2-Day Muscle-Building Training Split: First Week Thoughts and What’s Next

I want to post a quick summary of my first impressions of the 2-day training split. I’ve done this split many times but not in this capacity. Normally, I’d do it like this:

Monday: Chest, back, shoulders, abs.
Tuesday: Triceps, biceps, calves, hams, quads
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Chest, back, shoulders, abs.
Friday: Triceps, biceps, calves, hams, quads
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

But this time around I wanted to hit everything three times per week due to two things: One, I was coming off a week-long break. Two, I wanted to simply try a more frequent training program.

So it looked more like this:

Monday: Chest, back, shoulders, abs.
Tuesday: Triceps, biceps, calves, hams, quads
Wednesday: Chest, back, shoulders, abs.
Thursday: Triceps, biceps, calves, hams, quads
Friday: Chest, back, shoulders, abs.
Saturday: Triceps, biceps, calves, hams, quads
Sunday: Rest

The pros and cons of the 2-day split, six days per week

Here are a few initial thoughts on the first week. I’ve split it up into pros and cons to help organize things for better reference.

Pros:

• I like the high frequency. Even though a pumped muscle isn’t a guarantee it’s growing, it does give me a positive psychological feeling.
• The high frequency also allows me to not feel too bad for missing a day. If I do, it’s not long before I can make it up. If I was doing a body part per day, it would be more of an issue.
• The workouts are low volume. I don’t have to pummel my muscles into pulp with a ton of sets. I feel like I hit them quick and move on.
• My metabolism and subsequently protein synthesis seemed to be revved up. I don’t have any scientific evidence of this–it was more of an instinctual thing. My appetite increased as well.
• It’s novel. It definitely sparked my interest and kept me hungry for more. I tend to like to do a lot of work in the gym.

Cons:

• Conducting six workouts per week is a little difficult to pull off each week. Life can easily get in the way and reduce my frequency.
• Even though it was only my first week, I felt a little more stress in my joints. I don’t know if this was simply my body adjusting to the new frequency or not. The jury is still out on that.
• It’s a little tough to completely focus on a handful of body parts since so many are being worked in one workout. For example, going from training arms to legs is a little of a tough transition both physically and mentally.
• It’s a little difficult to do any extra work. Any extra amount of sets can have a significant impact on volume and intensity.

Overall I enjoyed my little experiment. it was a net positive and a welcomed change from the traditional 3-day splits I’ve done in the past.

Moving forward

I want to continue the program for six days per week, however, I know that life takes advantage and I will have to miss a day or two. I’m tempted to keep going as best I can for the rest of March and then reassess.

One idea after this month is to start a hybrid 2-day/3-day split. More on that soon!

Happy lifting!