Benefits of Splitting Workout Days: Upper and Lower Body
You may have wondered in the past, especially if you’re training by yourself, what the best way to work out is. Is it a split between upper and lower body days or push and pull workouts?
The truth is, it’s not that important.
There are obviously benefits to working out, generally speaking. So, if you choose to separate your workouts by muscle group, there will always be value to it as you’re still working out. However, the reason for a split routine is to target muscle groups you want to grow. Additionally, split workouts will allow for more recovery time for muscle groups that were just trained.
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What exactly is the benefit, though?
Avoid exhaustion. Full body days every day will absolutely exhaust you and each of your muscle groups. Muscles generally need 2-3 days to adequately rest and recover. If you’re training every muscle group in your body every day, when are you recovering?
Workout efficiency. Imagine trying to build muscle by training every body part every day. The result? You’ll spend more time than necessary at the gym and, unfortunately, you’ll fail to see results. Split routines allow you to focus on a few exercises for similar or contrasting body parts. The result? You’ll have a better workout on the targeted muscles.
More frequent workouts. Split days will also allow you to workout more frequently. You’ll have more energy and excitement going into the gym knowing you’re doing something new today. On day one, you can plan to train your chest. On day two, when your chest is sore, you can plan to train back or legs and so on. Quality, synchronous workouts are what’s most important. Split routines will give you the best chance at focusing on areas of the body without overcompensating.
Limit soreness. Soreness is part of working out. Though you won’t be sore all the time and often, it may be uncomfortable, it’s a great reminder of how hard you’re working for yourself. Surely, you want to avoid unbearable pain from soreness that forces you to skip workouts. By splitting days, you allow muscles to fully recover before working the same muscle later in the week.