Workout Splits For Women

Apr 18th, 2020 - 5 mins

When it comes to getting physical and aesthetic results in weightlifting; workout splits are vital. The fact is; if you want sustainable results, you absolutely must be strategically splitting your workouts.

What are workout splits?

In short; a workout split is breaking down your workouts across the week by muscle groups.

There are various different ways to do this and in this article we will go over some of the most basic as well as the more complex/advanced muscle splits.

Why weightlifters need workout splits

The primary purpose of a workout split is to allow your muscles sufficient recovery time between workouts.

Recovery is necessary in weightlifting because when you lift you create tiny little tears in the muscle. Those tears are knitted back together as you recover, making the muscle a little bigger each time. It is during your rest periods (mostly when you’re sleeping) that your muscles repair themselves. So that's why recovery time matters.

If you continue to lift/tear the same muscle repeatedly without allowing it time to recover, you will eventually fatigue which could result in injury. Be that an overuse injury that comes on over time, or an acute injury such as a large muscle tear. Neither is desirable, so pay attention to how you’re training.

Weightlifting isn’t about going hard in every workout – it’s about going smart.

By training a different muscle group with each workout, you are able to train every day without overworking a single muscle group.

Below we will provide some examples to help more women understand the best workout splits to use and when.

Workout splits for beginners

In a slight contradiction to what has been explained above; an absolute beginner who has zero background in weightlifting can start with general full body workouts.

This is acceptable at this stage because your primary objective should be to wake all your muscles up and get them used to training.

As a side note; a more experienced lifter, who cannot train daily for other reasons, will still benefit from full body workouts on the days they can train. For example if you are rehabbing an injury.

Sample our workout plans for free >>>

Now back to a beginner workout split…

Upper/lower body workout split

The upper/lower body split is a nice and simple approach to breaking down your workouts. It’s straight forward and ideal for beginners.

For example; you can train your upper body on day 1 – your lower body on day 2 – a cardio workout on day 3, back to upper body on day 4 and so on.

Intermediate to advanced workout splits

Here is where things get a bit more complex than just training your upper/lower body. Now you need to start understanding exactly which muscles you are working with each exercise.

This is precisely why we work towards supporting women to understand why they are doing every single exercise. When you perform an exercise, we want you to know exactly which muscle groups you are working, so that later you can make the best workout splits for you.

Muscle group rotation

Muscle group rotation is simply breaking your workouts down by muscle groups.

There are some common workout splits that lifters follow, but ultimately, if you know which muscles you’re working with each exercise – you can break your workouts down however you prefer.

Below are some typical examples...

…or you might consider this workout split…

Bum & thighs
Back & chest
Shoulders, biceps & triceps
Abs, calves & cardio

…another common split…

See: Push pull legs method explained here.

Powerlifters split

For the powerlifter, workouts are generally broken down by key move:

Day 1: Squat

Day 2: Deadlift

Day 3: Bench

See: Female powerlifters: Beginner and advanced powerlifting exercises

Advanced workout splits

Now you are in the pro zone.

The workout splits below are just a couple of examples to give you an idea of how far you can take this.

Power & Hypertrophy Upper & Lower Split

This method is an upper/lower body split, based on key compound moves as well as some accessory exercises for the primary purpose of building strength and size.

In short, you will split power (strength) workouts (high volume low rep), with hypertrophy (muscle growth) workouts (lower volume – higher rep).

Your split would look something like this:

Day 1: Upper body power
Day 2: Lower body power
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Upper body hypertrophy
Day 5: Lower body hypertrophy

Complete 5 day Split

A method used by advanced/pro bodybuilders, allowing the opportunity to hone in on individual muscle groups for adding mass where needed.

You can play around with this, change the order and even omit any muscle groups you don't want to grow.

Day 1: Legs + Glutes
Day 2: Chest
Day 3: Back
Day 4: Arms
Day 5: Shoulders

Workout splits concluded

How you split your workouts will depend heavily on your own goals and personal preferences. Hopefully this article will have given you some food for thought.

As with most things, there is no "one for all" approach here. We understand that all women have different goals, that is why we do our best to provide you with as much information as possible to find your own way. Why not try some of the above methods out and see which workout splits work best for you.

If it all feels a bit overwhelming, you can check out the workout plans put together by our trainers, specifically for women in weightlifting.