What Is the Bro Split? (+ Example Gym Workout Routine)

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A guide to the bro split, its effectiveness, and its pros and cons

Co-authored by Pete Cerqua and Elaine Heredia, BA

Last Updated: May 19, 2026 Fact Checked

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• Bro Split Explained
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• Example Routine
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• Is it effective?
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• Pros & Cons
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• Other Workout Splits
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• Video

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The greatest bodybuilders in history, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, use some kind of split exercise routine. The bro split is one option you might come across—enthusiastic gym bros tout it as a way to achieve uniform muscle gains in a short time frame. But what exactly is the bro split, and is it effective? We spoke to personal trainers and fitness experts to find out! Keep reading to learn what the bro split is and discover an example bro split routine. We'll also cover whether the bro split is effective, the pros and cons of this workout plan, and how it compares to other popular splits.

What is a bro split workout?

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The bro split is a workout routine that focuses on exercising a specific area of the body every day for 5 days a week, and resting on days 6 and 7. Here’s an example breakdown of the routine:

• Day 1: Chest (barbell bench press, pushups, dumbbell exercises, and incline chest presses)
• Day 2: Back (lat pulldowns, row machine rows, seated cable rows, and Pendlay rows)
• Day 3: Legs (squats, lunges, leg presses, and calf raises)
• Day 4: Shoulders (overhead shoulder presses, lateral raises, and rear deltoid raises)
• Day 5: Arms (bicep curls, overhead cable extensions, rope triceps pushdowns, close-grip bench presses)
• Days 6 and 7: Rest and recover (yoga, hiking, stretching, and massages)

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Section 1 of 5:

Bro Split Explained

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1. 
   A bro split is a workout routine that exercises a different muscle group each day for 5 days. The goal of a bro split is to gain muscle volume in your entire body without straining any one muscle group. The upside is that it leads to hypertrophy, or bigger muscles, but the downside is that it's too intense for most beginners. Here's a breakdown of how most people typically break down their 5-day bro split:

   • Day 1: Chest
   • Day 2: Back
   • Day 3: Legs
   • Day 4: Shoulders
   • Day 5: Arms

   Meet the wikiHow Experts

   Pete Cerqua is a certified personal trainer and a five-time bestselling author. He also has over 20 years of personal training and nutrition coaching experience.

   Christopher Carreiro is a certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience. He specializes in helping busy people look and feel years younger.

   Melody Sayers, MS, RD, NASM-CPT, is a personal trainer and the owner of a personal training practice. She has over 8 years of experience.

   Jason Whalen is a certified personal trainer with over 10 years of experience. He specializes in strength, core, endurance, and plyometric training programs.
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Section 2 of 5:

Example Bro Split Workout Routine

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1. 
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   Day 1: Chest Certified personal trainer Pete Cerqua advises starting with a light barbell bench press, push-ups, or dumbbell exercises. “Start out with a light weight [and] 12 to 15 repetitions, and work up slowly,” he says. To target the upper portion of your chest, certified personal trainer Christopher Carreiro suggests doing an incline chest press. Below is a breakdown of the chest exercises and how many reps you should do for each one:

   • Barbell bench press: 3 sets, 12-15 reps each
   • Pushups: 3 sets, 12-15 reps each
   • Dumbbell lift: 3 sets, 12-15 reps each
   • Incline chest press: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
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   Day 2: Back It's important not to neglect working out your back, especially if you want to maintain balance with your chest muscles. Cerqua advises doing pulldowns and rows to strengthen and widen your lats, which are the fan-shaped muscles in your back. Vary the exercises by switching your grip between sets and using different machines and weights. For example, says Cerqua, you can do rowing exercises with a barbell, dumbbells, or a rowing machine. Here's an example of what your back day might look like:

   • Lat pulldowns: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
   • Rowing machine rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
   • Seated cable rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
   • Pendlay (barbell) rows: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
3. 
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   Day 3: Legs To build leg muscles, personal trainer Melody Sayers, MS, RD, NASM-CPT, says it's important to work all parts of the lower body, rather than just the glutes or hamstrings. “The best lower body exercises include squats, lunges, deadlifts, leg presses, glute bridges, hamstring curls, calf raises, and adductor and abductor movements,” she explains. Here's a sample routine that can get you through the leg day of your bro split:

   • Weighted squats: 3 sets, 5 reps each
   • Weighted reverse lunges: 3-4 sets, 8-10 reps each
   • Leg presses: 3 sets, 8-10 reps each
   • Calf raises: 3 sets, 10-15 reps each
4. 
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   Day 4: Shoulders Focus on standard shoulder-building exercises like shoulder presses, lateral raises, and rear deltoid raises, certified personal trainer Jason Whalen advises. This workout trio will help you hit multiple angles to really build up and widen those muscles. Check out this breakdown of the exercises that will target your shoulder area:

   • Overhead shoulder presses: 2-4 sets, 6-8 reps each
   • Lateral raises: 3 sets, 10-12 reps each
   • Rear deltoid raises: 3 sets, 8-10 reps per side
5. 
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   Day 5: Arms When working your arms, choose exercises that target your biceps and triceps. For biceps, bodybuilder Tamika Tucker recommends bicep curls. For your triceps workout, certified personal trainer Julian Arana, M.S.eD., NCSF-CPT, says to do overhead cable extensions, rope triceps pushdowns, and close-grip bench presses. Here's how an arm day workout sesh could go:

   • Bicep curls: 3 sets, 6-8 reps each
   • Overhead cable extensions: 3 sets, 10-12 reps each
   • Rope triceps pushdowns: 3 sets, 10-12 reps each
   • Close-grip bench presses: 3 sets, 8-12 reps each
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   Days 6 and 7: Rest After working out all week, it's time to let your body rest and recover. To that end, Arana recommends restricting your physical activity on days 6 and 7 to light cardio, foam rolling, stretching, and massages. Alternatively, celebrity personal trainer Keith Richardson suggests a fun activity, like going on a hike, taking walks, or doing yoga.
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Section 3 of 5:

Is the bro split effective?

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1. 
   It's effective for building muscle, but working the same muscles more often builds them faster. Proponents of the bro split do it because they believe it helps them gain muscle volume all over instead of in just one specific area. But most experts, including Cerqua, agree that the best and fastest way to make gains is actually to work the same muscle group multiple days a week, not just one. In a traditional bro split, only one muscle group is worked per day, turning muscle gain into a slower process.

   • That said, if speed isn't an issue, you can definitely follow the bro split routine.
   • At the end of the day, consistency is key to any workout routine, so if the bro split feels best for your body and motivates you to hit the gym, it’s the best routine for you!

Section 4 of 5:

Bro Split Pros and Cons

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1. 
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   Pros: It's easy to follow, gives you a pump, and works out your upper body. There's no denying that the bro split is super simple and easy to follow. You can't get much more basic than working out one muscle group every day for 5 days, then resting on the last 2 days. Another benefit of bro splits is that it leads to muscle pump. This is a phenomenon in which the muscle floods with blood, making it swell and appear larger. It happens when you work a single muscle or muscle group intensely. Lastly, the bro split focuses mostly on upper body exercises, so your chest, back, and arms should feel nice and pumped by the week!
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   Cons: The intensity is hard for beginners, and it also strains your joints. Fitness trainer Laila Ajani doesn't recommend split workouts for beginners. If you're new to lifting, focusing on one muscle or muscle group for an entire workout could be too much. You might injure yourself or make yourself so sore that you can't continue the workout plan. Another drawback of bro splits is that training one area for too long and too intensely can impact your joints.
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Section 5 of 5:

Bro Split vs Other Workout Splits

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1. 1
   Bro split vs PPL split Fitness expert Ian Heydecke describes the PPL, or push-pull-legs routine, as pushing weights, pulling weights, and exercising your legs every day for 3 days straight. All these exercises take place in about 7 sets in a single workout session, he adds. The benefit of this structure is that it exercises all your muscles, whereas the bro split targets a specific area of the body each day.
2. 2
   Bro split vs full body split A full body split calls for exercising your whole body 3 days a week, with at least 1 rest day in between. To ensure you target as many muscles as possible each workout, it's recommended to focus on compound exercises. These exercises require using multiple joints and muscles at once—so you're not just working one muscle, but an entire muscle group.
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   Bro split vs upper lower split An upper lower split is when you exercise the upper half of your body one day, the lower half the next day, and so on. You can divide this split however you want: with a rest day in between, a rest day every third day, or 1-2 recovery days after 4 days of exercise.
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