After 4 Years of Training (Natural), This Split Fits Me Best

I've been training naturally for about 4 years, and I've tried almost every popular split out there: PPL, Arnold split, full body, and upper/lower.

For PPL and the Arnold split, I trained 5 days per week. My main issue was that legs were only getting trained once per week. Since training frequency is often considered an important variable for hypertrophy, I switched to a 6-day schedule to hit legs twice weekly. Eventually, I gave it up because the fatigue and time commitment became too much.

Then I tried full body 3x per week. It's a solid approach, but I found myself doing too many exercises in a single session. For the first time ever, I almost fainted during a workout because I was constantly alternating upper-body and lower-body movements. Whether it was actually blood shunting or just general fatigue, I felt terrible. Of course, you can structure full-body training better and avoid this issue, but personally, knowing I had 8+ exercises left in a session was demotivating. By the last exercise, I was completely gassed out.

I had a similar problem with upper/lower splits.

So I ended up creating this split, which seems to fit me best. It may not be the best option for everyone, but it's working well for me so far.

Torso A (Monday)

• Incline Chest Press — 2×6–10
• Machine Chest Press — 2×6–10
• Lat Pulldown — 2×6–10
• Unilateral Seated Row — 2×6–10
• Reverse Pec Deck — 2×12–16

Limbs A (Tuesday)

• Leg Curl — 2×10–12
• Leg Press / Bulgarian Split Squat — 2×6–10
• Overhead Triceps Extension — 2×12–16
• Lateral Raise — 2×16
• Biceps Curl — 2×10–12

Torso B (Thursday)

• Weighted Pull-Up — 2×6–10
• Bilateral Seated Row — 2×6–10
• Shoulder Press — 2×6–10
• Pec Deck — 2×8–12
• Reverse Pec Deck — 2×12–16

Limbs B (Friday)

• Trap Bar RDL — 2×6–10
• Leg Extension — 2×10–12
• Triceps Extension — 2×12–16
• Lateral Raise — 2×16
• Hammer Curl — 2×10–12

Volume & Effort

As you can see, I only do 2 working sets per exercise. I prefer this approach and push the first set to around 1–2 RIR, with the second set taken to 0 RIR.

Why I Like This Split

This setup solves most of the issues I had with other splits:

• Only 4 training days per week
• 3 full rest days
• Higher training frequency for legs
• Higher training frequency for arms
• Shorter, more manageable sessions
• Less fatigue compared to 6-day splits

Common Criticism

Some people will probably say:

> "This is still very upper-body focused, and there are only 4 leg exercises in the entire program."

My perspective is that those same 4 leg movements used to be crammed into a single leg day. Now they're distributed across the week, which allows me to train legs twice weekly instead of once.

For me, that's a worthwhile trade-off. I get more opportunities to stimulate growth while keeping individual sessions shorter and more enjoyable.

Of course, this is just an example of how I like to train. You could easily adjust exercise selection, volume, or frequency to better suit your own goals and recovery.

I'm curious what you guys think. Any feedback, questions, or suggestions are welcome in the comments.