What's a Good Bro Split for my Situation?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

I can train monday to thursday (4 consecutive days).

I need to grow everywhere, but my torso Is a bit dominant.

2

Chest/Triceps
Back/Biceps
Legs
Deltoids/Biceps/Triceps

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3

Thanks, and if I’d be able to Stretch further to 5 days?

Chest/triceps
Back/Biceps
Delts
Legs
Arms

Dose that look tight or would you set up the Bro split differently?

As a side note, would you avoid bent over rows (which are One of my favorite back exercise) on back day since it’s the day prior to legs (where I’d have a full ROM hinge -eg Romanian deadlifts and some kind of squats)?

4

Yes, exactly. I commonly use that one.

5

I see why you would ask that question: the lower back gets somewhat taxed during rows and might not have fully recovered for your leg day which might involve the lower back i.e. during squats or RDL.

It’s a valid concern, however, I think that the negative carryover would be negligible, at worst.

  • First because isometric actions (which is how the lower back works during proper rows) cause a lot less fatigue, damage, and soreness than dynamic movements.
  • Second, you are going anywhere near muscle failure for the lower back when you do rows. So the stress imposed isn’t likely to have a lot of residual fatigue the next day.
  • Third, you have been doing barbell rows for a while, your lower back is likely adapted to the weights you are using and it no longer represents a significant stress for that muscle
  • Fourth, the lower back tends to recover fast (especially when a submaximal stimulation is used)

Worse-case scenario, if you are really worried about your back workout negatively impacting your lower body day, you can change the workout order to:

Back/Biceps
Chest/Triceps
Legs
Delts/Arms

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6

For what it’s worth, I’ve had similar concerns myself in the past but didn’t notice it impairing performance in any way. I’d imagine with you having so long before hitting your lower back again after the leg day, it would be even less of a potential issue. I believe lower back fatigue to be an accumulative thing that can happen over time in many programs (if you’re sensible with volume and intensity). With your what, 6 days rest after the leg day? I wouldn’t worry about it.

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7

Interesting reflection.

I never experienced really lower back fatigue in the long term as, due to Life hitting I’m forced to “unwillingly deload” every now and then @cdep89

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8

Maybe the best way to know Is to Just try myself and se wether/how much doing bent over rows affects performance on leg days.

However (correct me if I’m wrong) even if i see a slight drop in performance the first times on leg day (which might even not be the case as you suggest), lower back might get adapted to being somewhat hit two days in a row in a matter of few weeks.

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For sure. After all, olympic lifters squat, clean and jerk and snatch every day (sometimes twice a day) and do RDL-like pulls and they don’t have a massive drop in performance from day to day

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