If you pull a random workout program off the internet, you would most likely see a workout split that looks something like this: 

Chest/Triceps, Shoulders, Back/Biceps, Legs. 

We call this the “bro split” because it’s what you find most gym bros doing. They will have 10-12 exercises on them to get enough training volume (the amount of work that is performed during a workout or a period of time) to create change.

It’s not that this is a bad way of programming, but it could definitely be improved for a lot of people. The issue with these days is that you’re only hitting a muscle group 1x/week which means that you’ve really gotta make that day count and push everything hard. Then you will be so sore that you might skip your next workout because your volume was too high, too fast, too soon (sound familiar)

For most people, that’s just not going to happen. By your 5th chest exercise, your chest will be so tired that you’re maybe lifting 25% of what you could actually be lifting.

What we like instead for beginners and also most people: A Full Body Split 2-4 days per week.

At Uplift, we think of exercises as parts of different movement patterns instead of just what muscles they use. Squat, Hinge, Lunge/Single Leg, Push, Pull, Core/Carry. Each of these movement patterns use multiple muscle groups in an exercise, so you’re able to get more bang for your buck in less time.

A full body split allows us to spread out that training volume (~10-20 sets per muscle group/movement pattern per week) so you can actually hit the muscles harder than if it were just on one day.

ALSO it allows us to hit your legs more often than 1 day a week which is important because they are your biggest muscles that support your whole body and no one wants to look like a lollipop because they don’t hit legs.

We’ll normally do workouts of 6-8 exercises so you’re not in there forever and so you aren’t dead at the end of your workout, so you’ll have energy to do your next workout and won’t be so sore the day after.

It’s, of course, not the only way to have a workout program. There are lots of other ways to workout, but it’s definitely our favorite for most people!