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Which Workout Split is Best? (ft. Huberman Lab Podcast)

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

Ever wonder what the best workout split is to build the most muscle, lose the most fat, or both? In a recent appearance on the Huberman Lab Podcast with Dr. Andrew Huberman, Jeff Cavaliere answered this complex answer. Find out which workout split is best for you and learn how things you may have heard or thought about other splits may not be as accurate as you once thought. When we talk about a training split or workout split we are referring to the way in which we split up the muscle groups we train in a given workout over a period of time. Most of us look at a week as the time frame within which we want to either hit a single muscle group once, twice or even more often. In order to achieve this goal we often times group certain muscles together into the same workout to condense the work over fewer numbers of days. There are so many options for how we do this however. You can do something called a PPL or push, pull legs workout split, a total body workout split or even an upper body / lower body split. In a PPL you are going to reserve one day to train all the muscles that are responsible for upper body pushing movements. This means that you are going to be training the triceps, shoulders and chest predominantly. On pull day, you ll be training all the muscles in the upper body that are responsible for pulling. This means that the lats, upper back, traps and biceps get trained together with the exercises you choose. Finally, on leg day, as you might guess you will be training your legs. In a total body workout however you would be aiming to workout all of your major muscle groups in the same workout, usually with a series of compound exercises like bench press, squats, overhead press and rows. Even with either of these workout splits however, the frequency with which you perform them in a given week is also a variable that needs to be considered. Some will do the PPL workouts just once each per week and others will pair them up back to back (with either a rest day in between each round of PPL or after you have completed the circuit twice. Different considerations have to be made however to determine whether this is a workload that your body can handle and more importantly, recover from. Then there are the bro splits. This is a term referring to the style of working out favored by bodybuilders who prefer to train one single muscle group in a day or maybe pair up antagonistic muscle groups like chest and back for example. Science has moved us away from these workouts in favor of push, pull legs workouts and total body workouts since the restimulation of muscle every 48 hours seems to point to more muscle protein synthesis. That said, that does not mean that you cannot get benefits from a bro-split if handled more intelligently. For example, if you train your biceps on a Monday, you can schedule a back workout for Wednesday which will give the biceps some additional stimulation due to their role as accessory muscles to the major back exercises. Here you would get enough of a stimulus to result in continued adaptation and growth without nullifying the benefits of the one a day muscle group frequency. Regardless of which workout split you choose, there is one key determining factor that overrides all. That is, choose the one that you can stick to. If you find that a total body split either leaves you too tired to get a good effort out of the muscles that are trained in the latter half of your workout or you just aren t interested enough in the workouts that are structured this way - you likely will not be able to stick to this long term. Vice versa, if you really like Push Pull Legs workout routines and find that it is the perfect way to group your exercises to take advantage of a shared function or purpose for one training day, then you are likely to put in more effort and keep up the consistency needed to see great results over the long haul. If you re looking for help in finding the plan that best suits your body s natural desires to train and therefore get better results from your workouts, head to athleanx. com via the link below and take the program selector quiz shown.
Date: 2022-07-08

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Comments and reviews: 10

Melody
Hey Jeff! Thank you SO much for all the free content you provide! I bought AX-1 a few years ago and got in the best shape in my life in my 40s. I do struggle with pull ups and lunges a lot even still. I'm curious how much me being a woman plays into that? I've never been able to do one pull up. Is it typical for women to have less upper body strength? I can squat and deadlift a ton but struggle pulling up my own bodyweight. What can I do to work up to being able to do a pull up properly?
I've wondered if me having a huge pelvis has anything to do with why lunges hurt so bad (waist is 26, hips 38. I'm 5'11. Should I keep pushing through doing them or is there any recomendations on maybe a way to do them different with large hips bones? I often wonder if my form is off for my body type, or just off or something else. Thank you!
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T4
Hi Jeff, I've started to seriously focus on building a connection with my Mid- and Rear- Delt training recently, and I've seen conflicting suggestions for how to disengage your Traps from exercises for both delt areas. Some videos recommend a head-bowed-forward approach to relax your neck and avoid shrugging, while others will explicitly state arching your back/neck will disengage them. Should the advice be different depending on the exercise (lying facedown, facedown on an incline, , lying back on incline, standing etc? Or is there a single answer for the best way to keep your traps out of the equation for Delt exercises? Thanks for all the consistently effective and intelligent content over the years!
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aFullMetal
For me and my lifestyle right now my favorite split is upper and lower split. With Wednesday and Saturday as active rest day. I like this since can go in and out without staying so late. I want to get my bench up too hitting it twice a week is nice. Once done with workouts I also like to do 1 episode of cardio and some stretching. So not doing 7-8 exercises it allows me to do this. With the two active rest days those days I like to do like abs, farmer walks, 2 episodes for cardio, and stretch. Also at times do like a follow along video or do like a arm workout since I wont be hitting arms as much as other splits may. For me this is like my idea workout for me at this time.
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AZ
On point. When I was a beginner I was always looking for the best split for hypertrophy, the best split for strength, etc. After years of training and trying almost every split known to man, I realized there is no best. People have made gains on every split. Once a week, twice a week, twice a day, low volume, high volume. It all works. The fun part of the journey is trying them all out and seeing which one you like the most. I personally like 2x a week and currently doing Legs, Chest/Arms, Back/Shoulders, Rest, Repeat. My schedule is really open so it allows me to go 6 days a week, but if I get more busy, I usually just do that same split but do an Upper Lower at the end.
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David
I've been doing a program of four workouts a week for about 18 months and it's been effective and given me gains. It's just the time spent each workout is wearing on me (it's never less than 90 minutes. The four workouts are chest & triceps, back & biceps, legs-only, and general upper body (shoulders, arms and chest.
What I'm thinking about doing is switching to chest & biceps, back & triceps, legs & shoulders, and an al-a-carte day where I hit whatever I feel needs work. I'm just wondering if this is going to be effective, or if there's some secret sauce to my existing structure that I'll sacrifice by changing the pairing.
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Carl
Hey, Jeff.
Thanks again for all the hard work and motivation you provide. Lately I have been dealing with mild High Hamstring Tendinopathy. I feel it when I get into a deep lunge, or sumo deadlift stance. I love doing these exercises, but I was wondering if there were any rehab exercise I could do in the meantime to strengthen my posterior chain. I've seen videos recommending glute bridges, RDLs, etc. But, I wanted to know your thoughts.
Also, what do you believe could be some root causes for this type of injury?
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Bernie
Hey Jeff - I enjoy spending time in the gym so I tend to be happiest at 5-6 days; my preferred splits have always been full body and / or upper lower. I like Bro splits but get bored if that is all I do. So I tend to do Day 1 and 2 upper - lower; day 3 body part and light; Day 4 and 5 upper - lower; day 6 body part. The body part split days, I focus on whatever I feel is lagging in growth and switch every 4 or 5 weeks. I never see recommendations for mixing splits like this. Any comments on combining splits? Thanks
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Hullihen
I love science and all the data but what i enjoy the most is a bro split or push pull legs. full body needs to be thrown in the trash! that's one where i don't care what the science says the long term beating of it on my joints and length of time makes it now effective and sustainable for me. Science leaves out the most important aspect, the physiology of the person of what they enjoy has a biggest long term affect on success. lifting is a life long marathon, not a 3 month program.
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Hyphy
Loved this colab! My question is about progressive overload I m trying to burn fat and build muscle. Doing a PPL split twice a week and usually doing 4-5 sets each exercise increasing weights each set and going to failure every set. Suggestions on how to correctly use and your preferred method of progressive overload for a fat burning muscle building goal. If anybody has some suggestions I d greatly appreciate it!
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Preston
There are exercises for the triceps that require me to get the weight behind my head. I have short arms. In order for me to do that, I need to move my shoulders, so I end the rep at my forehead. What are the effects of limb length and the form you should have durring these types of exercises? Should I find other exercises so I can get full ROM? Am I just doing the exercise incorrectly?
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