If you want to help your clients get the most gains efficiently, you should consider upper/lower splits. This type of workout routine
Best for Hypertrophy: PPL is generally more effective due to its higher frequency and balanced approach.
It's not only simple, but it's effective. Don't be fooled, though - it's not easy. “Fatigue will kick in pretty quickly during your session because of progressive load, accumulated fatigue, and minimal rest between sets,” Sergii adds.
When the training goal is muscular hypertrophy, the combination of moderate-intensity sets with short rest intervals of 30-60 seconds might be most effective due to greater acute levels of growth hormone during such workouts.
Popular Workout Splits for Hypertrophy
Several workout splits have proven effective for hypertrophy training. The Push/Pull/Legs (PPL) split divides workouts into three training splits. Pushing movements are for the chest, shoulders, and triceps. It also covers pulling movements (back, biceps) and leg exercises.
A moderate repetition scheme with moderate loads (from 8 to 12 repetitions per set with 60% to 80% of 1RM) optimizes hypertrophic gains. A high repetition scheme with light loads (15+ repetitions per set with loads below 60% of 1RM) optimizes local muscular endurance improvements.
Benefits of the 12-3-30 Workout
Some specific reasons we love the 12-3-30 workout are: It's a Cardio Crusher: Research indicates that incline walking, a form of uphill walking, burns more calories, increases heart rate, and helps in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
Up to 30% of your muscle's size is attributed to the sarcoplasm, so focusing on this type of hypertrophy helps build overall size (i.e., increased cross-sectional area of the muscle). If you're looking to get bigger: Target a rep range of 6 – 12 reps per set. Aim for 3-5 sets.
Implementation of training with moderate number of repetitions (~6−12), multiple sets (3−6), moderate loads (60−80% 1RM), and short rest intervals (60 s) between sets elicits greater metabolic stress (in contrast with high-loads), which appears to be a potent stimulus for inducing muscle hypertrophy [57].
Many fitness enthusiasts and advanced bodybuilders favor the PPL split because it allows them to target specific muscle groups with greater intensity and volume per muscle group than a full-body workout. It also provides adequate recovery time for each muscle group.
What is the Arnold split? The Arnold split is a six-day workout split in which you train the chest and back, shoulders and arms, and legs twice per week. It's a muscle-building program that's designed to help you increase muscle mass and improve your physique.
Is 6 day push pull legs too much? A 6-day push pull legs workout split schedule is ideal for giving each of the muscle groups adequate days of rest in between training sessions, while at the same time being able to work each area two times per week.
The push/pull/legs split is ideal for both the intermediate and advanced trainee. More specifically though, if you are just starting out or have not had much in the way of results from your efforts so far, you'll almost certainly do best with a full body workout routine, training three days per week.
Getting Close to Failure - Having fewer 'reps in reserve' for 1-3 sets can lead to a greater muscle pump. This means pushing your muscles into the overtime region to complete the set. High Volume - You need to perform at least 10 reps of an exercise across multiple sets.
The best hypertrophy results came from 30-40 sets per muscle per week. A minimum effective dose of 4 sets per muscle group per week. Somewhere around 10-20 sets per week still delivered good hypertrophy results.
The 6-12-25 method is a bodybuilding training routine where you perform three sets of different exercises for the same muscle group: 6 reps of a heavy compound movement, 12 reps of a moderate weight exercise, and 25 reps of a light isolation exercise to maximize muscle growth.
Resistance training for muscle gain
Resistance training promotes muscle growth. Examples of resistance training include the use of free weights, weight machines, your own body weight or resistance bands. Suggestions include: Train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover.
Walking for 30 minutes burns about 125 calories for a 150-pound person — and adding an incline will increase that calorie burn. So with healthy diet changes, the 12-3-30 workout has the potential to burn the calories needed for steady, gradual weight loss.
You'll lose nothing. I love to travel and you literally lose nothing in 1-2 weeks. Your muscles will be slightly inflamed when you're constantly training and recovering, so the inflammation will go down a bit and you may appear very marginally smaller to yourself, but you will lose 0 muscles.
Walking along hills (or on an incline treadmill) can increase cardiovascular health, build muscle, and burn calories. An incline workout makes your body work harder than it does on smooth ground since you're working against gravity and propelling yourself upward.
The Upper/Lower Split Maximizes Hypertrophy
This is best explained by the fact that splitting lower- and upper-body sessions allows for more training. With two workouts per muscle each week, you can include more sets, reps, and weight. This increased volume is always better for hypertrophy than a lower training volume.
All your muscles are made up of tiny individual fibers, and those fibers can be grouped into two different types: Type I (slow-twitch) and Type II (fast-twitch). “Type I muscle fibers, which are slow twitch, respond better to high rep training because they're more resistant to fatigue,” says Adrian.