What is your split?
Push/pull alternating days?
Chest & triceps day (1), Shoulders day (2), Back & Biceps day (3), Legs (4)?
Chest (1), Shoulders (2), Back (3), Arms (4) & legs (5)?
Full body workouts?
Research shows that the best workout split is the one that you will stick with. If you are dedicating a workout to each individual muscle group with a 5 or 6 day split and you can’t logistically make it to the gym 5 or 6 days/week then that is not the best routine for you. If you are unable to hit all the muscle groups within a week, or you are routinely spending 2+ hours in the gym in order to hit everything you need to then that’s a good indicator that you need to change it up. Again, the best workout split is the one that you can adhere to consistently week in week out.
The second golden rule is a 2:1 Pull/push ratio. Your back should be and is designed to be much stronger than your front. Guys, I know you like to bench press heavy weight and look at yourself in the mirror between sets, but the real flex is having a jacked back. In today’s world we majorly live sitting with a forwardly flexed spine and rounded shoulders while on the computer, watching TV or driving. This promotes weak and lengthened posterior chain musculature and shortened weak anterior chain musculature. If you are not strengthening your back twice as often as your chest you’re not no only not maximizing the capabilities of your musculoskeletal system but you’re predisposing yourself to poor spinal mechanics and injuries.
Thirdly, what are your goals?
Are you bodybuilding?
Are you looking for functional strength and longevity?
Are you looking to gain functional strength for Jiu Jitsu?
These questions are more pertinent to the style and rep ranges of the assortment of exercises that you do, however your overall split can have an impact on this as well. For example, if you're training for Jiu Jitsu it is beneficial to focus heavily on ‘negative’ repetitions or even static holds, whereas if you are looking to build muscle size (hypertrophy) staying within the window of 8-15 repetitions while prolonging time under tension with slow controlled movements will be you best bet. I will discuss in further detail specific exercises, sets/repetition ranges and rest periods in a future post.
If you are body building a workout split that dedicates an entire workout to a single muscle group or two may be the way to go.
If you are looking for more functional strength and performance a split that is more along the lines of a push/pull routine may be beneficial. This will incorporate several muscle groups that have similar synchronous actions so you can develop and strengthen them in tandem with compound movements which more closely resembles daily or sport specific movements.