I was watching a Youtube video the other day titled, "Comparing Training Splits for Muscle Growth (20 STUDIES)." As the title suggests, this video referenced the results of 20 different studies that examined how different workout splits performed in terms of hypertrophy (muscle growth). Here's the link if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc-QdAadde0. To quickly summarize, there was really no conclusive evidence of there being an "ideal" workout split. In fact, the results of some studies directly contradicted the results of other studies. Some studies showed that full body splits were ideal, while other studies showed that push-pull-legs splits were ideal, while other studies showed that upper-lower splits were ideal, etc. Overall, my main takeaway from this video was that there is no definitive "ideal" workout split, because every person is different and every body reacts to different types of stimuli in different ways.
But this had me wondering. "Is there a workout split that's ideal for MY body? If only I was invited to be a part of those studies... Oh wait—I can literally just do one myself. Oh, and I could make a dashboard too!" And thus, a passion project idea was born. I think this officially makes me a data nerd.
Now, at this point, it's still only an idea. Since I haven't yet started, this blog will only contain some details about how I PLAN to execute this study. Some things that I will talk about include: the data points that I will track, the variables that I will control, how I plan to measure results, etc. This blog will be the first installment of a 3-part series. Part 2 will be halfway through the study and part 3 will be at the conclusion of my study.
I intend on using myself as the only test subject—after all, the goal is to figure out MY ideal workout split. Additionally, this gives me much more control and knowledge over the variables that I need to keep as consistent as possible. Some of these variables include: daily food intake, daily sleep, measurement schedule, gym schedule, sets per muscle group per week, and any more that I think of along the way. It will be imperative for me to stay on top of this for the integrity of my results.
Additionally, I plan to simplify the study and only compare two workout splits: the "bro split" and a full body split. To explain, a bro split is a general term used to describe a workout split that heavily focuses on 1 major muscle group per day. This means that generally, you'll only be focusing on each major muscle group once a week, with 3 days of rest sprinkled in. The muscle groupings that I will be using are chest, back, legs, and arms. A full body split is exactly what it sounds like: you hit most or all of your major muscle groups every workout. With full body splits, some people like to increase daily volume and go to the gym less days per week. However, I like to go more often throughout the week to better maintain my morning routine. I will also go 4 days a week for the full body portion of my study, but I will make sure to keep the overall lifting volume as equal as possible. Finally, I plan to stick to each program for 8 weeks each (16 week experiment), before compiling the results. I still have lots to figure out (I'm going to build a workout schedule spreadsheet for the entire study), so I don't have those details yet, but I will include that in the next blog.
In terms of how I will measure progress, I plan to weigh myself every morning as soon as I wake up. My current fitness goal is to build more muscle mass, so I will be looking for my weight to increase over time. Additionally, I will be buying a high tech scale that gives you deeper insight into your physique (body fat %, muscle mass, etc). I will track some of these variables as well, but muscle mass is the most important. Furthermore, I will be taking weekly measurements of some key muscles (chest circumference, shoulder/upper torso circumference, bicep circumference, quadricep circumference, etc). Finally, I will track my strength by testing my 1 rep max on key compound lifts (bench press, squat, deadlift, shoulder press) every 4 weeks.
Those are all the details that I have as of right now, so it will still be another week or so before I can get started. However, with all this being said, I am so excited to start this project and I can't wait to see how it turns out! Check back in a few weeks for part 2.