Advice on changing a split for dieting

[lesssugar]

I've been in a caloric deficit for a few months now. It's not an extreme deficit (I lose 0.5-0.7% of body fat a week).

Now, for all this time, I've been doing upper/lower split: 4 days a week, and I train hard.

As my workouts are intense, I've been facing a problem: fatigue is building up quite strongly, which is natural on a diet. Most of the week I'm exhausted and I rarely "heal" by the time the next session comes.

Because of this, I'm looking to change my split to a 3-day one: Back/Triceps, Chest/Biceps, Shoulders/Legs.

Of course, I'm trying to avoid losing too much muscle mass in the process, but I am in a caloric deficit and my primary goal is to lose weight. That's why:

• I'm not trying to make gains, so I don't need to "kill" myself in the gym.
• I'm not trying to make gains, so I don't need to optimize my training by working each muscle group every 48h.
• I should work out moderately hard to make sure I'm not losing too much muscle, but not so hard that my fatigue lowers the quality of my day-to-day.

Hence, the 3-day split seems like a good choice:

• Training a muscle group once per week gives me lots of time to rest.
• Keeping moderate intensity and volume lets me stay toned and not lose too much muscle

(Side note 1: My diet is high-protein.)
(Side note 2: I also considered simply lowering my volume/intensity, but 1 day less at the gym appeals to me stronger.)

What do you think about the split change I described and my arguments?


Thanks!

[TAWS6]

It’s fine. I personally would rather do a split that has more reason behind it like a 3 day push pull legs. Once you separate chest and shoulders it can create overlap issues and triceps never really get a break.

[lesssugar]

It’s fine. I personally would rather do a split that has more reason behind it like a 3 day push pull legs. Once you separate chest and shoulders it can create overlap issues and triceps never really get a break.

Good point. I'll have a look into a 3-day PPL, too. Thank you!

[markcwalker88]

Keep the heavier lifting sets (3 x 6 etc) in and reduced the volume sets such as (3 x 10) to (2 x 10) so basically knock off a 3rd of the volume I believe has been mentioned a fair bit

[Lymnenews5e2q]

I personally would rather do a split that has more reason behind it like a 3 day push pull legs. Once you separate chest and shoulders it can create overlap issues and triceps never really get a break.