How should you break up your lifts?
Last week we touched on how many times/week you should lift and this week we follow that up discussing how you might split up your sessions for your week.
While it can definitely feel overwhelming to decide how to break up your lifts throughout your week, we can also simply it!
(Simplicity is a core value of Cochell Fitness)
The first piece of this puzzle is to determine how many days/week you are going to lift.
We already know based on the Activity Guidelines for Americans that two lifts/week is the minimum we want to aim for but we also know that lifting 3, 4, or 5 times/week can bring us even more benefits and progress towards your goals.
So let’s break it down by number of lifts/week:
2 lifts/week
full-body, full-body
upper, lower
Generally for 2 lifts/week I lean more towards two full-body lifts but at times an upper-lower split can work, too! In an upper-lower split you lift all upper body movements one day and all lower body movements the other.
You can also implement a push-pull split for 2 lifts/week but because of the time constraints with 2 lifts/week you would need to be very strategic in how that’s programmed and likely done by a professional or someone with a lot of experience with lifting and a solid understanding of different lifting principles.
3 lifts/week
full-body, full-body, full-body
upper, lower, full-body/accessory
Similar to 2 days/week, I lean more towards all full-body lifts. There is the option to split and make one session all upper body, one all lower body and the final lift a combination of upper and lower lifts (i.e. full-body or accessory-focused).
You could also use your third lift of the week to focus on an upper or lower movement pattern(s) that is weak and you want to bring up to the appropriate strength level in relation to other lifts.
4 lifts/week
full-body x4
upper, lower, upper, lower
push, pull, push, pull
can get even more specific: “upper push,” “lower pull,” etc.
body-part specific
think “back/bis,” “glutes/hams,” “shoulders/core”
Increasing your lifts to 4x/week gives you a lot more room to play around with breaking up your lifts.
You may or may not be surprised to hear that my personal preference is, again, full-body lifts even with 4 days/week. The reason being that at any given time I’m likely more excited about a lower body movement or an upper body movement and I can mix and match to pair my “hate it but need to do it” lifts with my “I freaking love this” lifts to keep me engaged throughout the week.
But anyways-
In the examples above you might be starting to feel like some of them are (or could be) the same thing with a different label- you would be correct!
An upper-lower x2 or push-pull x2 split can become more specific if you combine them like I listed with “upper push” and “lower pull” (which would make the other two days “lower push” and “upper pull”). If/when you get to this point of breaking down your lifts it’s important to have some knowledge of movement patterns in themselves to help you designated which lift goes where.
Of course, you don’t need to combine the two designations!
If it feels more confusing to try to merge them then keeping it separate might be the best call. An upper-lower x2 split without a lot of consideration for if it’s a pushing or pulling moving is still a great split to work with. And the same goes for just focusing on a pushing or pulling movement when creating your lifts!
The most specific type of split would be a body-part split. This is usually only implemented with 4+ lifts/week (although I don’t tend to use it until we get to 5 lifts/week). This can be especially helpful if there is a particular muscle/muscle group you’re looking to strengthen/grow.
Now you know the basics of a lifting split but what if your weeks rarely look the same and you’re not sure you can do 3 lifts/week for multiple weeks in a row?
I’ve got an easy solution for you:
Stop thinking of hard deadlines for you week of lifts!
If you need flexibly, give it to yourself. Instead of saying these 3 lifts need to be done in this specific week, focus on hitting your lifts and keeping them in the same sequential order they’re intended to be in.
If you “miss” your day 3 lifts in week one, shift it to start off week 2 (and shift the other lifts accordingly). I refer to this as the “flow-through” method with my clients and the ones who need it and use it always love it.
To summarize:
There are multiple ways to break up your lifts throughout your week. We highlighted a full-body split, upper-lower split, push-pull split, and body-part specific split.
The best split is the one you enjoy, keeps you engaged and works for you and your goals.
Try not to get stuck on a specific number of lifts/week. Instead, be flexible with how think of your lift layout/split for the week(s). Don’t be afraid to shift things week to week as you need to and see fit. Likely, performing your lifts in the order they were created is the best practice vs. sticking to a rigid week-by-week schedule.
Have questions about lift splits?
Drop them in the comments and stay tuned for part 3 talking about what goes inside each lift!