How do I split up bodyparts when designing my program?

Question:

What are the 3 major groups to be worked out for upper body? ex. Back+Biceps, i forgot

Answer:

Instead of answering the question directly, I’m going to challenge you to rethink your approach to designing your program. Rather than focusing on body parts (which is actually an outdated method), try focusing on your movements.

The basic movements are:

Upperbody

• Horizontal push (like bench, pushups)
• Horizontal Pull (rows)
• Vertical Push (shoulder press,military)
• Vertical Pull (Pullups, lat pullovers)

• also, elbow flexion, and elbow extension movements

Lower Body

• Bilateral Hip dominant (deadlifts, RDL’s)
• Bilateral Quad Dominant (front squats, back squats, explosive squats)
• Unilateral Hip Dominant (stepups, 1 leg hip extension)
• Unilateral Quad Dominant (Lunges, 1 leg squats, split squats)

and CORE

Any program should include each of these types of movements to be complete. If you include these, the body parts will take care of themselves.

Another good idea is to superset opposing movements- Like a horizontal pull with a horizontal push, etc..

That’s right - no more worrying about which body part to hit when - just include each one of these movements, and you’ll have a complete, balanced program. Depending on your training frequency, you may want to split these movements up throughout the week - but this approach should be a good start for you and to get you thinking differently.

Do you still use body part splits?

Have you had success with movement based splits?

I’d love to hear them so please let your voice be heard. And be sure to click play below and listen to my amateur podcast.

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