With the New Year here, many people have either thought about embarking on or have already begun a weight training program in an effort to either shed excess pounds or improve their overall level of fitness. However, many people have little to no clue about how to split up their routines in order to maximize results while also avoiding overtraining.

Probably the best advice I can give to most people (with competitors the stark exception) is to train no more than four days per week. I also recommend that you weight train for one to two consecutive days, take a rest day, then resume weight training after the rest day. Competitors who are accustomed to hard training are on intense regimens which often include only one or two days of rest per week, which is part of the reason why they are more prone to overtraining.

If you are brand new to weight training, or have been away from it for many years, I recommend a three day full body split in which you will work the entire body during each workout. A good sequence is Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, as is a Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday sequence. This ensures at least one day of rest between workouts.

Three Day Full Body Split:

Monday – Full Body
Tuesday – OFF
Wednesday – Full Body
Thursday – OFF
Friday – Full Body
Saturday – OFF
Sunday – OFF

For those who are more accustomed to working out with weights, I recommend a four day split in which the upper and lower body are worked on separate days with at least one day of rest afterward. An example would look like this:

Intermediate Upper/Lower Four Day Split:

Monday – Upper Body
Tuesday – Lower Body
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – Upper Body
Friday – Lower Body
Saturday – OFF
Sunday – OFF

Another variation is to split each upper body and lower body workout further so that different muscle groups are worked on different days:

Intermediate Upper/Lower Four Day Split Variation:

Monday – Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Tuesday – Quads, Calves
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – Back, Biceps
Friday – Hamstrings, Glutes, Abs
Saturday – OFF

If there is enough interest, I can provide sample routines which fall within the above split schedules. Simply post a comment on this post so that I know you are interested.