Double-Split Training for the Average Lifter

A Double-Split Program for Weekend Strength Warriors

     A good portion of the material I write on my blog is precipitated by questions I receive in emails.  Of course, a lot of the questions that I get have been covered in my various essays and articles, so I don’t write additional material about those questions.  This morning, however, I received a question that I thought might deserve its own essay since there might be other readers in a similar situation.  To paraphrase, the questioner asked me if it would be a good idea to use a “double-split” (where you train twice in one day) on the weekends since he has plenty of time to train on Saturday and Sunday but little time for training during the week.  His plan is to get 4 training sessions in on the weekend, then try to fit one more workout in during the week.  After a few emails back and forth to understand his training history, I told him that, yes, I do think it’s a good idea, especially if he can get one full-body workout in the middle of the week on Wednesday.

     I have written a couple of double-split articles before on the blog, but those covered this form of training in a more “conventional” way.  Double-split training is typically used by bodybuilders who can handle a high-volume of training, and also have the time and luxury to train more than once each training day.  But most average lifters—and by “average” I mean lifters who have a regular life, perhaps a 9-to-5 job, and a family to support, even if they have great genetics—don’t have that same luxury.  If they did, I would probably recommend two-workouts-a-day more often.  Now I don’t recommend it as a way to simply perform two long workouts.  Instead, I think it’s good if you can take the total work that you do in one workout, simply split it in two, and do half early in the day and the second half in the evening.

     There are a couple of groups of lifters who I wouldn’t recommend this program to.  If you’re new to training, or have yet to build any appreciable muscle mass or strength, then you would be better training on a full-body workout program 2 or 3 days-per-week even if you have the time to train more often.  Also, if you’re a more seasoned lifter and you actually enjoy longer workouts, then there’s no reason for you to split your long, enjoyable workout into two sessions.  Simply stick with what you’re doing.  But if you’re a lifter who has some years under your weight belt and you have the time to devote to two workouts on the weekends, then this might just work very well for you, especially if you really enjoy lifting and the prospect of “two-a-days” excites you.

     Double-split training can, in general, be beneficial for two distinct kinds of trainees.

     If you’re an intermediate to advanced bodybuilder who is solely after hypertrophy, then double-split training can allow you to take advantage of peri-workout nutrition and all of the good “hormonal” stuff that occurs (from an anabolic perspective) each and every time that you train.  In this scenario, the more “good” workouts that you can get in each week—assuming you can recover properly—the more will you grow.  However, if you fit into this group, then the program in this article is probably not meant for you.  Never fret, however, for you can also check out my aforementioned two-part series on Double-Split Training that I wrote around 10 years ago (and is still good today).  Part One is for “less-advanced” trainees, while Part Two is for the more advanced bodybuilder.

     Double-split training can also be effective for intermediate-to-advanced strength athletes so that they can train one lift at each session, and give their all to each lift trained.  The program presented here is meant for this lifter.  So, to reiterate, if you enjoy strength and power training, and if you want to experiment with some double-split training because you have the time on the weekends, and you’re “advanced” enough to handle it, this workout is most decidedly for you.

     For this program, you are going to select four lifts that you want to train on your weekend sessions.  They should all be big, bang-for-your-buck movements.  In the example program outlined below, we are going to use squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and barbell curls as the exercises of choice.  Other good lifts could be power cleans, power snatches, high pulls, barbell overhead presses, one-arm dumbbell overhead presses, weighted dips, barbell rows, or weighted chins.

The Weekend Double-Split for Strength Program

Saturday A.M.

• Barbell Squats: Ramps of 5/4/3/2/1.  For your first session of the weekend, you will start with the grand-daddy of them all, the squat.  If you’ve never performed ramps before, start with just the Olympic bar and do a set of 5 reps, no more.  Add weight with each set and continue to do sets of 5 reps.  Once you reach a weight where you can only get 4 reps, begin to do ramps with 4s.  Once you reach a weight where you can only get 3 reps, then continue with sets of 3 until you can only get 2 reps.  At that point, continue to do ramps with 2s until you can only get a single.  And at that point, continue with singles until you miss for one rep.  When you are finished with the singles, do NOT do anything else for your first A.M. workout.  Go home, rest, eat a lot of food, and get ready for the second session of the day.

Saturday P.M.

• Deadlifts: Ramps of triples and singles.  For your second Saturday workout, you are going to perform the deadlift.  This session, however, will be slightly less “intense” than the morning workout.  Start the exercise by using an empty Olympic bar and doing a set of 3 reps.  Continue with 3s until you hit your max triple for the day.  At this point, start doing ramps of singles until you miss for one rep.  Deadlift training, on average, is better performed with reps of 3 or lower, which is the reason the set/rep scheme is different for this exercise.

Sunday A.M.

• Bench Presses: Ramps of 5/4/3/2/1.  Use the same methodology here that you used for the squats.  You may, however, want to make smaller jumps in weight between sets to ensure you’re getting enough total work on your bench.

Sunday P.M.

• Barbell Curls: Ramps of 5/4/3/2/1.  Yep, once again, use the same method here as with the squats and the bench presses.  Take your time in ramping up, taking relatively small jumps in weight with each set.  Even then, you won’t end up doing as many sets as you did with the other movements simply due to your inability to use as much weight on curls.

Wednesday: Full-Body, Active Recovery Workout

For your lone weekday workout session, you will perform a full-body, active recovery session.  The following set/reps do not include warm-ups, but as this workout will be much lighter, you won’t need more than one or two sets (at most) for each exercise.

• Squats: 1 to 2 sets of 10-12 reps.  Utilize a weight where you could easily get 20 reps for one set.

• Barbell Overhead Presses: 1 to 2 sets of 10-12 reps.

• Chins: 1 to 2 sets of 6-8 reps.  Use your bodyweight on these unless you are strong enough that you can get a set of 10 with added weight.

• Dips: 1 to 2 sets of 6-8 reps.  As with the chins, use only your bodyweight unless you are strong enough that you actually need extra weight.

• Dumbbell Curls: 1 to 2 sets of 10-12 reps (each arm).

• Standing or Seated Calf Raises: 1 to 2 sets of 20-30 reps.  Use your bodyweight for the standing raises or a light amount of weight if you choose to do these seated.

• Hanging Leg Raises: 1 to 2 sets of 15-20 reps.

A Few Thoughts

     If you wanted, you could also add a loaded carry movement to either the Wednesday workout or one of the two Saturday sessions—the deadlift workout would probably be most ideal, but if you’d rather do more at the first workout, then add it there instead.

     Notice that the Sunday workouts are “easier” than the Saturday sessions simply because you can’t use as much weight on the Sunday lifts, nor do they work as many muscle groups.  If you decide to use some different exercises other than what’s listed, keep the same programming.  Basically, whatever 4 exercises you choose, train the one where you can move the most weight at your Saturday A.M. session, and then the Saturday P.M. workout should be the 2nd hardest of the movements.  The Sunday workouts should be the “easiest” exercises, if by easy we mean the total workload of the session.

     After a few weeks, if you enjoy training in this manner (and still have the time to do so), then change the set/rep schemes for the exercises.  Switch over to a 5 sets of 5 program or even a high-set, low-rep method such as 10 sets of 2 or 3 reps.

     If you work a job where your days off rotate, and you still want to try something similar, then just use double-split workouts on your day off.  Or maybe you have just one day, such as Sunday, where you can use a double-split template.  In this case, you could pick two exercises that you want to work on for that day, and then on another couple days—or even one day—during the week, you can utilize a full-body workout.  You could follow something such as this:

Sunday: A.M squat session; P.M. bench press session

Tuesday: full-body workout

Thursday: full-body workout

     Make sure that you’re consuming enough calories during the week.  You will need the extra fuel, especially, for your weekend sessions if you follow the program as written.  Also, make sure you eat the most calories on Friday; this should be the day where you eat almost everything in sight.  This will make certain that you have plenty of glycogen in your muscles for the weekend workouts, and enough muscle “fuel” in general.  Also, eat plenty on Mondays to ensure you’re aiding in recovery from the weekend.  Of course, no matter what day it is, try to get at least a gram of protein daily for each pound of lean mass you have.

     As always, good luck and good lifting.