Hey Cavepeople,

When following the Caveman Program, my personal favorite training split is the Horizontal/Vertical split.  Let me reiterate that the training split has very little to do with progress in the grand scheme of things, but I definitely prefer a split that lends itself to training large groups of muscles in every workout, focuses on movements as much as body parts and stays as far away from the “a muscle group per day” mentality that is perpetuated by the bullshit message boards and by most bodybuilders, who are, in most cases, as full of shit as just about any group of people who should know better that simply do not.  I’ll probably touch on that comment more on my San Antonio Personal Trainer blog.

Understand that I am a huge proponent of maximum muscle fiber recruitment during training and maximum effort during training.  Of course, this is relative, and for those who simply aren’t conditioned enough to focus on the 1-5 rep range can benefit greatly from higher rep schemes anywhere from the 6-15 range.  There’s never an “always” in my training programs, and there are exceptions to every rule.

One thing that many people do is drastically change their resistance training program when their focus changes from fat burning to muscle gain - this is a mistake.  It’s important to understand that muscle only has two states: atrophy (shrinking) or hypertrophy (growing).  There is no maintaining.  This is why that it is important to ensure that your primary goal when you’re focused on losing fat is not weight loss, it is maintaining muscle by inducing growth!  This may be difficult to understand, but remember that the more lean body mass your body has, the higher your resting metabolic rate is.  A higher metabolic rate will lead to more fat being burned during every activity.  Too many people become obsessed with actual “weight loss” which leads to a lowering of the metabolic rate which, in turn, leads to the body going into preservation mode.

Every workout is for body transformation, which is the addition of muscle mass (and no, ladies, that doesn’t mean to become overly large) and the reduction of body fat.  The difference in specific goals (getting huge or getting absolutely shredded to the bone) require dietary and cardio modifications, not modifications in resistance training.

Fat has no nutritional requirement.  What most people do is lose weight and then adjust their caloric intake, without considering where the weight actually came from.  However, if that individual actually increased muscle mass and still lost weight, the body would require a higher caloric intake, not a reduced amount, which is a mistake that so many people make.

I didn’t intend on turning this into a nutritional article but I will elaborate on those things in upcoming posts.  For now, let me get back to the sample training day in the horizontal/vertical split.

Vertical Plane Training Day 1

For today, I’ll focus on 6 exercises on the vertical plane: rear squat, dead lift, front squat, stiff leg dead lift, db snatch and plyometric box jumps.

Rotation 1 - Rest 1 minute between sets, 2 minutes after the final set, repeat rotation for five total rounds.  Warm up adequately before beginning rotation.  Below are work sets and do not include warm ups.

Squats x 3-5 reps
Dead lifts x 3-5 reps
Front Squats x 8-10 reps
 

Rotation 2 - same rest protocol as above, repeat rotation 3 times.

SLDL x 8-10 reps
DB Snatches x 5 reps each arm
Plyometric Box Jumps x 10 reps 

Each rep scheme describes the set’s intensity level.  For example, 3-5 squats means to find a weight that is heavy enough to where you can barely do 5 reps but light enough to do at least 3 reps.  The goal is to increase the weight each time you train - I prefer keeping the max amount of weight you can do for the entire rotation, not allowing the weight to fluctuate up or down during a given workout.  It may take a couple of workouts to nail it down, but once you have a baseline, focus on slight increases each time you perform this workout.

Sample Week Training Split

Monday - Vertical Day 1
Tuesday - Horizontal Day 1
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Vertical Day 2
Friday - Horizontal Day 2
Sat and Sunday - Off

Depending on the individual, I may advocate for three different training days.  In this case, the following weeks would be:

Monday - Vertical Day 3
Tuesday - Horizontal Day 3
Wednesday Off
Thursday - Vertical Day 1
Friday - Horizontal Day 1
Sat and Sun - Off 

Monday - Vertical Day 2
Tuesday - Horizontal Day 2
Wednesday Off
Thursday - Vertical Day 3
Friday - Horizontal Day 3
Sat and Sun - Off 

Hey Cavepeople, 

I hope all is well in the world of the simple.  While split typically varies and is assigned to help maximize functionality in training and recovery from session to session.  There are a few different splits that I like to use in Caveman Training.

Vertical - Horizontal Split

The Vertical-Horizontal Split can be used in either a 3 or 4 day training split, and is based on the movements.  If you are standing, those exercises are done on the vertical day, and if you’re laying or bent, those exercises are done on the horizontal day.  Keeping with the simplicity of the Caveman Lifestyle, we’re keeping the exercises simple.

Vertical Days
Primary Exercies
Squats
Front Squats
Dead Lifts
Stiff-Leg Dead Lifts
Hack Squats
Zercher Squats
Plyometric Vertical Bounds

Secondary Exercises
Pull Ups
Dips
Pull Downs
Seated Rows
Standing Arm Work

Horizontal Days
Bench Press (and all variations)
Bent Rows 
Push Ups
Leg Press
Glute Hamstring raises
Lying Arm Work
Plyometric Broad Jumps 

Legs, Push, Pull Split 

Typically a three day split, it’s one of the most popular and one where I think body part training probably spurned from.  Simply put, each day has a focus, and the workout revolves around a specific lift and making that lift stronger, hence increasing muscle growth.

Leg Day - Focuses on Squats

Push Day - Focuses on Bench

Pull Day - Focuses on Dead Lift

Of course all of the muscles that go into those specific lifts are also trained on the specific day as well (other chest, shoulders and triceps exercises on push day and so forth).  Simple, and a popular split for beginner cavemen.

Full Body Split

While most elite athletes train in this style, unfortunately those who are looking to change their body and look amazing quicker avoid it.  Since I’m a fan of mixing in circuit/Cross-Fit Style training into workouts to keep things fresh and to bust through plateaus, full body is an excellent way to train.  Whether it is a high intensity circuit or a day of squats, benches and deads with various volumes, the full body training split is an excellent way to train the body.  Of course, program design is important, and since you’ll be using many of the same muscles in multiple workouts during a given week, it is important to work intense, yet, focus on doing less volume in each workout on a specific group.

The caveman must be functional to survive, and a full body split is a great way to keep train with functionality in mind.

Upper Lower Split

This may be my least favorite split that I’ll authorize, but it has a place.  I like using this as a four day split (Monday - Lower, Tuesday - Upper, Thursday - Lower, Friday - Upper for example) but it can be a 3 day split that just continues week to week.  Regardless, it’s simply broken up based more on the exercise and not broken up by functionality. 

The split you choose to follow depends on your goals and what areas of weakness you need to focus on to correct.  Noticeably absent is the 5-6 day body part splits, of which I feel overdo it and make little sense from a recovery and of a functionality standpoint.

Sample workouts and nutrition plans coming soon!

Captain Caveman

What kind of results can one expect following the Caveman Lifestyle?

Pictures do not lie.  It takes work, effort and consistency.  But anything that has value can only be obtained by hard work.

Results ARE typical…