Ask ten people in the gym what the best training split is and you will get ten answers, most of them copied from an athlete who trains for a living. The honest answer is duller: the best split is the one that still happens during a bad week at work. Build the plan around the week you actually have, not the week you wish you had.
Start with days, not exercises
Before choosing exercises, decide how many days you can genuinely protect. Three is enough for real progress. Four is comfortable for most people. Five is for members whose schedule is stable and whose sleep is under control. Choose the number you can hold for two months in a row, including the weeks when something goes wrong — because something will.
The three-day plan: full body
Three full-body sessions on non-consecutive days is still the most efficient plan for anyone under two years of training. Each session gets one squat or lunge pattern, one hip hinge, one press, one pull and a short core finisher. Every muscle is trained three times a week, and missing a single day costs you a third of your volume instead of an entire muscle group. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 09:00 or 18:00 fits our circuit and CrossFit timetable neatly if you like training in a group.
The four-day plan: upper and lower
Two upper-body days and two lower-body days is the sweet spot for most members here. Upper days start with a heavy press and a heavy row, then move to shoulders and arms. Lower days start with a squat or a deadlift, then split into single-leg work, hamstrings and glutes. The split gives each session enough room to get properly heavy while still hitting everything twice a week.
The five-day plan: push, pull, legs, plus classes
If you train five days, do not simply add another lifting day. Add a class. Push, pull and legs on three days, then a circuit session and a yoga or aerobics class fills the week without piling more fatigue onto the same joints. The class days are conditioning and mobility, not extra volume — that distinction is what keeps a five-day week sustainable past the first month.