If you're following a traditional "bro split," where you train each muscle group only once per week, you may be sabotaging your gains. This is where most people start but fail to adapt once this training style has run its course. The answer to your issue could be a higher training frequency, where each muscle group is trained 2-3 times weekly. Let's break this down further.
The problem with the "bro split"
One of the biggest problems with the bro split is you only get one shot at training each muscle group weekly. The trouble here is that we're often forced to do more volume per muscle group per session than we can handle. For example, your chest day might consist of Incline DB Press, Machine Flat Press, Cable Fly & Smith Machine Flat Press. Assuming you're doing 2-3 working sets per exercise, that's 8 to 12 sets for chest every workout. The chances are, the early work sets are going to be highly stimulating, but fatigue is going to hinder you on the latter work sets. Wouldn't it make more sense to split the chest work across 2 separate weekly sessions?
Why does training muscle groups 2-3 times per week make sense?
You've just read how excess volume can lead to less effective work sets in a single session. One of the best ways to keep work sets more effective is to be fresh when you hit them. Instead of doing chest-only workouts once a week, you can group chest-shoulder-triceps in 2 weekly workouts. Workout 1 can have Incline DB Chest Press and Machine Flat Press, and Workout 2 can have Smith Machine Flat Press and Cable Fly. Now instead of doing 8 to 12 working sets, you'd do 4 to 6 working sets each session. This allows you to use heavier weights, maintain better technique, and work the muscle at a higher intensity. In other words, it's less likely to be junk volume and more likely to be effective volume.
Bro splits forget about muscle recovery rates
Every muscle recovers at a different rate. The recovery rate depends on controllable factors like diet, sleep, and hydration. It also depends on exercise selection, training intensity, and muscle size. The bigger the muscles, the more fatigue it's possible to generate with the same exercise. The same goes for certain exercises. Training hamstrings with machine curls and deadlift variations are more taxing than doing shoulder presses and lateral raises. While you may only be able to train hamstrings 2 times a week and recover, you could train shoulders up to 3 times a week with no issues. None of these would be possible with a bro split. In a traditional bro split, if you trained shoulders on a Monday, you'd have to wait 7 days before hitting them again. But theoretically, you could hit them the following Wednesday and Saturday with a more effective training split.
Are you convinced yet?
There's nothing inherently bad about the bro split. But if your goal with training is to maximise your chances of getting more jacked and strong, then you're leaving gains on the table by only training muscle groups once a week. Make the switch to higher frequency training, and watch your progress increase.
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