Giulia Ralph is a qualified Nutritionist, Strength & Conditioning Coach, Weightlifting Coach, and Personal Trainer. She has a Bachelor of Health Science in Nutrition and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Human Nutrition.
Any exercise is better than none, that’s for sure. However, tailoring specific workouts to the individual can be beneficial for getting the best results. Women have certain physiological factors that men don’t necessarily have, and vice versa.
A targeted, 5-day workout split that is tailored to female needs can be one of the best ways to maximize your gym time. While research into gender-specific fitness protocols is limited, we have some insight into what sets women apart and why a 5-day split may be the right choice.
In this article, we’ll highlight the benefits of a 5-day workout split tailored to women, how to customize your routine, and provide the ultimate strength-training plan to help you achieve your fitness goals.
A 5-day workout split means splitting the workout over the course of 5 days, sometimes targeting a different set of muscle groups each day. A split workout literally means to split the exercise regimen. The exercise schedule of a 5-day workout split has two rest days, which can be taken together or separately. Rest and recovery are essential for muscle building (10).
It may seem surprising, but a 5–day workout split can even be just a splitting of days where you do different full-body exercises each day for 5 days. So, following any of the 10 at-home workouts for moms that focus on full-body exercises for 5 days is still a 5-day workout split.
In addition to the full-body split, the most common 5-day workout splits involve different muscle group workout routines for each day. The specific workout regimen should be based on your fitness level and desired results. One of the most common indoor exercise regimen for a 5-day workout, popularly known as the bro split, has the following schedule (13):
Mixing up the days will give different options for 5-day workout splits. Another incredibly effective 5-day split is the upper-lower split. When this is combined with push-pull techniques, it gives exemplary results with the following schedule (3):
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Firstly, it’s important to note that a 5-day split is not right for everyone. You may benefit more from a 3- or 4-day routine depending on your fitness level and goals. However, if you’re an intermediate or advanced lifter who is looking for optimal physical performance and a well-rounded fitness routine, a 5-day split could be just what you need because:
Training volume is one of the most important aspects of an effective routine as it significantly influences muscle mass and strength development.(12). To truly understand the benefits of a 5-day split, you must understand that volume is the amount of work you do in any given session, which is measured by sets and reps.
The process of muscle growth, and even strength gains, is largely dependent on how much total volume you can do per week. Let’s dive deeper into why, when you train, you create small tears in your muscle fibers.
The more volume that you do, the more damage is done. This doesn’t sound great, but it’s actually a good thing. The body responds to this damage by repairing and rebuilding the muscle fibers stronger than they were before, so when you do the same exercise again, they’ll be able to handle more weight.
In terms of strength gains, this comes down to tiny neural adaptations, meaning that the more volume you do in each session, the better your body will become at recruiting muscle fibers and executing complex movements (4).
Women who’ve been on a 3 or 4-day split for a while will often reach a plateau and find it difficult to make progress. If this is the case for you, increasing your training volume with a 5-day split could be the answer.
Rest and recovery are just as important as training (9). If you don’t give your body enough time to rest between workouts, you won’t be able to perform optimally and you won’t make the most out of your time in the gym.
It may sound ironic that increasing your training volume can mean more rest, so let’s explain.
When you follow a 3- or 4-day split, the days you work out can be quite intense (particularly if you’re progressing in strength and weight). The workouts can sometimes be too taxing on your body, and you won’t have enough energy to go hard the next day, while other times, you may have to hit the same muscle groups two days in a row.
A 5-day split gives you more rest between workouts by focusing on different muscle groups each day. This means you’ll be able to hit each muscle group with more intensity and still get adequate rest between workouts. You’ll also make the most out of your time in the gym.
Increasing your training volume isn’t only an effective way to get the most gains, it’s also time efficient.
The 5-day split allows you to focus on a specific muscle group or two every day, rather than multiple muscle groups in the same session. In this way, you can spend less time in the gym and still achieve your fitness goals.
This quality can come in handy for those who experience burnout due to lengthy 3- or 4-day splits or those who are on a tight schedule and need to get their workouts done in a short time.
The rest you get while on a 5-day workout split allows you to increase the intensity of each workout session. This will result in more calories burned during each workout and ultimately help you reach your fitness goals more quickly.
Read more: Thigh Workout Guide: 7 Effective Exercises for Building Leg Strength
Aesthetics are a huge motivator for many people and the 5-day split allows you to focus on different muscle groups every day to achieve a balanced physique. You can customize your split to work out certain muscle groups less regularly to give those areas more time to rest and grow.
This will help you create a more symmetrical look and ultimately make it easier to achieve your aesthetic goals.
A 5-day workout split can be intense. At first, finding out how much volume you can manage in each session may take some time. Going too hard too soon can lead to burnout or overtraining, so taking your time and increasing the volume gradually is important.
Time-wise, a 5-day workout split can be unforgiving as you only have 7 days a week – miss one day, and you can’t make it up. If you do make it up, you may have to do three workouts back-to-back, which can be too exhausting.
There’s also less room for flexibility when you work out. If something important comes up and you can’t make it to the gym, your entire routine could be thrown off.
For some, the price of dedication may be too steep, and they’d be better off sticking to a 3- or 4-day split.
You’ve got several options for splitting your 5-day-a-week workout. The only rule is that you must ensure you rest muscle groups by not targeting them on consecutive days.
Human beings have several natural movement patterns, such as pushing, pulling, squatting, lunging, and rotating. The muscles involved in a pushing motion are not the same as those involved in a pulling motion (for example, the arm muscles used for a chest press are different from those used doing a bent-over row).
In this way, you can target different muscles on consecutive days without straining any individual muscle group.
The most common 5-day split workout for women is the push/pull/legs approach, which divides the body into three sections: upper-body pushing muscles (chest, triceps, and shoulders), upper-body pulling muscles (back, biceps, and core) and lower body (quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves).
An upper/lower-body split is another popular 5-day workout for women where you alternate between upper and lower-body days. This can help if you find that one section of your body is getting worked too much or not enough.
An upper/lower-body split can also include a cardio day, which is important for weight loss and overall health (6). Including cardio in your routine can also support your physical performance and recovery from weight training.
Ultimately, the best 5-day workout split for women is dependent on the individual and their goals. The idea is to create a well-rounded program that focuses on all the major muscle groups while allowing adequate rest and recovery time. You should be able to follow this program for at least 8 weeks before you need to make any changes.
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The basic rule of exercise selection is to create a routine, regardless of the number of workouts per week. You’ll need a mix of compound (multi-joint) and isolation exercises (single-joint movement) to target all the muscle groups.
These exercises are divided based on your fitness goals, strength, hypertrophy (muscle growth), toning, or weight loss.
Compound exercises are still important for building strength and size, but isolation exercises will help target the smaller muscles for a more aesthetically pleasing physique.
Both compound and isolation exercises are best in a women’s 5-day workout split for toning. Toning is essentially strength training with moderate weights and moderate reps, so you should focus on exercises that target all the major muscle groups. This can include any combination of squats, deadlifts, shoulder press, chest press, rows, and bicep curls.
The term “best” is relative, even for workouts. The best workout is dependent on the goals and preferences of every individual. The major difference in workouts targeted at women is they tend to focus more on training the lower body, while men prefer upper-body toning.
As with any workout, it’s essential to follow a healthy and nutritious diet. Another popular option is to incorporate intermittent fasting. The benefits of intermittent fasting for women can increase manifold by simply adding a workout split routine in the fasting window. A study highlighted that workouts combined with an effective intermittent fasting schedule can support lean mass while also potentially decreasing fat levels. (5).
Another important factor is consistency in following the split workouts. Consistency is easier with a well-designed and structured plan, as it will allow ample recovery time without overstraining you. The most common split workouts suitable for women are usually part of the 10 at-home workouts for moms that are available online.
The main factor when choosing a workout split is how much time you can spare each day. Women generally seek indoor exercises and incorporate them into their daily routines in their homes. Women tend to see good results with the common 3-day full-body workouts or 3- or 4-day upper and lower-body split (11). Also, the aforementioned bro split or ULPPL split that spans 5 days is as good for women as it is for men.
Now you know a little more about creating an effective 5-day workout split for women, here’s one to inspire your program. This sample upper/lower-body split program focuses on strength and muscle growth, but you can modify it as required.
The recommendation for rest in between sets is generally 1-3 minutes, but you can take as much time as you need to recover while keeping in mind how much time you’ve allocated for your workout.
Read more: Your Flat Tummy Workouts Just Got Better With This Guide
A full-body workout trains the entire body, while a split workout trains specific muscles on specific days. Both of these workout routines have their own benefits. A full-body workout is ideal for beginners and those who are aiming to lose weight. Many at-home workouts for moms provide full-body exercises and yield results.
Split workouts are beneficial for those who aim to strengthen a particular body part or improve the appearance of a specific region (7). Both split and full-body workouts are equally effective, as demonstrated by a study conducted on women (3).
The easiest workout split is a split that a beginner can manage to perform easily. It must be easy enough for beginners whose fitness levels are not great. Two types of splits fall into this category: the full-body workout and the upper and lower-body split (14).
For the full-body split, 3-day splits are easily doable, so training all of the body muscles 3 times per week is an easy workout regimen. For the upper and lower-body split, the upper-body muscles are trained one day and the lower-body muscles are trained the next day, followed by a rest day and a repeat of the same.
3-day splits are better than 4-day splits because a 3-day split provides more recovery time and requires less time commitment. A 4-day split demands more time and has less recovery time, which may leave you with a sore body.
Even for beginners, 3-day splits are preferred as they’re easier to commit to. The major factor is that with 3-day splits, you’re more likely to remain consistent and maintain the workout schedule (1).
A 5-day split can help you create a balanced program that targets all the major muscle groups and mixes strength training and cardio. Sample splits for toning, muscle building, and weight loss can provide a great starting point, but feel free to modify them as required.
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