How many sets and reps should you do?
Strength, muscle size, endurance: the number of reps changes what you're training. Simple guidelines to make sense of it.
Full body or split: which should you choose?
Your whole body every session, or one muscle group a day? The right call mostly depends on how many sessions you can fit in.
There are two main ways to organize strength training. Full body works everything in every session. A split divides things up: upper body one day, lower the next, or push, pull and legs over three days.
Full body
Each muscle gets trained two or three times a week, with a little work each time. It's the best option if you lift two or three times a week, which is often the case when you also run.
Split
Each session focuses on one area with more exercises for it. It starts to make sense from four lifting sessions a week, so every muscle still gets hit twice.
How to choose
- Two or three lifting sessions a week: full body.
- Four sessions: upper / lower, twice each.
- Five or six sessions: push, pull, legs.
If you're a hybrid athlete
When your week also includes running or WODs, there's less room for lifting. Full body or upper / lower usually fits better, and keeps you from doing heavy legs the day before intervals.
Volta's library has both (full body, push, pull, legs) and fits them into your week around your other sports.
Let Volta plan your week.