Weightlifters, do you do splits? Why?

I do splits due to the fact that I can't always get to re gym Monday-Friday every week due to work and if I do I get to get a extra lift on a muscle group each week. I also change my splits about each 2-3 months just to change it up. My favorite is the typical back and bi chest and tri and legs and shoulder. But also really like arms one day back and chest then legs.

In the beginning my trainer had me do the big compound exercises as the core to my workout to build a solid platform.

I only lifted 2 days a week.

I did hard high intensity cardio 3 days

I rested 2 days with what I call just normal low intensity calorie burning walking, not exercise

That has been the plan for almost 18 months and almost 120 pounds gone

I do a big compound exercise now and 2 more isolation exercise now to work on specific body area when lifting though.

But for great legs and booty, it is still squats and two others in the mix.

Chest is still some bench press variant and two other detail exercises

Back day is deadlifts and another back and 2 bicep exercises

As CaliforiaGirl2012 said, less fat makes your muscle look better!

That HIIT will lean you out if you get to 90% of your heart rate max a few times in the intensity cycles. When sweat is dripping off your elbows... Yeah, you ran the intensity up good

Ha!

Yep, I do upper/lower splits four days a week - M,R upper & T,F lower. I do it because I fit my workouts in at lunch break so it needs to be short, and because I don't recover quickly. Doing a full body workout with 4-5 compound lifts in a day is too tiring and the later lifts really suffer.

Also, doing splits allows me to add in isolation lifts to the compound lifts, and I find they're helpful to address weaknesses in the compound lifts.

My training sessions are focused on one or more of the big three. So I'll have bench days, squat days and deadlift days, with at least one day a week being a combo day. How many of each day a week depends on my current training cycle - currently I have 4 bench days, and 2 or 3 each squat and dead days. Back work is split up and spread throughout the week - we have discovered that this what my back responds best to.

colors_fade wrote: »

Iron_Miss_Canada wrote: »

My training sessions are focused on one or more of the big three. So I'll have bench days, squat days and deadlift days, with at least one day a week being a combo day. How many of each day a week depends on my current training cycle - currently I have 4 bench days, and 2 or 3 each squat and dead days. Back work is split up and spread throughout the week - we have discovered that this what my back responds best to.

This sounds very similar to what I do.

3-4 workouts per week. Squats are a must every workout. Deadlift probably 2 out of every 3.

I hate the idea of "Leg Day"; I don't understand working your legs to death and then doing nothing for 6 days. I'd rather provide them with consistent stimulus. Consistent, progressive loading...

Yeah. My programmer is a genius. His programs work miracles when you commit fully - I'm currently sitting on a 45%, 25kg increase on bench performance in 6 months of working his programs. After only managing to put 10kg into my bench on my own in two years, including a bulk where I should have seen much higher gains.

Currently, it's shoulders/biceps/triceps, back/core, leg/glute split 2x's per week and if I can I squeak in an extra glute day, I do! This gives me enough buffer to rest up, but still keep at it. Squats 2-3 times per week is a must or else my legs get sore and lots of compound lifts to keep all the muscles engaged.