TLDR
- Keep in mind the importance of rest days, devolume weeks, and resensitisation months
Training split
There’s a natural tendency to want to delve into a deep discussion on various training splits; it’s both interesting theory crafting and entertaining to read. Unfortunately it also makes very little difference in results.
Generally speaking you first need to identify the number of days you can reasonably consistently train, no less than two and no more than six. If you’re on the upper end of that range it also makes sense to commit one day purely for locomotion and cardio work; certainly if it’s 6x a week, and possibly if it’s 5x a week. Indeed I’d go so far as to say the vast majority of trainees don’t need to go beyond 5x a week training; at that point you’d almost certainly get more benefit from additional locomotion and cardio work.
The next logical step is simply to follow a program that corresponds to the number of days you can train, and make incremental adjustments from there to customise the program.
The programs chapter already outlines this in depth with specific programs, the various training splits include:
- Full body, best for 3x a week frequency
- Upper lower, best for 4x a week frequency
- Upper lower with an bonus day, best for 5x a week frequency
- Push pull legs, best for 5x a week frequency
Rest days
When putting together the jigsaw pieces of training variables, we have to build in appropriate rest from a micro level (rest days) to a macro level (a lighter month).
Rest days are the most straightforward. Every week, or 8 days if you’re working off a 8 day training split, you’re going to want at least 1 day to take it easier. That means no resistance training, potentially some lighter locomotion or cardio work, or simply resting (see the bonus recovery work section).
Indeed my preferred recommendation is 1 day as a true rest day, and 1 day as a locomotion and/or cardio day.
Of course if you are below this threshold and simply training 2x, 3x or 4x a week, this doesn’t apply. There’ll be plenty of sufficient rest days here.
Devolume/deload week
The next related concept is taking a longer break every once in a while, typically known as a deload.
A quick note on syntax here. While it’s commonly called a deload, it’s more accurate to think of it as a mandatory devolume, optional deload. The specifics will vary per individual and this is something you figure out over the months and years. Generally speaking, our recommendation here is to drop all exercises to 1 set only, but maintain the load done without any intensifier techniques.
It’s also not necessarily a week, it’s simply written for ease of discussion. Generally an effective devolume/deload will span between 3-7 days.
Most general population folks do not need to worry about deloads. In practice, life will probably get in the way with family, work, holidays, illnesses, and so on. Those become automatic deloads, and there’s no need to take additional rest weeks on top of that.
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve cracked the consistency code and you’re doing 3x (or more) a week training for over 46 weeks a year. In this case, there’s certainly benefits in having some planned rest periods.
A good rule of thumb here is to plan in 7 week training blocks. That gives you 6 weeks of full on training, 3 days of pure rest, and an additional 4 days of devolume workouts or slack time if life gets in the way.
Re-sensitisation month
The final piece of the puzzle is a shorter training block where we take things easier (not easy).
Again, it can’t be stressed enough if you’re a beginner still working on training 3x a week consistently, this does not apply to you at all.
This is very much for when you’ve a good few years of training under your belt and are currently training hard and often. If that’s the case, after 10 or 11 months of hard training there’s probably a few benefits to having a lighter, re-sensitisation block.
This allows you to pull back on volume, give your joints a break, work on weaknesses, and mentally pull back before launching into another training block.
Again, a month is an arbitrary number, this could span anywhere from 2-5 weeks.