Want to run further, lift heavier or nail your first pull-up? Each month, we put your questions to our team of the finest fitness brains to give you the tools you need to make good on your goals
Q I do a full-body workout three times a week. Should I start using workout splits?
Izy George says: The unsexy answer is that is depends on your goal. First, a definition. A workout split involves breaking up a strengthtraining programme into different days for different muscles to ensure adequate effort and recovery time. If your goal is to increase your general fitness, then three full-body sessions a week may be sufficient if you give your muscles enough time to recover between workouts and each session hits all your muscle groups.
But if it’s strength or muscle growth you’re after, results will only come if you work each muscle group enough per week; if your total-body sessions include random and/or similar exercises (think squats and split squats), you’ll struggle to make gains.
To solve this, you could try a push/pull split. This involves working the muscles you use to push (such as your shoulders and triceps) and pull (your biceps and back) in isolation. This kind of split ensures you place enough volume on each muscle group, without overtraining them. Scheduling in rest time is essential for muscle growth (aka hypertrophy); it’s when
