Three On/ One Off Redux A New Twist on an Old Classic When I began lifting weights – sometime in the late ‘80s – there was really only one training split that most bodybuilders used: the three on, one off scheme. For any of you unfamiliar with this split, it works like this: You split your body three ways, and then you train for three days straight before taking a day off. After your day off, you begin the split over again. Most bodybuilders of that era trained legs on one day, and then split their upper body into two sessions; some lifters trained antagonistic bodyparts together on one day – chest and back, or biceps and triceps – while others would train all of their push muscles on one day – chest, shoulders, and triceps – and their pull muscles on the other day – back and biceps. But the three on, one off split eventually fell the way of the dinosaurs. In the early ‘90s Dorian Yates entered the s...
Essays on Old-School Strength Training, Classic Bodybuilding, Traditional Martial Arts, and Budo Philosophy