What's The Best Training Split & Program?
The Only 2 Things You Need To Build Muscle???
Now that we’ve covered all the basics in the previous post, it’s time to move on to the real needle movers.
We’ll be covering a few key areas such as—
What Training Split Should You Choose
What Training Routine You Should Be Running
The Only 2 Things You Need To Build Muscle
Let’s get started.
Before that, make sure you subscribe to get access to part 3 of this Training series.
What Training Split Should You Choose
A training split explains what body part you will be targeting on what day.
It is the most important decision you will make earlier on.
The days in the gym per week add up over time, provided you’re recovering well and pushing yourself every day.
A few good rules of thumb to follow—
AVOID BRO-SPLITS LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Although they’re far from being bad, they’re not the most ideal split. (Unless you’re on the forbidden juice.)
What is a Bro-split? A traditional Bro-split looks something like this—
Monday- Chest
Tuesday- Back
Wednesday- Shoulders
Thursday- Legs
Friday- Biceps
Saturday- Triceps
Sunday- Rest
This covers all important body parts, so why is it not ideal?
Muscle protein synthesis, the system that builds muscle, has a hard stop.
Your muscle-building process stops 48=72 hours after you've hit the muscle.
What that means is, if you do bicep curls today, within the next 2-3 days, you’ve already gotten the most out of your workout.
You’ve recovered enough to hit biceps again. Waiting an extra 4 days to do it, like with a Bro-split, is wasting training time.
So, to get the biggest bang for your buck, you’d want to hit a muscle group 2 times per week, at least.
Earlier on in your training journey, your body is capable of some amazing shit.
You have the power of ‘Noobie Gains.’
This phase of training is so powerful, it’s almost like you’re on steroids.
You are capable of something you will never be able to do later on in your training journey—
You will be able to pack on muscle and lose fat at the same time.
So, training each muscle group once leaves a lot of reserve potential in the tank.
Every week, each muscle group should be hit twice without fail.
So, what would that look like in practice?
It depends on how many days you want to hit the gym in a week.
Let me break it down.
4-Day Splits
Let’s assume you can only hit the gym 4 times a week. How would you accommodate all muscle groups twice?
This is pretty straightforward.
You would run a 2x Upper-Lower Body split.
In practice, here is what it would look like—
Monday- Upper Body
Tuesday- Lower Body
Wednesday- Rest
Thursday- Upper Body
Friday- Lower Body
Saturday- Rest
Sunday- Rest
Pros:
✅ The most convenient split.
✅ Great if your schedule is always packed.
Cons:
❌ Not enough working days for the highest amount of muscle growth.
❌ Super hard to build momentum. You skip days because ‘You don’t feel like it.’
The days that you would hit the gym could be variable. For example, if Tuesday was off limits, you’d push that lower body day to a Wednesday.
5-Day Splits
With 5 days of training, you will most likely have to follow a hybrid-training style.
What that means is, you may have to combine 2 different training routines.
I’ve trained on 5-day splits and they’re the most versatile option. (They’re especially helpful when you’re hitting PRs every week)
Here’s what I recommend you follow. This is also what I’ve followed before—
Monday- Push
Tuesday- Pull
Wednesday- Legs
Thursday- Rest
Friday- Upper
Saturday- Lower
Sunday- Rest
Pros:
✅ Great for recovery on hard weeks.
✅ A good balance between working days and rest days.
✅ The best long-term split.
Cons:
❌ Can get confusing to keep up with because of hybrid splits.
❌ Hard to have muscle-group-focused days. You have to hit everything on Upper-Lower days.
The days are once again variable. You can set this up in any way you see fit for yourself.
I’d recommend this split on weeks that you’re grinding and pushing yourself to failure on every workout.
In weeks like that, you don’t need an extra day of working out, you need an extra day to recover.
6-Day Splits
Ahh, yes. The Holy Grail of training splits.
Everyone wants to train 6 days a week, but only the elite few manage to.
At the expense of the rest of their lives.
If you want to maximize your progress at the gym when you’re getting started, give a 6-day split a try.
The only problem is that it’s a commitment. It’s not versatile enough to account for the rest of your life.
But, if you’re a loner who is not invited out by your ‘friends’ then jump on this.
Maybe you’ll get girls in 6 months. Provided you fix your bland-ass personality.
There are two variations you can try with 6-day splits—
Push-Pull-Legs x2 or Upper-Lower x3
If you’re getting started, I would recommend the former.
Upper-Lower x3 is used once you’ve trained consistently for 2 years.
So, here’s my recommendation—
Monday- Push (Shoulder focused)
Tuesday- Pull (Lat focused)
Wednesday- Legs (Quad focused)
Thursday- Push (Chest focused)
Friday- Pull (Upper back focused)
Saturday- Legs (Hamstring focused)
Sunday- Rest
Pros:
✅ Maximised muscle growth for noobies.
✅ Muscle-group focused days.
✅ Easy to build momentum and be consistent.
Cons:
❌ No versatility. If you have to skip a day, there’s no getting it back.
❌ Can be too much if you’re not recovering enough.
So, there you have it. Once you have established what training split you want to be hitting, it’s time to hop on a training routine.
My advice? Keep it simple.
Find one YouTuber's training program and copy exactly what they do.
I’ll get into this in the next section.
What Training Routine You Should Be Running
In the beginning, the hardest thing to do is to figure out what exercises to do, how many reps, how many sets, etc.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
To get started, just follow a well-trusted, science-based YouTuber.
One that isn’t trying to cheat you out of your money.
After consuming a lot of garbage content, a few good YouTubers are—
Jeff Nippard (Would rank his advice at #1)
I’d copy all the routines and exercises to start with.
Jeff’s Push-Pull-Legs Playlist
Jeff’s Upper Body Workout
Jeff’s Lower Body Workout
Sean Nalewany
I’d follow Sean’s content for general advice, tweaks, and to know which other Youtubers are scammers.
An important thing to keep in mind here is to follow and try a program for at least two months before changing it up.
You don’t want to be changing up exercise selection every week.
If after two months, certain exercises or routines are not optimal, experiment.
Change a few things up— It could be the whole routine, it could be certain exercises, rest periods, sets, reps, etc.
But, stick to the 2-month rule.
The Only 2 Things You Need To Build Muscle
When you’re training, there are only two things you need to focus on.
(Except for stuff we've covered before this)
The two things that matter is INTENSITY and CONSISTENCY.
They are not mutually exclusive.
Only consistency leads to you looking the same for 2 years. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of guys at my gym.
You could show up every day, but not pack any muscle if you’re not pushing yourself.
In the same way, what I’ve been guilty of is intensity without consistency.
You could go to the gym for 2 weeks and kill yourself with a workout.
But, it won’t mean jackshit if you’re not regular for months on end.
Let’s break these down—
Consistency
Like any good thing in life (except for sex, you sub-30-second motherfucker) this is a marathon.
It takes time to build good, healthy amounts of muscle. It takes years before your muscles gain a mature look.
Stop fast-tracking this in 3 months.
Prioritize for the long term. If you can successfully do that, you will beat all the guys that are on full-throttle right now.
Showing up 80% of the time for 2 years does more than showing up 100% for 6 months.
There is no easy way around this. No matter how hard you work for 3 months, if you don’t stay consistent, you lose all that progress.
So, tweak for the long term. If you think you can hit the gym 4 days a week for years on end, pick that.
It sure beats 6 days a week for 4 months.
Stop trying to chase 6-month transformations. It’s not worth it.
Which one would you pick?
Looking 25% better in 6 months or looking 80% better in 2 years?
The choice is yours.
But, know that consistency is the name of the game.
Consistency beats intensity, consistently.
Intensity
“Consistency beats intensity, consistently,” is only half-true.
Consistent intensity beats intensity or consistency, consistently.
That’s a mouthful.
Let’s dive a little deeper into what I mean by that.
Scientific name: Progressive Overload
How it’s meant to be used: Stop being a little bitch.
Here’s how you progressively overload and make progress at the gym—
Step #1: Track Every Workout
-Download an app that lets you track your workouts, or use your Notes app.
-Track your exercises, weights, sets, and reps for EVERY workout.
Step #2: Push To Failure On Your Last Working Set
-Working sets are your main sets (apart from your workout sets). Every working set should be less than 3 reps shy of failure.
-On your last working set push to failure. You should not be able to complete the rep. (Don’t do this with squats and bench press with nobody spotting you. You will fucking die.)
Step #3: 1% Better Than Yesterday
-If you eat and recover well, you should consistently be able to increase either the weight, rep, or set the next week.
-Check the last time you did a particular exercise. Your goal for this session would be to do 1-2 reps more or add 2.5 kgs to the same reps.
-If you didn’t do a little more than last time, even by a rep, you’re not training hard enough.
Step #4: Re-visit Old Texts Or Trauma
-Remember the time that girl laughed at you when you asked her out? Use that shit.
-Remember the time you were with? She’s now helping him slide it back in when it slips out. Use that shit.
-Granny died and you couldn’t get yourself to make time for her? Too bad, use that shit.
That’s it for today. Tune in for the next post on—
The 5 Most Important Excersises To Look Like A Greek God
BONUS: Vanity Exercises Nobody Tells You About
Common Beginner Mistakes To Avoid
This is fire!