There are tons of various weight training and resistance programs out there, so how do you tell which one is best for you? Firstly, you will base your weight training program on your experience level: beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
Beginner For most beginner users it's best to start with either a full body split, for example 3 days a week doing 2 exercises per muscle group, or a start strength program like Ripptoes or Bills Stars 5x5.
If I take some time off for a while and come back to weight training I will often do a full body workout for a week or two just to get back into the flow of things and get my muscles use to working.
From there I will move into something more advanced like a 5 day split.
Intermediate Intermediate lifters who have been training for 6+ months consistently and have finished their noob gains will want to look for a program that offers more emphasis on specific muscle groups.
Many people opt for a 3 day split.
Some variations of the 3 day split are training Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or doing 3 on 1 off working each muscle group 2 times in 7 days.
A possible breakdown for a 3 day split could be chest and triceps, back and biceps, and shoulders and legs.
A split like this puts a lot of focus on specific muscle groups aimed at sufficiently breaking them down.
Advanced For advanced users I would recommend a 4 or 5 day split.
The 5 day split is my personal favorite.
For example: Monday: chest Tuesday: legs Wednesday: arms Thursday: shoulders Friday: back This allows you to isolate and absolutely destroy each muscle group.
Switching up sets and reps is always good, but to start you will want to do 3-4 exercises per body part for 3 sets of 8-12.