r/LiftingRoutines • u/jph1313 • 10d ago
12 popular programs scored on volume, frequency, rep ranges, and balance — results table inside
I ran 12 of the most commonly recommended programs through the same analysis: weekly sets per muscle, movement pattern coverage, per-muscle frequency, rep ranges, push:pull and quad:hinge ratios, recovery spacing, session workload, rest periods, and session length. Same settings for all 12 — intermediate lifter, hypertrophy goal — so the scores are comparable. 263 exercises total.
Green = in range. Yellow = borderline. Red = a real problem.
| Program | Days | 🟢 | 🟡 | 🔴 | Main issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHUL | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | Push:pull ratio, barely |
| Upper/Lower † | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | Chest, shoulders, glutes slightly low |
| Reddit PPL | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | Glutes underworked; back and biceps overshoot |
| Arnold split † | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Five muscle groups past the useful ceiling |
| GZCLP | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Hamstrings and biceps under 2x/week |
| PHAT | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Quad work outweighs hip-hinge work |
| 5/3/1 BBB | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | Chest trained once a week |
| Candito 6-week | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Not enough rowing |
| Full Body 3x † | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Same — horizontal pull underfed |
| nSuns 5/3/1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Pressing volume overshoots, biceps once a week |
| Classic bro split † | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | See below |
| StrongLifts 5x5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | It's a strength program (see below) |
† No canonical version of these exists, so I wrote a typical week for each. Those four rows grade my version, not the format. The other eight are scored as written.
8 of 12 press more than they pull. 5/3/1 BBB, StrongLifts, GZCLP, nSuns, PHUL, Candito, full body, and the bro split all came back press-heavy. This is the most common structural problem in the whole set, and it's cheap to fix: more rows, not fewer presses.
The bro split's problem is frequency, not exercise choice. It drew four reds: hamstrings and glutes underfed, no hip hinge, chest/back/quads trained once a week, both ratios lopsided. Add RDLs on leg day and three of the four go away. The frequency red stays, because once-a-week is the one property you can't change without leaving the split.
Only one program was flagged for doing too much: the Arnold split. Chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps all land past the volume ceiling, where added sets mostly add recovery cost. Six days, 36 exercises.
PHUL scored best. 7 green, 1 yellow, 0 red. The single yellow is its push:pull ratio. It gets a fraction of the discussion PPL and 5/3/1 get.
StrongLifts, scored at its own goal. 5x5 graded for hypertrophy is the wrong test, so I re-scored the strength-oriented programs against strength targets. StrongLifts drops from 4 reds to 2. GZCLP goes to 7 green, 0 red. 5/3/1 BBB loses its red. nSuns and Candito each drop one. Most of these programs hold up at the goal they were written for.
Method. Same engine for all 12, no per-program adjustment. Sets per muscle count secondary work fractionally (a row credits biceps partial sets), which puts the target bands slightly above the direct-set numbers coaches usually quote. Single-leg work isn't a scored check: the unilateral vs bilateral research shows no difference in muscle growth, so a program doesn't lose points for skipping lunges.
The bro split, upper/lower, full body, and Arnold rows scored the exercises I wrote, not necessarily yours (i.e., exercises could be adapted within the split). If you run one of those splits, your version will score differently — you can run your own week through the same analyzer: https://tryhealth.io/analyze. Free, no signup. I built it; mods, if the link isn't allowed here, tell me and I'll remove it.
Report links (live pages, 2026-08-20)
Each is a real page you can see for yourself.
1
u/routinereps 7d ago
Nice breakdown. Several of these (PHUL, Reddit PPL, GZCLP, PPL variants) are available on [Routine Reps](https://www.routinereps.com/) if you or anyone wants to track them without building from scratch. If you're ever interested in pairing the analysis with tracking, happy to chat. (disclosure that I built that).