what is the best split

jamiemeredithb
jamiemeredithb Posts: 1 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
fairly new to the gym and have seen a lot of discussions around splits. my nutrition is good an i’m currently trying to bulk. have been using a standard bro split which i have been enjoying and seeing results from but what split does everyone recommend and why?

Replies

  • Tic78
    Tic78 Posts: 232 Member
    I like upper lower split, have a look at the PHUL routine

    https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/phul-workout
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    There is no one best split, only the best one that addresses your goals. Largely the program you follow depends on how long you been lifting, what your goals are, the time available you can spend at the gym, and the one you find interesting.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • Riff1970
    Riff1970 Posts: 136 Member
    My favorite is a Push Pull Legs split. I’ve tried a bunch of others but always go back to it.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    There is no one best split, only the best one that addresses your goals. Largely the program you follow depends on how long you been lifting, what your goals are, the time available you can spend at the gym, and the one you find interesting.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    ^^^ This 100%. As a beginner your better off with a full-body split focusing on gaining strength. Something with linear progression you can ride for a few months would be best, then you can switch to whatever suits you, PHUL and PPL are very solid; I've personally been doing PHUL for a while and seeing nice gains for having lifted for a few years now.

    I like r/fitness list of recommended routines a little better as it's more concise and has some good logic in the intro.
    https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/recommended_routines

  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    LeanAnvil wrote: »
    Riff1970 wrote: »
    My favorite is a Push Pull Legs split. I’ve tried a bunch of others but always go back to it.

    Do you deadlift on pull or leg day

    I know you didn’t ask me, but I do it on pull day. Especially since I lift conventional. If I did sumo I’d probably do it on leg day since it incorporates the hamstring and glutes MUCH more. But if doing conventional, keep on a pull day. (Imo)
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    Whatever works for the lifter. Obviously you can be a complete jacka** in the gym, but iif you’re on a program and making progress, then that’s the best for the time being. You can always try different programs! I’m currently running a 6 day a week PPL program
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    The best split is the one that’s intelligently designed, works for your schedule and is oriented toward your goals. There is no one “best” or “most optimal” split.
  • Grambo54
    Grambo54 Posts: 75 Member
    Depends on what you want to achieve. What is your weakest body part? Calves? Do you care? Do you want upper body size? Big arms? Big thighs? Wider shoulders/lats? Well the best split depends on your answers.
  • BNY721
    BNY721 Posts: 125 Member
    edited September 2018
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    LeanAnvil wrote: »
    Riff1970 wrote: »
    My favorite is a Push Pull Legs split. I’ve tried a bunch of others but always go back to it.

    Do you deadlift on pull or leg day

    I know you didn’t ask me, but I do it on pull day. Especially since I lift conventional. If I did sumo I’d probably do it on leg day since it incorporates the hamstring and glutes MUCH more. But if doing conventional, keep on a pull day. (Imo)

    This is my setup, too. Makes sense to me, but also works for me..sumo pull on leg day...conventional otherwise

  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    LeanAnvil wrote: »
    Riff1970 wrote: »
    My favorite is a Push Pull Legs split. I’ve tried a bunch of others but always go back to it.

    Do you deadlift on pull or leg day

    This is an old conundrum, which is why you will see many different opinions on how to work DLs into a PPL. PPL is good for bodybuilding and general strength, but including heavy DLs or a lot of DL volume into it causes compromises. My opinion is that one should look into PHUL, PHAT, or some other conjugate periodization approach instead of straight PPL if they are into powerbuilding.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    jamiemeredithb wrote: »
    fairly new to the gym and have seen a lot of discussions around splits. my nutrition is good an i’m currently trying to bulk. have been using a standard bro split which i have been enjoying and seeing results from but what split does everyone recommend and why?

    If you enjoy the bro split, then do it, because as Jeff Nippard says (in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PgsKMDUExE) adherence is supremely important. If you're not adhering to your split then no split matters.

    But there is a downside to the bro split. As Nippard also covers in that video, MPS levels do not elevated as frequently in a bro-split because you're only hitting each body part once per week.

    As suggested in this thread, PPL and PHUL are good alternatives to the bro-split. Personally I don't like PPL because I don't like splitting up portions of my arms into two days, where you're doing Triceps one day and Biceps the next; I prefer the "pump" of a bro-split style arm-day, but I also prefer to do that more than once per week to take advantage of the MPS elevation.

    As a result, I do a modified PHUL split, because I prefer to be in the gym 5-6 days per week instead of (and for me, like Nippard's bro-split, this goes back to adherence; I stick to my diet better if I am in the gym more frequently).

    So I do two leg days (deadlift. squat and hip thrusts on these days), 2 upper-body chest/arms days, and 1-2 shoulder/back days (there's always at least one shoulder/back/lats day, and if I have Saturday free this becomes the 2nd one). This gives me two solid days of chest/arms with good bro-split style pumps (and these are fun days, so again, there's the adherence factor) and two leg days, which I think is far superior to the one leg day you get on a bro-split.

    And with the shoulder/back/lats getting their own day, I can really work those muscles hard; rack pulls, pulldowns, rows, OHP, etc. My back development is the one part I feel really proud of over the last year, so that's why I'm a big advocate of giving that muscle group it's own day.

    Anyway - there's a lot of splits. Adherence to a routine is important, so you have to do something you'll enjoy and stick with. But understand that you will find better overall results with something other than a bro-split.

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