My gym split is pretty much as basic as it gets. I don’t try to over complicate. It also isn’t really a strict written up plan, but more of a guide that I follow depending on how I’m feeling. If a certain joint or muscle is acting up or overworked, I can skip a certain exercise for a week or two while it recovers. The plan looks roughly like this:
Day A: Push
- Machine Chest Press OR Barbell Bench Press
- Ab Crunch Machine OR Torso Rotation Machine
- Overhead Machine Shoulder Press
- Pec Fly Machine
- Cable Lateral Raises
- Tricep Pushdown
Day B: Pull
- Machine Row
- Ab Crunch Machine OR Torso Rotation Machine
- Lat Pulldown
- Rear Delt Machine
- Cable Lateral Raises
- Dumbell Bicep Curls
And thats it. I don’t hit legs currently for a few reasons: 1. I’m lazy, 2. I want to have fresh legs so I can enjoy a run/ride on the next day, 3. I genetically don’t have thin legs, 4. My legs get enough stimulation from running and cycling currently and the strength training would be excessive, and 5. I’m trying to focus on building my upper body and gaining weight there. Reasons 2-5 are all basically a bunch of excuses to justify the first reason.
You might have also noticed that I include variations or options for some of the exercises. If I’m alone, I prefer to use the Machine Bench Press over the Barbell Bench Press, since I can go all the way to failure without getting stuck under the bar (it’s happened more than once already…). If my abs are super sore for some reason, or I’m not feeling the ab crunch machine, I can do the Torso Rotation Machine. If my back is super sore (maybe from a long ride), I can use the Ab Crunch Machine instead. Both the ab exercises and the Cable Lateral Raises are repeated on both days. That’s because I’ve put a focus on trying to build those out this year, and they recover relatively quickly (at least the shoulders), which means I stress them back to back without much issue.
On both days, the first exercise is a big compound lift. I try to target as many muscles as possible with that one movement, and then I let them recover for one exercise by training my core as the second exercise. Then I do an alternate compound exercise, which targets muscles that the first one missed or didn’t stimulate/stress enough or focus on. After that I move on to targeted isolation exercises, usually starting with the muscles closer to the center of my body and working my way out to the arms.
As for the number of sets, my methodology is to do at least 3 hard sets per exercise. For the first exercise, a big compound exercise, or any exercise close to the start, I like to include 1-3 build-up sets where I start off with a lighter weight and ease my way into the harder sets. Then I do the three hard sets, and by the end of the third hard set, I will have taken it to failure. For the big compound exercises, I typically do a drop-set or two to failure. For the isolation exercises, I don’t see the need to do build-up sets or drop-sets, since the muscles are ‘pre-cooked’ from the compound movements. I follow progressive overload for the number of reps per set and weight I load. I normally try to keep a rep range between 8-12 reps for normal/hard sets, but I do 4-6 reps for drop-sets (or until failure) and do anywhere from 6-20 reps for build-up sets.
I alternate between Day A and Day B. If in week #1 I did A-B-A, then in week #2 I might do B-A, and in week #3 I might do B-A-B. I occasionally also throw in a push/pull combo day when I feel like it to switch it up a bit.