What is the viral 4-2-1 workout method? Here's what you need to know about the fitness split taking over TikTok
There's always a new workout split trending online, promising better gains, fat loss, or smarter recovery, from the 3-2-1 method to the 6-12-25 method. Now, the 4-2-1 method is having its viral moment on TikTok.
This weekly split is designed to help you build muscle, burn fat, and improve mobility. It's simple: four strength days, two cardio sessions, and one day focused on mobility. And while it's all over social media, many trainers have backed this approach for years.
The catch is that it asks for seven days of movement with no skipping.
If you're curious whether it's worth the hype or just hard, here's everything you need to know.
What is the 4-2-1 Method?
The 4-2-1 method is a meant to be a simple way to organize your workouts over a week.
Here's how it works:
4 days strength: These sessions focus on weightlifting, bodyweight exercises, or resistance training aimed at building muscle.
2 days cardio: These can include steady-state activities like jogging or cycling, or higher-intensity workouts such as HIIT to improve cardiovascular fitness.
1 day mobility: This day is dedicated to activities like yoga, stretching, or recovery exercises to maintain flexibility and support recovery.
You can mix and match the order of these workouts to fit your week however you like. When I try the 4-2-1 method myself, I will make sure not to schedule cardio sessions before big strength days because my legs will tire out pretty quickly, especially when using a pair of the best adjustable dumbbells.
Why does it work?
The 4-2-1 method breaks your week into four strength days, two cardio sessions, and one mobility day, to form a balanced routine that supports muscle building, fat burning, and recovery.
Doing seven workouts a week can be demanding, so adjusting intensity or rest as needed is important to keep it manageable.
It encourages consistency with daily exercise while mixing things up to help prevent burnout.
The inclusion of mobility work is there to aid flexibility and injury prevention, and the flexible schedule lets you fit workouts around your life.
That said, doing seven workouts a week can be demanding, so adjusting intensity or rest as needed is important to keep it manageable.
I'll be putting the 4-2-1 workout split to the test so I can give you an honest look at how it fits into a real week.
More from Tom's Guide
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Don't own a smartwatch? Strava's app update just made phone tracking way better
Ditch crunches — try these 5 kettlebell exercises instead to sculpt your abs, strengthen your core and improve balance
Forget your age — new study reveals it's never too late to add more healthy years to your life
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Strengthen your feet with a simple daily routine from a podiatrist
Dana Santas, known as the 'Mobility Maker,' is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and mind-body coach in professional sports, and is the author of the book 'Practical Solutions for Back Pain Relief.' Whether you're taking a morning walk or chasing after a little one, your feet bear your body weight with every step you take. Yet they are often one of the most neglected aspects of any fitness routine. Like any other part of your body, your feet respond to training. Overlooking them can have far-reaching consequences. Your feet are your body's foundation, so when they lack strength, mobility or stability, it creates ripple effects up through the muscles and joints of the rest of your body. Poor foot function not only contributes to inflammatory conditions such as plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinopathy but also to ankle problems, knee pain, hip tightness and even low back strain. Understanding how to care for your feet isn't just about preventing foot pain — it's about supporting your entire body's movement potential. The anatomy of foot function Your feet are remarkable structures containing 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. This complex architecture allows your feet to adapt to various surfaces while providing the strength and mobility needed for stability and propulsion. The foot's arch system acts like a natural shock absorber and spring. When functioning properly, your arches compress slightly upon impact to absorb force, then recoil to help propel you forward. Your toes also play a crucial role, providing balance, grip and the final push-off during each step. How your feet function directly influences everything above them. Your ankles, knees, hips and spine all depend on proper foot mechanics for optimal alignment and movement. When your feet can't do their job effectively, other parts of your body compensate, often leading to overuse injuries and pain. 'You could really generalize it as causing postural fatigue,' said Dr. Emily Splichal, a functional podiatrist in Chandler, Arizona. 'When your feet aren't working optimally, people just can't stand as long as they used to or move as they would like to. Their foot fatigue limits their ability to do certain activities, like hikes or even walking the dog.' Test your foot health at home Try these simple assessments to evaluate your foot strength and mobility. Toe spread test: While seated, try to spread your toes apart without lifting them off the ground. If your toes barely move or curl under, you may have limited toe mobility. Arch control assessment: Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Try to lift your arches while keeping your toes and heels on the ground. If you can't create a visible arch lift, your intrinsic foot muscles may be weak. Calf-raise quality: Perform 20 single-leg calf raises. Place your hands on a wall or the back of a chair for stability, and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Bend your left leg to lift it off the floor, and then raise and lower your right heel while keeping your right leg straight. If you experience foot cramping, ankle wobbling or can't complete the set, it suggests weakness in your foot and ankle complex. These tests aren't diagnostic tools, but they can highlight areas that need attention. Editor's note: Splichal advises seeking professional help if you experience pain that is persistent and not resolved through exercise and rest. Strengthening your foundation To strengthen your feet, Splichal suggests a simple three-exercise routine that takes just minutes to complete: 1. The forward lean exercise helps activate your foot muscles and improve stability. Stand tall and stiff as a board, spread your toes wide, then lean your body forward slightly. As you lean, your toes will naturally grip into the ground, activating the muscles that stabilize your posture and strengthen your feet. Lean, pause and return to the start. Repeat for five repetitions on each side. 2. The short foot exercise targets the arch-supporting muscles through conscious toe activation. While standing in a split-stance position, focus on spreading and gripping the ground with the toes of your front foot. Splichal integrates this exercise with breathing: 'Every time your toes push into the ground, focus on exhaling through your nose. Inhale to relax.' Practice this through five breaths on each side. 3. The single-leg balance challenge combines foot strengthening with functional stability. After performing the first two exercises, practice standing on one leg for 10 seconds, then switch sides. Splichal calls for performing this sequence daily: 'Five forward leans, five inhale-exhales with short foot activation, then the single-leg balance for 10 seconds on each side. I want those exercises done every single day if people can.' The footwear factor Just looking at most modern, stylish footwear, it's easy to see how narrow toe boxes and high heels could create problems over time. But excessive cushioning and arch support can also weaken foot muscles by doing the work your feet should naturally be doing themselves. Splichal said her goal is to 'get everyone into as close to natural footwear as possible.' Natural or minimalist shoes mimic being barefoot — without extra cushioning, supports or lifts. She emphasized, however, that the transition depends on three key factors: foot type, injury history and intended activity. 'A flat foot is less stable than a high arch, so maybe they might have a harder time getting into natural footwear,' she explained. 'Someone with a history of chronic plantar fasciitis is going to be different trying to get into minimal shoes than someone else. And then there's the activity — are they requiring these shoes to run a marathon or for standing on their feet as a nurse? That might not make sense for minimal shoes.' Regardless of activity, Splichal said it is important to prioritize shoes with wider toe boxes, minimal heel-to-toe drop, and flexible soles. While she acknowledged research showing that minimalist footwear can strengthen foot muscles and improve toe flexor strength, she doesn't view shoes as 'the only or best way to strengthen the foot.' Instead, she advocates for intentional foot exercises combined with consistent recovery practices. Daily foot recovery Splichal recommends two foot recovery techniques everyone should do daily. Twice-daily foot release: To release feet, she instructs her patients to step on a textured ball for two minutes — changing foot position slightly every 30 seconds to ensure pressure is applied throughout all areas of the bottom of the foot. If you don't have a specialized foot-release ball, she said golf or lacrosse balls can also work. To ensure it becomes a daily habit, she advised that people 'do it when they brush their teeth.' Using this habit-stacking technique will help build it into your existing routine, making it easier to remain consistent. End-of-day toe spacer relief: Splichal also recommends that everyone wear toe spacers nightly for 15 to 20 minutes. She said that toe spacers can benefit anyone — not just those with bunions or hammertoes — helping fight foot fatigue and counter the impact of restrictive footwear. Your feet have carried you through every step of your life up until this point — isn't it time you gave them the attention they deserve? By incorporating foot-specific exercises, recovery and mindful footwear choices into your lifestyle, you can build a stronger foundation of support for years to come. Sign up for CNN's Fitness, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy routine, backed by experts.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
7 Major Health Benefits From Walking That *Will* Improve Your Life
The following is an edited and condensed excerpt of Born to Walk: The Broken Promises of the Running Boom and How to Slow Down and Get Healthy – One Step at a Time. Running is more popular than ever – but let's set endurance performance goals aside for a moment and recognise that walking is the quintessential human form of locomotion and the foundation of a healthful, active lifestyle. The health benefits of walking are legion. They accrue with short, frequent walks as well as with long walks and hikes. Any time you have a few minutes to spare, walking is a fantastic way to generate an immediate boost in energy, mood, musculoskeletal health, and cognitive performance. Walking helps boost digestion and the assimilation of nutrients; it is directly associated with improved sleep quality; it helps trigger parasympathetic nervous system activity and thus improves stress management; it improves glucose regulation; it helps boost the production of anabolic hormones such as testosterone, human growth hormone, sex hormone-binding globulin, insulin-like growth factor 1, and DHEA; and it generally promotes homeostasis. Making small shifts in daily routines and habits that enable you to take more daily steps can deliver a phenomenal range of physical and cognitive benefits – especially in the areas listed below. The Health Benefits More Walking Will Bring to Your Life Brain and Cognition The connection between walking and brain health is tremendous. Walking boosts the production of an important protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. BDNF has been shown to help improve neuron firing, build new neurons, increase blood circulation and oxygen delivery, help prevent cognitive decline, alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improve neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to form new connections and pathways. Harvard psychiatrist John J. Ratey, MD, calls BDNF 'Miracle-Gro for the brain'. Furthermore, a brief morning stroll is a reliable way to optimise your circadian rhythm and boost mood-elevating hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. This tees you up for a happy, productive day and sets the stage for the hormonal processes that promote restful sleep at night. When walking becomes a lifelong habit, the hippocampus and other areas of your brain grow thicker, a sign of improved memory formation and consolidation and improved resistance to cognitive decline. A widely publicised 2017 study conducted at UCLA, which compared the MRI scans of active and inactive people over the age of 60, revealed that active folks have bigger, better brains than inactive folks. Study subjects who walked more than 1.8 miles a day have faster brain processing speed, better working memory for quick decisions, and better memory consolidation than inactive folks. The bilateral hippocampal volume in the active group was 12% more than that of the less active group. In his book The Real Happy Pill, Swedish researcher Dr Anders Hansen reports that just taking a daily walk can reduce your risk of dementia by 40%. The popular notion that walking helps with creative thinking and problem-solving has been strongly borne out by research. A prominent Stanford University study revealed that walking can increase creative output by an astonishing 60%. Walking stimulates something called divergent thinking, which allows you to ponder numerous scenarios and solutions in a free-flowing manner. Researchers speculate that walking challenges executive function with the dual task of walking and thinking, which may spur a boost in creativity by 'relaxing inhibitory competition among memories and allowing ideas with low levels of activation to push through.' I can confidently say that I've done some of my best 'writing' on long hikes. Reflecting on my projects from a distance has stimulated fresh ideas and perspectives that I jump on as soon as I return to the keyboard. Mental Health Walking helps alleviate depression symptoms and contributes to improved quality of life scores. A three-phase study published by the American Psychological Association showed that a 12-minute walk delivered a boost in happiness, energy, focus, and self-confidence in comparison to sitting, even when participants weren't interested in walking and had no expectation of such an effect. Walking in nature has particularly potent mental health benefits, as evidenced by the increasing popularity of forest bathing. Strolling through nature has been proved to prompt a reduction in stress hormones, boost immune function, alleviate depressive symptoms, and curb rumination, which is considered destructive behaviour. Doctors are now prescribing forest bathing as a legitimate treatment for a variety of mental and physical health conditions. Fat Metabolism Walking trains your body to efficiently burn free fatty acids for fuel. It's low-intensity, so it uses fat as its predominant energy source, but it is far more metabolically demanding than sitting. Metabolic stimulation from walking and other low-level, purely aerobic activities helps you burn fat 24 hours a day and stabilises mood, energy levels, blood glucose, and appetite. A Harvard University study revealed that an hour a day of brisk walking minimises the influence of obesity-promoting genes. Studies conducted at the University of Exeter showed that a mere 15-minute stroll can reduce both cravings and the intake of chocolate and other sweets. Immune Function Regular walking increases blood circulation, delivers anti-inflammatory benefits, counters the inflammatory effects of sitting, and strengthens your antibodies. Just a few minutes of walking increases the number of immune cells in your leukocytes and boosts white blood cell production, making you more resilient against cold and flu. One study of 1,000 subjects showed a 43% reduction in sick days among those who walked a minimum of 20 minutes a day, five days a week. Disease Prevention Assorted studies reveal that everyday walking can greatly reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes. It can also minimise hospitalisations and the duration of hospital stays, lower blood pressure and resting heart rate, and reduce diabetes risk. A six-year study conducted at the University of North Carolina, involving more than 16,000 women ages 60 and up, revealed a 32% decrease in disease risk among subjects who walked at least 2,000 steps a day. Every increase of 1,000 steps a day was associated with a 28% decrease in mortality risk. Interestingly, the health and disease prevention benefits of walking seem to plateau at 4,500 steps a day. This suggests that we should focus on finding small opportunities to increase daily walking and not get discouraged about falling short of the arbitrary 10,000-step edict. Musculoskeletal Function Walking strengthens muscles, bones, joints, and connective tissue. Walking also builds a foundation that enables you to engage in brief, explosive high-intensity exercise that might otherwise be too difficult for unfit individuals to attempt. Regular walking also helps alleviate arthritis pain and reduces the likelihood of developing arthritis by keeping joints and connective tissue well lubricated. Walking with minimalist footwear and using proper form can help you reorganise faulty biomechanics and become more efficient. This can help you naturally and safely alleviate chronic conditions such as foot and low back pain. Mitochondrial Function Walking may not give you the immediate sense that you're on your way to awesome fitness, but it's an incredibly effective way to increase the number of oxidative enzymes inside your mitochondria. Exercising below fat max heart rate still provides sufficient oxygen to stimulate lots of mitochondria, strengthening them in the process. The oxidative enzymes in your mitochondria improve the metabolic function of your skeletal muscles, boosting fat and carbohydrate metabolism and improving the rate of adenosine triphosphate energy production. Having abundant oxidative enzymes improves performance and provides greater protection against oxidative stress at all exercise intensities. Unlike low-level aerobic exercise, which involves plenty of oxygen and lots of mitochondria, high-intensity exercise will burn glucose without the need to involve mitochondria – this is known as anaerobic metabolism. You're in a hurry (literally!), so you just need some energy – lots of energy – quickly, and you can't go to the trouble to burn energy cleanly and efficiently. Remember the contrasting campfires: the glowing logs of aerobic metabolism and the twigs and newspaper of anaerobic metabolism. When you go anaerobic, you generate ATP more quickly, but you also generate more free radicals, lactic acid, and elevated ammonia levels in the blood because of the disassembling and deamination of cellular proteins. This is why it takes longer to recover from a sprint workout than a walk. Well-functioning mitochondria can help manage the free-radical load resulting from intense exercise by spreading the burden to lots of other mitochondria. Understand that the cellular stress of high-intensity exercise also stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis in its aftermath. However, it does so by lighting up completely different message-signaling pathways from the ones aerobic activity activates. Both low-and high-intensity exercise turn on a 'master switch' called PgC1α, which triggers a favourable rise in mitochondrial density and oxidative enzyme activity. So we have an urgent need to engage in both low-intensity cardio and high-intensity strength and sprint workouts for maximum mitochondrial health. Your exercise patterns are a key driver of mitochondrial health, but diet and other lifestyle factors also exert a big influence. If an unfit, inactive person eats too many carbohydrates, this promotes a pattern of bypassing mitochondria and burning mostly sugar—like an inefficient power plant that burns coal and spews smoke. The same thing happens when you engage in chronic cardio, which can damage mitochondria and promote sugar burning even after you've finished one of those depleting workouts. In these cases, mitochondria can atrophy or become dysfunctional. This makes you prone to oxidative damage not only from exercise stress but also from all forms of life stress. By contrast, a healthy aerobic system turns you into a high-production solar power plant made up of capillaries and mitochondria. It enables mitochondrial biogenesis to occur from anaerobic activity, too. That's right: walking supports your performance and recovery from explosive activity such as sprinting and lifting weights as well as endurance performance at high intensities. You Might Also Like The 23 Best Foods to Build Muscle 10 of the Best Waterproof Boots to Buy in 2019 6 Ways to Improve Your Mental Health
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
Brandi Glanville posts shocking video using Nair to fight facial parasites
Brandi Glanville is concerning fans after using a chemical hair removal cream on her face to fight a facial parasite. In a TikTok video posted Sunday, Aug. 3, the former "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star's face around her cheeks and chin appears red and inflamed, as she touts the popular depilatory Nair as a way to address the parasite. "I know I look attractive," Glanville, 52, says of the damage to her skin. "So, good news, you guys don't have to spend a lot of money on (chemical) peels and lasers anymore." She went on to add that when she has "an exfoliated face it pisses ... off whoever is living in my face." "Nair is the fountain of youth. I figured it out, but I overdid it," she continued. "Seven minutes. Don't do it." In the caption of the video, she suggested others do a "test patch" in the caption of the video, claimed to have used Nair to burn "the loose skin off my arms" and touted the easy price point. However Nair's product label warns not to use on the face and other sensitive areas, and not to use on irritated, sunburned, inflamed or broken skin. Garcelle Beauvais leaves 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' after 5 years Fans shared worry for Glanville in the comments. "Please do NOT put Nair in your face!!" one person wrote. "You gotta get out of LA girl. I swear there's so much more out there," said another. "NAIR is not meant to be a chemical peel. brandy (sic) please dont do anything that's not recommended by a professional doctor," one fan added. "& even then be cautious & get second opinions." One person added: "I have no words but praying for you girl." What is Morgellons? Fans suggest Brandi Glanville may have disease Others suggested the television personality may have Morgellons or a chemical burn, and suggested she go to the emergency room. Morgellons disease, a form of delusional parasitosis, is a contested condition in which people are thought to have a false belief that they are infected by parasites, mites, worms or other organisms, despite testing suggesting the contrary, according to the Mayo Clinic. In December, Glanville first explained she was dealing with a parasite that caused swelling, disfiguration and trouble speaking. She told Entertainment Tonight at the time that she "did lab work for $10,000" and underwent a host of testing with a variety of doctors, without a clear answer as to the cause of her condition. Facial parasites, mites or worms, can lead to common conditions like demodicosis, or the overgrowth of demodex mites, which virtually all humans have and are naturally occurring on the face.
