Sam Sulek split, a 4-day bodybuilding rotation inspired by the way Sam Sulek trains in his vlogs: one or two muscle groups per session, a handful of machine and dumbbell exercises, and every working set pushed close to failure. The rotation runs chest and side delts, back and rear delts, arms, then legs, and starts again after a rest day. Hardy tracks every set for you: log your reps, and the app raises or lowers your working weights automatically according to the rules below, so you never touch a spreadsheet.
How Sam Sulek trains, and what this routine keeps
The Sam Sulek workout split as he shows it on his channel rotates chest and side delts, back and rear delts, arms and legs, four days on and one off or with a rest day whenever he feels he needs one; he has said he never really took rest days growing up and that he simply likes lifting every day. He trains by feel rather than from a written plan, rotates the machines he uses, and takes nearly every set to failure with pauses and partials after the last full rep. This routine keeps the rotation, the exercise style and the rest day after every four sessions, so the split repeats every five days.
Rotation
Train the four workouts in order, rest one day, and start again.
- Chest & Side Delts: incline dumbbell press, chest press machine, pec deck, lateral raise
- Back & Rear Delts: weighted chin-up, lat pulldown, seated cable row, dumbbell row, reverse pec deck
- Arms: tricep pushdown, machine preacher curl, overhead triceps extension, hammer curl
- Legs: lying leg curl first, as he does, then Romanian deadlift, leg extension, hack squat machine, one high-rep set of leg press, seated calf raise
Two or three working sets per exercise after a light warm-up set or two; warm-up sets are not written into the routine. Rest about 90 seconds. A Sam Sulek workout takes him about 45 minutes; expect 45 minutes to an hour.
Progression
Every exercise uses double progression in the 8–12 rep range (15–20 on the leg press). Start with a weight you can move for 8 clean reps on every set, add reps each session, and once every set reaches 12 Hardy adds weight (2.5 kg / 5 lb, or 1 kg / 2 lb on dumbbell exercises) and you drop back to 8. Miss the rep target on a set and the target drops by one rep next time; miss it at 8 reps and Hardy takes the same amount off. Sam takes every set to failure; this routine asks for failure on the last set of each exercise only and a rep or two in reserve on the others, so the rep targets stay repeatable from session to session.
Tips
- Swap a machine your gym lacks for the closest one with the Hardy exercise search and keep the sets and reps.
- Pauses and partials after the last full rep suit this split; log only the full reps.
- Chin-ups start at bodyweight; Hardy adds belt weight once both sets reach 12.
- If you recover well and want to train closer to how Sam does, drop the rest day and run the rotation straight through.
- Prefer fewer, harder sets? The Clark Kent Upper Lower Split caps every exercise at two sets in the 4–7 rep range.
Inspired by the training Sam Sulek shows in his YouTube vlogs. Not his program and not affiliated with him.
Starting TM is 90% of 1RM.
Targeted muscles
Workouts
Chest & Side Delts
incline bench press
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 2 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 2 lbs.
incline bench press
3×8
chest press machine
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
chest press machine
2×8
pec deck
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
pec deck
2×8
lateral raise
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 2 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 2 lbs.
lateral raise
3×8
Back & Rear Delts
chinup
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
chinup
2×8
lat pulldown
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
lat pulldown
3×8
seated cable row
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
seated cable row
2×8
dumbbell row
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 2 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 2 lbs.
dumbbell row
2×8
reverse pec deck
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
reverse pec deck
2×8
Arms
tricep pushdown
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
tricep pushdown
3×8
machine preacher curl
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
machine preacher curl
2×8
overhead triceps extensions
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 2 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 2 lbs.
overhead triceps extensions
2×8
hammer curl
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 2 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 2 lbs.
hammer curl
2×8
Legs
lying leg curl
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
lying leg curl
3×8
romanian deadlift
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
romanian deadlift
2×8
leg extension
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
leg extension
2×8
hack squat machine
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
hack squat machine
3×8
leg press
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 15-20 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.
leg press
1×15
seated calf raise
Set
Intensity
Weight
Reps
Rest time
Double Progression: Work within 8-12 reps, adding one rep per successful session. At the top of the range, weight increases by 5 lbs; failing at the bottom decreases it by 5 lbs.