The Garage Gym Bro Split

Welcome to the Garage Gym Bro Split.

I've tried all sorts of program splits, and I continue to find the following 3 day cycle is most appropriate:

Chest & arms

Legs

Shoulders & back

However – and I write about this in more detail at the end of this program article – the Garage Gym Bro Split includes a 4th Day each week: Arm day!

This program is 4 lifting days per week, and then fill in the other days with active recovery activities and cardio as desired.

Do the 4 lifting sessions. Don't do more than 4 lifting sessions. Fill the other days with rest or active rest activities like kettlebell ballistics, club swings, jump rope, cardio, etc. Each of the 4 lifting sessions below should only be done once per week. However, please ensure that you complete the 4 sessions.

If you need to complete the training sessions in 20-25 minutes or less, do 2 sets per exercise instead of 3-4 sets per exercise.

Enjoy!

warm up for 1-2 sets before all workouts:

1. glute bridges OR clam shells

2. band pull aparts OR bent over rear delt flyes OR face pulls (cable, rings, or TRX) OR TRX T drill x 15-20 reps

3. core (sample options: leg raise, frog situp, loaded carries, side planks, Copenhagen planks, leg raises, double crunch, dead bugs, ab wheel rollouts) 

Day 1: chest & arms

Ex 1: incline DB or incline BB bench press-3-4x6-12; 3x5-8 if Barbell

Ex 2: flat DB/barbell bench press or (DB/KB/BB) floor press-3-4x6-12; 5-8 if barbell. Or pushups x 5 x max

Ex 3: incline DB curls or concentration curls-3-4x6-10

Ex 4: cable pushdowns or overhead cable extensions-3-4x10-15

Ex 5: incline hammer curls-3-4x8-12

Day 2: legs

Ex 1: (trap bar or conventional) deadlift-3x4-6 OR single leg RDL-3-4x6-12

Ex 2: Bulgarian split squats-3-4x6-12 OR safety squat bar (or barbell or zercher) box squat-3-4x5-8

Ex 3: single leg box squats or split squat variation-3-4x6-12

Ex 4: single leg RDL or kettlebell swings or leg curls or hip thrusts/glute bridges-3-4x10-15

Ex 5: calf raise variation-3-4x10-15

Day 3: shoulders & back

Ex 1: (weighted) pullups-3-4x4-6

Ex 2: kettlebell or barbell overhead press/clean & press-3-4x5-8

Ex 3: single arm rows-3-4x6-12

Ex 4: lateral raise-3-4x10-15

Ex 5: shrugs OR kettlebell/dumbbell half snatch-3-4x10-15; 3-4x6-10 if half snatch

*Can replace pullups with lat pulldowns

Day 4: Arms

Ex 1: incline DB curls-3-5x6-10

Ex 2: cable overhead extensions-3-5x10-15

Ex 3: concentration curls-3-5x8-12

Ex 4: cable pushdowns or skull crushers-3-5x10-15

--------

No Barbell Leg Day Option! (This would replace Day 2's session)

Ex 1: single leg RDL-3-4x6-12

Ex 2: Bulgarian split squats-3x6-12

Ex 3: single leg box squats-3-4x6-12

Ex 4: kettlebell swings or leg curls or hip thrusts/glute bridges-3-4x10-15

Ex 5: calf raise variation-3-4x10-15

Active rest days

Jump rope or swing clubs or do a kettlebell clean/swing/snatch EMOMs 

Keep these active rest sessions 10-20 minutes long.

Why a 4th Day for Arms?

One of my goals in life -- since I was a wee-little lad -- has been to look great in a tank top.

Why, you might ask, while comfortably perched on your couch, killing time, reading my words on your phone, computer, or tablet...

It's simple really.

Jacked arms are cool. Everyone agrees on that.

But, there is a second reason for my desiring to look great in tank tops...

Sleeves are annoying as sin. I said it. We're all thinking it. I mean, they're tedious. Infuriating. Offensive, really. Uncultured, even. They always feel too tight or too loose or too long or too short, or, even -- heaven forbid -- uneven on one side compared to the other (a truly maddening case).

Imagine how simple life would be if your wardrobe could be made up of just tank tops and crew neck sweatshirts. 

The only reason most of us can't have such a simple wardrobe is obvious: we don't have the required tank top aesthetic . Duh.

While I have succeeded in building a considerable amount of muscle since I first began lifting weights when I was 18, I (like everyone else) always felt I had some areas of my body that lagged behind the rest of my physique. In my case, this initially was my glutes, legs, shoulders, and arms (my training in the very early days was heavily based around bench press variations, pushups, pulldowns, pullups, row variations, and, of course, 1 billion sets of various ab exercises).

I was able to fix the glute and leg problem by pounding away at compound lower body exercises (obviously I'm still trying to maximize muscle growth in those areas). But my arms began to fall behind.

From a 'male aesthetic physique' standpoint, well developed arms, shoulders, and back are supremely important. 

For athletes and competitive weightlifters, individual body part development is much less important. But I'm 34 (as of writing this, in 2025) and am not an athlete or a competitive lifter of weights, in the least.

In my late 20s, I told myself and anyone around me that cared (checks records....nobody cared) that I was one of these unfortunate "torso dominant" guys.

The truth is that I only SEEMED to be torso dominant because, throughout much of my 20s, I PRIORITIZED compound exercises that primarily trained the big muscle groups of the torso and hips. 

From the ages of 22-28, 85% of my training was variations of squats, deadlifts, rows, pullups or pulldowns, overhead presses, and bench presses. Really, I barely did any overhead pressing variations until I was 28 or so. I pretty much stuck with the Big 3 Powerlifts and their variations, then filled in the gaps with the occasional half-assed bicep and tricep isolations, lunges, kettlebell swings, Turkish getups, pushups, and various other back exercises and kettlebell ballistics.

No wonder my back, chest, and glutes developed more quickly and noticeably than my arms.

I wasn't training my arms effectively.

Now, since turning 30 (in 2021), I've adjusted my training away from being a poor powerlifter that was too stubborn to stop focusing so much on the barbell lifts, retarding my physique progress in the process, and have taken a more general, balanced approach to training for all around health, fitness, and aesthetics. I now train each muscle group (even calves) with equal intensity and importance.

But, the baseline for my arms was lower than that of my torso muscle groups, due to not training them appropriately. So, this program trains each muscle group hard, but allows me to get an extra training session each week for the arms. We are trying to grow and improve every muscle, as per usual. But, we are doing an extra session each week to give extra love -- or pain, depending on your attitude -- to the tank top muscles (biceps and triceps).

This is a super fun plan. Everyone likes arm pumps.

If you want to get jacked and also want that tank top aesthetic that draws respect from large crowds of mere mortals, this is the program for you.