2 Day Split Workout Plan

Keeping up with your regular workout routine is not always possible. Irrespective of your enthusiasm at the gym, other demands and requirements always catch up.

In such situations, when you’re undergoing a busy period, a 2-day split workout plan might help. There are numerous training splits that you can adopt as part of your workout program. A 2-day split is highly uncommon but equally effective.

If you work out twice a week, you can push in the required amount of exercise to build muscle and keep up with your busy schedule.

In such a workout plan, you shall engage more than one muscle group in a single workout session. Recovery, therefore, will be difficult. But that won’t be an issue for your body since you’ll have a lot of time to recover between two workout sessions.

A 2-day workout plan can be especially beneficial for beginners who just want to establish a rhythm before they adopt a hardcore, consistent program.

Two-day splits can also help athletes in achieving optimal strength-building, recovery, and overcoming performance plateaus through short, intense workout sessions.

With so many benefits, you should at least explore the possibility of adopting a 2-day workout split. Let’s find out more about this.

Two Day Split Workout Principles

Before getting into the actual schedule of your 2-days a week workout plan, let’s learn more about the science involved in it.

Normally, in a two-day split, you can opt for three types of workout sessions. They offer different pros, and each has certain limitations as well. Fitness enthusiasts can tailor their gym workout routines according to their requirements.

These are the three training regimes that you can implement if you’re working out 2 days a week.

Full Body

In a full-body workout program, you’ll exercise all the major muscle groups of the body in every workout session. In such a program, experts usually recommend compound exercises, where a single exercise engages multiple muscle groups simultaneously, like push-ups and squats.

In a full-body workout, compound exercises will stimulate most of the muscle fibers. If you pair up such a workout routine with a nutritious lifestyle, it’s a recipe for a healthy lifestyle and successful bodybuilding.

Push/Pull

A push/pull workout program involves exercises that engage all the muscles responsible for pushing and pulling weights or resistance.

One training session will be reserved for push workouts, which involve targeting the chest, shoulders, triceps, quadriceps, and calves. Then, during the next gym session, you shall target the pull muscles like the posterior chain muscles, back muscles, traps, biceps, forearms, and hamstrings.

Upper/Lower:

In the upper-lower split, you separate the upper and lower part of your body. In the first workout session, you target the upper-body muscles like the back, biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders, and so on.

The lower-body muscles, on the other hand, involve hip flexors, glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.

Fitness experts generally recommend that people should incorporate upper-body and lower-body compound movements in such a routine. For example, push-ups and pull-ups are both upper-body compound exercises that target different muscle groups simultaneously.

2 Day Full Body Workout Routine

Now that we know the pros and cons of engaging in 2-days a week full-body workout routine.

Full-body workouts make effective use of higher training frequency by stimulating multiple muscle groups at the same time. So even if you’re training twice a day, you’ll be able to complete similar exercises and movements twice a week, thereby gaining more muscle mass.

So, here is the 2-day split full body workout program that you can use to enhance your body:

Day 1:

1. Push-ups- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
2. Squat- 3 sets of 10 reps
3. Dumbbell Bench Press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
4. Lat Pulldowns- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Overhead press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
6. Barbell Curls- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
7. Skull crushers- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
8. Flutter Kicks- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
9. Calf raises- 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Day 2:

1. Pull ups- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
2. Deadlift- 3 sets of 6-8 reps
3. Bench press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
4. Lunges- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Barbell row- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
6. Arnold press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
7. Incline dumbbell curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
8. Single arm dumbbell tricep extension- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
9. Scissor Kicks- 3 sets of 10-15 reps

If you’re engaging in such a 2-day full-body workout split, it’s easier to manipulate your schedule to overcome plateaus, fatigue, and mental exhaustion.

Finally, after better recovery rates, full-body workouts are better for performance and muscle hypertrophy simply because each muscle group is effectively engaged and then rested for the recommended period.

2 Day Push Pull Workout Routine

In a push/pull workout routine, you won’t be training the same muscle groups in quick succession. Instead, you’ll work out the push muscles during the first gym session and the pull muscles during the next.

Such a combination is effective in avoiding injuring or overstraining your muscles. It also provides a more balanced outlook to your workout. Thus, you’ll always be able to keep track of whether you’re overtraining or undertraining specific muscle groups.

Here’s the 2-days a week push/pull training schedule that you can adopt:

Day 1: Push

1. Push ups/Dips- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
2. Squat- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
3. Barbell bench press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
4. Leg extension- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Incline/decline bench press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
6. Military press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
7. Cable rope pushdown- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
8. Front/lateral/rear delt raise- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
9. Skull crushers- 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Day 2: Pull

1. Pull ups/Chin ups- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
2. Deadlift- 3 sets of 6-8 reps
3. Barbell row- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
4. Lying leg curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Barbell curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
6. Dumbbell shrugs- 3 sets of 10 reps
7. Preacher curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
8. Decline crunches- 3 AMRAP sets
9. Lying leg raises- 3 AMRAP sets

Another good thing about a push/pull routine is that you will also engage your leg muscles during every workout session. So you’ll have a more holistic growth of muscle in your body.

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2 Day Upper Lower Workout Routine

In the upper-lower split training routine, your workout sessions will be divided into two categories. First, you’ll engage your all upper-body muscles. Next day, you’ll go through a flurry of lower-body exercises. A good combination of the two is vital for proper muscle-building without facing any predominant imbalance.

Similarly, it also gives the engaged muscles plenty of time to recover because you’ll be hitting different muscle groups on different days. Thus, you’ll have more stamina and endurance during your training sessions, allowing you to hit your rep maxes and overcome plateaus.

Here’s a 2-day upper-lower split that you can incorporate into your routine:

Day 1: Upper

1. Barbell Bench Press- 3 sets of 10 reps
2. Barbell row- 5 sets of 5 reps
3. Incline/Decline Barbell Bench Press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
4. Lat Pull Down- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Overhead press- 5 sets of 5 reps
6. Barbell Curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
7. Front/lateral/rear delt raise- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
8. Cable triceps pushdown- 3 sets of 10-15 reps

Day 2: Lower

1. Squat- 3 sets of 10 reps
2. Leg Press- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
3. Romanian deadlift- 3 sets of 10 reps
4. Leg extension- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
5. Lying leg curl- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
6. Calf raise- 3 sets of 10-15 reps
7. Decline crunches- 3 AMRAP sets
8. Lying leg raises- 3 AMRAP sets

The combination is especially potent if you plan on maximizing the intensity of your workouts. You’ll have more than usual time to recover your muscles and, therefore, won’t suffer fatigue even if you push yourself to your limits. Upper-lower workout, thus, can help you build strength and hypertrophy equally.

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Wrapping Up

It’s a widespread belief that you cannot gain more muscle if you work out only 2 days a week. Some people even believe that muscle retention is not possible by working out only twice in seven days.

But the truth is that if you plan your 2-day split workout routine right, you can increase your muscle hypertrophy and mass effectively. It all comes down to using the right movements and getting the best out of your increased recovery time.