Bro Split vs PPL (Push/Pull/Legs): Which is Better for Hypertrophy?

If you want to gain muscle, which routine works best? A bro split or a push/pull/legs (PPL) routine?

For anyone who’s moved past the beginner stages of training, wants to put on some muscle, and can train 5-6 days a week, a PPL split is the one I’d go for.

I’ll explain why in just a moment. 

First, let’s take a closer look at the key differences between a bro split and a PPL routine.

What’s a Push Pull Legs or PPL Split?

A push pull legs split, also known as a PPL split, is a training program that involves working different body parts on different days.

Muscle groups that work together are trained in the same workout, while the other muscles get a chance to recover and grow.

One day is devoted to upper body pushing movements, a second day to upper body pulling movements, and a third day to lower body exercises.

The push workout targets the chest, shoulders, and triceps, which are worked by compound lifts like the barbell bench press, incline dumbbell press, incline bench press, overhead press and dips. This is followed by some isolation exercises for the side delts and triceps.

The pull workout targets the back and biceps, and typically involves compound exercises like the seated row, barbell row, dumbbell row and pull-up, along with some isolation exercises for the biceps and rear delts.

Leg day hits the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and calves with exercises like the barbell squat, leg press, leg extension, hip thrust, lunges, Romanian deadlift, leg curl, and calf raise.

The traditional way to do a 6-day PPL split involves training Monday through Saturday, then taking Sunday off. Here’s what it looks like:

• Monday: Push Day 1
• Tuesday: Pull Day 1
• Wednesday: Legs Day 1
• Thursday: Push Day 2
• Friday: Pull Day 2
• Saturday: Legs Day 2
• Sunday: Off

However, there’s no rule that says your training routine has to fit neatly into a 7-day week.

Personally, I much prefer to take a day off after three days of hard training. Leg day in particular can leave you feeling particularly wasted the next day, and it’s nice to have a day of rest before you start the cycle over again. 

This means the routine doesn’t match perfectly with a 7-day week and runs over an 8-day period instead.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Day 1: Push
• Day 2: Pull
• Day 3: Legs
• Day 4: Rest
• Day 5: Push
• Day 6: Pull
• Day 7: Legs
• Day 8: Rest

This way, 3 out of every 4 weeks involve 5 training days rather than 6. The only real downside is that the workouts aren’t on set days, so you will need a flexible schedule to pull this one off.

PPL Sample Workout

Here’s an example of what pull day on a PPL split might look like:

• Neutral Grip Pull Up 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Seated Cable Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Wide Grip Front Lat Pulldown 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Bent-Over Lateral Raise 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Shrugs 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 2 sets x 12-15 reps

What is a Bro Split?

The bro split, also known as a body part split, typically refers to a training program that involves hitting different muscle groups on different days of the week. The major muscle groups are typically trained just once a week.

There’s no single bro split out there. Rather, it’s an umbrella term typically used to describe a routine that involves training between 4 and 6 times a week, with the major muscle groups trained once a week.

Because each workout focuses on just one or two muscle groups, such as the chest, back or shoulders, the number of sets you do for each muscle in any given workout is relatively high.

While there are plenty of different ways to set up a bro split workout routine, here’s one example of how it might look:

• Monday: Chest
• Tuesday: Back 
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Legs
• Friday: Shoulders
• Saturday: Arms
• Sunday: Off

Bro Split Sample Workout

Here’s an example of what a chest day on a bro split might look like:

• Flat Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps 
• Dumbbell Flyes 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Cable Crossover 2 sets x 15-20 reps

Bro Split vs PPL: Which is Better?

Overall, there are pros and cons to both bro splits and PPL routines. If rapid muscle gain is the priority, a PPL routine is the way to go. But if you enjoy shorter workouts where you blitz one or two muscle groups, with the tradeoff that the gains are likely to come more slowly, go with a bro split.

One of the most frequently cited drawbacks of the bro split is the suboptimal training frequency.

That is, several muscle groups, most notably the chest, back and legs, are trained just once a week.

Why does that matter?

On the whole, research shows that hitting a muscle group at least twice per week works better than once a week [1].

One of the benefits of a 5 or 6-day PPL split is that you hit each muscle group twice every seven days, which creates a more favorable environment for hypertrophy.

Training a muscle just once a week is still going to stimulate growth. It’s just that the gains are likely to come more slowly compared to working that same muscle twice a week or more.

However, training frequency on a bro split does vary from muscle to muscle.

That is, while the chest, back and legs are trained once a week, the same can’t be said for every single muscle group.

In fact, some muscles can end up being worked 2-3 times over the same period. 

This means that the suboptimal training frequency is more of a problem for some muscles than it is for others.

The triceps, for example, can get worked up to three times a week. You’re hitting them directly on arms day. But they’re also likely to be involved when you train both your shoulders and your chest.

That is, pressing exercises like the dumbbell shoulder press or bench press will hit the triceps as well as the shoulders.

It’s the same story on back day, where the biceps and shoulders are also going to see some action. That’s because rows, pull-ups and pulldowns work the deltoids and biceps as well as the back.

In other words, if you’re working your shoulders and arms separately to your chest and back, the deltoids, biceps and triceps will end up being trained more often than once a week.

It is possible to compensate for a reduction in frequency, to an extent at least, by increasing your training volume.

In other words, you’d do more sets in each workout to make up for the fact that certain muscles are being trained less often.

But if you’re someone who needs a high(ish) volume of training to make your muscles grow, trying to cram all those sets into a single workout is counterproductive, for a couple of reasons.

Let’s say, for example, that you decide to hit each of your major muscles with a total of 20 sets per week.

Do all those sets in a single training session, and your performance towards the latter part of that workout is going to suffer. As fatigue accumulates, some of the sets that come later in a workout won’t involve as many stimulating reps. 

Over time, this is likely to mean that muscle ends up being built more slowly. 

What’s more, there’s only so much stimulation your muscles can respond to in any given workout.

Beyond a certain point, you end up creating large amounts of fatigue and damage (all of which takes time to recover from) without stimulating additional growth.

Rather than doing 20 sets per muscle in a single workout, then waiting a week to do the same thing again, you’re better off splitting that workout in two. 

That is, you’d do 10 sets in the first workout, then do the same thing again a few days later.

This gives you two opportunities to stimulate growth over the course of a week, rather than just one.

That’s exactly what you do on a PPL routine, which is one of the main reasons I think it’s more effective for hypertrophy than a bro split.

Is a 3 day PPL routine enough to build muscle?

You can certainly expect to see some gains on a 3-day PPL routine. However, the main weakness is that you’ve got just one push workout, one pull workout, and one leg workout each week. That means each muscle group is being trained just once a week, which is less than ideal when it comes to muscle growth.

If you’ve only got 3 days a week to train, you’d be better off with a 3-day full-body routine, or an upper/lower/full-body split.

None of this means that the bro split is worthless, and it does have a number of benefits.

One of the upsides of a bro split, for some people at least, is that it’s a more enjoyable way to train.

They thrive on the variety of training different muscles, and doing different exercises, from one day to the next.

Having a chest day, a shoulders day or a back day, where you dedicate an entire workout to just one area, often means leaving the gym with those muscles feeling pumped up and ready to explode. 

Getting a pump is no guarantee that muscle is going to be gained any faster, but it still feels good.

If you’re someone who dreads leg days, and wants to spend most of your training time working on your upper body, the bro split can work well.

Leg days can be brutal, both physically and mentally. For a lot of people, one leg day a week is more than enough.

This isn’t ideal as far as building your quads, hamstrings and calves is concerned. But not everyone is that bothered about building bigger legs. Some lifters just prefer to focus their time and energy on the muscles in their chest, back, shoulders and arms.

Another benefit of the bro split is that it allows you to train each muscle with a high intensity of effort, which isn’t always the case on a PPL split.

Some people will run out of steam towards the end of a training session. As a result, the muscles being worked towards the end of a workout don’t receive the same intensity of effort than the ones trained at the start.

Gaining large amounts of muscle mass requires consistent effort over a number of years. And a big part of staying consistent is actually wanting to go to the gym. 

If following a bro split makes it far more likely that you’ll do the work necessary to make your muscles grow, that’s a major benefit. A training split that’s optimal for muscle growth isn’t optimal if you don’t do it.

The bro split can also be useful if you’re trying to maintain the muscle you have, rather than gain any more.

That’s because it takes less training volume to maintain the muscle you have than it took to gain it in the first place [2]. 

A once per week training frequency will do a decent job of maintaining both muscle size and strength in the major muscle groups.

Bro Split vs Push Pull Legs For Weight Loss

Any workout routine, be it a bro split or push/pull/legs routine, can make a contribution to the calorie deficit required to drop fat.

However, losing weight is more a function of the food you eat than what you do in the gym. Getting your diet right is more important than the workout split you follow.

But that doesn’t mean weight training doesn’t matter when you’re on a diet.

Without resistance training, you’re going to end up losing muscle as well as fat. If you want to build muscle while losing fat at the same time, or even just retain the muscle you have right now, weight training is essential.

And the type of training that helps maintain muscle mass will be much the same as the training you did to build that muscle in the first place.

Given that I think a push/pull/legs routine is the better choice when it comes to muscle growth, I also think it’s the better option when it comes to gaining (or even just retaining) muscle mass while you lose fat.

However, while a calorie deficit is essential for fat loss, it can also have a knock-on effect on the quality of your workouts, as well as your ability to recover from those workouts.

A given amount of training that’s about right when you’re in a calorie surplus can quickly become too much when you’re in a calorie deficit, and will need to be adjusted accordingly.

As a result, you may need to adjust the overall volume of training you’re doing to compensate for the fact that you’re not eating as much food.

You can do this by doing fewer exercises per muscle group, fewer sets per exercise, reducing your training frequency (the number of times you train each muscle group per week), or some combination of all three.

Bro Split Or Push Pull Legs For Beginners

If you’re a beginner, which is best? A bro split or a push/pull/legs routine?

If you forced me to choose between the two, it would be a push/pull/legs routine, performed 4-5 days a week.

However, keep in mind that beginners don’t need as many overall sets as intermediate and advanced lifters to stimulate growth, and will often do just as well with something like a 3-day full body routine or even a 4-day upper/lower split.

That’s not to say a beginner can’t use a push/pull/legs routine to build muscle, just that there are more time-efficient alternatives out there.

Other Workout Splits Compared

• Upper/Lower vs Push/Pull/Legs (PPL)
• Push/Pull/Legs vs Full Body
• Arnold Split vs PPL (Push/Pull/Legs)