Since the first time I realized I needed to incorporate regular exercise into my life, I have tried all sorts of workout routines. I have done full-body workouts, split routines, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), calisthenics, strongman training, yoga…you name it, I’ve probably done it.
Each of these training routines has been helpful to me depending on my goals at the time. Admittedly, I got into most of these routines without much knowledge and some were because I wanted to try a fad or trend to see what it was like for myself.
With time I have learned what works best for me and the results to expect from each mode of training. With my progress I get the question form time to time, “What is the most effective workout routine” and while this is never a simple question there is one answer I can always stick to regardless of who is asking. Stick around and I will reveal my top, most effective workout routine for any stage of fitness.
The Top Best Training Routines
First, let me quickly list some of the best training routines for health and fitness in general. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, any of these training methods can be a great fit depending on your goals and schedule.
Full-Body Workout Routine: This routine involves working all major muscle groups in a single session. It’s great for beginners and those with limited time. This was a popular training method of the Silver Era bodybuilders like Steve Reeves.
Split Routine: Split routines divide workouts into specific muscle groups or body parts on different days. Examples include the push-pull-leg routine or an upper/lower split like the PHUL routine.
Bodyweight Workout or Calisthenics Routine: These rely on using your own body weight for resistance. They’re ideal for those who prefer minimal equipment or enjoy working out at home.
Strength Training: Focused on building strength by using heavy weights and lower reps to target muscle development and improve overall power.
Cardio Workouts: These emphasize cardiovascular health and endurance. Activities like running, cycling, and swimming fall under this category.
High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): HIIT alternates between short bursts of intense exercise and brief rest periods. It’s efficient for calorie burning and boosting fitness levels.
Steady-State Training (SST): Also known as steady-state cardio, is a form of aerobic exercise that involves maintaining a consistent, moderate-intensity effort over an extended period of time. Examples include jogging, cycling, swimming, power walking walking, and using cardio machines like the elliptical or stationary bike.
CrossFit: Blends elements of strength training, cardiovascular exercise, and functional movements for a high-intensity, varied routine. Cross-fit gets a lot of grief but it’s a great workout and the energy in CrossFit gyms is unmatched.
Circuit Training: Circuit workouts involve moving through a series of exercises with minimal rest in between, promoting both strength and cardiovascular fitness. This is a very efficient training method.
Bodybuilding Routine: Focuses on aesthetics and muscle size, often involving multiple exercises per muscle group and high-volume training.
Pilates/Yoga Routine: Prioritizes flexibility, balance, and core strength through controlled movements and stretches.
Functional Fitness Routine: Aimed at improving everyday movement patterns, focusing on exercises that mimic real-life activities.
Powerlifting Routine: Similar to strength training, but specifically hones in on three main lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift.
Endurance Training: Designed for athletes and those looking to improve endurance, this routine includes long, sustained cardio workouts.
Strongman Training Routine: Inspired by bronze era and silver era strongman competitions, this routine incorporates unconventional equipment and movements to build functional strength.
Mind-Body Routine: Practices like Tai Chi and Qigong combine physical movement with mental focus and relaxation techniques.
Which One Is the Most Effective?
If I had to choose only one of these training routines, I would without a doubt go with the split push-pull-leg (PPL) routine. However, I would customize it to a hybrid system where I include one HIIT session per week and a daily bodyweight session as part of my daily morning routine.
Why is a PPL Hybrid the Most Efficient Workout Routine?
There are many benefits that make a PPL workout the most efficient. Adding in the HIIT and bodyweight morning routines makes it even more effective. The benefits you should expect include:
Comprehensive Muscle Engagement: The PPL routine covers all major muscle groups. Push exercises target the chest, shoulders, and triceps, pull exercises work the back and biceps, and leg exercises engage the lower body muscles. This comprehensive approach ensures balanced development.
Efficient Use of Time: PPL routines are time-efficient because they group related muscle groups together, allowing you to target multiple areas in one workout session.
Optimal Recovery: With PPL, each muscle group gets dedicated time to recover between workouts. This promotes muscle growth, reduces the risk of overtraining, and minimizes the likelihood of injury.
Variety and Versatility: PPL routines offer a wide range of exercises, preventing boredom and helping you avoid plateaus in your progress. You can continually switch up exercises to keep things fresh.
Strength and Muscle Gain: The routine’s structure enables you to focus on building strength in compound movements while also promoting muscle hypertrophy (growth) through targeted isolation exercises.
Enhanced Agility and Mobility: By incorporating compound movements and a morning bodyweight routine, my hybrid PPL routine improves functional fitness, agility, and overall mobility.
Improved Posture: A balanced development of both pushing and pulling muscles contributes to better posture by counteracting imbalances that can arise from other routines or from a previous sedentary life.
Customizable Intensity: Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced lifter, you can tailor my hybrid PPL routine to your fitness level. You can adjust weights, reps, sets, and active/rest days accordingly.
Effective Fat Loss: This hybrid PPL routine has a long-lasting afterburn effect that burns calories and increases your metabolic rate, contributing to fast fat loss when combined with a proper diet.
Flexibility in Frequency: You have the flexibility to structure the routine according to your schedule and recovery capacity. You can do each part of the PPL once a week for more rest days or twice a week for quicker results.
Balanced Approach: By splitting muscle groups into different days, you avoid overworking certain areas and ensure a balanced approach to your fitness journey.
Regular Cardio: HIIT offers intense cardio. A once-weekly schedule shields you from overtraining and from putting too much strain on your joints.
Sustainability: The best thing about this highly effective workout routine is that you can easily incorporate it into your daily lifestyle and sustain it for years without feeling overwhelmed. All you have to do is adjust the intensity.
Who Is Best Suited for this Workout Routine?
One reason I love this hybrid PPL workout is it’s suitable for almost everybody at any fitness level. It works for:
- Both males and females (and everyone else)
- Teenagers, adults, or seniors
- Ectomorphs, endomorphs, mesomorphs, and any other body types
- Hyperactive people, couch potatoes, and anyone in between who has decided to take action
What Would the Complete Routine Look Like?
Anyone can structure this PPL hybrid routine to suit their unique situation. However, an example of an easy-to-moderately intense yet sustainable routine could look like this:
5 Day Workout Routine (3 Day PPL Split + 1 HIIT Day + 2 Rest Days)
5 workouts per week total and you restart the cycle from the top every 7 days.
- Monday – Push
- Tuesday – Pull
- Wednesday – Leg
- Thursday – Rest
- Friday – HIIT
- Saturday – Rest
- Start over on Sunday.
The individual workouts could look like this:
Push Day
- Bench Press (3 sets flat, 3 sets incline, 3 sets decline)
- Dumbbell flyes (8-12 reps x 3 sets)
- Dips (3 sets)
- Dumbbell shoulder press (3 sets)
- Reverse flyes (3 sets)
Pull Day
- Deadlift (6-10 reps x 3 sets)
- Barbell rows (8-12 reps x 3 sets)
- T-Bar rows (12-15 reps x 5 sets)
- Close-grip pull-ups – As Many As Possible (AMRAP) x 5 sets
- Dumbbell curls with a rack running workout
Leg Day
- Squats (8-10 reps x 5 sets)
- Bulgarian Splits Squats (6-10 reps x 5 sets)
- Leg curls (12-15 reps x 3 sets)
- Leg Extensions (12-15 reps x 3 sets)
- Calf raises (5 sets taking each set to failure) – See How I added 2 inches to my calfs.
Morning Routine
Calisthenics for balanced development
- Pushups (10-25 reps x 3 sets depending on ability)
- Burpees (20 reps x 3 sets)
- Planks (3 reps, each to failure)
- Stomach crunches (3 sets each to failure)
How to Make this Workout Routine Even More Effective
This hybrid PPL routine is so effective because it promotes constant growth in strength, muscle size, and fat loss. However, you can tweak it some more to best fit your particular circumstances. For example, You can:
- Alternate between hypertrophy or bodybuilding for one 6-day routine and power training for the next 6-day period. Lift heavy for power and lift more reps with a lighter load for bodybuilding.
- Regularly change up your mix of compound lifts Vs. isolation movements. For example, one month you do more compound lifts than isolation movements, the next month you do the reverse.
- Change up to a more intense workout schedule such as push-pull-legs-push-pull-legs-HIIT-rest 8-day routine.
- Practice carb-cycling, with a zero-carb or low-carb diet on rest days and moderate carbs on workout days. This improves insulin sensitivity and speeds up fat burning.
- Always have a high-quality post-workout protein supplement to boost muscle recovery.
- Always track everything to know your progress and to identify plateaus.
- Enjoy the journey and celebrate each win.
Conclusion
What works best for you depends on your individual goals and unique circumstances. However, I find that the PPL workout, with a few tweaks, makes for the most effective workout routine for people of all fitness levels.
This routine encourages discipline and consistency, making it sustainable for many years to come. The routine burns fat and builds muscle fast. Though plateaus are inevitable, further tweaks can make stagnation short-lasting and far between. Try this hybrid PPL and get back to me on how it’s going for you.
Hi Jordan! I’m thinking about swapping to this routine after your amazing “Ultimate skinny fat routine” but was wondering if that would be a good idea, and how many reps would you recommend for “each Bench Press (3 sets flat, 3 sets incline, 3 sets decline)”, “Dips (3 sets)”, “Dumbbell shoulder press (3 sets)” and “Reverse flyes (3 sets)”. Thanks!!
Hi Sebastian!
For Bench Press and Dumbbell Shoulder Press 6-12 reps per set.
For Dips, as many reps as possible per set.
And for Reverse flyes 8-15+ reps per set.
This is a good rep range for these exercises. Obviously the higher the weight for the set the lower the repetitions. I’ll typically pyramid the weight up as I move through sets. So for Bench Press for example, if I’m doing 3 sets, I’ll do a set of 12 reps with a light weight, then a set of 10 reps with a heavier weight, followed by a third set of 6-8 reps with a heavy weight.
I hope that helps man. Let me know if you have any other questions.