What Is A “Training Split”? How Often You Should Train

A Training Split is how the muscles of the body or movements of the body get divided up and placed into a training plan. Usually, this plan will repeat every week be based on 1 week of training.

For the sake of practical programming, the muscle groups are split up into

Legs (Quads, Glutes, Hamstrings and Calf muscles)
Shoulders (Front, Middle and Rear Delts)
Chest (Pec Major and Pec Minor)
Back (Lats, Traps, Rhomboids and Spinal Erectors)
Arms (Biceps, Triceps)
Core (Rectus Abdominus, Obliques, Lower Spinal Erectors, Transverse Abdominus)

For most Gym beginners I recommend training 3 days a week doing a full body split.

80-90% of the benefits of attending the Gym can be achieved in just 3 training sessions a week. 

The other 10-20% of the results can be achieved by coming in for 4, 5 or even 6 training sessions a week. 

That being said, the risk of burn out dramatically increases over 3 or 4 training sessions per week. 

For this reason, the beginner program is designed using 3 full body sessions a week. 

In each training session, you will train every muscle group in the body using 5 or 6 different exercises. 

This training plan is designed to be very easy to follow while also giving you the best results possible. 

You should learn the correct form of these exercises first before using them as a tool to achieve your goals. 

When you are confident in your technique you can start adding sufficient weight to stress the target muscle appropriately. That is, training close to failure. 

You should follow this exact program 3 days per week, leaving at least one days rest between training sessions.

 (Disclaimer: If you have any previous injuries, mobility or stability issues you may have to correct those before starting this program)

Each training session should take you approx 1 hour to complete. 

If you have 4 sets per exercise, and 1-2 minutes rest per set, then this program will take you approx 50 minutes to complete. 

With 10 minutes to spare for a good  “Cardio warm-up” at the beginning of your session.