As a begginer, is better a push-pull split or a upper body split

Question

im 20M and i´ve started excercising about a month ago. I cant go to the gym, but i have access to a calisthenics park and some weights. For now, i have been alternating a push day (where i usually use diferent forms of pushups) and a pull day (where i do chinups and pullups with resistance bands). The thing is i dont feel sore the day after working out, no matter the amount of sets i do, and i see little progress. For example, a push day for me would be like this: (I can do around 20 pushups max)

Elevated pushups: 4setsx6reps

Normal pushups: 4setsx8-5reps

Diamond pushups from knees: 4setsx7-4reps

Normal pushups from knees: 4setsx12-5reps

All with 1min rest between sets, and most sets i go to failure

My concerns is the lack of soreness i feel the next day and the little progress I´m seeing. The question i wanted to ask if maybe as a beginner i should take another aproach, if it could be that i havent built endurance yet and I should try to do instead of this push-pull split a upper body workout every other day, where i alternate pull and push excersicse so that i can let the pull muscles rest while doing push and viceversa. Or maybe it doesnt matter much and the problem is withing my workout instead. I´ve tried doing research online but honestly, there is too much information and it is being very hard to filter through it. Thank you for your time

Answer 1

First of all, good job on starting exercising.

I'm going to assume you got you've got your nutrition straight and sleep enough, if not, start there.

With calisthenics, a good form in crucial and progressive overload is hard. Each movement must be full range of motion with perfect form or you won't be able to know if you're progressing.

Try to add some exercise variations if you can't just add rep to your sets (e.g. if you can't go from 6 to 7 pull up try to focus and the eccentric part of the motion, or pause a little at the top), there are other ways than adding weight or reps to progressively overload.

And since you're mostly working with your own body weight, you need to track your weight as well.

For the pull push, I always liked it but it's not really important for improving, especially for a beginner. I'd say it depend more on the frequency of your training, try to hit at least each muscle groups twice a week and you should be good, regardless of the split.

Also give your body some time to rest, it's not clear from the question but it seems you exercise every day, I know we all want quick results when starting, but that's just not how it works. Not only if could impede your progress if your muscles are not recovered, but you could put your joints and tendons at risk (they have a harder time getting stronger compared to muscles).

All that being said, it's usually quite easy to get better when starting, any kind of resistance training combined with enough protein and sleep should be enough to progress as a beginner.

Best of luck, and remember it takes time, one month is not a long time for muscle building.