The Ultimate Workout Split for Athletic Performance: A Complete Guide

Are you searching for the perfect training split to enhance your athletic performance? As a strength and conditioning coach at Thirst Gym, I’ve developed what I consider the ideal workout training split for athletes across various sports. While this is a generalization that may need sport-specific modifications, following this template will significantly improve your athletic capabilities.

I’ve created a video to go along with the article to help you understand these principles as well.

Understanding Athletic Training Frequency

Before diving into the specifics, I want to clarify an important point: the number of days per week you spend in the strength and conditioning room doesn’t automatically dictate your progress. I’ve worked with athletes who’ve made significant improvements training just two days per week, while others benefit from three or four weekly sessions.

You need to determine what works best for your schedule, recovery ability, and specific sport demands. However, I’ve found that a three or four-day split offers the optimal balance for most athletes. Let’s break down how to organize these training days to maximize your athletic development.

The 3-Day Foundation: Lower, Upper, and Full Body

Whether you choose three or four weekly sessions, we’ll organize them using a lower-body, upper-body, and full-body split approach. This structure ensures complete development while allowing adequate recovery between sessions.

Day 1: Lower Body Power and Strength

The first day focuses exclusively on developing lower body power, strength, and stability—essential qualities for nearly every sport.

Linear Speed Development (15-20 minutes)

Begin with acceleration or deceleration-focused drills:

• Sprint variations
• Prowler/sled pushes
• Deceleration practice (getting low and stopping)
• Band-resisted starts
• Sled drags

Prioritize what you need most as an athlete. If your first step needs improvement, focus on acceleration work. If you’re already fast but struggle with stopping quickly, emphasize deceleration mechanics.

Plyometric Training (10-15 minutes)

Pair your speed work with vertical-based plyometric exercises:

• Vertical jumps
• Single-leg jumps
• Hurdle hops
• Seated box jumps (for rate of force development)
• Pogo variations (for elasticity)

Olympic Lifting (15 minutes)

Next, move to a clean variation:

• Hang cleans
• Cleans from blocks
• Clean + front squat complexes

While not ideal, I often group the sprint work, jumping, and cleaning together to save time. If possible, complete your speed and jumping work first, then move to the cleans.

Primary Strength (15-20 minutes)

Focus on a heavy squatting movement:

• Front squats
• Back squats
• Box squats
• Single-leg squats

Push these exercises hard with heavy sets of 3-5 repetitions to build maximum strength.

Auxiliary Work (15-20 minutes)

Finish with unilateral exercises, lateral movement work, and core training:

• Single-leg hinges (supported or unsupported single-leg RDLs)
• Lateral lunges
• Hamstring-specific exercises (leg curls, glute-ham raises)
• Core exercises (hanging leg raises are excellent as they simulate running mechanics)

Day 2: Upper Body Power and Strength

For the upper body session, we’ll follow a similar progressive pattern but with more volume since these muscles typically recover faster than lower body.

Upper Body Power (15 minutes)

Start with explosive upper body movements:

• Plyometric push-ups
• Barbell jerks
• Push presses (barbell or dumbbell)
• Landmine exercises
• Medicine ball throws and slams

Choose one weighted/explosive pushing exercise and pair it with a medicine ball variation that mimics your sport’s movement patterns.

Primary Pressing (15-20 minutes)

Move to a heavy horizontal pressing exercise:

• Bench press
• Incline bench press
• Close-grip bench press
• Floor press

Push these movements hard with sets of 2-5 repetitions to build overall upper body strength.

Horizontal Pulling (10-15 minutes)

Pair your pressing with a two-arm rowing variation:

• Chest-supported rows
• Inverted rows
• Barbell rows
• Dumbbell rows

I recommend using supported rowing variations to minimize lower back fatigue, allowing you to focus exclusively on upper body development.

Vertical Pressing and Pulling (15 minutes)

Next, perform vertical pushing and pulling exercises:

• Seated or standing overhead presses
• Incline dumbbell presses
• Landmine presses
• Lat pulldowns
• Chin-ups or pull-ups

Work in the 8-10 rep range for hypertrophy and muscular endurance.

Shoulder and Arm Work (10-15 minutes)

Finish with targeted “fluff and buff” work:

• Shoulder raises
• Bicep curls
• Tricep extensions
• Additional core work

Perform 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps to maximize blood flow and muscular development in these smaller muscle groups.

Day 3: Full Body Integration

The full-body day is typically the most challenging session. It integrates all movement patterns and physical qualities developed earlier in the week.

Horizontal and Lateral Jumping (15 minutes)

Begin with explosive power development:

• Broad jumps
• Lateral bounds
• Lateral hurdle hops
• Rotational plyometric work

If you’re an athlete who changes direction frequently (like in basketball, soccer, or tennis), add change-of-direction drills:

• Lateral shuffles
• 5-10-5 drills
• Cutting mechanics practice

Perform these for 3-5 sets of 3-5 repetitions.

Primary Strength (15-20 minutes)

Choose either:

Option A: Olympic Lifting

• Snatch variations
• Snatch pulls
• Power snatches

Option B: Heavy Hinging

• Romanian deadlifts
• Conventional deadlifts
• Sumo deadlifts
• Trap bar deadlifts

For advanced athletes with snatch technique mastery, Option A works well. For beginners to intermediates, focus on proper hinging mechanics with Option B. Keep repetitions low (1-3) and weight heavy to maximize strength development.

Complementary Exercises (15-20 minutes)

Pair upper body pulling with unilateral lower body work:

• Chin-up variations
• Pull-up variations
• Lateral lunges (if not done on Day 1)
• Reverse lunges
• Forward lunges
• Bulgarian split squats

This superset combination is extremely challenging but highly effective for building functional strength.

Auxiliary Work (15 minutes)

Finish with athlete-specific needs:

• Core and trunk stability work
• Additional upper body work (if size is a goal)
• Posterior chain exercises (reverse hypers, glute-ham raises, Nordic curls)
• Sled dragging variations

Optional Day 4: The “Athlete Day”

If you can manage a fourth weekly session, I recommend what I call an “Athlete Day.” This session is shorter, less intense, and focuses purely on athletic qualities rather than heavy strength work.

Speed and Agility (15-20 minutes)

Choose 2-3 speed or agility movements you need to improve:

• Low-intensity pogos
• A-skips
• Change of direction mechanics
• Deceleration practice

Targeted Plyometrics (10-15 minutes)

Select 2 plyometric exercises based on your specific needs:

• Weighted jumps (for vertical improvement)
• Box jumps
• Broad jumps (for linear speed)
• Lateral bounds (for change of direction)

Bodyweight Circuit (15 minutes)

Finish with general conditioning using primarily bodyweight exercises:

• Push-ups
• Inverted rows
• Dips
• Core work

The entire Day 4 session should take only 30-45 minutes. It’s designed to be supplementary, addressing specific athletic qualities without overtraining or compromising recovery.

Adapting the Program to Your Needs

This program framework provides a solid foundation for athletic development, but remember to customize it based on:

1. Your sport’s demands – Emphasize the physical qualities most important for your sport
2. Your weak points – Allocate more training volume to areas needing improvement
3. Your recovery capacity – Adjust intensity and volume based on how well you recover
4. Your training experience – Beginners might start with simpler variations, while advanced athletes can handle more complex exercises

Final Thoughts

This training split offers a comprehensive approach to athletic development by systematically targeting power, strength, stability, and sport-specific qualities. Whether you choose three or four weekly sessions, the key is consistency and proper execution.

Remember that athletic development happens over months and years, not days and weeks. Trust the process, focus on quality training, and watch your performance steadily improve over time.

Need help organizing your training or designing your sports performance training? Schedule a FREE Discovery Call to see how we can help or contact us today for help with your sports performance training!