Remember once and for all: there is nothing extraordinary about splits and you don’t need to look for some “good split routine” on the web. The best split routine is the one you created yourself after consulting with a pro bodybuilder. Below are key points to consider when making personalized split routine.
- Train one big muscle (chest, back, legs) and one or two small muscles (biceps, triceps, delts, traps) within a workout.
- Big muscle workout must include, at least, one compound exercise.
- Do 3-4 exercises for big muscle, and 2-3 for small one.
- Stick to “top-to-bottom” approach meaning you start with strenuous compound exercises and move down to more precise and isolating exercises.
- Put together muscle groups which are indirectly related to each other. Chest workout could be combined with shoulder or triceps training as these muscles get worked out when doing bench press. You can safely put back training and biceps exercises together as bicepses are hit hard by barbell bent-over row.
- Try to perform your entire split routine within an hour for better effect.
Let’s go in detail on one day of your split routine so you know where to put your focus on.
First workout. Monday
You’ve fully recovered on the weekend. It means you can increase intensity of your workout and hit hard those muscles you want to develop in the first place. Beginners’ priorities are usually chest and shoulders. This muscle combination is just great for the splits as your shoulders get thoroughly worked out when you train your chest, so it’d be smart to hit your shoulders even harder without leaving this for the next workout.
Warm-up
Do rope jumping, swing your arms, do push-ups and about ten squats.
Bench press 4×8
Anyone knows there is nothing better for chest workout than doing bench press. Perform first set with low weights or just an empty barbell, but do it very slowly and gradually. This will warm up ligaments and pump blood into the chest. Then secure your working weight (the one enables you to get 8 reps) to the barbell and do 8 reps for 3 sets. Push yourself to the limit in the last set.
Barbell Incline Bench Press 2-3×8
Your chest is already warmed up, so put your working weight on the barbell and do 2-3 sets depending on how your body is reacting.
Decline Fly 3×10
Finish working your chest with doing decline fly. This exercise stretches chest muscles well and stimulates their growth.
Seated Overhead Press 2×10
Now get to work on the shoulders. Start with the most strenuous shoulder exercise – seated overhead press. Seat on a bench, adjust working weight and do 2 reps.
Overhead Dumbbell Press 2×10
Standing overhead dumbbell press is a finishing exercise for your shoulder workout. Your hands move not vertically but by a kind of arched path, which trains delts, too.
Source of the image: plunderguide.com.
