Should you be doing a 3-day or 4-day split workout? The answer will really depend on your goals and your time commitment. 3-day splits are ideal for someone who can’t be in the gym often. 3-day splits have a total body strength or resistance workout 3 times a week. On your off days, you should try to incorporate some form of cardio about 30-45 minutes. The cardio does not have to be high intensity but it does need to be at a moderate pace. For example, you may do cardio on Monday, weights on Tuesday, cardio on Wednesday, and weights on Thursday, you get the point. Aim for about a 5-6 day program and be sure to include a rest day.
4-day splits are for those who are fully committed and have specific goals, they have time and energy to spare. On a 4-day split, you’ll break your workouts into push/pull days or upper body/lower body days. A good example would be chest and back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, chest and back on Friday and legs on Saturday. Again, you’ll need to incorporate some form of cardio (about 30-45 minutes) in between or at the end of your strength training. 4-day splits are really good for growth because you’ll have the ability to add more volume to each muscle group twice a week.
For those who are only looking to maintain your current health/ftiness level, there is another option. I’m currently following this program myself with time being such a precious commodity for me during school. I strive to get in my cardio (about 30 minutes) 5-6 days a week. At least 2 times a week I am strength training, 3 times if my week goes well! I have modified my strength workouts to include only 5 lifts that hit every major muscle group. The bench press, the deadlift, the pull up, the push press and the squat. Doing this allows me to get in a great workout in much less time.
To maximize my training I perform 5 sets of declining reps. It looks like this: 10, 10, 8, 8, 6 at about 75% of my ORM (one rep max). You can always bring that down to 5 set of 5 reps or even the standard 3 sets or 8 reps. You can see what these lifts look like by clicking here.
As always, if you have any questions let me know in the comments below!