Tristyn Lee has experimented with nearly every popular training split over the past decade. After years of trial and error, the Canadian bodybuilder and fitness creator says he’s finally settled on a system that helped him gain 40 pounds of muscle, lose significant body fat, and stay consistent without constantly chasing the latest fitness trends.
In a recent YouTube video, Lee walks through his current seven-day split, explaining the principles behind each workout and why simplicity has become the biggest lesson of his training career.
Day 1: Squat-Focused Leg Day
Lee opens the week with a quad-dominant lower-body session built around seated leg curls, heavy leg extensions, hack squats, front foot elevated split squats, and calf raises.
He explains that seated leg curls remove unnecessary variables, allowing the hamstrings to become the limiting factor, while hack squats remain his primary quad builder.
“This is the movement that built most of my quads over the years,” Lee said about hack squats.
Day 2: Vertical Pull Day
The second day emphasizes back development through pull-ups, assisted pull-ups, chest-supported T-bar rows, full-range lateral raises, and biceps work. Reflecting on his early training, Lee admits he once relied too heavily on cable exercises instead of mastering bodyweight pulling.
“My back used to be one of my weakest body parts, mostly because I was doing 19 different cable exercises and getting progressively better at none of them,” he said.
Instead, he now prioritizes getting stronger at moving his own body through space.
Day 3: Incline Push Day
His push workout begins with incline bench press before moving into pec deck flyes, JM press and deficit push-up supersets, cable lateral raises, and Bayesian curls.
Lee focuses on controlled repetitions and measurable progression rather than chasing failure on every set.
Day 4: Active Recovery and Calisthenics
Rather than taking a complete day off, Lee dedicates his fourth day to movement quality.
His session includes pull-ups, rope climbs, dips, hanging leg raises, Nordic curls, reverse Nordics, Bulgarian split squats, lunges, and around 15 minutes of skipping rope.
“This isn’t a max-effort workout,” Lee explained. “It’s more about improving shoulder health, mobility, and addressing any joint pain.”
Day 5: Hinge-Focused Leg Day
The second lower-body workout shifts toward posterior chain development with stiff-leg deadlifts, leg press, pendulum squats, and seated leg curls.
Lee combines hip extension and knee flexion movements to fully train the hamstrings while still emphasizing deep ranges of motion.
Day 6: Horizontal Pull Day
The sixth day targets the back from different angles using barbell rows, chest-supported rows, single-arm lat pulldowns, and traditional lat pulldowns.
He stresses consistent technique over excessive body English, encouraging lifters to standardize every repetition so progress can be measured accurately.
Day 7: Flat Push Day
The final workout of the week features flat pressing, machine incline press, cable upright rows, and barbell curls.
Rather than adding unnecessary exercises, Lee prefers repeating movements he can progressively overload while minimizing excessive warm-up time.
The Takeaway: Master the Fundamentals
Although his weekly split includes bodybuilding, calisthenics, and conditioning, Lee says nearly everything revolves around four foundational movement patterns.
“I’ve also realized that you only need to focus on four basic movements as a human: push, pull, squat, hinge,” he said.
He concludes by reminding viewers that exercise selection can change, but consistent progression cannot.
“You don’t need the perfect split,” Lee said. “You need a good plan that you’re willing to repeat for long enough that it actually gets the chance to work.”
About the Author
Jeremiah Oliva
Jeremiah Oliva is a writer passionate about fitness, sports, and active living. He has experience in songwriting and managing content and social media for online radio and magazine platforms.
He covers HYROX, CrossFit®, and competitive fitness, with a focus on performance, mindset, and athlete development.
Outside of writing, Jeremiah trains in boxing, cycles, explores the outdoors with his kids, and plays the guitar.
