Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel is always after any edge or advantage he can get when it comes to fitness. In his latest effort, shared via YouTube on December 11, 2024, he revealed the best training splits for muscle growth.
With over three million subscribers attached to his Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel, there’s no denying that Dr. Mike Israetel offers the public effective advice, whether it’s perfecting exercise techniques, breaking down nutrition, or critiquing the training of legendary bodybuilders like Phil Heath, Ronnie Coleman, or Jay Cutler.
Is Your Training Split Hurting Your Gains? Discover the Best Options for Muscle Growth
Splits examined in this video:
- Bro Split
- Full Body Split
- Push/Pull/Legs Split
- Upper/Lower Body Split
This has led Dr. Israetel to examine the most optimal training splits for muscle growth. While ‘Bro splits’ and push-pull-legs are some of the most common, he delves into what makes these so effective alongside other training modalities for building muscle like never before.
“Arguably three things to consider and no more for how to design a good split. Number one, does your split give enough time for the target muscles between their sessions, so that they can recover adequately to perform well again?
The other consideration, does it give too much time between sessions for targeted muscles that they are already recovered but you’re just wasting time. If you train biceps once a week, it’s just a really difficult argument to make that they take that long to recover.”
Bro Split
To begin, Dr. Israetel took a closer look at the traditional ‘Bro Split’ where lifters typically train one or two body parts per session.
“It’s not terrible. For the average person that’s like C or B tier because it does train the muscles once a week hard which is good for general gains.
It does train the triceps and the biceps a little more if you do compound pushing and pulling for chest and back, respectively.”
He highlights that traditional Bro splits tend to overlook training shoulders.
“There’s no discussion about muscles like side delts which you cannot train hard enough to only be able to train once a week. So shoulder day is dumb because your shoulders can be trained every day no problem, definitely every other day for maximum gains.”
Full Body Split
Next, Dr. Israetel examined full body splits, offering insight into whether they are more effective than other training modalities.
“For the average person, B, B+ [I would rank it] because most people only lift a few times a week. Most people want a whole body effect, and most people don’t have the problem of being so strong and jacked that they need to warm up a ton or they need to use crazy heavy weights that fatigue them a ton.”
Push/Pull/Legs Split
With the prevalence of the push/pull/legs split, Dr. Israetel offered his thoughts on its effectiveness for building muscle.
“Push/pull/legs as stated I don’t love. I’ll cite Mr. Jared Feather for that.
Doing pull before legs is kind of fucking backwards because your back is sore when you’re training legs and that really limits you. If your legs are sore and you’re training back that typically doesn’t limit you.”
Upper/Lower Body Split
He finished off his analysis by providing his opinion of an upper/lower body training split.
“I think A-tier, B+ tier I think it’s great. I would say the upper/lower split is a good [split],” he shares.
Dr. Mike Israetel isn’t the only accomplished trainer giving his two cents on the most effective training splits. ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere joined neuroscientist, Dr. Andrew Huberman, to assess the most used and worthy training splits for muscle growth. Bottom line, Cavaliere says he doesn’t care how effective a training split might be, it’s only effective if you actually adhere to it.
“I don’t care how effective the split is, a split not done is not effective. So, you need to find one that fits.”
Dr. Mike Israetel is consistently sharing valuable insights that allow his fans to enhance their training regimens. His latest breakdown on training splits provides his followers with a way to optimize their muscle growth through effective workout strategies in a simple easy-to-understand way.
RELATED: Dr. Andrew Huberman Discusses His Training Split and Supplement Stack for Longevity
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