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One thing I have learned about science in the fitness world is that it simplifies. It makes things less complicated.
It allows you to get minimalistic with your training, cutting out some of the overwhelming complications of exercise.
In this post, we are going to give you a minimalistic upper/lower body split. Once you finish reading this post, you will have an evergreen training process that you can use for the rest of your fitness journey.
Let's dive in!
Before we get into the training program, I wanted to give you information on how the program is laid out.
This program is laid out based on key terms that target our major muscle groups through specific movement patterns.
In following these exercises in this direction, you will have a program layout that you can use forever, as I continue to do.
If you'd like to skip the key terms and get to the TLDR version, scroll down to the section called "The Minimalistic Upper/Lower Split".
This minimalistic training split can be utilized 4-6 days per week (depending on how experienced you are in training).
We will utilize it as if it was a 4 day a week program that targets each major muscle group two times per week.
In most of our workout splits, we typically utilize terms that mean specific movement patterns. In each section, we will breakdown what each key term means, and the exercises that they are typically for.
A Horizontal Push is any exercise that utilizes direct chest work. These exercises consist of the following:
Horizontal Pulls consist of any back exercises that revolve around a rowing movement. These exercises are the following:
Vertical Push exercises are any type of shoulder-focused movement. These exercises are the following:
Vertical Pulls are any back-focused exercise that moves the lats up and down. These consist of the following:
Bicep exercises consist of any exercises that curl your biceps. In training the biceps optimally, this is what we would do:
Tricep exercises consist of any exercises that extend your triceps. In training the triceps optimally, this is what we target these muscles:
Lateral Raises consist of any deltoid exercise that allows you to bring your arms out laterally.
Trapezius Variations consist of any exercise that targets the Trapezius muscles. These could be exercises like a dumbbell shrug or Farmer's Walk.
Rear Delt exercises consist of any shoulder movement that targets the rear deltoid muscles. These exercises consist of the following:
Squat Variations are any dumbbell or barbell exercise that targets the quadricep muscles by squatting down and standing up.
These exercises consist of the following:
Deadlift Variations are any dumbbell or barbell exercise that targets the hamstrings through a standing variation.
These exercises consist of the following:
Glute Exercises consist of any movement that kicks your legs back or thrusting your glutes upwards.
These exercises consist of the following:
Quadricep Isolation exercises consist of any front of thigh exercise that isolates that specific muscle group.
These exercises consist of the following:
Hamstring Isolation exercises consist of any back of thigh exercise that isolates that specific muscle group.
These exercises consist of the following:
Abdominal exercises consist of every ab exercise you can fathom.
These abdominal exercises consist of the following:
I like to prioritize ab rotation movements because that plane of motion is typically underworked.
We also include abdominal exercises on our lower body days so that they don't impede our heavier leg exercises.
Calf Exercises consist of any movement that targets the calves in isolation. These consist of the following:
We are going to give you an example of a minimalistic 4 day Upper/Lower training split.
This program will target every major muscle group 1-2 times per week.
For Reference: 3-4x6-10 = 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps
Minimal workouts... optimal results.
Now you have a layout that you can utilize for years to come if you would like. If you went through reading the key terms, you will see that you can even change things up to turn the program into a calisthenic or at home workout.
The possibilities are endless for this layout.
If you'd like more information about training muscle groups optimally, you can sign up to our newsletter and get a free download to our Muscle Compendium eBook. This 70+ page eBook is packed with knowledge and scientific research to target your muscles.
You can sign up to our newsletter from this link, or the graphic below.
If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to email me at tony@reforgedperformance.com, or direct message us on Instagram.
Until next time!
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