How to choose a training split? - Beginners’ edition.

How should you split your strength training as a beginner?

A beginner strength trainee is someone who is completely new to the gym. A novice trainee has already been training for a while, 6 months or more, and has already build up some strength and developed good technique (hopefully).

But what would be the best way to begin training at the gym?

First, we must discuss training frequency, how often you go to the gym each week. A general recommendation is to go 2-3 times per week, which ever helps you to stay consistent.

Assuming you stay consistent (which is the key!), you should also consider splitting your training somehow.

You can choose to do only one body part every time you train or train whole body each time.

If you train one body part only, each time you go to the gym, you might run into some issues. If you only have time to train twice per week, and you try a common bodybuilding-style split training chest on day one, back on day two, legs on day three, and shoulders and arms on day four, it would take you two whole weeks to run through your program. That would be kind of silly considering you’d be already recovered from first session well before your next chest training session. Definitely not the most optimal way to train.

So at least, try to train each body part once per week.

What you can do, is to group muscle groups, that use similar movement patterns together. So, you could combine all upper body pushing muscles (chest and shoulders and triceps) in one session, all upper body pulling muscles (back, biceps, rear delts) in one session and legs in separate session.

This is the quite common, Push, Pull, Legs (PPL) training split.

PPL has a lot of good features. It allows you to train each body part / movement pattern hard every time and you get a lot of technique practice at once. If the training volume is reasonable (maximum of 10 work sets per workout / muscle group) (1) beginners can make very good gains with PPL-style program. Especially when hypertrophy training is the main goal (muscle gain). (2)

Downsides to PPL-split is that it does not convert to twice per week training, and for technique improvement, it is not the best option.

 

Total body training is the better option if you want to focus on strength improvement.

Strength is a neuro-muscular skill, and most of the early gains made by gym-beginners are mostly neural. (3,4)

Imagine you had to learn a new language, would you learn it by studying once a week or three times per week? More likely you would study it every day! But for strength training purposes, training everyday as a beginner would shortly lead to burnout or worse, injuries.

More frequent training leads to faster improvements. Therefore, total body training is the best way to get stronger and more skillful lifter as a gym newbie. It also takes away the dread of only legs training session. You only have to hit one or two exercises of legs every time.

Total body split also enables you to train twice per week more efficiently (getting enough exposure for each body part) every time you work out.

Examples for weekly training split with three sessions / week. 

So, in conclusion. There are many ways to approach strength training as a beginner. If you truly want to get something out of it, which is probably the most motivating, since you actually see some results of your work, you want to train each body part at least one to three times each week.

If you want bigger muscles, you can train each muscle once every week (PPL-style), as long as you don’t go crazy on the training volume.

If you want to become stronger and have good technique faster, you train total body every time.

 

Regardless of what you choose, it is always best to consult to a professional for lifting advice.

I strongly suggest you ask someone who can teach you the proper lifting form to get started on the right foot.

ML Strength Performance offers a 4-session package to get started this autumn. Get your lifting technique on point and start your training safely!

 

Cheers,

Mitja

 

References:

1. Amirthalingam T, Mavros Y, Wilson GC, Clarke JL, Mitchell L, Hackett DA. Effects of a Modified German Volume Training Program on Muscular Hypertrophy and Strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Nov;31(11):3109-3119.

2. Franco CMC, Carneiro MAS, de Sousa JFR, Gomes GK, Orsatti FL. Influence of High- and Low-Frequency Resistance Training on Lean Body Mass and Muscle Strength Gains in Untrained Men. J Strength Cond Res. 2021 Aug 1;35(8):2089-2094.

3. Jones DA, Rutherford OM, Parker DF. Physiological changes in skeletal muscle as a result of strength training. Q J Exp Physiol. 1989 May;74(3):233-56.

4. Sale DG. Neural adaptation to resistance training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1988 Oct;20(5 Suppl):S135-45.