Bro Split Routine is one of the most popular workout routines among fitness enthusiasts and professional bodybuilders. Almost every gym-goer has heard about this workout routine along with Push Pull Legs (PPL) and Full Body Workout Routine. Though in most of the cases, pro bodybuilders and fitness athletes follow Bro Split routine, numerous beginners and novice gym-goers also follow this without knowing whether it is effective for them or not in order to build muscle mass. So, let’s dive deep into this to know what is Bro Split Routine, what are its pros & cons and whether you should follow it or not to build muscles effectively.
What is Bro Split Routine?
Bro Split Workout Routine is a 6-day or sometimes, is a 7-day workout routine that makes you focus on single muscle groups on a single day. That means you have to train only one muscle group in a single day. For example, you have to train your chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, legs on Wednesday, and so on. Anyway, for your convenience, let’s take a brief look at how a traditional 6-day and a 7-day Bro Split routine look like:
| 7 Day Workout Routine | 6 Day Workout Routine |
|---|---|
| Monday: Chest | Monday: Chest |
| Tuesday: Back | Tuesday: Back |
| Wednesday: Shoulders (Deltoids & Traps) | Wednesday: Shoulders (Deltoids & Traps) |
| Thursday: Biceps | Thursday: Arms (Biceps & Triceps) |
| Friday: Triceps | Friday: Legs |
| Saturday: Legs | Saturday: Abs |
| Sunday: Abs | Sunday: Rest |
So, you can notice that you have to target only one or sometimes two muscle groups in a single day if you follow this workout routine. Let’s now discuss why you should or should not follow this workout routine.
Why Bro Split Workout Routine can be good for your muscle building?
As Bro Split routine is a 6 or 7-day split workout routine, you can easily get more than enough recovery for your muscles so that your muscles can get ready for more intense workout sessions in the next days. We all know how beneficial recovery is when it comes to muscle building and this is what Bro Split does best. For example, if you are training your chest today then you have 6-7 days break until you hit your chest again. The optimum window of muscle recovery is 60-72 hours depending on the intensity of your workout. It can be some hours more like 84 hours but Bro Split lets you recover your every muscle group for 144+ hours or 6 days which is more than enough.
Another advantage with the Bro Split routine is that as you have to train only one muscle group in a single session or day, you can train them with high intensity using various types of exercises to hit the muscles differently to help them grow more properly. You don’t need to hurry for another muscle group to train. You can just take your time, and perform your workout session intensely and properly to make gains. So that means, it is easier to follow compared to other workout routines as you have to focus on only one muscle group.
Why Bro Split Routine can not be that much effective for you?
If you are a beginner and have started going to the gym for a few weeks hoping to gain some lean muscle mass in your physique then I must say that Bro Split is not the routine that you should follow as it is not a beginner-friendly workout routine at all. A beginner needs a high-frequency workout routine by which he/she can make their muscles strong and habituated enough to gain some significant amount of muscle mass. Full Body Workout is a perfect example of this. But on the contrary, Bro Split is a low-frequency, high-volume workout routine that can be followed by professional bodybuilders or fitness athletes. So, if you are a beginner, you should better avoid this routine and focus on following the Full Body Workout Routine so that you can gain muscles way faster by using different workouts for different muscle groups to keep them habituated and make them stronger.
Many professionals avoid Bro Split due to the fact that it provides too much rest time which makes the muscles idle and the chances of injury get higher due to this. In Push Pull Legs, for example, you can train the muscle groups twice a week with perfect recovery time & frequency whereas, in bro split, you can only train an individual muscle group once a week which leads to extra unnecessary recovery time and less frequency and that can affect muscle-building too if you are not genetically gifted. Anyway, many pro athletes follow Bro Split too and get desired results but the majority still follow Push Pull Legs Workout Routine (PPL).
So, Should You Choose to Follow Bro Split or Not?
Well, it depends on your fitness levels which means, if you are a beginner or a novice gym-goer who wants to build muscle mass easily and safely with a perfect workout routine then bro split is not the one you should choose to follow as I have explained above. But, if you are an intermediate or a professional level bodybuilder or athlete who needs to put extra effort into recovery and high-volume workout sessions then you can follow bro split. Just make sure, your diet and nutrition is on point. With that being said, the bro split routine is still not a better workout routine than Push Pull Legs by any means still it is proven effective for advanced lifters and bodybuilders. Anyway, hope you have found this article helpful enough. If it really so then don’t hesitate to express your valuable thoughts in the comment section below. Thanks for visiting and appreciating our work.