The Three Day Split Workout - Day Three

Following on from the previous two articles, the following is an outline of the Day Three Workout from the Three Day Split.

Day Three Split

Exercise 1:

Sit Ups:

Seven sets of ten reps.

Lie with your knees bent and hands, palms down, resting on your thighs.  Slowly curl your shoulders toward your knees, without lifting your feet off the ground, allowing your hands to slide along your thighs.  When your wrists reach your knees, stop and slowly return to the starting position.  That is one rep.

Exercise 2:

Wrist to alternate knee situps:

Seven sets of ten reps.

Set up as you did for the Sit ups, only this time when you curl up, bring your right wrist to your left knee then return to the start.  Repeat with your left wrist to your right knee and return for one rep.

Exercise 3:

Crunches:

Seven sets of ten reps.

Start on your back with your fingertips resting against your temples, feet off the ground and legs crossed at the ankles.  Lifting both your shoulders and hips, curl your upper body and knees toward each other as far as you can.  Hold the curl for a second and lower slowly to the starting position.

Exercise 4:

Sliding Sit Ups:

Seven sets of ten reps.

Set up as you did for the Sit ups, only this time when you curl up, slide your hands along the floor until they are beside your heels.  Slowly return to the starting position.

Exercise 5:

Heel Touches:

Seven sets of ten reps.

Set up as you did for the Sit ups, only this time instead of curling up, bend sideways to that you can touch your right heel with your right hand, return to the centre and repeat on the left side.

Exercise 6:

Back Extension Machine:

Two sets of twelve reps.

Set up as described above in the Back Exercises section.  Remain vigilant about not hyper-extending when you lift up.

Exercise 7:

Prone Single Leg Raise:

Two sets of twelve reps.

Lie face down on the floor with your arms extended in front of you, palms facing down. Keeping the leg straight, slowly lift the right leg as high off the ground as you can, pause then lower to the starting position.  Repeat with the left leg to complete one set.

Exercise 8:

Prone Alternate Arm and Leg Raise:

Two sets of twelve reps.

Set up in exactly the same way you did for the previous exercise.  This time, lift your left arm and right leg as high off the ground as you can, lower then repeat with the right arm and left leg.  Try to keep your hips and shoulders parallel with the floor at all times.

Exercise 9:

Alternate Arm and Leg Raise:

Two sets of twelve reps.

This exercise is a variation on the previous exercise, with the difference being that you are positioned on your hands and knees.  As with the previous exercise, raise the left arm and right leg, at the same time, as high as you can.  Lower and repeat with the right arm and left leg.

Exercise 10:

Left and Right Hip Rolls:

Two sets of twelve reps.

Lying on your back, set up as you did for the Crunches exercise but with your arms extended perpendicular to the torso, along the floor, with the palms facing down.  Keeping your shoulders and arms held firmly against the floor, roll your knees as far to the right and then as far to the left as you can without lifting the opposite shoulder.

Three Day Split Summary

To get the most out of this three day split, it is critical that you are pedantic about choosing your starting weight.  The initial high rep set is designed to do a couple of things:

1. Warm up the muscles and prepare them for the heavier work to come; and,
2. Build muscle endurance and give you a cardiovascular workout.

In order to achieve both of these objectives, you must choose a weight that is light enough to allow you to complete the high number of repetitions, but heavy enough that by the final rep you are

struggling to complete the lift.

When you have completed the initial set, increase the weight being lifted by 1 – 2 kgs.  Keep in mind that:

1. Your muscles have been pre-fatigued;
2. You are not completing as many reps; and,
3. You must work to genuine fatigue.

For the second set, lift slowly and lower slowly, to avoid building momentum and cheating yourself.  With the rep target at 15, you are again looking for muscle endurance and a cardiovascular response so you will need to complete every rep, with the final rep being a real struggle.

For the third and subsequent sets, the objective is to build power and muscle hypertrophy (growth), so the aim will be to be lifting a weight that will cause you to fail before you have completed the set.  For example, if the target is 8 reps, you should be failing at around number 6 and if the target is 4 reps, you should be failing at 3 reps.

This workout will cause some significant Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) 1 to 2 days after the workout, so it is important that the following day is your cardio or ‘active’ rest day.  The reason for scheduling a cardio or ‘active’ rest day on the day following a big weights session is to work the major muscle groups in such a way that blood flow to the muscles is increased and you restore full mobility to every joint.

The benefits of increased blood flow and mobility are:

1. More oxygen and nutrients reaching the damaged muscles and enhancing the recovery process; and,
2. Stretching and loosening up ligaments and tendons that have tightened up after the heavy workout.

The final component in completing a successful and effective split workout, is to ensure you are getting quality food, in the right quantities and, at the right time.  The food combinations and quantities required to support and repair a body that is being trained hard, will be significantly different to that required for normal everyday living.

I will be publishing other articles, over the coming weeks, that will look at nutrition in some depth.  In the meantime, I suggest that you consider supplementing your normal diet with protein powders, branched chain amino acids, multi-vitamins etc.  In all cases, I recommend you consult a medical practitioner, nutritionist, dietician or naturopath before making any decisions about your nutrition needs.

Finally, if you miss a session for any reason, do not attempt to catch up, you will fail and more than likely over-train and sustain an injury.  It is inevitable that life will throw a curve ball at you one day and your well-laid plans will amount to nothing. 

If, for example, you plan to do the Day Two workout today and you cannot get to the gym, don’t stress, and simply do Day Two instead of Day Three.  In other words, simply lose a day and start with the missed session next time.  So, if your schedule looks like:

• Monday – Day One;
• Tuesday – Cardio;
• Wednesday – Day Two;
• Thursday – Cardio;
• Friday – Day Three;
• Saturday – Cardio.

Your new schedule will look like this:

• Monday – Day One;
• Tuesday – Cardio;
• Wednesday – missed;
• Thursday – Day Two;
• Friday – Cardio;
• Saturday – Day Three.

This method will allow you to stay on track, not miss a workout and not risk overtraining.  The following week, you can revert to your original schedule.

Next up is Stretching.  Don’t miss it!