An Ode to the Bro Split

[asperd]

@booboo222 If you plateaued on upper/lower PPL 5 days a week and started seeing gains again after a 5 day bro split, it's probably because you were doing too much volume before. All these PPL splits I see on Instagram are notoriously high volume.

I was doing a 3 day on 1 day off PPL for like a month and a half before I switched to a 4 day upper/lower. I made some gains off PPL. But I don't think it would have been sustainable for me to train that much.

You absolutely can modify PPL to be lower volume. But I'd rather be in the gym longer 4 days a week than being in the gym for shorter periods 5-6 days a week.

 

[thedecreenovel]

@booboo222 Hell yeah, man. I've been training consistently for almost 9 years now. I started with the bro split, but once I "outgrew" it, I went on to go through such a wide variety of programs -- @sandys splits, PPL, full-body splits. Hypertrophy programs, strength programs, powerlifting, powerbuilding, even pure bodyweight programs. Everything but the bro split, I started to look down on it because of how much it's shit on and how "sub-optimal" it is lol. For the most part, most of these programs were great and I followed them for years and years. But after a certain point, I hit a massive plateau with my body no matter what training technique I applied to try to break it.

Finally, a few months ago, I finally decided to go back to a bro split for the first time in like 8 years, and holy shit man I'm progressing on practically all of my lifts, feel amazing every time I'm in the gym, and most importantly I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Something about going to the gym with the mindset of hammering one body part is just so much fuckin fun compared to the mind-numbing full body splits that I've been doing for the past few years. I know it's not "optimal," but as an exercise physiologist, optimal is overrated as hell lol. As long as you're progressing at a decent rate, recovering well, and enjoying it? To hell with optimal

 

[tag77]

@thedecreenovel I was the same way. Originally did bro splits. Then got caught up in the whole powerlifting, 531, cube method, Candito, Sheiko, 5x5 etc. All those programs would work up to a point, but I would get stronger and not necessarily look more muscular. Then I realized no one will know how much you lift outside the gym, just how you look. With strength training, I would plateau and it would start hurting my joints too.

 

[thickandthin]

@booboo222 Yeah, while it may not be optimal, it’s definitely got to be one of the more sure-fire ways to at least keep growing slowly but surely. I’d still train floater exercises 3+ times a week each though, e.g. abs, calves, and forearms, maybe facepulls, since they don’t really take much out of you, and those muscles really like high frequency.

 

[stevens86]

@booboo222 Yeah so true. Been following EvolveAi since Dec 22 and that is more Powerlifting. Recently changed to Arnold 6 days and it is fine but nothing magical in my opinion. I have time for 6 but might just do 5 to free up my weekends.

 

[allyssandra]

@booboo222 The thing I don’t understand about the muscle part split is how shoulders fit into it. More specifically, how do I not train front delts during chest, and rear delts during back? I don’t think that’s possible, with the next logical step being, if I’m training delts twice, why am I not also training chest and back twice?

 

[dawn16]

@allyssandra By that logic, there’s no need to isolate triceps or biceps either. Don’t overthink it. If you’re training front and rear delts more than once, so what? If you want to train everything more than once, that’s fine too.

 

[booboo222]

@allyssandra I feel like the indirect work on chest and back isn’t enough to fully stimulate my shoulders or cause the need for a lot of recovery time on them. I also keep 2 days between back and shoulders and 3 between chest and shoulders. So I can go crazy on shoulder day (Thur) but feel good enough to get a great chest pump by Monday. I just feel fully recovered on this split, perhaps I’m slow in that category.

 

[sadmamacat]

@booboo222 Fellow 40-something dude here. I've had the exact same experience the past two months. Been working out for three years and always avoided the bro split due to the common opinion online that it's not optimal or even a waste of time.

I've gotten more results in the past two months than all the previous months combined. Maybe we olds just need the recovery more?

 

[booboo222]

@sadmamacat I honestly think there is something to the longer recovery.

 

[unbridledwild]

@booboo222 Everything feels amazing when you’re still in a relative grace period where the work is “easy” and you’re progressing every session and watching your muscles poke through your skin for the first time in a while or ever. Especially if you’ve putzed around on and off for a long time, it’ll feel like you’ve uncovered the secret sauce. But it ends and you’ll find yourself 6-12 months into barely moving the needle for the effort. That’s why we listen to the people who’ve added appreciable lean muscle to their frame over 5+ years. The question about “bro splits” is whether the bros you see doing them are any bigger or moving more weight than they were a few years before.

 

[dawn16]

@booboo222 I’ve had my best hypertrophy results on bro splits . Every other split doesn’t allow enough recovery for me.

On the strength side, 5/3/1 with bodybuilding accessories or custom powerlifting programming gave me the best results.

 

[aussiegirl89]

@booboo222 Keep in mind that for certain muscle groups like biceps, triceps and delts, most brosplits will actually train them 2-3x a week.

 

[halfaflipflop]

@booboo222 My best benching was on a bro split. I think it’s because I would bench twice a week thiugh

 

[annee]

@booboo222 What program are you running exactly? I'm interested in trying a 5 day bro split. I've been running PPL for the last year and wouldn't mind switching things up.

 

[booboo222]

@annee I just designed it myself based on the exercises in my ULPPL that I liked and gave me a good pump. It’s 5 days a week, 20 sets per workout (legs slightly higher). Everything 8-12 reps for now except squats and deadlifts 5-8. 3 or 4 sets per exercise, usually leave a rep or two in the tank until last two sets and take those to failure. All free weights as that’s what I have at home. 2 min rest. Everything takes a little less than an hour, except legs about 70 min.

Mon - chest / abs. Bench (4), DB incline bench (4), chest dips (3), incline DB flys (3), weighted sit ups (3), hanging leg raises (3)

Tue - back. Deadlifts (4), Wide grip pull-ups (4), bent over row (4), DB lat pullovers (3), T-Bar rows (3), back extensions (2)

Thur - shoulders. Standing press (4), lateral raises (3), seated DB press (3), rear delt flys (3), barbell shrugs (4), upright rows (3)

Fri - legs. Squats (4), RDL (4), barbell hack squats (3), hip thrusts (4), Bulgarian SS (3), standing Calfs (3), seated Calfs (3)

Sat - arms. Barbell curls (4), seated incline curls (3), hammer curls (3), close grip bench (4), tricep dips (3), DB skull crushers (3)

 

[levettle]

@booboo222 No science backed behind this but here are some thoughts:

1. You plateau’d on what was “optimal” and made gains on something else. At this moment, that something else is now optimal. Because what you’re doing now is actually working.
2. Junk volume . While most evidence suggests that somewhere around 10 sets is the tail end of volume that causes a growth stimulus. I’m not sure that sets beyond that amount (“junk volume”) undoes the stimulative sets. Also in distance running, people have made world records running 50 miles a week, some have done it running 110 miles a week. Responsiveness to volume obviously varies.
3. Muscle damage. Maybe the high high volume per session is increasing muscle damage, thus increasing myo nuclei , thus increasing potential for growth.

 

[gtr1963]

@booboo222 There is no optimal split routine in the grand scheme of things. I recommend trying several routines out as well as modifying them to how your body feels. In the beginning I started with ppl liked it at first but got a different job that really changed my routine and I ended up missing so many sessions because it didn't have the motivation at certain times. I switched to doing chest back legs shoulders then arms and then on the 6th day a touch up day for my lacking muscles that recover much faster. There were several people that said my split wasn't effective because I was only training each group once per week but my progress said otherwise.