The Different Exercise Splits and their Distinct Benefits - Cruz Anthony
An exercise split is an exercise program that splits each muscle group into a specific day within a week. Each split has distinct benefits, you should choose your exercise split entirely on the goals you wish to achieve. No one split will work for everyone, so it is advised to try several and see which one works best for you.
Below is 3 common splits and their distinct benefits.
An exercise split tailored to your specific goals will allow you to reach those goals with efficiency. But how do you decide what exercise split is most optimal? You need to define your goal in a category, strength, hypertrophy or endurance. Alternating through multiple splits throughout a monthly period has potential to maximize benefits in all these aspects.
PPL #1 - Push - Pull - Legs
Push-Pull-Legs is directed for a push day, a pull day and a leg day. The push day targets the chest, triceps, and shoulder musculature. The next day is pull, which targets the back musculature and biceps. The final day is leg day, self-explanatory you should target the muscles of the legs.
The reason this split is effective is because it targets the muscle groups adequately while providing adequate rest between workouts. This is one of the most beneficial splits because it gives muscle groups on one day the time to rest, and the next day other muscle groups can be targeted.
This split also provides regional interdependence allowing multiple muscles to become targeted together. For example, when doing a bench press the chest muscles are the main target. But the triceps and anterior deltoid are the synergistic muscles that help aid the chest in the movement while under load.
Arnold #2
The Arnold split inquires that day one will be a chest and back day. This creates a different stimulus on the muscles because the back and chest work counteractive to each other. The next day will be a shoulders and arms day. Dedicating a specific day to each of these smaller muscle groups allows these muscles to develop strength. Developing strength in these areas will then help with compound movements when these muscles are recruited. Dedicating a specific day to legs is the common factor amongst most splits.
The benefits to this split include;
muscular development
upper body and lower body strength
enhanced functional fitness.
Bro Split #3
The Bro split involves dedicating each day to a specific muscle group. This can be broken up an applied several different ways. This way of training allows for higher amounts of volume towards each muscle group as each has a dedicated day.
Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Shoulders
Day 4: Arms
Day 5: Legs
This split could be beneficial for strength and muscle gains but is not the most optimal approach. Research suggests that higher training frequencies may have more benefit for increasing strength, lean body mass, and endurance. This is not to say that this split is a bust. On a week of de-loading this split may be beneficial to give the muscles a better chance to rest without stopping your routine of working out.