If you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing physique, this article may help.
The difference between Bodybuilding and Powerlifting is that bodybuilding is more inclined toward building a perfect body for YOU. Yet The majority of bodybuilding splits in workout routines aren’t able to address this because:
- Different people’s different muscle groups react differently to the same stimulus.
- The Personal Trainer you hired or workout routine you found online isn’t designed for you specifically and is usually based on some form of template with pre-existing biases in fitness and bodybuilding.
- Building a workout routine for you has to take into account your specific goals, body type and genetics
- Most bodybuilding methods will have you bulk up all around your body and then make you cut certain exercises and in weight to achieve a physique, which is double the work and a big time spender.
- Nobody knows your body better than you!
- Achieving a good aesthetic is dependent on building different body parts in the right proportions.
What are Advanced Bodybuilding Splits?
Quite simply, it is a split that is based on adaptability to achieve good body aesthetics. Regular Bodybuilding Splits can give you a set routine and set weight increases with increments. Advanced Bodybuilding Splits start with the basic compound movements with a predetermined set and rep scheme and particular weight lifted. When we say somebody’s arms are big, we aren’t saying that factually, we’re saying this relatively. For example, their arms are disproportionate to the rest of their body, so their arms are big. If somebody had large arms but larger chest and shoulders we would say their chest and shoulders are big. It’s all relative!
Advanced Bodybuilding Splits are designed to achieve the results you want, and based on trial and error. For example if we take the typical Bro-Split with different days dedicated to developing different body parts, we would lower the reps, sets and weights on the body parts we want to make smaller or maintain, and increase the rep, sets and weights on body parts we want to grow.
How to build Advanced Bodybuilding Splits
The most accurate way of building your own split is to use the Bro-Split to start off with. The Bro-Split has received a lot of criticism on the basis that other splits achieve hypertrophy quicker. But the aim is not to achieve hypertrophy when building an aesthetic physique. The aim is to forge your body to get the desired results. Also we should start with the most basic compound lifts and add other lifts around it. We have to be careful to not use too many variations to our workouts because although we think it might not have an effect. It may actually have more of an effect than we estimate.
The easiest way to design your Advanced Bodybuilding Split is through the steps below. I will use the most basic compound exercises and work with those initially
Step 1: Write the main exercises you want in your split.
// Mondays – Chest Day
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
// Tuesdays – Back Day
Barbell Deadlift
Machine Rows
Lat Pulldown
// Wednesdays – Leg Day
Barbell Squat
// Thursdays – Shoulder Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
// Fridays – Arm & Abs Day
Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Overhead Triceps Extension
V-Ups
// Saturdays – Rest Day
// Sundays – Rest Day
Step 2: Decide The Rep / Set Scheme Your Will Use & The Weights
// Mondays – Chest Day
Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Tuesdays – Back Day
Barbell Deadlift / 4 x 8 / 60kg
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Leg Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
// Thursdays – Shoulder Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 15kg
// Fridays – Arm & Abs Day
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
Overhead Triceps Extension / 2 x 15 / 7kg
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
// Saturdays – Rest Day
// Sundays – Rest Day
Step 3: Run The Program Until Your Making No More Gains
Now that you have run the program, you should be able to identify body parts you would like to Emphasize and De-Emphasize. But to do this, you must first reach a plateau so you have an accurate picture of how the workout program is changing your body. Let’s say the results you observed are as follows:
- Chest is too big
- Shoulders are too small
- Legs are too small
- Lower back is too weak
- Elbow joints are hurting
You can either choose to:
- Add or take out exercises
- Adjust the weights
- Adjust the set & rep scheme
- Replace Exercises
Step 3: Make Changes To Your Advanced Bodybuilding Split
// Mondays – Chest Day
Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg – TAKEN OUT EXERCISES
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Tuesdays – Back Day
Barbell Deadlift / 5 x 5 / 80kg – CHANGED SET / REP SCHEME AND WEIGHT
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Leg Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
Dumbbell Lunges / 4 x 5 Each Side / 15kg – ADDED EXERCISE
// Thursdays – Shoulder Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg – CHANGED WEIGHT
// Fridays – Arm & Abs Day
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
Tricep Pushdown / 2 x 15 / 7kg – REPLACED EXERCISE
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
// Saturdays – Rest Day
// Sundays – Rest Day
Your adjusted Advanced Bodybuilding Split will now look like this:
// Mondays – Chest Day
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Tuesdays – Back Day
Barbell Deadlift / 5 x 5 / 80kg
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Leg Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
Dumbbell Lunges / 4 x 5 Each Side / 15kg
// Thursdays – Shoulder Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Fridays – Arm & Abs Day
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
Tricep Pushdown / 2 x 15 / 7kg
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
// Saturdays – Rest Day
// Sundays – Rest Day
Step 4: Repeat Step 2
Step 5: Repeat Step 3
Step 6: Once You Have Achieved The Results You Want
Once you have achieved the results you want you don’t need to make further changes. You now have an Advanced Bodybuilding Split which works for you that you can refer to. The Advanced Bodybuilding Split you started off with can look completely different to the one you end up with as you changed the split with trial and error. After this stage is complete, you can now condense the number of days you are working out or increase them. For example, let’s say the workout example we gave above was not intense, we could change the split as follows:
// Mondays – Chest Day + Back Day
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
Barbell Deadlift / 5 x 5 / 80kg
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Leg Day + Abs Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
Dumbbell Lunges / 4 x 5 Each Side / 15kg
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
// Friday – Shoulder Day + Arm Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
Tricep Pushdown / 2 x 15 / 7kg
// Saturdays – Rest Day
// Sundays – Rest Day
As you can see above this has become a 3-day workout split. For example sake, if you find that you need more recovery or dont have the time to combine the workouts, you can expand the days you workout as follows:
// Mondays – Chest Day
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Tuesdays – Back Day
Barbell Deadlift / 5 x 5 / 80kg
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Leg Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
Dumbbell Lunges / 4 x 5 Each Side / 15kg
// Thursdays – Shoulder Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Fridays – Arm Day
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
Tricep Pushdown / 2 x 15 / 7kg
// Saturdays – Abs Day
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
// Sundays – Rest Day
As you can see above we have separate Arm & Abs day and moved Abs Day to Saturday. Although it’s a silly example, I wanted to communicate the concept. You can also alter the split to look like a 6-day Push-Pull-Legs:
// Mondays – Push Day
Incline Bench Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
// Tuesdays – Pull Day
Machine Rows / 4 x 8 / 30kg
Lat Pulldown / 4 x 8 / 30kg
// Wednesdays – Legs Day
Barbell Squat / 4 x 12 / 50kg
// Thursdays – Push Day
Dumbbell Shoulder Press / 4 x 8 / 20kg
Tricep Pushdown / 2 x 15 / 7kg
// Fridays – Pull Day
Barbell Deadlift / 5 x 5 / 80kg
Dumbbell Bicep Curl / 2 x 15 / 7kg
// Saturdays – Legs Day
Dumbbell Lunges / 4 x 5 Each Side / 15kg
V-Ups 3 x 20 / Own Bodyweight
Once again, because the split we have built is very basic it would make little sense to do this. But once you have lots of different exercises, sets / reps & weights being used you can adjust your Advanced Bodybuilding Split accordingly. As you are retaining the same volume on the exercises you are using, the results should be the same as when you had the workout split as a Bro-Split. The main thing is doing exercises you enjoy, to achieve the results you want.
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