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.