Weight Training Split Routines
When you start a weight training routine, it's fine to do a general full body workout as long as you don't do to many sets per body part or work out every day - you don't want to overtrain. As you gain strength you'll realize that you need to increase the work load per muscle group. That's the time to start splitting up your workouts, working certain muscle groups during one workout and others the next workout.
The first step is to work the whole body over 2 workouts to maximize your workload per body part. An example:
Day 1 - chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps
Day 2 - back (upper and lower), legs (quads, hamstrings, and calves) and abs
Day 3 - no weight training, you need rest to grow.
Of course this isn't written in stone, you could experiment with different 2 way splits, but when working chest you'll warm up your arms, and when working legs you'll warm up your lower back, abs, and calves. You may even want to take a day off in between each workout.
As you get stronger you should find that working legs and back in the same workout is becoming to taxing. Now's the time to try a 3 way split routine. There are a few popular ways to split your weight training routine into 3 workouts.
Routine 1:
Day 1 - chest, shoulders, triceps
Day 2 - upper back, biceps , and abs
Day 3 - legs and lower back
Day 4 - rest
This kind of strength training routine is commonly known as a push-pull routine because you work the muscles you use to push weights (chest, shoulders, triceps) in one workout, and the muscles you use to pull weights (upper back and biceps) in the next workout. Another routine like this that might work is as follows:
Routine 2:
Day 1 - chest, shoulders, triceps
Day 2 - back (upper and lower) and biceps
Day 3 - rest
Day 4 - legs
Day 5 - rest
abs done every other workout
This routine saves you from doing legs and lower back in the same workout and gives you an extra day of rest on day 3 as you don't want a sore lower back when working legs.
Routine 3:
Day 1 - chest and upper back
Day 2 - shoulders, biceps, and triceps
Day 3 - rest
Day 4 - legs and lower back
Day 5 - rest
abs done every other workout
This strength training routine gives you plenty of rest between arm workouts and the next chest and upper back workout. You may even want to take every other day off to avoid overtraining.
The above split routines are just some of the examples for an optimal weight training routine. Experiment to find what routine is right for you.
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