Why Bodybuilding Splits Are Failing You, in EVERY WAY.

Conversations I keep having with men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s go like this:

Me : “How do you train at the moment?”.....

Them : “Push–pull–legs."... Or... "Chest and back, shoulders and arms, legs"

Every time.

Runners, cyclists, dads trying to rebuild athleticism, and seemingly everyone else.

The questions I have are:

Do you want to look like a bodybuilder? Move like a bodybuilder? Play sport like a bodybuilder?

Have you seen a bodybuilder run? Have you seen them throw a punch? Play golf? Its actually pretty funny.

And yet… you’re training like one?

The bodybuilding split problem

Bodybuilding splits were designed for one outcome: hypertrophy. Add muscle mass, improve symmetry, step on stage. They work brilliantly for that (for the right person).

But for you – who wants to:

• Get stronger

• Stay injury free

• Compete in events or keep up with your kids

• Feel athletic again

It is a terrible solution for almost all of those things, and lets chat about why.

• After training a muscle, muscle building is elevated for 2-3 days, after that you gradually start to lose your gains. If you are training 3 times a week, that means you train the muscle once per week, and lose out on circa 60% of the muscles ability to be stimulated and get stronger.

• The more you train a muscle, the better you become at recruiting the muscle. This (in Laymans terms), means that you get stronger the more times you train a muscle. If you are only training it once a week, you are missing out hugely. 

• If you go to the gym and 'smash your legs', it will affect your performance in any other sporting endeavours for days afterwards. Do you want to perform in your sport, then smashing the legs isn't the answer. 

• Doing lots of high rep and low weight exercises builds wasteful, slow twitch muscle fibres which aren't helpful for being athletic. You need fast twitch, strong and powerful muscle. 

• The recruitment of muscles is high during the first exercise on a certain body part, but it drops (relatively) on the second, third and fourth exercise on the same body-part. You are much better off doing two exercises per body part in a session and doing more across the week, compared to doing 10 exercises in one session!!

• In order to build any serious muscle, bodybuilders will be training six times per week. They will also eat immaculately, recover diligently, and take supplements which will include some non legal ones. You are not that person. 

• It will make you feel stiff and immobile!!

Splitting your body into isolated parts might build size, but it robs you of the qualities you actually want. Strength, robustness, power, endurance.. they come from training the body as a system, not as separate muscle groups.

Why full-body training wins

All of my clients will have full body sessions in their programme. I do this for these reasons:

• A stronger body. Training the whole body, multiple times per week, increases strength more than bodybuilding splits. 

• Better recovery. Instead of destroying your legs on Monday and still being sore on Thursday, you spread the work across the week, and can perform in your sport.

• Athletic carryover. You train in a way that is specific to your life, your sport, and your individual needs. 

• Injury prevention. Balance, coordination, and strength keep the niggles away.

• An athletic physique. Not a bodybuilding physique. 

• Thoughtless, fearless and strong movement. Having the ability to move and perform well. 

So what should I do about it?

If your current training is push/pull/legs, have a think about

• Are you getting stronger?

• Are your injuries improving?

• Are you performing better in sport or life?

• Am I improving at my event?

• Do you move well?

• Do you feel good?

• Is your body looking better than it was 3 months ago?

If the answer is “no”, then what is the point of you being in the gym for 3 hours per week?

There needs to be a change.

Push/pull/legs isn’t making you stronger, fitter, or more resilient...in fact, its probably doing the opposite. If you want to perform at your best, stop following bodybuilding routines designed for BODYBUILDERS!

If you want help implementing a strength programme that is targeted at exactly what you need, click the link below and we can have a chat.

But whatever you do, please lets buck this trend!

👉 Click here to book your free 30-minute training audit. I’ll show you exactly how to train like an athlete again, without wasting another month wasting valuable time.

https://calendly.com/razorperformance/30min

Not sure if you would be a good fit, ask Razor AI any questions that you might have

https://app.coachvox.ai/share/AndyReay