Fitness

Henry’s High-Frequency Super Split

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DISCLAIMER:  I am not a trained exercise physiologist, and you should not take my advice or anectdotal experience as if I was. Consult with someone (besides me) who actually knows what they are doing or you might hurt yourself.

In the spring of 2022 at age 42, I threw out my back. It was extremely painful. This triggered me to get back in the gym. In the last 2.5 years, strength training has been very beneficial to me. As a beginner, I would go through the motions,  but not be very driven to push myself hard.  Since then, strength training has become somewhat of an obsession. I would call it an addiction if it was harmful.  It is a good habit.

For a while, I was doing a  “bro split” where each day would involve a different muscle groups: Shoulder/Abs, Leg, Back/Bicep, and Chest/Tricep (SLBC). I would repeat this 4 day cycle across 5 or 6 days per week of training. The problem is that each muscle group would only get hit 1.25 or 1.5 times per week.  I found that 6 days a week of training was too much for my middle-aged body,  so I reduced this to 5 days.  My body needed those two consecutive days of rest (active recovery: walking, hiking, swimming, or biking).

At age 45, I advanced from beginner to intermediate.  I have listened to many experts and reviewed a lot of scientific literature, and through that, I have developed a new workout split that allows for a higher frequency of exercise:

Henry’s High-Frequency Super Split

ID Major Exercises Minor Exercises
(at least 1, sometimes 2, 3 if time)

SAb

 SHOULDER
Shrugs, Lateral Raises, real delt extension

AB
cable crunch, leg raises		 back / bicep
pulldown, or close grip pulldown, cable bicep curl, dead hang

Lc

 LEG
Romanian Deadlift (RDL),  Bulgarian split squats or leg curls, leg extension, barbell squats or hack squats,  abductor, adductor

chest / tricep
dips or incline db press, tricep overhead extension 

Bsa

 BACK
lat pulldown, hammer strength row, dead hang

BICEP
cable bicep curl

shoulder
cable lateral raise

ab
Leg raise

Cl

CHEST / TRICEP
Flat or incline bench, flys, Tricep pushdown/overhead extension

 leg
straight-leg calf raises (smith machine or unilateral ledge+dumbell)


A little trick I use to remember the order of these groups is the mnemonic “She Loves BeCause” (Shoulder Legs Back Chest).

Weekly Focus Muscle Groups

By staggering my 4-day “super split” across a 5-day week of training, it allows each week to have a focus muscle group that is majorly hit on Monday an Friday, with a minor workout on Wednesday.

Weekly Focus Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Shoulder/Ab SAb Lc Bsa Cl SAb
Leg Lc Bsa Cl SAb Lc
Back/Bicep Bsa Cl SAb Lc Bsa
Chest/Tricep Cl SAb Lc Bsa Cl

On average, each muscle is hit 2.5 times per week with either a major or minor workout.  If you count a major workout as 1 and a minor workout as 1/3, this gives a more precise average weekly workouts (WOs) per muscle group

  1. Minimum of 1 minor and 1 major workout (2/4 weeks, 1 1/3 WOs)
  2. 2 minor and one major workouts (1/4 weeks, 1 2/3 WOs)
  3. Maximum of 2 major and 1 minor workouts (1/4 weeks, 2 1/3 WOs)

This gives a cumulative average fractional workout per week of 1 2/3,   or about 0.5 more workouts (7/15ths to be exact) per muscle group more per week than the 5 day “bro split” I was doing before.

Supersets for efficiency

What makes my exercise split “super”, besides me being quite fond of it?  The use of supersets to interweave two exercises with each other with minimal rest in between.  These can be unrelated exercises, or antagonistic ones (such as adductor/abductor).  Some of my usual supersets:

Shoulder day: leg raises between shrugs, dead hangs between 
Leg day: dips between deadlifts, adductor/abductor
Pull day: lateral raises between pulldowns, biceps curls between rows.
Push day: calf raises between tricep push dows

Another strategy is to superset a warm-up for one exercise after “maxing out” and pyramiding down the first exercise so that you are not trying to hit PRs on two exercises back to back. For example, on deadlift, I will wait until I finish my heaviest set and take some plates off before I start mixing in the dips. 

A note on etiquite: don’t try to hold multiple machines while supersetting, be gracious for people that might want to work in with you and use moderation with regard to supersetting on equipment or times of high demand.

Inspiration

My favorite training split was in large part inspired by this video: “Why ULTRA HIGH Frequency Training Might Be Best For Building Muscle” featuring Mike Israeltel PhD and Menno Henselmans PhD:

In a nutshell, this video encourages athletes to try increasing their training frequencies in order to train muscles when they are recovered from the previous training session.  But the “ULTRA HIGH” frequency it suggests (every muscle 5 days a week) I feel is too frequent for me.

One strategy is doing full body every day. This doesn’t work for me because I feel like I need more than a day to recover after intense exercise.  There are a lot of muscles to pack into a full-body workout, and warmup sets are still necessary.  In my enhanced split, I might do one warmup set and four working sets.  In a full-body split, I would have to reduce the working sets to one or two. The ratio of warmup sets to working sets ends up being too high in a full-body split for it to be time efficient.

Another suggested split is “upper-lower-upper-lower-upper”.  This didn’t work for me either because heavy low-body exercises take more than 2 days for me to recover from fully (especially Bulgarian split squats, good lord!).  And there are too many muscles in the upper body to give them the intensity they deserve in a single session.

Conclusion

Imagine a plot of intensity versus frequency. There is a heat map that shows where optimal strength and hypertrophy gains are achievable. Too little intensity, independent of frequency, will not adequately signal muscle growth. Too much intensity will lead to muscle damage, which is not the same thing as signaling muscle growth and will prevent a higher frequency of training from being possible. The “Goldilocks zone” within this graph is likely specific to each individual and each type of muscle. So don’t mistake a regimen that I believe is best for me to be something that will be a good fit for you. Listen to your body and adapt to what feels best rather than following a strict template.

Related Literature

High‐frequency resistance training improves maximal lower‐limb strength more than low frequency

Found that participants engaging in high-frequency resistance training experienced greater improvements in maximal lower-limb strength compared to those following a low-frequency regimen. These findings suggest that increasing the frequency of resistance training sessions may be more effective for enhancing lower-limb strength.

Review: The Effectiveness of Frequency-Based Resistance Training Protocols on Muscular Performance and Hypertrophy in Trained Males: A Critically Appraised Topic

Analysis of four studies indicated that lower-frequency RT, when training volume is equalized, results in similar or greater improvements in muscular strength and hypertrophy compared to higher-frequency RT. This effect is particularly notable when lower-frequency RT is combined with a total-body training protocol.

High Resistance-Training Frequency Enhances Muscle Thickness in Resistance-Trained Men (Zaroni et. al 2018)

Participants who trained six days per week targeting different muscle groups showed significantly greater increases in muscle thickness compared to those training three days per week with the same weekly volume.

High-Frequency Resistance Training Is Not More Effective Than Low-Frequency Resistance Training in Increasing Muscle Mass and Strength in Well-Trained Men (Gomes et. al 2019) 

While this study’s title seems to undermine my goal of training higher frequency, the study controlled for sets and intensity between the low-frequency and high-frequency groups. By not allowing for increased intensity, the different groups had similar results.  I believe that the highest intensity is achievable at medium frequency, which was not part of this study.

Effect of Resistance Training Frequency on Neuromuscular Performance and Muscle Morphology After 8 Weeks in Trained Men

High and low frequency groups showed similar improvements in upper- and lower-body strength and muscle thickness, suggesting that when training volume is equal, frequency does not significantly impact strength gains or hypertrophy.

A Meta-analysis to Determine the Dose Response for Strength Development (Rhea et. al 2003)

Suggests that moderate-intensity physical activity provides substantial health benefits and that the dose-response curve for physical activity is nonlinear, with diminishing returns at higher levels of activity. The analysis supports the idea that moderate amounts of exercise can improve health, with further gains becoming less pronounced as activity levels increase.

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