Enjoy lifting? Remotely interested in building muscle?

You’ve probably heard of (and seen) Sam Sulek.

At just 22 years old, Sam is already a phenomenon in the bodybuilding world.

And success leaves clues. So let’s examine Sam’s workout split, his methods and his approach to lifting and building muscle.

What is Sam Sulek’s workout split?

Sam uses a body part split (also affectionately known as a “bro split”).

However, while traditional body part splits are as many as six days long before they repeat, Sam’s is simpler, at just four days.

Things to notice about Sam’s workout split

1) Sam no longer does any direct work for his shoulders

Instead of a “chest day”, Sam used to perform a chest and shoulders workout.

Recently, he stopped working out his shoulders completely.

The reason? He feels his shoulders overpower much of the rest of his physique. So he has opted to drop direct shoulder training until his weak points (his arms) catch up.

2) Sam doesn’t program rest days

Notably, Sam doesn’t program rest days into his split. On day five, he’ll roll right around into another Chest day.

Sam will, however, take a day off when he really feels he needs to.

But this is rare. And even on these rest days? Sam will usually do something. He might just train calves and forearms. Or he’ll just show up and do his cardio.

3) Sam doesn’t log his workouts

At least, not in the traditional sense.

You won’t see Sam walking around the gym with a pen and paper, or noting down his lifts in his phone.

Sam seems to like playing things by ear. In videos, you’ll often see him deciding on the fly how many sets he’ll do. He’ll use the feedback his body gives him to determine how much volume he needs to do in a given session.

4) Sam doesn’t care about session-by-session progressive overload

Sam has said this:

“If you’re growing, if you’re making progress – strength, size, a combination of the two? – then the training you’re doing is working.

“The issue is, if your training isn’t working, and you’re not progressing, then you need to figure out what to change. If you look the same, if you’re the same size, if you’re the same weight, the same strength for months on end? That means you’ve just been maintaining your build.”

But, while he mentions strength, this isn’t “progressive overload” as we know it.

Progressive overload is the intentional pursuit of small strength improvements session-by-session, while pushing yourself extremely hard. Every time you come to repeat an exercise, you’re looking to add weight, reps, or both.

But Sam doesn’t pursue this.

He’s happy to see lifts progress almost of their own accord. As a by-product of his training. Rather than making performance improvements the focus, and seeing muscle growth as the by-product.

5) Sam doesn’t use a mesocycle approach

Sam’s training is extremely simple.

There’s no “undulating periodization” of volume. There are no eight week “loading blocks”, followed by a “de-loading period”.

He just gets in there, works out hard, and goes home.

Should you adopt this approach as a natural lifter?

Yes!

De-loads are only necessary when you’ve pushed your body too far. Some call this “strategic overreaching”. But there’s growing evidence that this is counterproductive when building muscle is your goal.

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Training techniques Sam Sulek uses

When training, Sam Sulek uses the following training techniques in his workout split:

1. Straight sets to (and beyond) failure
2. Intensifiers:
   1. Rest/pause sets
   2. Drop sets

Sample Sam Sulek workouts

• Chest A)

Source: Winter Shredathon Day 52 - Chest - Happy Thanksgiving

1. Incline barbell bench press x 2
2. Incline cable fly presses x 3
3. Standing sternal/costal cable fly x 1 + 1 drop set

• Back A)

Source: Clothing Announcement - Winter Shredathon Day 53 - Back

1. Underhand machine row x 3
2. Cable wide grip pulldown x 3
3. High-low row x 1

• Arms A)

Source: Winter Shredathon Day 54 - Arms - Value of the Mind Muscle Connection

Triceps

1. Cable tricep pushdowns (rope) x 3
2. Dip machine x 3

Biceps

3. Alternating standing dumbbell curl x 1 + 1 x rest pause
4. EZ bar preacher curl x 2
5. Overhead cable curl x 1
6. Seated cable curl x 1

• Legs A)

Source: Winter Shredathon Day 55 - Legs - Veiniac Combo

1. Seated leg curl x 3
2. Lying leg curl x 2
3. Unilateral leg extension x 2 per side
4. 45º leg press (quad focus) x 2
5. Sled leg press x 2

Chest B)

Source: The Bulk Day 5 - Chest

1. Incline smith bench press x 2
2. Decline cable fly press (costal pec) x 1 + 1 drop set
3. Plate loaded machine chest press x 1 + 1 double rest pause

Back B)

Source: The Bulk Day 6 - Back

1. Single arm cable straight arm pulldown x 2 ea
2. Low cable row x 2 (both rest paused)
3. Wide grip cable pulldown x 1 rest pause

Arms B)

Source: The Bulk Day 7 - Arms

Triceps

1. Cross-body tricep extension x 2
2. Seated dip machine x 3
3. Cable tricep pushdowns x 1 rest pause

Biceps

1. Concentration curls x 3 each
2. Standing alternating bicep curl x 2

Legs B)

Source: The Bulk Day 8 - Legs

1. Unilateral lying ham curl x 3 each + bilateral x 1
2. Deficit smith RDLs x 2
3. Leg extension (alternating groups of 5 reps each side to failure) x 2
4. Leg extension / sissy squat super set x 3

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Sam’s approach to bulking and cutting

Sam tends to bulk until his weight gain stalls. Once he hits this point, and struggles to get past it for a week or so, he ends the bulking phase.

His longer publicly recorded bulk was 222 days (about 32 weeks, or seven months). His shortest bulk was 112 days, or 16 weeks. A full half as long as his longest.

His cuts sit in the 8-12 week range. His longest rand for 78 days, or about 11 weeks. His shortest? 59 days or about eight and a half weeks.

Sam doesn’t use “holding periods” where he holds his weight at his high or low bodyweight before switching from bulk to cut, or cut to bulk. Instead, he moves immediately into the opposite phase.

Reasons for Sam’s success

Incredible genetics are obviously a factor here. As are performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).

But Sam is young. At just 22 years old, he has managed to build a phenomenal physique. In spite of not seeming to care about the latest “science-backed” hypertrophy trends.

And there are some things, training-wise, that Sam undeniably does right:

1) He trains with intensity

Whether you’re a natural trainee or not, training hard is an absolute must.

You can see this in videos of Sam’s training. He takes every set to, or beyond, muscular failure.

This is intensity. And, since we know it’s the hardest reps in the set that deliver the muscle building stimulus, stopping as soon as the set gets hard, or the bar slows down, is never a good idea if you’re trying to maximize muscle growth.

2) He trains with low volume

There’s a common phrase:

“You can either go long, or you can go hard. You can’t do both.”

If we need to train with intensity to stimulate muscle growth, there’s a necessary recovery burden that comes along with that.

This limits the amount of volume we can do. (But that doesn’t matter. Because we know volume is not a true driver of muscle growth.)

Sam usually performs about seven sets per body part.

3) He prioritizes macro tracking

Remember the 80/20 rule: 20% of the inputs account for 80% of the outputs, or results.

Simply tracking your macros is a habit that sits firmly in that 20% camp.

Sam does this religiously. Check out pretty much any video of his, and you’ll see him doing it. Tracking his macros.

(He uses the Stupid Simple Macro Tracker app (no affiliation).)

While his food selection has, historically, been questionable, remember that he’s 22. How well did you eat at 22? 🤷‍♂️

And besides, it proves a point: You can lose weight on any kind of food, so long as you’re eating in a calorie deficit.

4) He's in touch with his recovery and his body

It takes a lot of experience to get to this level. Especially if you’re someone who hasn’t yet built a cast-iron gym habit.

But when you’re very advanced, you can tell if you’re strangely fatigued one day, and need to cut things short.

You’ll see Sam do this a lot. If he feels like he’s gotten everything out of the session that he can get, he might only do five total sets for his back, for example. Then he’ll pose down, and go home.

Remember, this is a guy that loves training. He goes to the gym twice a day almost every day. So if he’s cutting a session short, you know it’s not because he can’t be bothered that day.

But knowing that less is often more is a lesson a lot of lifters (myself included) take years to learn.

5) He prioritizes cardio

Will doing cardio religiously help you build muscle?

Not really. But also, it’s not that simple.

Sam is militant about doing at least 30 minutes of cardio every single day on the recumbent bike.

While this doesn’t build muscle directly, being more cardiovascularly fit will make being at higher bodyweights less uncomfortable. And being uncomfortable is the main thing that forces people to cut their bulking phases (as well as their cutting phases) short.

TL;DR 🏃‍♂️‍➡️

• Sam works out every single day of the week. 📅
• He follows a four-day body part split. 💪
• Sam Sulek’s workout split is: Chest, Back, Arms, Legs, Repeat. 🔄
• Sam trains with low volume, doing between five and seven sets per body part. ✋
• Sam often adjusts workout volume and exercise selection on the fly, based on how his body feels. 🌳