Should I schedule my weekly lifts by body parts or by movements (push/pull)?
I prefer to program movements rather than body parts, as it allows for better training quality and frequency. This should lead to better results over a longer period of time, while also allowing for quicker recovery. Transcript: "I typically prefer to program movements. Not so much body parts, you know, going from the bodybuilder bro, split where you doing one muscle group per day and all that type of stuff that does work for some people. But in my opinion programming movements where we're trying to Target each muscle group at least twice per week, in terms of frequency, and then being able to substitute certain exercises out for different movements as well. Keeping in mind that it doesn't take you a full week to recover from one training session. Unless you're doing an absurd amount of volume with absurd amounts of loads, so, Breaking you awake down into certain movements, whether it's push-pull legs upper body, lower body, full body, whatever. It may be. In my opinion, that's going to be a lot more effective going to be able to train each muscle group and Target it more frequently. So seeing better results over a longer period of time and you're going to recover a lot quicker. The quality the sessions is going to be far greater as well. We survived go in and do chest. For example, after say two or three exercises of three to four sets on that same muscle group. The, the quality of my training is going to decrease as the session goes on. Whereas if I break my Chest movements down across multiple sessions per week. The quality is going to be higher. The amount of volume on lifting is going to be higher. So the results should correlate with that and be a lot better."
Bryan Doo
Strength & Conditioning Coach
It depends on your goals, schedule and availability when deciding whether to schedule your weekly lifts by body part or movement push/pull.
Matthew Pendola
Olympic Champion Strength Coach / RunFORM podcast
When scheduling your weekly lifts, it is best to focus on movements rather than body parts. This way, you can ensure that you are touching all necessary muscles more frequently, which will lead to better results. Additionally, a push-pull session may be beneficial in order to help with the end goal of running faster and gaining relative strength. Finally, one could do some body part exercises at the end of the workout as a reward for their hard work.
Erin Carson
World Champion Strength Coach
Strength training has a lot of research done around it, and depending on your desired outcome, there are different strategies to consider. When it comes to separating body parts, it allows you to train more often and potentially grow that muscle. However, for runners and triathletes, it is best to look at movements push-pull legs and incorporate it into their other training.
Danny Kennedy
The Fitness & Lifestyle Podcast
I prefer to program movements rather than body parts, as it allows for better training quality and frequency. This should lead to better results over a longer period of time, while also allowing for quicker recovery.
Jess Racz
WNBA Performance Coach
For General Athletes, I usually structure my workouts to include a full body lifting three days a week. I make sure to include a single leg squat, hamstring movement, adductor movement, an upper body vertical push, an upper body vertical pull, a horizontal push, and a horizontal pull. Additionally, some core work is included. If you are working out more than three times per week, then you can split it up into lower body one day, upper body the other day, etc.
Paul Talty
Head of Physical Preparation, Swim Ireland
It depends on what your training goals are and which sport you are training for. For some sports, like football, upper body push-pull sessions might be more appropriate due to the amount of games played in a week. However, for general fitness, whole body workouts may be more beneficial.