You can download the free 4-day upper/lower and 5-day full body workout routines here: builtwithscience.com/workoutroutines . Enjoy! Also, see below for the studies referenced in the video: STUDIES: EFFECT OF FREQUENCY AND VOLUME ON STRENGTH & SIZE: sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/460 MUSCLE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS RESPONSE: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25739559/ 5-DAY FULL-BODY WORKOUT IN WELL-TRAINED LIFTERS www.sci-hub.ee/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002643
Would be cool to get these routines updated based on your latest videos in 2024 (for example including all the tricep, bicep exercises that start in the stretch position, the seated flys etc.)
What about an asynchrone PPL where you train every workday and free on the weekends: W1: PPLPP W2: LPPLP W3: PLPPL That way you hit all muscles twice within 7 days (a week), more volume per session, less fatigue than upper/lower
Just wanted to say thanks, Jeremy. Your content remains excellent and so useful, and you're also giving us great things for free, alongside offering excellent paid for services and materials. I use both, and am very happy with them. Also, your physique is looking excellent lately! Thanks for showing that a natural athlete can look amazing :)
All your info is all men and how to help guys. Can you do stuff for women in menopause please. As there’s a massive difference in women when the body is changing and we get wider even if I don’t eat. The pot belly comes back and interest in moving like we used to goes south fast. Pls can you help women like myself feel better again. Guys bodies burn so much faster than women. I want good arms butt tummy and legs .without having to lift massive weights. I need to do it at home and I have lost all drive to do coz nothings working lately. There’s a world of women not talking about this yet it’s painful as well as degrading for myself.. 😢
@@shapesque count your macros daily and make sure u get in the amount of protein & everything else you need, otherwise your time of working out will go to waste. one does NOT work without the other!
I've got around 14+ years of training at the age of 28 I can in my humble opinion say that changing training splits on ocassions is really helpful to get that extra boost of motivation. Having the same split might get repetitive and desensitize you to it. All rep ranges, rotate splits and if not then atleast have exercise rotations each month or every 3 months or so.
Also depends on your life around it. When i have a 11 hour shift sure as hell I won't work out. But other weeks i have 5 days easy 6 hour shift, so i can give it 5 days full body. Be flexible, I think people overcomplicate it for no reason. Consistency is the key anyway.
I'm 30 years old, and I train for fun half of my life. In the past, I've done running, cycling, martial arts, and calisthenics. Now, I focus on strength training, like maxing my bench press (180 kg single rep) and deadlifts. Recently, I've also started working on flexibility. I think the best way is to make it fun and keep going. You don't need to be a pro unless you're doing it to make money. In life, there will be more and more responsibilities (kids, work, worries), but the most important thing is that training helps clear your mind.
I love videos like these. As an old guy, I would love to see some workout routines that favor a well-aged body. I’ve been in the gym since my 20s and know how to do most of these, but with a bad knee and shoulder, I can’t do them anymore. Would love to see a series on us older guys or guys with damaged joints. You can’t quite do the same anymore. I know there are some UA-cam channels out there for us guys, but I think your science-based approach is by far the best! Maybe I’m just biased because I am also a scientist, but I still love quality.
most of this is for younger guys like Jeremy, who can recover quickly and guys on steroids, been there tried it all in my younger days, except without drugs.
Yeah I find it hard to believe that a full body workout 5 days in a row is ideal for most people 40 or above. Seems like I need a rest day every other day at this point in my life.
Try resistance bands. Can start really light just to get that muscle memory going. Jeff has some great videos on using bands or you can check out 'Anabolic Aliens' 5 min resistance band workouts and also 'James Grage' has some great videos on band work.
2x PPL / 7-8days (push, pull, legs, off is optional, push, pull, legs, off) really works great! Training the exercises in high intensity close or to failure also gets my heart rate up (84-91% MaxHR) thus it's giving me combined cardio session everyday without having to do any extra cardio. I also eat better on training days (specific pre-workout meal, specific post-workout meal) thus training days get me eating cleaner food (and high protein) than I normally do on off days. It's a win win.
Good split but your cardio must be shit if you get it so high just from going to failure in the gym or you never ran an all out 5k to know what your max HR is
@@wally139 I just checked my HR log on the polar app. My average HR is 65% but I reach HR 85-90% HR Max peaks during the last reps of bench press, shoulder press and the last reps of certain super sets. You say that is negative? 🤔
@@JeremyEthier hey bro i've been feeling very low mentally lately because i've been getting mixed responses about workout splits.... it seems like every channel has their own opinion on which split is best and it makes it hard to be consistent with my training. Why is it so confusing?
Recently transitioned to a 4day upper fullbody upper lower split and it has already become my favorite split to really push that weakly volume without spending so much time training
10 years ago high level scientific information this clear and actionable took years of searching to find.. now Jeremy laid it all out here in 9 minutes... thank you bro.... so huge!
can you work legs? I've had open heart surgery, a stroke, battle atrial fibrulation, and now have an aortic aneurysm, and still doing light upper/lower splits.
Try resistance bands at home. Can start really light just to get that muscle memory going. Jeff has some great videos on using bands or you can check out 'Anabolic Aliens' 5 min resistance band workouts and also 'James Grage' has some great videos on band work.
Thanks, Jeremy. I downloaded the 4-day Upper/Lower routine. Generally looking good, although I swapped a few exercises out. *Criticisms:* zero tricep exercises. Only one bicep exercise over the 4 days. I've added two tricep exercises to the program and one additional bicep exercise.
Very comprehensive research. Im beginneer and thats what Im looking for. Not much time to spend so 3 days fullbody or 4 days upper lower might be appropriate. Just to write to say thanks, Jeremy. Subscribed !!!
I have been doing a 5 day/week PPL UL split. And it has been working well so far. Due to time restrictions and some motivation issues I have been thinking about alternating every week, so first week 1: PPL UL and week 2: UL UL. Might give me a little more rest and the chance to have some more variation in excercises. Let's see how it will go. Great video as always Jeremy!
Iv been doing push/pull/legs 3 days as a minimum. Then adding up to 2 full body workouts depending on my work shifts. Some weeks I’ll do 3 some I’ll do 5 workouts
glad to see the 4day upper lower getting it's flowers. I've been doing 4 day upper lower for about 6 months as it suits my work schedule. Best split i've done in 7 years of training, mostly because it's been the easiest to be consistent with and turn up to while really pushing every exercise. Great results and i'm getting adequate rest so I feel very good with great recovery. I do a hypertrophy upper and a power upper day,
I think the main issue I have with this list is that it’s true on paper but fatigue and exhaustion should be taken into account. A 3 full body day split is a lot more taxing than a PPL split because you’re working out your entire body each day. You’re going to get exhausted from that and probably lose the ability to push more than you actually can by the end of a full body workout due to exhaustion
That's absolutely not true. Full body doesn't necessarily mean more volume overall, you can simply lower the volume per workout to the point you can adequately recover each time. You can also split your exercises so that you only do one per muscle group each time. For example, you can do benchpress (triceps, chest) in one session and cable flies and triceps extensions the next time or squats one time, and next time do leg extensions/curls.
It’s the opposite. Yes a full body session is more fatigue during the session but your body has plenty of recovery days. Training 5-6 days a week gives your body too little time for muscle damage to subside and recover.
I wouldn't agree with that. That's where smart programming comes into play. Any of the splits I ranked could be overly fatiguing if you don't program them correctly. When doing the analysis, we used well programmed templates for each routine.
"Wow, this video really opened my eyes to the best and worst workout routines for growth! I appreciate the ranking system, it makes it so much easier to understand what works and what doesn't. Definitely going to adjust my routine after watching this. Thanks for the valuable insights!"
is this better than ppl rest ppl rest for you? if so how come? can you explain why you chose this routine i am thinking im going to do this but would just like some insight on how to structure it, how does it go the 2nd rotation PPL rest PP rest L then what? do you rest after the legs on monday or do you do PPL right after so your hitting legs again with 2 days in between?
@DanklinTheZurtle The next week would be LPP rest LP rest and you just keep rotating PPL through the cycle...I do because I want Sundays off from the gym and I can make that Wednesday and Thursday a flex day if needed...it works with my work schedule for planning
I've been following the 5-day full body split for years and it really feel damm good. Feeling all the pumps you've trained throughout the day. Just be smart in choosing certain exercises in training a specific body part each day to avoid overtraining a muscle. I do also switch on a 5-day upper-lower split (3day upper/2day lower) when I want to focus on strength or volume.
Full body is sooo much time to do. Push pull legs works for me because I can't gurantee more than 3 days, and I do not want to drive 30mins to workout on the weekend. This is great info, I wish I could use it but I need to stay with a 2-3 day workout
@@Orteguh I can, but sometimes those are 3 days in a row, which doesn't allow for recovery days. Spliting it up allows me to get full strength back to continue progressing, especially if I get 5 days of workouts
I started working back out at the end of Sept and its been goin well but ive continued to improve and am now trying to build my final routine to start in 2025. This was perfect timing!
I really enjoy alternating between 6 day PPL, upper/lower split PPL and BRO. BRO really allows you to attack the muscle to a point where a few days just isn't enough for recovery, I agree it's not the most efficient as the primary split, but throwing it in there for say 1 month every 3-4 months I find is game changing.
For me, I do the three a week full body workout. I do one exercise per muscle group: chest, shoulder, back, tricep, leg, bicep (in this order) I have a rotation of four different workout days that I’ll go through. I do 3-4 sets per exercise where I’m pushing 8-10 reps a set. On my last set, I push myself to failure (if that exercise allows it. Won’t do it on bench and squats) Then I will do one more set at 50% of the total reps I usually do. While I am not experiencing insane growth, I do see improvement each time I go. A reason I like this style of workout is I am tired after I workout, but I am able to recover great and go again full strength by the next workout. I also suffer with some body conditions that does not allow me to push fully on certain muscle groups if I did bro splits. So anyone who is struggling with the gym or motivation, this workout has helped me a lot
@ For each of my four workout days, I focus on different parts of each muscle group. For instance, back, I have one for my delts, traps, mid. Legs, hamstring, calves, quads, glutes. So I do workout my different muscles of the groups. Now I know they might not get the repetition they need, but I do play sports so my legs get a lot of workout already in sports
10 years of training with 6 day bro split. I havent seen any improvements lately, like the last 3 years, i thought i was overworking. So I went for push pull legs every 10 days, cause why not. Suprisingly it worked pretty fine, i gained muscle and im significantly more stronger. In 8 months i can bench 30 more kg and squat 40 more kg. Other then these i improved in every way. I will stay on this path until i see improvements.
I went back to the bro split after years of high frequency routines (hitting muscle groups 2-3 times a week). My performance improved. I was able to break my deadlift PRs week to week after a long period of stagnation from high frequency training. Going into every workout after a full week of recovery allows be to push harder. Hitting chest 3x a week was really hurting my bench performance.
@patrickjulius7352 Day 1 - Chest and Triceps Day 2 - Back and Biceps Day 3 - Quads and Hamstrings Day 4 - Shoulders and Forearms Day 5 - Posterior Chain
Love watching these vids I’m a student in exercise science I’ve tried so many splits I used to be a hater on ppl I went from bro split to full body to upper lower to ppl 6 days a week but when I did fb I did 3 days a week so I’m excited to try 5 days a week w lower volume no matter what the best split is one you will stick to bc I really enjoy ppl 6 days a week bc the first 3 ppl is strength focused while the next 3 are more hypertrophic focused
ive been running full arnold for about 6 months and its been working fine. doing 4 exercises per muscle group with 2 sets till failure day 1- chest and back day 2- shoulders and arms day 3- legs and abs day 4- chest and back day 5- shoulders and arms day 6- legs and abs rest
I love the idea of the Upper/Lower/Push/Pull/Legs split and the Upper/Lower split. I am currently on a simple 3-day P/P/L split which is effective for someone like me who can't really get more than that into my weekly routine due to work and study and sports. Can you do a video on the best workouts (exercises, sets, reps) that would make up an Upper/Lower/Push/Pull/Legs workout regimen and maybe do a video on an updated Upper/Lower split?
When I first started working out, I went for a 3 day full body split and I gotta say, it did give me good results. After one year, I switched to the bro-split in order to develop my individual muscles better (including my upper chest and rear delt).
Upper/Lower twice a week is what I did in my last bulk. Great gains! Lots of other variables involved, but I’ll be doing it again starting late JAN2025 so I’ll update this comment later.
i don’t understand the upper lower thing. your pushing and pulling muscles are big muscle groups and to train then on the same day feels like your limiting something
@@wavemanj14 you can train different modalities, as push strength (low volume, high intensity) along with the pull hypertrophy (high volume, low intensity). Allows you to squeeze more work without overtraining urself
@@wavemanj14 so.. you could just lower the volume of all your exercises, and even reduce the number of them, but still keep working all of the upper muscles and your portions.
Underrated Split: Arnold Split Monday - Chest/Back Tuesday - Shoulders/Arms Wednesday - Legs Thursday - Rest Friday - Chest/Back Saturday - Shoulders/Arms Sunday - Rest Even though it only has you training legs once a week. You could also make it into a 6x day split if you wanted but I have personally used only one leg day because my legs are a strong point. You could also make it into a condensed 4 day split, it is very flexible.
Worst routine I have ever seen + It is for bodybuilding and Arnold was on steroids bruh so it is completely inappropriate for natural science based lifter
This is my current split. I simply do it over 5 days alternating the muscle groups. Monday - chest/back, Tuesday - shoulders/arms, Wednesday legs, Thursday - back/chest, Friday arms/shoulders, Monday - legs and start again....
@@Lynix_amv You don't have to be on steroids to do this split. It is all about how you split up your volume and frequency. You could even make it into a 4 day split and customize it how you want.
I personally use the 4 day split where i follow - Day 1 - Chest and side delts ( total 2 exercise for chest and 1 for fromt delt and 1 for side delt) Day 2 - Legs Day 3 - rest Day 4 - Back and rear delts ( 3 for back and 1 for rear ) Day 5 - Arms ( 2 for biceps and 2 for triceps ) Day 6 and day 7 - Rest
I don’t pay attention to the day of the week. I just cycle the following: Upper Rest Lower Rest Basically it’s like having an 8 day week working out every other day.
@@ZyroSugar exactly. I value rest and recovery and having a day off between intense workouts is important to me. I noticed it also helps avoid injuries. I think people are too focused on having a weekly workout cycle, but the 7 day week is just a social construct. There’s no reason that you can’t do a cycle that’s less or more than 7 days if it helps better meet your goals.
I do Chest/Back/Side Delts on Mon/Wed/Fri; Arms (incl. forearms) on Tue/Thu; Legs every day. That would count as Chest/Back 3x and Arms (incl. indirect work) 5x per week.
you must be on some chemicals or just playing in the gym, otherwise, your muscles can't even heal sufficient in that short time when training to failure :D
Thanks Jeremy what a great video about splits. I’ve been trying all types of splits to find the one that will help me get strong with less time. You packed so much information in such a short video. I love your channel because your videos are funny, informative and easy to understand. My only complaint is that you don’t make videos frequently. Like 2 per month. Can you make some videos that are specifically for women to weight lift ? Then some for men. Men and women focus on different parts of their bodies to develop in their weight training programs.
THE RULE IS SIMPLE- CONSISTENCY !!! Nothing beats Consistency I can't emphasis on this more. Do whatever split you want consistently and change it after 6 months, but Keep doing it. Don't stop on low days, when feeling sad. That's the simplest and yet THE hardest part.
Yes, many people worry too much about splits, I was super satisfied training 3 times a week, doing push, pull, legs. Short and fun sessions, I recovered perfectly, got great weekly progress and loved it. It has been the most consistent split I have done by far, never felt I got bored and always loved going to the gym. Now I try to optimise my training, by doing upper/lower twice a week BUT my recovery has been pretty bad so far
I tried many splits by now and I have to say Upper, lower + arms day is the best for me. It's 5 times a week but can be done 6 times if your recovery on point but I'm doing 5days a weeks for now. Basically you don't do any isolation for arms in upper days and only do them in arms day. As intermediate who's closing to advance level this helped to grow my arms way more than typical tricep/biceps isolation in upper days. mon - Lower, tue - Upper, wen - Arms, thur - Lower, fr - Upper, sat (optional) - arms day. Can add abs to Lower body day too.
I'm doing something similar. Lower - Upper - rest - Lower - Upper - Arms - rest Sometimes I skip that Arm day on Saturday due to work and personal stuff, but even without that day, 4 day upper lower is goated
I can't believe it that the 6 day push pull legs is in top 2, I never saw that workout split in any video or website I just invented that for myself and I didn't even know it exist 😂 I'm very happy right now that my workout plan is in 2nd place
47yo, I do Chest/back/side delts, Legs/rear delts, Arms/side delts consecutive days then one rest day and at it again, which makes it a 5-6 day split that allows for a lot of volume and time efficiency due to superseting. So each workout is 45-50 minutes, 16-20 sets per workout.
I love my 4 day upper lower split because of the time efficiency. Now it turns out that for time invested, it's a great hypertrophy gainer and I'm not wasting my time. Awesome
then you would have different recovery time when you do your full body because you are hitting legs after 1 day rest and chest/shoulder/tri after 3 day rest, and your next leg workout have you rest 4 days, not optimal for muscle growth and sustainability unless you enjoy training that way or you adjust your volume for eg. on full body day you do way more leg volume because you got 4 days rest, medium push volume and more pull volume and on push day you do more push volume than you did on full body day because you get 3 days rests and on pull day lesser pull volume than you did on full body day because you get 2 days rest only
Every and any spilt is 100% depending on your lifestyle. Work. Stress. Kids. Life. Ya sure on paper 5 days at full-body is again on paper the most beneficial. But life can throw a wrench in that logic real fast
What about Upper, Lower, Upper, Lower, Arms &Shoulders split. It‘s a 5 day split, trains every muscle group 2-3 times a week. (Upper Days have higher emphasis on chest and back, that is why the arm & shoulders day is included) Best split there is, in my opinion
Atm I feel less like training , so I made a full-body , upper , lower split. ( 3 day's ) it's doing the job for now. 👌 I can always go back to upper lower split the month after so.
A good alternative is a Push/Pull, but integrating leg push movement, and leg pull movements into each routine. Which means it's effectively 4 days routine that hits all the major muscles twice, and you don't get the hyper-tiring effect of full body workout, and you also get diversity, to maintain motivation.
but also takes quite some time per session which most people dont have it, just imagine starting with warming up all your push body parts, then hit the chest, then hit the shoulders, then hit legs, you'll be done for, while next day warm up all pull body parts, then hit the back, then hit the traps, and it will feel less than the pull day so its unbalanced and more time consuming in the push day
You can adjust any of the routines based on what suits you. You also don't "have" to do a full body routine. You'd be surprised with how little you need to do in the gym to still make progress. So pick any of the splits that you could realistically stick to and just do what you can within each workout. Don't need to chase "optimal" if it doesn't suit your lifestyle.
4-day upper lower split was what i intuitively gravitated to, because it was the only way to fit in 2 long cardio days on the rest days between resistance sets.
I’m not saying this is wrong. All I’m saying is gains come with time and consistency. Eat your proteins and train hard. Just go to the gym. You’ll see improvements along the way. It’s the journey not the end.
I agree with what you're saying, as a general principle But this video is just trying to min-max hypertrophy min-maxing might feel too much, but it's only applicable after reaching a certain skill level first For beginners, simplicity is key like your comment
@@daemonekoyeah that makes sense. Personally im not a beginner but i just prefer efficiency and less burden of so much elaborate work out plans. Working outs a means to an end for me and i dont want to spend too many hours every week worrying about tracking calories and overly elaborate plans to follow. I do compound exercises with weights that feel heavy until failure and when it becomes to light i increase the weight. Works well for me. Am i maximizing my potential ? No but im alright with that.
Recommend to try doing floating splits. Where any high frequencysplits like PPL can be ran off an 8 or 9 day cycle instead of being locked into the 7 day week. those extra days can serve as rest days so it ends up being 3 on, 1 or 2 off.
@@Rory626 I want to get stronger, I need to use progressive overload. The ideal rest time for building muscle and building strength is 2-3 minutes, it would take me 3 hours for a full-body routine. If you want me to get within a rep or two of failure with lighter weights I would be well past the 5-30 reps per set for muscle building.
You can download the free 4-day upper/lower and 5-day full body workout routines here: builtwithscience.com/workoutroutines . Enjoy! Also, see below for the studies referenced in the video:
STUDIES:
EFFECT OF FREQUENCY AND VOLUME ON STRENGTH & SIZE:
sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/460
MUSCLE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS RESPONSE:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25739559/
5-DAY FULL-BODY WORKOUT IN WELL-TRAINED LIFTERS
www.sci-hub.ee/10.1519/jsc.0000000000002643
Would be cool to get these routines updated based on your latest videos in 2024 (for example including all the tricep, bicep exercises that start in the stretch position, the seated flys etc.)
What about an asynchrone PPL where you train every workday and free on the weekends:
W1: PPLPP
W2: LPPLP
W3: PLPPL
That way you hit all muscles twice within 7 days (a week), more volume per session, less fatigue than upper/lower
Just wanted to say thanks, Jeremy. Your content remains excellent and so useful, and you're also giving us great things for free, alongside offering excellent paid for services and materials. I use both, and am very happy with them. Also, your physique is looking excellent lately! Thanks for showing that a natural athlete can look amazing :)
Anyone else not getting the workouts emailed after entering their email?
All your info is all men and how to help guys. Can you do stuff for women in menopause please. As there’s a massive difference in women when the body is changing and we get wider even if I don’t eat.
The pot belly comes back and interest in moving like we used to goes south fast.
Pls can you help women like myself feel better again.
Guys bodies burn so much faster than women.
I want good arms butt tummy and legs .without having to lift massive weights. I need to do it at home and I have lost all drive to do coz nothings working lately.
There’s a world of women not talking about this yet it’s painful as well as degrading for myself.. 😢
Bro reached 2025 before us guys 😂
This is for lazy peoples because they start late every thing so I think this thumbnail is way more effective for those people like u.😂
Hes ahead of his time bro
@@ThatGuy-sc5rx hahah
😂😂😂😂 crazy
@@MuhammadWaqas-s8s8wno man its just to get more views. theres nothing more to it
Whatever you choose don't forget nutrition and rest also important 💪
preach!
What, I never heard this information before. Are you sure
@@shapesquethey are more important than working out
@@shapesque count your macros daily and make sure u get in the amount of protein & everything else you need, otherwise your time of working out will go to waste.
one does NOT work without the other!
Well said!
2 x full body with weights and 2 x calisthenics week works for me. great info as always. thx for the time and effort
i cannot thank you enough for the downloadable workout plans, they look simple and go into depth and just perfect. legend
I've got around 14+ years of training at the age of 28 I can in my humble opinion say that changing training splits on ocassions is really helpful to get that extra boost of motivation.
Having the same split might get repetitive and desensitize you to it.
All rep ranges, rotate splits and if not then atleast have exercise rotations each month or every 3 months or so.
100%!
Also depends on your life around it. When i have a 11 hour shift sure as hell I won't work out. But other weeks i have 5 days easy 6 hour shift, so i can give it 5 days full body. Be flexible, I think people overcomplicate it for no reason. Consistency is the key anyway.
I'm 30 years old, and I train for fun half of my life. In the past, I've done running, cycling, martial arts, and calisthenics. Now, I focus on strength training, like maxing my bench press (180 kg single rep) and deadlifts. Recently, I've also started working on flexibility.
I think the best way is to make it fun and keep going. You don't need to be a pro unless you're doing it to make money. In life, there will be more and more responsibilities (kids, work, worries), but the most important thing is that training helps clear your mind.
Hey i have a question for you, If you're doing the 6 day PPL split, how are you going to train your abs?
I love videos like these. As an old guy, I would love to see some workout routines that favor a well-aged body. I’ve been in the gym since my 20s and know how to do most of these, but with a bad knee and shoulder, I can’t do them anymore. Would love to see a series on us older guys or guys with damaged joints. You can’t quite do the same anymore. I know there are some UA-cam channels out there for us guys, but I think your science-based approach is by far the best! Maybe I’m just biased because I am also a scientist, but I still love quality.
most of this is for younger guys like Jeremy, who can recover quickly and guys on steroids, been there tried it all in my younger days, except without drugs.
Yeah I find it hard to believe that a full body workout 5 days in a row is ideal for most people 40 or above. Seems like I need a rest day every other day at this point in my life.
Try resistance bands. Can start really light just to get that muscle memory going. Jeff has some great videos on using bands or you can check out 'Anabolic Aliens' 5 min resistance band workouts and also 'James Grage' has some great videos on band work.
@@RentalCompanyOne exactly right. 44 here and any time I do serious full body it takes 2/3 days for sure to recover fully.
Yes, over 50... recovery is tough.
Currently on your 4 day upper lower V1 and it’s been fantastic, nice to switch it up and this routine definitely hits!
Thank you @JeremyEthier for the time & research you put in for this content.
2x PPL / 7-8days (push, pull, legs, off is optional, push, pull, legs, off) really works great!
Training the exercises in high intensity close or to failure also gets my heart rate up (84-91% MaxHR) thus it's giving me combined cardio session everyday without having to do any extra cardio. I also eat better on training days (specific pre-workout meal, specific post-workout meal) thus training days get me eating cleaner food (and high protein) than I normally do on off days. It's a win win.
Ive been on a push/pull day 3x per week, leg day 2x per week for about a month now, looking to see how much my gains improve
Good split but your cardio must be shit if you get it so high just from going to failure in the gym or you never ran an all out 5k to know what your max HR is
@@wally139 I just checked my HR log on the polar app. My average HR is 65% but I reach HR 85-90% HR Max peaks during the last reps of bench press, shoulder press and the last reps of certain super sets. You say that is negative? 🤔
8 days.😊
@@SonyCamry PPL,PPL, Off = 7
You're the best bro, the best GYM content creator. Insane Value.
Thank you! Means a lot
@@JeremyEthier hey bro i've been feeling very low mentally lately because i've been getting mixed responses about workout splits.... it seems like every channel has their own opinion on which split is best and it makes it hard to be consistent with my training. Why is it so confusing?
Recently transitioned to a 4day upper fullbody upper lower split and it has already become my favorite split to really push that weakly volume without spending so much time training
What do you do for upper days? I’m gonna start tomorrow, switching from 3 day ppl
Would you like share your routine?
10 years ago high level scientific information this clear and actionable took years of searching to find.. now Jeremy laid it all out here in 9 minutes... thank you bro.... so huge!
I am coming up to my 1 year out of the gym due to costochondritis.. I'm very sad about it.. Keep smashing it guys.. I'll hope to be back one day
can you work legs? I've had open heart surgery, a stroke, battle atrial fibrulation, and now have an aortic aneurysm, and still doing light upper/lower splits.
Try resistance bands at home. Can start really light just to get that muscle memory going. Jeff has some great videos on using bands or you can check out 'Anabolic Aliens' 5 min resistance band workouts and also 'James Grage' has some great videos on band work.
How’s your recovery been?
Thanks, Jeremy. I downloaded the 4-day Upper/Lower routine. Generally looking good, although I swapped a few exercises out.
*Criticisms:* zero tricep exercises. Only one bicep exercise over the 4 days.
I've added two tricep exercises to the program and one additional bicep exercise.
Did you notice - there is no shoulder press in 4 days split?
@suniljadhav38 not true. Upper Body 2 Workout (page 20): Standing Barbell Overhead Press
@@gavinkalaher7314 so we are having different pdf. It's not there for me.
Best comparison on splits I’ve seen man, thanks!
This is the most valuable fitness video on UA-cam right now! Thanks for all the science research and the time cross-referencing!
Very comprehensive research. Im beginneer and thats what Im looking for. Not much time to spend so 3 days fullbody or 4 days upper lower might be appropriate. Just to write to say thanks, Jeremy. Subscribed !!!
you'd be fine with 2x full body a week as a beginner if you're short on time
@@Ebenezer563 full body must take a lot of time tho, not a lot of people have this much time for working out in a single day
@@1337Skrjabinn pretty much everyone can find an hour twice a week.
I have been doing a 5 day/week PPL UL split. And it has been working well so far. Due to time restrictions and some motivation issues I have been thinking about alternating every week, so first week 1: PPL UL and week 2: UL UL. Might give me a little more rest and the chance to have some more variation in excercises. Let's see how it will go. Great video as always Jeremy!
Thanks for the programs!
No prob! Enjoy!
Comment for the algo. This bro is S tier. Love this video. I do 4 day but you nailed it sometimes I do an extra day because I feel recovered enough.
Iv been doing push/pull/legs 3 days as a minimum. Then adding up to 2 full body workouts depending on my work shifts. Some weeks I’ll do 3 some I’ll do 5 workouts
How many exercises per workout do you do?
glad to see the 4day upper lower getting it's flowers. I've been doing 4 day upper lower for about 6 months as it suits my work schedule. Best split i've done in 7 years of training, mostly because it's been the easiest to be consistent with and turn up to while really pushing every exercise. Great results and i'm getting adequate rest so I feel very good with great recovery. I do a hypertrophy upper and a power upper day,
I think the main issue I have with this list is that it’s true on paper but fatigue and exhaustion should be taken into account. A 3 full body day split is a lot more taxing than a PPL split because you’re working out your entire body each day. You’re going to get exhausted from that and probably lose the ability to push more than you actually can by the end of a full body workout due to exhaustion
It is actually not, since the volume does not have to be high. It startet get taxing for me when i went over 4 days a week. Before it was just perfect
That's absolutely not true. Full body doesn't necessarily mean more volume overall, you can simply lower the volume per workout to the point you can adequately recover each time. You can also split your exercises so that you only do one per muscle group each time. For example, you can do benchpress (triceps, chest) in one session and cable flies and triceps extensions the next time or squats one time, and next time do leg extensions/curls.
It’s the opposite. Yes a full body session is more fatigue during the session but your body has plenty of recovery days. Training 5-6 days a week gives your body too little time for muscle damage to subside and recover.
I wouldn't agree with that. That's where smart programming comes into play. Any of the splits I ranked could be overly fatiguing if you don't program them correctly. When doing the analysis, we used well programmed templates for each routine.
fr, when i was doing 3 day full body i NEEDED the 2 days of rest a lot of the time or else I wouldn't be recovered enough for my next session
I love this video. Everything about it. Probably my new favorite on the channel. Well done J!
Clicked so fast 😮💨
same bro
Bro is proud of himself for clicking the video fast 😐
Fr fr
same his videos are so good
I edge to your pfp ngl lowkey
Thank you for this free program Sir! Will certainly try this. From PPL2x per week into 5 days full body. Thank you!
Mo: Push
Tu: Pull
We: Legs
Th: 30 min. run
Fr: Full body (each muscle group 1 exercise)
What you guys think?
Are you sure you want to run the day after doing legs?
Legs, push, pull run full body would be better
"Wow, this video really opened my eyes to the best and worst workout routines for growth! I appreciate the ranking system, it makes it so much easier to understand what works and what doesn't. Definitely going to adjust my routine after watching this. Thanks for the valuable insights!"
I do a 5-day PPL MTW Rest Thursday PP FS Rest Sunday...then start with L on Monday and let it rotate...
same! would love to see it in the video
Same
is this better than ppl rest ppl rest for you? if so how come? can you explain why you chose this routine i am thinking im going to do this but would just like some insight on how to structure it, how does it go the 2nd rotation PPL rest PP rest L then what? do you rest after the legs on monday or do you do PPL right after so your hitting legs again with 2 days in between?
@DanklinTheZurtle The next week would be LPP rest LP rest and you just keep rotating PPL through the cycle...I do because I want Sundays off from the gym and I can make that Wednesday and Thursday a flex day if needed...it works with my work schedule for planning
I've been following the 5-day full body split for years and it really feel damm good. Feeling all the pumps you've trained throughout the day. Just be smart in choosing certain exercises in training a specific body part each day to avoid overtraining a muscle. I do also switch on a 5-day upper-lower split (3day upper/2day lower) when I want to focus on strength or volume.
Full body is sooo much time to do. Push pull legs works for me because I can't gurantee more than 3 days, and I do not want to drive 30mins to workout on the weekend.
This is great info, I wish I could use it but I need to stay with a 2-3 day workout
You can do 3 days with a full body split
@@Orteguh I can, but sometimes those are 3 days in a row, which doesn't allow for recovery days. Spliting it up allows me to get full strength back to continue progressing, especially if I get 5 days of workouts
I’m following you since 2020, your Side Delt growth is phenomenal🫡
Thanks man. Been working on it!
as a data professional always trying to maximize efficiency this was so helpful man good work
Would love to see a 3 days full body workout.
The interwebs are full of such programs. Google is your friend.
Your effort is truly exceptional, man.
What about the Arnold split? It is my favourite one at the moment and I would like to know where it stands in the ranking
Thank you. You are so Passionate. Love all of this
I started working back out at the end of Sept and its been goin well but ive continued to improve and am now trying to build my final routine to start in 2025. This was perfect timing!
Best routine with the least amount of time is 2:30
I really enjoy alternating between 6 day PPL, upper/lower split PPL and BRO. BRO really allows you to attack the muscle to a point where a few days just isn't enough for recovery, I agree it's not the most efficient as the primary split, but throwing it in there for say 1 month every 3-4 months I find is game changing.
For me, I do the three a week full body workout. I do one exercise per muscle group: chest, shoulder, back, tricep, leg, bicep (in this order) I have a rotation of four different workout days that I’ll go through. I do 3-4 sets per exercise where I’m pushing 8-10 reps a set. On my last set, I push myself to failure (if that exercise allows it. Won’t do it on bench and squats) Then I will do one more set at 50% of the total reps I usually do. While I am not experiencing insane growth, I do see improvement each time I go. A reason I like this style of workout is I am tired after I workout, but I am able to recover great and go again full strength by the next workout. I also suffer with some body conditions that does not allow me to push fully on certain muscle groups if I did bro splits. So anyone who is struggling with the gym or motivation, this workout has helped me a lot
Isn't a single leg exercise per day too little volume? Considering there's 4 different muscle groups in the legs to train
@ For each of my four workout days, I focus on different parts of each muscle group. For instance, back, I have one for my delts, traps, mid. Legs, hamstring, calves, quads, glutes. So I do workout my different muscles of the groups. Now I know they might not get the repetition they need, but I do play sports so my legs get a lot of workout already in sports
10 years of training with 6 day bro split. I havent seen any improvements lately, like the last 3 years, i thought i was overworking. So I went for push pull legs every 10 days, cause why not. Suprisingly it worked pretty fine, i gained muscle and im significantly more stronger. In 8 months i can bench 30 more kg and squat 40 more kg. Other then these i improved in every way. I will stay on this path until i see improvements.
I went back to the bro split after years of high frequency routines (hitting muscle groups 2-3 times a week). My performance improved. I was able to break my deadlift PRs week to week after a long period of stagnation from high frequency training. Going into every workout after a full week of recovery allows be to push harder. Hitting chest 3x a week was really hurting my bench performance.
you do the classic 5 day?
@patrickjulius7352 Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
Day 2 - Back and Biceps
Day 3 - Quads and Hamstrings
Day 4 - Shoulders and Forearms
Day 5 - Posterior Chain
You're a G.... Your videos have made me more confident.
Love you sir. I follow all your guide. Thankyou for helping us❤❤❤
Love watching these vids I’m a student in exercise science I’ve tried so many splits I used to be a hater on ppl I went from bro split to full body to upper lower to ppl 6 days a week but when I did fb I did 3 days a week so I’m excited to try 5 days a week w lower volume no matter what the best split is one you will stick to bc I really enjoy ppl 6 days a week bc the first 3 ppl is strength focused while the next 3 are more hypertrophic focused
ive been running full arnold for about 6 months and its been working fine. doing 4 exercises per muscle group with 2 sets till failure
day 1- chest and back
day 2- shoulders and arms
day 3- legs and abs
day 4- chest and back
day 5- shoulders and arms
day 6- legs and abs
rest
Yeah I was shocked he didn’t mention the Arnold split it’s one of my favourites
I love the idea of the Upper/Lower/Push/Pull/Legs split and the Upper/Lower split. I am currently on a simple 3-day P/P/L split which is effective for someone like me who can't really get more than that into my weekly routine due to work and study and sports. Can you do a video on the best workouts (exercises, sets, reps) that would make up an Upper/Lower/Push/Pull/Legs workout regimen and maybe do a video on an updated Upper/Lower split?
2:16, not him flexing his chest 😂
When I first started working out, I went for a 3 day full body split and I gotta say, it did give me good results. After one year, I switched to the bro-split in order to develop my individual muscles better (including my upper chest and rear delt).
I do the following four day split, and it works great for me.
Legs
Chest/Back
Arms/Shoulders
Chest/Back
same, i find it difficult to put a spot for abs tho... also how many tri and bic exercises u do per session arm day?
@bonquva I do Eight sets for each. They are already hit on the chest/back days.
@@bonquva I just do a seven minute ab routine at the end of every workout or before bed four to five times per week and it works wonders for me
Upper/Lower twice a week is what I did in my last bulk. Great gains! Lots of other variables involved, but I’ll be doing it again starting late JAN2025 so I’ll update this comment later.
who watching in 2024
😂😂😂
What year is it?
2011@@andrewd5135
🤣
im watchin in 2025
Awesome vid, really helpful! Thanks!
I’ve been doing the 6day Push/Pull/Legs since mid 2019 and I can’t even begin to explain how well it works.
i don’t understand the upper lower thing. your pushing and pulling muscles are big muscle groups and to train then on the same day feels like your limiting something
@@wavemanj14 you can train different modalities, as push strength (low volume, high intensity) along with the pull hypertrophy (high volume, low intensity). Allows you to squeeze more work without overtraining urself
@@wavemanj14 Just lower the volume, and keep the intensity high. you can get crazy gains from that.
@@bigkklkk777 you cant tho, if i normally do 20 sets on my pushdays that means i would be doing 40 sets on my upper body day which you know...
@@wavemanj14 so.. you could just lower the volume of all your exercises, and even reduce the number of them, but still keep working all of the upper muscles and your portions.
Underrated Split: Arnold Split
Monday - Chest/Back
Tuesday - Shoulders/Arms
Wednesday - Legs
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Chest/Back
Saturday - Shoulders/Arms
Sunday - Rest
Even though it only has you training legs once a week. You could also make it into a 6x day split if you wanted but I have personally used only one leg day because my legs are a strong point.
You could also make it into a condensed 4 day split, it is very flexible.
I was very disappointed that he missed it.
im using this with 6th day for another leg day
Worst routine I have ever seen + It is for bodybuilding and Arnold was on steroids bruh so it is completely inappropriate for natural science based lifter
This is my current split. I simply do it over 5 days alternating the muscle groups.
Monday - chest/back,
Tuesday - shoulders/arms,
Wednesday legs,
Thursday - back/chest,
Friday arms/shoulders,
Monday - legs
and start again....
@@Lynix_amv You don't have to be on steroids to do this split. It is all about how you split up your volume and frequency. You could even make it into a 4 day split and customize it how you want.
I personally use the 4 day split where i follow -
Day 1 - Chest and side delts ( total 2 exercise for chest and 1 for fromt delt and 1 for side delt)
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - rest
Day 4 - Back and rear delts ( 3 for back and 1 for rear )
Day 5 - Arms ( 2 for biceps and 2 for triceps )
Day 6 and day 7 - Rest
I don’t pay attention to the day of the week. I just cycle the following:
Upper
Rest
Lower
Rest
Basically it’s like having an 8 day week working out every other day.
That’s probably the best split you can do. Gives the whole body recovery and still great frequency. Nobodies recovering from training 5-6 days a week.
@@ZyroSugar exactly. I value rest and recovery and having a day off between intense workouts is important to me. I noticed it also helps avoid injuries. I think people are too focused on having a weekly workout cycle, but the 7 day week is just a social construct. There’s no reason that you can’t do a cycle that’s less or more than 7 days if it helps better meet your goals.
Time is just an illusion
I have a 4 day split. Pull, push, legs, rest and repeat.
I don’t like to fit it within the week either. “Pull, Push, Legs, Arms, Rest” has always been my go to
Good job !! 🎉 thanks for sharing the free program
I do Chest/Back/Side Delts on Mon/Wed/Fri; Arms (incl. forearms) on Tue/Thu; Legs every day.
That would count as Chest/Back 3x and Arms (incl. indirect work) 5x per week.
you must be on some chemicals or just playing in the gym, otherwise, your muscles can't even heal sufficient in that short time when training to failure :D
Thanks Jeremy what a great video about splits. I’ve been trying all types of splits to find the one that will help me get strong with less time. You packed so much information in such a short video. I love your channel because your videos are funny, informative and easy to understand. My only complaint is that you don’t make videos frequently. Like 2 per month. Can you make some videos that are specifically for women to weight lift ? Then some for men. Men and women focus on different parts of their bodies to develop in their weight training programs.
THE RULE IS SIMPLE-
CONSISTENCY !!!
Nothing beats Consistency I can't emphasis on this more. Do whatever split you want consistently and change it after 6 months, but Keep doing it. Don't stop on low days, when feeling sad.
That's the simplest and yet THE hardest part.
Yes, many people worry too much about splits, I was super satisfied training 3 times a week, doing push, pull, legs. Short and fun sessions, I recovered perfectly, got great weekly progress and loved it. It has been the most consistent split I have done by far, never felt I got bored and always loved going to the gym. Now I try to optimise my training, by doing upper/lower twice a week BUT my recovery has been pretty bad so far
so change your split every 6 months?
@@IntenseHappiness If you are happy with your progress there's no real reason to change anything, but 6 months sounds reasonable as a general rule
Yesssssss. Too much info out there. These days. People chop and change Stick to a plan and be CONSISTENT
Yeah I prefer 3 day week training so I have more time for other stuff. And for me push/pull/legs has been great -particularly as im 35 now.
Tysm bro!❤️ Really great video🔥🙏
I tried many splits by now and I have to say Upper, lower + arms day is the best for me. It's 5 times a week but can be done 6 times if your recovery on point but I'm doing 5days a weeks for now. Basically you don't do any isolation for arms in upper days and only do them in arms day. As intermediate who's closing to advance level this helped to grow my arms way more than typical tricep/biceps isolation in upper days. mon - Lower, tue - Upper, wen - Arms, thur - Lower, fr - Upper, sat (optional) - arms day. Can add abs to Lower body day too.
I'm doing something similar.
Lower - Upper - rest - Lower - Upper - Arms - rest
Sometimes I skip that Arm day on Saturday due to work and personal stuff, but even without that day, 4 day upper lower is goated
I’m a girl and honestly ur YT videos have helped me so much 🙏
I can't believe it that the 6 day push pull legs is in top 2, I never saw that workout split in any video or website I just invented that for myself and I didn't even know it exist 😂 I'm very happy right now that my workout plan is in 2nd place
Yeah but the downside is it takes a lot of time I do push with legs and then pull with legs basically the same but takes less time
47yo, I do Chest/back/side delts, Legs/rear delts, Arms/side delts consecutive days then one rest day and at it again, which makes it a 5-6 day split that allows for a lot of volume and time efficiency due to superseting. So each workout is 45-50 minutes, 16-20 sets per workout.
8:20 The business
Thanks Jeremy for sharing your Workout Routine.
5 day full body was the highest rated but due to time constraints and practically, the winner in the video is the 4 day upper / lower split
I love my 4 day upper lower split because of the time efficiency. Now it turns out that for time invested, it's a great hypertrophy gainer and I'm not wasting my time. Awesome
I do
1 - Push
2 - Pull
3 - Legs
4 - Rest
5 - Full Body
6 - Rest
7 - Rest
Hey, nunca lo había pensado. Se obtiene frecuencia 2 en un tiempo mas acotado que el tradicional
then you would have different recovery time when you do your full body because you are hitting legs after 1 day rest and chest/shoulder/tri after 3 day rest, and your next leg workout have you rest 4 days, not optimal for muscle growth and sustainability unless you enjoy training that way
or you adjust your volume for eg. on full body day you do way more leg volume because you got 4 days rest, medium push volume and more pull volume
and on push day you do more push volume than you did on full body day because you get 3 days rests and on pull day lesser pull volume than you did on full body day because you get 2 days rest only
@@thydog I do full body for 6 days
I do the same.💪🏽
Thank you for the workout plans 😍😍😍
Every and any spilt is 100% depending on your lifestyle. Work. Stress. Kids. Life. Ya sure on paper 5 days at full-body is again on paper the most beneficial. But life can throw a wrench in that logic real fast
Thanks for the guide, man. Love your work
We’ve got questions and Jeremy is here to help, with science
Theres no google. What a>m0r0n u r.
Interesting to see how different splits can impact muscle growth. I might try the upper/lower split now.
Its not 2025 😭😭😭
That’s a UA-camr trick. Any video they put out at the end of a year has the next year so it shows up in search results first.
@boxdenfresh damn its not even December
Math is hard😂
Genius
Its called planting seeds
What about Upper, Lower, Upper, Lower, Arms &Shoulders split. It‘s a 5 day split, trains every muscle group 2-3 times a week. (Upper Days have higher emphasis on chest and back, that is why the arm & shoulders day is included) Best split there is, in my opinion
Love this bro!!! Amazing!!
7:10 who elses on this
Great info and to change u to keep me motivated. Thanks bro
Atm I feel less like training , so I made a full-body , upper , lower split. ( 3 day's ) it's doing the job for now. 👌
I can always go back to upper lower split the month after so.
Always great content with great explanations👏
Thank you!
whos watching in 2025?
Me, from the future
badi maar khaebe
A good alternative is a Push/Pull, but integrating leg push movement, and leg pull movements into each routine. Which means it's effectively 4 days routine that hits all the major muscles twice, and you don't get the hyper-tiring effect of full body workout, and you also get diversity, to maintain motivation.
but also takes quite some time per session which most people dont have it, just imagine starting with warming up all your push body parts, then hit the chest, then hit the shoulders, then hit legs, you'll be done for, while next day warm up all pull body parts, then hit the back, then hit the traps, and it will feel less than the pull day so its unbalanced and more time consuming in the push day
@@ivoartur That's fair
ive followed a schedule like this for 2 years now
whos watching in 2023!
Huh
Jeremy thx for everything thank to your videos i am progressing time by time and achiving goals
training 5 days a week full body is diabolical💀
u cant recover from that shit, its so hardcore
Yea it’s garbage
Always interesting content Jeremy, from a 53 trainer, cheers.
I work 12 13 hours a day how do you imagine I can go full body after that ? These studies are made on non working people for sure !
Most people dont work 13 hours a day
Dude you're an exception not the rule
Upper/lower body is you’re only type of work with at 1 hour at the gym. It’s what helped me get into shape and start on a small scale
Adjust for the time you do have 😮
You can adjust any of the routines based on what suits you. You also don't "have" to do a full body routine. You'd be surprised with how little you need to do in the gym to still make progress. So pick any of the splits that you could realistically stick to and just do what you can within each workout. Don't need to chase "optimal" if it doesn't suit your lifestyle.
4-day upper lower split was what i intuitively gravitated to, because it was the only way to fit in 2 long cardio days on the rest days between resistance sets.
Guys, just workout. Muscle tension til almost or failure. That’s it. This is getting oversaturated.
I’m not saying this is wrong. All I’m saying is gains come with time and consistency. Eat your proteins and train hard. Just go to the gym. You’ll see improvements along the way. It’s the journey not the end.
I agree with what you're saying, as a general principle
But this video is just trying to min-max hypertrophy
min-maxing might feel too much, but it's only applicable after reaching a certain skill level first
For beginners, simplicity is key like your comment
@@daemonekoyeah that makes sense. Personally im not a beginner but i just prefer efficiency and less burden of so much elaborate work out plans. Working outs a means to an end for me and i dont want to spend too many hours every week worrying about tracking calories and overly elaborate plans to follow. I do compound exercises with weights that feel heavy until failure and when it becomes to light i increase the weight. Works well for me. Am i maximizing my potential ? No but im alright with that.
Recommend to try doing floating splits. Where any high frequencysplits like PPL can be ran off an 8 or 9 day cycle instead of being locked into the 7 day week. those extra days can serve as rest days so it ends up being 3 on, 1 or 2 off.
My split
Monday chest shoulder
Tuesday arm day
Wednesday back shoulder
Thursday legs
Friday shoulder biceps
Saturday chest back
Bro split for the win:)
I love this channel so much!!
I'm ripped bruh but I still watch him
I train full body 3x/week and bench more than 99% of people doing splits because they can’t stay consistent. Theory vs. real life
Full body is nearly impossible once you get really strong.
I agree, it gets exhausting.
Of course it's not. Just use lighter weights
Yeah that’s why you do it as a total beginner for a few months to build up the base then change to a different routine after
@@Rory626 I want to get stronger, I need to use progressive overload. The ideal rest time for building muscle and building strength is 2-3 minutes, it would take me 3 hours for a full-body routine. If you want me to get within a rep or two of failure with lighter weights I would be well past the 5-30 reps per set for muscle building.
@@MaxMabey agreed