pulling exercises the next, then take a day to rest. Therefore, if our athlete adheres to the normal four times per week schedule, they would do the planche twice a week-their other two weekly workouts would feature pulling exercises. However, with the full-body routine, our athlete would practice doing the planche three times per week. This may not seem like a significant difference, but over the course of one year, this athlete will do 50 more planche workouts than they would with a split routine.

• 52 weeks * 2 workouts per week = ~100 workouts with the planche in a year.
• 52 weeks * 3 workouts per week = ~150 workouts with the planche in a year.

The athlete who chose a split routine with two pushing workouts per week is behind our athlete by 50 planche workouts. It will take them six months to finally reach the 150 total planche workouts the full-body workout would have given them in only a year.

• 50 workouts/2 days per week = 25 weeks (4 weeks per month = ~6 months)

To reiterate: over the course of a year, the person choosing the traditional split routine is six months behind the person who gs the full-body routine!

The math sounds sensational, and any athlete can tell you that training effects from workouts are not linearly cumulative. Yet even the most conservative estimate would show that the athlete doing the split routine is easily three to four months behind on planche than the one who trains with a full-body routine, and an extra three months of training on a planche at the earliest stages can be almost another progression level. This vast strength difference occurs by simply increasing the frequency of an exercise one additional time per week.

Full-body routines add up over thecourse of a year and are therefare more effective compared to splitsfar beginner and intermediate level athletes.

It is beneficial to give the muscles a rest between workouts. Traditionally, beginners are given full-body routines at a workout frequency of three times per week. If the workouts are structured on a typical Monday/ Wednesday/Friday (MWF) schedule, this spaces the workouts by approximately forty-eight hours. Optimal rest times will vary based upan the type of sport one is pursuing, as well as the general health of the athlete embarking on the routine. W hile there is no solid research to suggest that forty-eight hours is the optimal amount of rest time far most beginners, it is a good general guideline.

This is not to disparage a push/pull routine or other various splits. Push/pull, straight-arm/bent-arm, and upper/lower splits can be used quite effectively with bodyweight routines. Types of routines should always be relative to overall workout volume and recovery factors. Far higher-level athletes, body-part split routines are occasionally vital. Training that requires heavy skill work such as in faotball, where twice-daily practices are common, may necessitate splitting up that volume with a push and pull system or upper and lower splits depending on recovery factors.

Isolation work is best utilized at opposite ends of the fitness spectrum: for injured or for elite athletes. If you are a beginner or intermediate athlete-as indicated by the strength progression charts-you should utilize a full-body routine with few exceptions.

In general, full-body routine practitioners who are just starting out should schedule three workouts per week, spaced to allow for recovery. The first table below denotes the abbreviations for different days of the week used throughout this book in relation to routine scheduling. Other abbreviations may also be used, as in the second table below:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday (M/W/F)
• Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (Tue/Thur/Sat)
• Monday, Wednesday, Saturday (M/W/Sat)
• Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday (Tue/Thur/Sun)

These are just a few of the variations possible with a three times per week full-body workout routine schedule. Space your workouts 48 hours apart, with a 72-hour rest after every third workout. Choose a schedule that firs with your own life needs. Be creative: you could make your full-body routine run on a bi-weekly schedule instead of a weekly schedule. Over a two-week period, a bi-weekly schedule will allow you to train seven times per two weeks, whereas the weekly schedule would allow only six times per two weeks.

Some people may have limited access to the gym, or may have work, family, or other obligations. This may force potential alternate full-body schedules such as the following:

• Wed/Sat/Sun for those who have limited time during the week.
• Mon/Tue/Wed or Mon/Tue/Thur or Mon/Wed/Thur for those on a shift work schedule.

FOUR TYPES OF SPLITS

Although full-body trainingis recommended for beginners, splittingroutines can be effective for intermediate and advanced athletes, and when other factors are involved. It is important to explore all the options available. Some athletes will be unable to allocate all of their training resources solely to bodyweight training; a fullbody routine may be too strenuous or time consuming. These are the four recommended methods of splitting exercises, each with advantages and disadvantages. There are also splits in which a specific sport is combined with a training routine.

• Push/Pull
• Upper/Lower
• Straight-Arm/Bent-Arm
• Push/Pull/Legs

There is no isometrics/movement day because there are not enough static exercises to perform the full routines necessary to stimulate improvements. Instead, the straight-arm/bent-atm split focuses on the usual gymnastics' straight-arm isometric exercises but also includes movement-based straight-arm exercises. This expands the number of exercises to a large enough volume to allow progression.

The Push/Pull Split

The push/pull split is fairly self-explanatory and will encompass both your legs and upper body into two routines. A common practiceis to perform two pushing and two pullingdays per week; four days of total volume. When employing this sequence, the overall stress on the body is minimized (since the volume is split up over four days instead of doing a full-body routine three times per week), allowing one to devote more work to other areas. You can also easily integrate bodyweight exercises with those using weights or barbells, as you can always substitute equipment-based pushing exercises (such as bench and overhead press) for any of the bodyweight pushing exercises (such as handstand pushups, planche progressions, and dips). The same is true with pulling exercises.

If you cannot perform a full-body routine, a push/pull split is typically recommended. This split has several benefits, for example, by stacking all of the pushing exercises on one day, overall volume on the muscles is increased (useful when workoutgoals are strength or hypertrophy). The main disadvantage of this split is that you will typically have two consecutive days of working your legs, as the leg exercises will be split into pushing (squat variations) and pulling (deadlift and hamstring variations). Squatting movements and anterior chain movements that focus primarily on the quadriceps typically align with pushing. Deadlifts and posterior chain movements that work the glutes and hamstrings extensively fall mostly under pulling. Remember, pulling exercises move the weight closer to your center of mass, while pushing exercises move the weight away from your center of mass. If you are playing a sport, consecutive days of legs work may not be an effective solution for you, as it leaves no time for true recovery.

Here are some examples of various weekly schedules utilizing a regular volume of five to six exercises per workout:

In the first example, the weekend is kept free. In the second example, a bit more recovery time between workouts is offered. However, this means that workouts bleed into the weekend. Over a two-week period, each of these examples include a total of eight workouts split evenly between push and pull, so personal preference can be the deciding factor.

Each push/pull split should have a regular volume of exercises per workout. For each kind of muscular focus, choose five to six exercises of the appropriate type. Each pushing workout could include any of the following exercises: the two variations of squats, dips, pushups, and handstand pushups. If you prefer to try for six exercises, add another upper-body exercise, such as the planche. Loading this kind of volume into a single workout can be effective for athletes whose bodies have become resistant to doing only two or three upper-body exercises per workout, but for most beginners it would be too much volume.

For beginners who have the need to use a split routine, a lighter routine with only three to four exercises per workout is a better choice. Ideally, based on your own stamina and goals, this would include two legs and two upper-body exercises, one leg and three upper-body exercises, or one leg and two upper-body exercises. See the two examples below:

In Example 3, the first column shows a 6/1 pattern (six workouts over a seven-day period with one rest day at the end). The second column shows the following week, with a 3/1/2/1 pattern (three workouts in a

row, one rest day, two workouts, and one rest day). This can of course be structured as a 2/1/3/1 as they are functionally equivalent. This will give you five workouts in a week, which results in one muscle group working one extra day. It is easy to offset this by reversing the order of the second week to start with the opposite workout, so that over the two-week period you get five workouts each of pushing and pulling exercises. The first example gives you twelve workouts (six push, six pull) over a two-week period, whereas the second example runs ten workouts (five push, five pull) over the same time period. It is up to you how quickly you would like to reach your workout goals.

The charts above show that a lighter split workout structure can lead to an increase in frequency. This is because of the rests between muscle groups. In the above examples, the resting gap between each pushing workout is still 48-72 hours, since the pulling exercises work entirely different muscle groups. Remember: When you compare frequency in a full-body workout to the traditional push/pull split, the full-body workout wins handily. Each muscle group gets six workouts with the full-body workout to every five or four workouts depending on which schedule of push/pull split workouts you choose. The full-body routine allows rest days between workouts by condensing everything into a single day and therefore the athlete sees progression more quickly. However, with the split routine, you perform fewer exercises in each workout, making each workout shorter. Many people choose between these two options based on their schedule.

The Upper/Lower Split

An upper/lower split divides exercises into those done by the upper-body (torso, arms, chest) and the lower-body (legs, core). This split is often chosen if the athlete's other activities or sport entails heavy lower-body work or running. In that case it is possible to section off any lower-body lifting to days where you have no other activity, which will limit fatigue and speed up recovery.

The main disadvantage of upper/lower splits is there is a significant difference in the amount of work that must be performed on upper days versus on lower days. Your upper body has more planes of motion than your lower body, so bodyweight training routines require a higher number of upper-body exercises in order to engage them all. If you choose the upper/lower split routine, you will typically need to increase the volume of exercises in each workout to compensate for performing an exercise less frequently. For example, if your fullbody routine incorporates two pushing and two pulling exercises, an equivalent upper/lower routine would need to include three to four pushing and pulling exercises to have the same overall effect. You may not have enough energy to perform all of the repetitions required to address all the planes of motion in your upper body if you choose this routine. Additionally, the effectiveness of a workout sometimes decreases when too many exercises are stacked on the same day.

Upper/lower split weekly routines are directly comparable to the push/pull split examples. Since exercises are split into two different workouts, you can structure upper/lower split routines the same way you would a push/pull split. The examples in the first table below would necessitate a regular volume of five to six or more exercises per workout. For a lighter volume of three to four exercises per workout, see the second table. Again, always consider your life schedule as well as the workout goals you are trying to achieve when choosing a workout routine.

If you practice a leg-intensive sport or discipline (such as parkour, foocball, basketball, crack and field, etc.), an upper/lower routine offers a complemencary structure, as examined in the following, real-world sicuation:

A parkour achlete, using the routine suggested in Example 1, sees that the lower-body routines are scheduled for Tuesday and Friday, therefore the actual, sport-specific training for parkour should occur on the days just prior co the lower-body workout, which would be Monday and Thursday. This ensures that any Parkour training is performed fresh (having just had a rest day), and the lower-body workouts on Tuesdays and Fridays can be enhanced by the idencifltation of lower-body work that is still needed. This also provides a rest day after these specific leg workouts for full recovery.

While it is possible to schedule running-intensive sport-specific training on the samedayas a leg workout, the sports-training must be done prior to the workout. Sporc-specific performance when muscles are facigued is an injury risk. Scheduling workouts right before sport-specific performance is not optimal either. An achlece's muscles muse be fresh for optimal cechnique training wichin a sport. This may require stacking sporcs-specific work and upper-body training on the same day, but it keeps the legs fresh for action.

The Straight-Arm/Bent-Arm Split

A straight-arm/benc-arm split focuses primarily on the upper body. On the straight-arm days, scacic movements and handstands are performed. On the benc-arm days, full range of motion movements such as clips, pull-ups, rows, pushups, and handstand pushups are performed. Legs are incorporated on both days, even chough they are not in the name of the splic.

By stacking all the straight-arm exercises into one day, the straight-arm/bent-arm split allows for a more focused training of these exercises, which include straight-arm press handstands, front lever, back lever, and the planche. This is an advantage because the athlete has more rest days to recover from the high amount of stress that straight-arm work puts on the connective tissues in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists.

For those who do not like doing the same exercises repeatedly, this split is a good choice. It provides a wide variety of movements for one to work on. However, this is also the main disadvantage of this split. Strength training involves performing the same exercises repeatedly and progressing in them. Adding variety to your strength training-as is the case with this split-decreases your potential for results. Make this tradeoff only if you despise a repetitive exercise routine.

Since straight-arm/bent-arm is a two-part split, the same workout pattern structures for push/pull and upper/lower are applicable. Review the previous sections for examples if needed.

The Push/Pull/Legs Split

The push/pull/legs split separates upper-body pushing exercises, upper-body pulling exercises, and leg routines into three different days. This is similar to a true split, much like what you would see in bodybuilding. It is only a good choice if you are not concerned with how fast you progress, are extremely risk-averse to injury, or are older and want to take it slow. This split offers a slower, but potentially steady pace that can work well for people in those categories.

Serious athletes should note that it is very difficult to get enough frequency with the movements in a three-part split to progress well. These splits are effective for hypertrophy, but the progress with each movement may be slow and have a penchant for plateauing. Because of this, I caution beginners and intermediate athletes against choosing any split that has three or more parts. A three-part split can be structured a number of ways. Here are some examples:

Example 1 (One workout per week of pushing, pulling, and legs routines.)

Example2 (Four workouts per week with a frequency of 1.33 workouts of each routine per week over three weeks.)

Example 3 (3/1/2/1 with a frequency of 1.67 workouts of each routine per week over three weeks.)

Example 4 (6/1 with two workouts of each routine per week.)

There are more variations if you are creative. Far example, you may only want a rest day between upperbody sections of routines. You may also want to make changes based on your work, sport, or school schedule. The important ching is to maintain balance among the three (or more) muscle groups over time.

CHAPTER 7 SUMMARY

CONSTRUCTING A WORKOUT ROUTINE

Knowledge Base

Since frequency is the key to making the fastest progress toward your chosen goals, it is best to select a routine template that allows for the most frequency in the shortest time, as long as there are no injury concerns. If you are a beginner and bodyweight strength is your focus, full-body workouts are the best template for making progress, but it is important to also make sure to select a structure that works with your schedule.

There are four split workout routine structure templates in addition to the full-body workout-each with various advantages and disadvantages. The five templates are as follows:

• Full-Body Routine
• Push/Pull Split Routine
• Upper-Body/Lower-Body Split Routine
• Straight-Arm/Bent-Arm Split Routine
• Push/Pull/Legs Split Routine

Application

It is important to factor in everything in your life when scheduling your workouts-work, school, family, friends, recreational activities, leisure time, etc. While this book aims to help you achieve high levels of strength and cool moves, you should not do this at the expense of the other activities you enjoy. Create a workout routine that works with your own life.

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