{"id":16132,"date":"2026-03-23T11:02:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16132"},"modified":"2026-03-23T11:02:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T11:02:31","slug":"dr-mike-israetel-used-a-floating-split-to-hit-6-body-fat-heres-how-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=16132","title":{"rendered":"Dr Mike Israetel Used a ‘Floating Split’ to Hit 6% Body Fat \u2013 Here’s How It Works"},"content":{"rendered":"


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For many people starting their fitness journey, choosing a training split can feel overwhelming. Push, pull, legs<\/a> or full-body? Bro split<\/a> or bodybuilder<\/a> split?<\/p>\n

The answer matters. How you train \u2013 and why you\u2019re training, whether for fat loss or maximal strength \u2013 sets the tone for the months ahead. It\u2019s a question Dr Mike Israetel<\/a> encounters frequently, and one he addresses in his latest YouTube video<\/a>. In it, the sports scientist and competitive bodybuilder outlines the thinking behind his own \u2018floating split\u2019, what it involves and how it helped him reach a lean 6% body fat<\/a>.
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In the video, Dr Israetel describes the floating split as a way to structure training around declining energy and mounting fatigue \u2013 two realities during intense fat-loss phases and progressive overload<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Explaining how he programmed the final \u2018mesocycle\u2019 (a three- to six-week block of training) of a wider fat-loss phase, he outlines a six-session structure built around pull, legs and push, repeated twice, with a maximum of two rest days<\/a> between cycles.<\/p>\n

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Unlike traditional splits anchored to specific weekdays \u2013 chest<\/a> on Monday, arms on Friday and legs when you get around to it \u2013 the floating split runs on a rolling schedule. Rest days shift depending on fatigue and external demands.<\/p>\n

On average, this results in six training days per week, though it may flex to five or seven depending on recovery and life stress.<\/p>\n

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\u2018You don’t want to hate your split, because in a fat-loss phase, you hate enough stuff at that point. You get really psychologically and physiologically beat up at the end,\u2019 says Dr Israetel. \u2018A floating split completely solves that problem.\u2019<\/p>\n

In his example, the first pull session centres on vertical and horizontal pulling: weighted and non-weighted pull-ups, machine chest-supported rows, dumbbell seated lateral raises, cable curls and cable wrist curls.<\/p>\n

The following leg session begins with barbell good mornings, moves to leg press and finishes with a 30-rep leg extension<\/a> set.<\/p>\n

For the push day, Dr Israetel prioritised flat bench pressing (using a cambered barbell), overhead cable extensions, dumbbell incline curls<\/a> and a 75-rep set of dumbbell lateral raises<\/a>. For the incline curls, he used a method designed to maximise fatigue within a fixed rep target.<\/p>\n

\u2018The first [set] of 12 is close to failure, the next one\u2019s maybe 10 and two, then nine and maybe three, then eight, and then two, and then two,\u2019 he says. \u2018All completed to make sure it\u2019s 12 every single time. Brutal.\u2019<\/p>\n

The second half of the six-day cycle follows the same structure but swaps certain movements to reduce joint stress. That includes Smith machine rows and lying cable front raises on pull day, lying leg curls and belt squats on leg day, and machine chest presses<\/a> and barbell skull crushers on push day.<\/p>\n

\u2018Your ego is not going to like it,\u2019 Dr Israetel says, \u2018but the results will love it.\u2019
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