I’ve been working out since the early teens and after all these years (10+) and countless of experiments I have to say it really comes down to what your goal is. I’ve tried many different workout plans and there are arguments to be made for them all and let it be known that they’ve all had their golden periods. Just like some diets can appear and take over the entire space out of nowhere so can specific workout plans. Currently the consensus on the web seems to be that splits is a thing of the past.
I personally tend to disagree.
While there are tons of studies that backup working big compound movements more frequently in order to build more muscle (yes it has been proven to stimulate hormone levels and consequently muscle growth) and I have seen many advanced lifters flourishing on that fact. I have also seen many, many people on a lower/upper or push/pull plan who simply can’t get it to work. Especially when it comes to novice or very young lifters.
I think the reason for this is rather simple. Most people don’t want to lift weights just to get strong - they want to look good and they don’t want to suffer too badly on their journey to get there. As heavy compound lifting generally doesn’t generate any quick visible gains or pumps in the areas most men want to improve on at the start like arms, chest and side delts, many men on a full body workout plan don’t get to see and feel those crazy early visual changes. Seeing visual improvement in muscle volume is in my opinion extremely important in order to not lose interest at the start.
Furthermore it’s actually extremely taxing on your body to do heavy compound movements several times a week, not only physically but also mentally. So what tends to happen is that people start eating alot more (because the heavy lifting drives hunger through the roof). As almost all novice lifters don’t have proper meal plans they just eat whatever they get their hands on. This leads to really dirty diets consisting mainly of fast food. Consequently they end up more tired and fat than strong. This in turn leads to lacking recovery and injury development. In the end they end up building dirty gains with minimal strength gain and most likely with some minor injuries before they leave the gym for years before trying again.
In my experience this seems to be less of an issue with splits. People generally start of with a very simple plan, perhaps constisting of 3 or 5 workouts a week. Because people (especially men) tend to work a lot on their biceps and triceps in the beginning they quickly see visual results and so they get more hype on working out which in turn generates even more gains. When they start feeling the need to work a specific muscle group more they incorporate more workouts on the weekend. I for example know many advanced lifters that will incorporate a heavy and less intensive leg workout on wednesday and saturday. Often they isolate specific muscles periodically. This can be useful for sculpting your body to your liking if you’re a bodybuilder. It allows one to let go of the idea that you always have to train the exact same thing on a specific day all year.
Can everyone do the splits?
The amount of time it typically takes to work up to doing the splits varies since everyone is vastly different. However, “Nearly anyone can perform some sort of seated straddle 'split' stretch,” explained Brueckner.
Why can't I do a split?
Tight hamstrings and hip flexors are the top reasons why you can't do the splits. Doing splits is so much more than a cool parlor trick. Indeed, the ability to seamlessly slide into a split is a fantastic feat of flexibility and mobility, which is also why accomplishing the masterful move is so difficult.
https://www.easyflexibility.com/products/combo-beginners-split-combo