Chest and back on Monday. Shoulders and arms on Tuesday. Legs on Wednesday. Then the whole thing again from Thursday, and Sunday off. That is the Arnold split, and it has outlived almost every other routine from the 1970s for a simple reason: it trains every major muscle twice a week while still giving each one a long, focused session.
Most write-ups stop at the day-by-day plan. This guide goes one step further and counts what the plan actually delivers: how many hard sets each muscle gets per week, where the classic structure overshoots, where it falls short, and what happens to those numbers when you squeeze it into four days.
What the Arnold Split Is
The Arnold split is a six-day routine built on three workouts:
- Chest and back
- Shoulders and arms
- Legs
You run the three in order, then repeat them, so every muscle is trained twice in six days. The name comes from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Write-ups by StrengthLog and Lift Vault trace it to the training programs in The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, which he wrote with Bill Dobbins (Simon & Schuster). Those summaries agree on the three-day pairing and the twice-a-week rotation, and both have abs trained in every session. They differ on the exact exercises, set counts and rest days, so treat what follows as the classic Arnold split as commonly described, not a page copied from the book.
Two choices make it different from other splits:
- Opposing muscles share a day. Chest pairs with back, biceps with triceps. That suits supersets: a set of bench press, then a set of rows while the chest recovers.
- Arms get their own day with shoulders. In a push/pull/legs week, triceps are already tired from pressing when you reach them, and biceps from rowing. Here they are trained near the start of a session, fresh.
The 6-Day Arnold Split Plan
Here is a sample week that keeps the classic structure with exercises most gyms have. All sets are working sets taken close to failure; warm-ups are extra.
| Day | Workout | Exercises (hard sets) |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Chest and back | Bench press 4, incline dumbbell press 3, cable fly 3, pull-up or lat pulldown 4, barbell row 3, seated cable row 3 |
| Tue | Shoulders and arms | Overhead press 4, lateral raise 4, rear delt fly 3, barbell curl 3, incline dumbbell curl 3, skull crusher 3, overhead triceps extension 3 |
| Wed | Legs | Back squat 4, leg press 3, walking lunge 3, Romanian deadlift 4, lying leg curl 3, standing calf raise 4 |
| Thu | Chest and back | Same as Monday |
| Fri | Shoulders and arms | Same as Tuesday |
| Sat | Legs | Same as Wednesday |
| Sun | Rest |
Each session runs 20 to 23 hard sets. Add abs at the end of two or three sessions if you like, in the spirit of the original.
If you pair chest and back moves as supersets, rest after the second exercise rather than between them. Our guide on rest between sets covers how long to wait when the sets are heavy.
Weekly Sets Per Muscle: What the Plan Actually Delivers
A split is just a way to distribute weekly volume, so the useful question is how many sets each muscle ends up with. The research gives a target. A meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger (2017) found a graded dose-response: more weekly sets, more growth. A 2022 systematic review by Baz-Valle and colleagues suggested 12 to 20 weekly sets per muscle as a sensible standard for trained men. Our weekly sets guide uses 10 to 20 as the working range.
Counting needs one rule for compound lifts. We use the same one as the weekly sets guide: a set counts as one full set for the main muscle it trains and half a set for its main helpers (bench press gives half a set to triceps and front delts; rows give half to biceps). That is not just our convention. A 2025 meta-regression by Pelland and colleagues, covering 67 studies, found this "fractional" method predicted growth better than counting indirect sets as full sets or ignoring them.
Run the sample plan through that rule and you get this:
Arnold split weekly set count
| Muscle | Direct sets | Indirect (counted as half) | Weekly total | Against 10-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 20 | 0 | 20 | top of range |
| Back | 20 | 0 | 20 | top of range |
| Front delts | 8 | 7 | 15 | in range |
| Side delts | 8 | 4 | 12 | in range |
| Rear delts | 6 | 6 | 12 | in range |
| Biceps | 12 | 10 | 22 | over |
| Triceps | 12 | 11 | 23 | over |
| Quads | 20 | 0 | 20 | top of range |
| Hamstrings | 14 | 0 | 14 | in range |
| Glutes | 0 | 14 | 14 | in range (all from squats, lunges and hinges) |
| Calves | 8 | 0 | 8 | under |
Three things stand out.
Arms overshoot. Biceps and triceps get 12 direct sets each, then another 10 to 11 from the pulling and pressing on chest and back day. At 22 and 23 they are past the range, while being among the smallest muscles you train. If your arms are already growing, this is fine. If your elbows complain or arm sessions feel flat, cut one curl and one triceps exercise per arm day: that brings both down to about 16 to 17.
The arms day comes right after the chest and back day. In this plan triceps take 3.5 counted sets on Monday and 8 on Tuesday; biceps take 5 and then 6. StrengthLog's write-up makes the same point about front delts and triceps being worked hard on consecutive days. Either put a rest day between the two halves of the week (Mon, Tue, Wed, rest, Fri, Sat, Sun) or keep the first arms exercise of the day light enough to leave a rep or two in reserve.
Calves fall short. Eight sets a week is low for a muscle many people already find stubborn. Add a seated calf raise to each legs day if calves matter to you.
Everything else lands inside the range without trying, which is the real strength of the split.
Arnold Split vs PPL
Both run six days, both train each muscle about twice a week, and legs look the same in either. The differences are in the upper body. Our push/pull/legs vs upper/lower comparison covers PPL in depth, so here are only the points that change the decision:
| Arnold split | Push/pull/legs | |
|---|---|---|
| Grouping | Opposing muscles (chest + back, biceps + triceps) | Movement patterns (all pressing, all pulling) |
| Arms | Trained fresh on their own day | Trained after pressing or pulling has tired them |
| Recovery | Front delts and triceps worked on back-to-back days | Pressing muscles get a day of rest between push and pull |
| Supersets | Natural (antagonist pairs) | Harder, since one day's muscles all overlap |
| Session feel | Long chest and back day; long arms day | More even sessions |
If arms are a priority, the Arnold split gives them more attention. If your shoulders or elbows are sensitive, PPL spreads the pressing load better. On paper the hypertrophy difference is small: a 2019 meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Grgic and Krieger found that when weekly volume is equal, training frequency did not meaningfully change muscle growth. Choose the split you can run consistently.
The 4-Day Arnold Split, Re-Counted
Six days is a lot. The common fix is a four-day version, but three workouts do not divide evenly into four days, so something has to give. We re-counted two versions using the same exercises and the same counting rule.
- Version A, upper body twice: Mon chest and back, Tue legs, Thu shoulders and arms, Fri a shorter upper day (incline dumbbell press 3, bench press 2, pull-up or pulldown 3, seated cable row 3, lateral raise 3, barbell curl 2, skull crusher 2).
- Version B, legs twice: Mon chest and back, Tue legs, Thu shoulders and arms, Fri legs and delts (squat 3, Romanian deadlift 3, leg press 3, leg curl 3, calf raise 4, lateral raise 3, rear delt fly 3).
| Muscle | 6-day | 4-day A | 4-day B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 20 | 15 | 10 |
| Back | 20 | 16 | 10 |
| Front delts | 15 | 10 | 7.5 |
| Side delts | 12 | 9 | 9 |
| Rear delts | 12 | 7.5 | 9 |
| Biceps | 22 | 16 | 11 |
| Triceps | 23 | 16 | 11.5 |
| Quads | 20 | 10 | 16 |
| Hamstrings | 14 | 7 | 13 |
| Glutes | 14 | 7 | 11.5 |
| Calves | 8 | 4 | 8 |
The numbers make the trade-off plain. Version A keeps chest, back and arms in range, with arms down to a more sensible 16, but legs drop to one session with 7 sets for hamstrings and glutes, and side and rear delts slip just under 10. Version B brings the legs back into range and puts chest and back right at the bottom of it with one session each, while the delts and calves stay under. Neither keeps every muscle at 10 or more.
So pick by priority. Upper body first: Version A, treating legs as maintenance for a training block, or adding a set to the leg curls and calf raises if the session still feels manageable. Legs first: Version B, plus one extra set on two chest and two back exercises on Monday, which lifts both to 12. If you can train five days, a rolling rotation (chest and back, shoulders and arms, legs, repeat, with the cycle carrying into the next week) keeps the classic pairing with every muscle trained a little less than twice a week. Our guide to how many days a week to work out helps decide which schedule you can actually keep.
Who the Arnold Split Suits
Good fit:
- Intermediate lifters who can recover from six sessions a week and want arms to get serious attention.
- People who enjoy long, focused sessions and antagonist supersets.
- Anyone coming from a bro split who wants to train each muscle twice without giving up "chest day".
Poor fit:
- Beginners. A full-body or upper/lower routine teaches the lifts with less fatigue; our split comparison explains the options.
- People who regularly miss sessions. Missing one day of a six-day split leaves a muscle at once a week until the next cycle.
- Lifters with cranky shoulders or elbows, given the back-to-back pressing load.
Whatever version you run, add load or reps over time and take a deload week when fatigue builds up.
Track the Split So the Numbers Stay Honest
The set count above only holds if you do the sets you planned. Six sessions a week makes it easy to drop an exercise here and there and lose track of where each muscle really stands.
WinGym Exercises logs every set with weight and reps, so you can check at the end of the week whether chest, arms and calves got what the plan promised, and whether your curls and presses are climbing. If you switch from six days to four, the log shows quickly which muscles lost volume.
- Download for iOS: WinGym on the App Store
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Arnold split good for beginners?
Usually not. Six sessions a week with 20 or more hard sets each is a lot for someone still learning the lifts. Start with full body or upper/lower and move to the Arnold split once you have a year or two of steady training.
Is the Arnold split better than PPL?
Neither is better for growth when weekly volume is the same. The Arnold split favors arms and supersets; PPL spreads the pressing load more evenly across the week. Pick the one that fits your priorities and recovery.
Can I run the Arnold split 4 days a week?
Yes, but one group will be trained once a week. Our re-count shows a four-day version keeps either chest, back and arms or the legs in the 10 to 20 set range, not both, so adjust the sets toward your priority.
Did Arnold Schwarzenegger really train this way?
The split is credited to him through The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, and summaries of the book describe the chest and back, shoulders and arms, legs rotation. Exact exercises and sets vary between write-ups, so the plan in this article is a modern sample built on that structure.
The Bottom Line
The Arnold split pairs chest with back and shoulders with arms, then runs legs, twice a week. Counted set by set, the classic six-day plan puts most muscles between 10 and 20 weekly sets, pushes arms past 20 and leaves calves short. Trim the arm work, add calves, and consider a rest day between the two halves of the week. If six days is too many, a four-day version works as long as you decide whether the upper body or the legs gets the second session, and log your sets so you can see what each muscle is really getting.
