Why Weight Train with a Split Routine?

By Neil Perkins

Weight training has received lots of positive media and we are finally educating women that a size 6 skinny fat chick is not attractive, where as a size 10 lean women with curves is. This body is not attained through running on a treadmill, a juice diet or grown out of a yoga mat, it is done through lifting weights! This also applies to men, if you want to ramp up your fat loss and achieve a more aesthetically pleasing physique, forget fat burners, occasional five-a-side football and ten press ups every morning  – Lift weights!

What is a Split Routine?

The split routine is the most common way to break down your training cycle, what does this term mean. In simple terms it splits your body down into training set muscle groups on set days.

Day 1 – Chest and Biceps

Day 2 – Rest

Day 3 – Back and Triceps

Day 4 – Rest

Day 5 – Legs and Shoulders

Day 6&7 – Rest

This above split would probably be geared around the classic hypertrophy (muscle growth) range of anywhere between 6-15 (more typically 8-12) reps and like with most split routines with the aim been hypertrophy keep rest sub 1 minute. This high intensity workout would probably follow the 20 set rule (never exceed 20 sets per workout) and for maximal hypertrophy push the user up to 20 sets and contain a mixture of compound and isolation exercises. It would probably look something like this

Rest: Sub 1 Minute

Day 1

Bench Press 4 x 8-12

DB Flies 3 x 10-12

Barbell Incline Bench Press 4 x 8-12

Pec Dec 3 x 10-12

Barbell Curls 3 x 10-12

DB Hammer Curls 3 x 10-12

Day 3

Lat Pull Down 4 x 8-12

Face Pulls 3 x 10-12

Barbell Bent Over Rows 4 x 8-12

DB Single Arm Rows 3 x 10-12

Tricep Dips 3 x 10-12

Rope Press Downs 3 x 10-12

Day 5

DB Seated Shoulder 3 x 10-12

More common splits used by bodybuilders will split into 5 or 6 day splits and for example may train shoulders on one day and chest on the other as a single muscle group. Now in this instance, the chest would be getting hit with 20 sets and then (maybe the next day) the shoulder would be getting hit with 20 sets. This continual pushing motion will over use the front deltoid as it will be used on both shoulder and chest days would wear it out unless the athlete was conditioned and or properly nourished.

Now we get the message we need to lift weights, so we look to the forefathers of weight training for how to move forward, now the man who many would say has had the most influence in weight training is Arnold Swarzenegger, the man who brought body building to the modern era. Now let me tell you something about Arnold that you may not already know.

• Arnold has an extensive training background so is very conditioned
• Even by body builder standard he was known as a ‘freak’ for the volume and intensity that he trained with
• Arnold ate large amounts of calories

Even though many modern bodybuilders have put their own spin on training, most operate using a split routine. Now you many not believe me unless you have ever been around a body builder – these boys are serious athletes! Bodybuilding is described as 70% diet: 30% gym (some would say 90:10) and traditionally (although less shifts recently) bodybuilders would bulk up in the ‘off-season’ and them strip down for stage. Now go back your split routine and the lifter who hits 20 sets of shoulders one day and 20 sets on chest the next day and consider the use his front deltoid gets. Now a bulking bodybuilder would be

• Well-conditioned with an extensive training background
• Eating adequate calories of fairly optimal nutrition
• If he was top level guy would have pretty spot on genetics
• In all likelihood be full of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs

Also consider his goals, he will strip his body fat down and is entering a contest for aesthetically pleasing the judges. The shape have his muscle matters as much to him as the size, which is why isolation moves would be used during his preparation. When he is bulking, he is looking to pack on as much lean muscle mass with minimum fat accumulation, When he is bulking he is also eating a spot on diet and more so when he is stripping with a macro nutrient (calories) and micro nutrient (vitamins and minerals) nutrition plan to match his exact training goals. When he is stripping, he is looking to maintain as much lean muscle tissue whist taking his body fat to the lowest possible level. Now I would argue the bulking is 70% diet, the stripping is 90% diet, and for those of you who have bodybuilding, physique or fitness contests and stripped fat, it is tough.

So the modern weight training split routines are all based on some pretty serious athletes and we wish to emulate them?  Now consider you have heard about the benefits of weight training and now you want to get into it, what is the next step? Go on Google and type in weight training routines. Up pops Ronnie Coleman’s five day split routine. So you have never been to the gym before and you dive into a 20 set routine where we work Chest Day 1, Back Day 2, Rest Day 3, Legs Day 4, Shoulders Day 5 and Arms Day 6 and hit 20 sets per exercise. Your nutritional protocol has changed slightly – you now only drink on a weekend, throw in a bag salad in with your chips and fried chicken in breadcrumbs and start drinking Holland and Barret  protein as post workout shake. Now you are going to look like Arnold in a month right?……..WRONG!

The volume and intensity of a split routine, will make it incredibly taxing. Most people without either support of performance enhancing drugs or spot on nutrition will ultimately fail or do the classic just adopt a modified ‘mirror’ three day split and work chest on day 1, arms day 2 and shoulders day 3. Now let’s look at what type of training you will be doing during these sessions, modern bodybuilding isn’t about lifting heavy weights, it is about maximal muscle contraction and time under tension and breaking down muscle fibre. Now the secret to successful hypertrophy training is to get maximal muscle growth, using the lightest weight possible. Slow eccentric movements with squeezes, pauses and concentration will put the muscle under tension – this is quite advanced training. There is also something else to consider, when you start looking around the gym when you are on the bench press you will wonder what should I be lifting? When you are training with slow eccentric moves withsqueezes and pauses your weight will be considerably off your one rep max so consequently will be relatively light. Now this is quite mentally degrading because when your exhausted, over-trained and fed up of eating salads and drinking protein drinks and a power lifter doubles what you are lifting, you will feel pretty low! You won’t feel like you are getting any stronger, also this adopted split won’t provide balance your routine and because you are not loading up with calories and hitting big compound movements your body won’t release the human growth hormone for you to grow!

Why do you want to weight train, again?

Weight training is great for making a more aesthetically pleasing physique. Girls, it will turn your skinny fat bits (we’ve all seen a skinny fat person) into lean toned muscle, it will improve your functional strength, posture, reduce body fat and make you feel great. Guess what  – lifting weights is fun and lifting heavy weights is seriously rewarding. Have you got a desire to step on stage and bodybuilder? Is your nutritional protocol going to be strict, measured and calculated? Probably not, split routines are great for bodybuilders, fitness models and serious athletes however who only care about aesthetic look. The recreational gym user wants to become more aesthetically pleasing with health benefits, fat loss, strength gains and some muscle growth. For them, the split routine is not the best route to choose, despite many trainers advocating this, in my next blog I will discuss full body routines, the recreational trainer’s choice for weight training.