An excellent point, that you can really only gain two pounds of lean mass per month. I agree with that. So what's the best way to max that out? Let's assume we're training three times per week / 12 times per month. Is it better to use a body part split and train the whole body four times that month? Or use total body workouts and work the whole body twelve times in the month? It's like which builds more muscle — deadlifts or hammer curls? The more muscle we work, the more muscle we build.
Someone who's more into bodybuilding gains, even if he doesn't have plans to compete, could use one of these splits for optimal muscle growth, then say a powerlifter who does squats, deads and bench three times per week:
OPTION 1
DAY 1 (Monday): Quads/hams/calves
DAY 2 (Tuesday): Chest/Back
DAY 3 (Thursday): Shoulders/rear delts
DAY 4 (Friday): Biceps/triceps
OPTION 2
DAY 1 (Monday): Shoulders/triceps
DAY 2 (Tuesday): Quads/hams/calves
DAY 3 (Thursday): Back/rear delts
DAY 4 (Friday): Chest/bicep
I can't take
Ronnie Coleman's routine and use it for a 35 year old male who works 40 hours a week and can get to the gym for about three hours per week. Secondly, we can't look at modern day bodybuilders without taking into account the drug use — that changes everything. We also can't use Arnold as an example of the body part split because Arnold was also world champion, part of the genetic elite, and believed in training for up to two hours twice a day. And he also used drugs!
You can't take a program that was for a genetically gifted world champion training up to two hours a day, twice a day, and involved the use of drugs, and try to apply that info to a drug-free guy who trains three days a week.
We also have to take diet and calorie/protien intake into consideration. You can't work your ass off in the gym, not eat, and expect to grow muscles.
In response to: Animalmass' favorite routines 
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