I Rated Three of the Best TikTok 4-2-1 Workout Programs

Posted on September 24, 2024 by resourcefulman

Your training program no longer needs a fancy name like “CrossFit” – now we can just string the numbers together and call them workouts? I’m kidding…mostly. Because today I’m looking at the 4-2-1 workout trend that’s been trending all over TikTok (and elsewhere).

Since 4-2-1 is not a workout, but rather a loose set of rules, I can’t give it an overall good or bad rating, but I can rate a few of them, as well as explain the overall design of the 4-2- program. 1. But first, let’s define our terms.

What is 4-2-1 training?

Well, it’s not really a workout. It’s a routine. And it’s not even a routine, it’s a vague structure of a routine. In other words, 4-2-1 is a split.

Splitting simply means how you divide your workouts throughout the week. In this case, 4-2-1 means:

4 days of strength training
2 days cardio
1 day of rest or , depending on who you ask, one day of mobile work.

This is what people usually mean by 4-2-1, but I’ll talk about some variations on this theme in a minute.

Is 4-2-1 the best way to split up your routine?

It is important to remember that schism is just a method of organization. Asking if 4-2-1 is a good workout program is like asking if “breakfast, lunch, dinner” is a good diet. You won’t be able to answer this question until you figure out what your diet (or routine) involves.

But I will say that, like breakfast, lunch, dinner, the 4-2-1 split is a great structure to build on if your priority is building strength. On the other hand, if you’re focused on cardio (let’s say you’re a runner), you might want to switch it up and do four days of cardio and two days of strength training.

What does a four-day strength training split look like?

During the 4 strength days, you will still have many options for splitting up your workouts. Here are some of the best four-day strength splits:

Top/bottom split

Probably the most common way to do a four-day strength split is this:

Upper body
Lower body
(rest or cardio here)
Upper body
Lower body

This way, you will never work the same muscle group two days in a row. This allows you to work a little harder each workout than if you were using the same muscle group in a row.

4 Day Full Body Split

However, contrary to internet science, there is no hard and fast rule for how much rest you need between workouts . Approximately 23 hours between Monday morning and Tuesday morning is plenty of recovery time if you want or need to work the same muscle in both workouts. With that in mind, you could try something like this:

Full body (light)
Full body (heavy)
(rest or cardio here)
Full body (light)
Full body (heavy)

This is exactly the split I currently follow in my Olympic weightlifting coach’s program. “Easy” days include competition exercises such as snatches and clean and jerks, while “heavy” days include heavier strength exercises such as deadlifts.

Mixed split with focus day

You can also combine the above, using several days for body parts and several days for the whole body. Something like this:

Upper body
Lower body
(rest or cardio here)
Full body
Arms and shoulders

This variation targets most parts of the body twice: upper body on days one and three, lower body on days two and three. And then on day four you pay a little more attention to those parts of the body that you think could benefit from day three. In our example this would be the arms and shoulders, but this would also be a good place for a glute day if you’re trying to tone your glutes, or a strength/skills day if you’re trying to work on something challenging. such as a handstand or even a different trick for that day each week.

Let’s evaluate the 4-2-1 splits of TikTokers.

I searched TikTok for “4-2-1 Workout Plan” and “4-2-1 Workout Program,” hoping to find tons of examples of people doing the program. Here are the best results with my critique.

Olivia Iannelli

Day 1: Lower Body (Back Squat Video)
Day 2: Upper body and HIIT (bench press video)
Day 3: Steady Cardio and Mobility (treadmill running video)
Day 4: Lower Body (Deadlift Video)
Day 5: Upper Body and Glutes (Overhead Press Video)
Day 6: HIIT Cardio
Day 7: complete rest

Is the structure appropriate? Yeah. This is 4 days of strength, 2 days of cardio (but only 3 days with cardio), one day of mobility (combined with cardio) and one day of rest. This fits the bill: Day “1” is a day of complete rest.

Is this a good training plan? I don’t know! She doesn’t say what she does on those days, just a video of one repetition of one exercise for each. The caption features an ad for a workout app called Ladder (her username is @livfromladder, so it’s trackable).

My verdict: this is not a training plan, but just an advertisement.

Training Truths

This guy in the baseball cap gives us a 4-3-1 split. This is not a typo, these are numbers that add up to eight.

4 days of cardio 40 minutes a day, whatever cardio you want. This can be done on lifting days or non-lifting days.
Weight day 1: chest, shoulders, triceps (3 exercises per body part, 3 sets per exercise)
Strength, day 2: back and biceps (the rules are the same as above, you choose the exercises)
Weights Day 2: Quads, Glutes, Hamstrings.
1 gram of protein per pound of your body weight (lean proteins)

He then gives an example of exercises you can choose for each strength training day and a list of protein sources.

Is the structure appropriate? Not the 4-2-1 we were talking about, no. And instead of all the numbers being training days and adding up to 7 ( perhaps the number of days in a week), two numbers are training days and one is a protein reminder.

Is this a good training plan? Some things are missing, but what is there is not bad! The lifting split is a push/pull/legs split, which I would rather think of as a 6-day regimen rather than a 3-day regimen (so you can hit each muscle twice a week). However, if you like this schedule and are making progress on it, I have no reason to stop you. The structure of three exercises per body part and three sets per exercise is easy enough to remember and gives you some flexibility in choosing exercises that you enjoy and can do with the equipment you have. I wish it talked more about weights, reps, or progression, but surely some portion of the target audience will embrace it, do it, and get good results.

4 days of cardio is a good addition. Many people who follow this kind of rough training structure may be trying to skimp on cardio. But 4 times 40 minutes is 160 minutes per week, which is quite consistent with the need for 150 minutes for general health . I like it.

One gram of protein per pound of body weight is overkill, but it sticks in everyone’s mind because it’s easy to remember and I believe there is some value in it. You don’t have to stick to lean protein either; Fats are also good to have in your diet.

My verdict : If you like it, I say go for it. Cardio and strength days will benefit your health, and if you do your best to challenge yourself on strength training days, you will make some progress in strength. I would skip the nutritional recommendations as long as you are getting a reasonable amount of protein in your diet.

Dr. Robin B.

I kept seeing this account in search results for 4-2-1 workouts, but in each video the author was simply doing a compound dumbbell movement (like a squat, raise, and press, or a lunge and curl) with promises that 4- Combination movements with 2-1 dumbbells will strengthen your waist and help you lose 10 pounds!

Is the structure appropriate? It’s hard to tell, but she’s doing the movements with light weights at a fast pace, so it probably won’t work as a strength workout. She says you “just” need a pair of dumbbells, so I suspect there won’t be any more heavy lifting involved.

Is this a good training plan? Sigh. This is another advertisement for stairs.

My verdict: Most 4-2-1 videos are advertisements for workout apps.

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