Can anyone recommend a decent bro-split template?

[zobers]

I know everyone is gonna say “it’s not optimal” but I’ve been trying the optimal stuff for years and it just gets boring to me really quickly and I don’t stay consistent.

Years ago when I just fucked around in the gym doing a certain body part every day I enjoyed it way more and it was easier to stay consistent, and I’m thinking the better consistency will make up for the lack of optimization. I have been watching some Sam Sulek (yes I know he’s juiced to the tits lol) and I feel like I would love his style of training way more, but I’ve been following programs for so long I don’t feel like I can do it myself without fucking it up

I still want to track roughly my lifts to ensure I’m progressing.

I don’t need anything exact, but just a template to make sure I don’t miss anything important, for example:

Chest day: heavy press, incline press, chest fly

I’d prefer to not do squats and deadlifts, not worth the risk to me

Thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction!

Edit: 5 days preferred but 4 is fine

Mods feel free to delete if this thread should be in daily questions

 

[william3]

@zobers I like a 4 day split - something like this

Chest/biceps - Incline press, flat press, cable flyes, preacher curl, barbell curl

Back - Wide grip lat pulldown, sagittal plane row, seated upper back row, bent over rows, reverse pec deck

Shoulders / tricep - shoulder press, DB lateral raise, cable lateral raise, tricep pushdown, JM press

Legs - Hack squat, leg extension, hip thrust, seated leg curl, RDL, calf raises

You could take out the biceps and triceps and make arm day a 5th day

 

[dawn16]

@william3 Nice, Dorian's split. Do you do 1 set as well?

 

[william3]

@dawn16 I usually do 1 set to failure and then a back off set for each

Been seeing pretty good gains for the last few months doing this

 

[dawn16]

@william3 Smart approach! I currently follow a more volume based training style, but that sounds solid!

 

[wheatpenny]

@william3 Hey man, could you explain how do you structure your sets? And how to perform 1 set to failure, and what does back off set means?

 

[william3]

@wheatpenny It’s basically like 2-3 sets to warm up and then one set to failure usually 4-6 reps and then I’ll decrease the weight by like 10% for a back off set and try to get 6ish reps. Usually 3 minutes between the top set and back off set both going to failure

 

[wheatpenny]

@william3 Thanks G

 

[zobers]

@william3 Looks great! Like 10-15 sets per workout? Or more?

 

[william3]

@zobers I would do 1-2 sets per exercise to failure and if you don’t see progressive overload after a few weeks you can increase the volume

 

[romo]

@william3 Hey man, do you still run this split?

 

[william3]

@romo Yeah I do, still getting good results so far

 

[romo]

@william3 Great to hear it, I’m considering trying something like this, it sounds great for 4 days.

Have you made any changes since your comment?Like swapped any exercises, added any in or added any extra sets?

 

[william3]

@romo I might add in an extra set on one exercise if there’s like something I want to prioritize, but I think the exercise selection is pretty comprehensive so haven’t swapped any out.

 

[asperd]

@william3 Does wide grip lat pulldown help target Lats better? I asked ChatGPT why I'm feeling forearms and Biceps on lat pulldowns. Even though i did hammer curls and bicep curls previously to exhaust forearms and biceps. ChatGPT told me to widen my grip to reduce bicep and forearm engagement. Is that legit?

 

[william3]

@asperd In my experience wider grip ends up being more lats because the lats lose tension at the top of the pull-down and by using a wider grip your arm starts a little lower.

I would recommend using straps or versa grips for the lat pull down to make sure it’s your lats that fail not your grip. They do work your biceps and forearms though so you should feel them

 

[savedgirl]

@asperd So you just did pre exhaust on your arms and you now feel your arms more? No wonder, pre exhaustion is a method to make the muscles you pre exhausted be more of a limiting factor not the other muscles, you have this whole thing completely backwards.

To add, the grip widht in lat pulldowns just recruits different divisions of the muscle, both wide and close are good.

 

[lauren5]

@asperd Pull ups. Do pull ups. Weighted if you can. If not, use the assisted machine or bands but work your way to weighted pull-ups

 

[gowdy]

@william3 I know this is old, but how do rest days work with this split? Is it just 4 days on and rest 3 days? Or do you just keep going?

 

[william3]

@gowdy Just 4 days on
Usually 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off

It seems like it’s a lot of rest but I’ve been progressing really well on just a 4 day split