If you're looking for a workout plan to follow, you've come to the right place. Here's a complete five-day workout program, following a 5-day training split format.
We frequently change exercises, so this will differ from our exact weekly plan, but it's very similar to what we typically do. You'll notice how we pair muscle groups that are trained with the same exercises, always combining a larger muscle group like chest and back with a smaller one like biceps and triceps.
WEEKLY WORKOUT PLAN
Please note that there are no workouts on Wednesday and Saturday. These are rest days.
MONDAY: LEGS
The first workout of the week is leg day. We start warming up the legs with leg extensions before moving on to squats. Squats are the main exercise of the day. We finish the workout plan with two hamstring exercises, leg press, and seated calf raises.
We use the following workout as a basis for progressive overload. In a week or two, we will consider increasing the sets to four, especially in machine exercises where we can go heavier. For example, instead of leg press being 3 sets, we will do: Leg press: 4 x 10-12.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Leg extension
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Squat
3 sets x 8-10 reps
Lying leg curl
3 sets x 10-12 reps
Leg press
3 sets x 10-12 reps
Seated or standing leg curl
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Seated calf raise
3 sets x 10-15 reps
TUESDAY: CHEST AND TRICEPS
Our second workout of the week is dedicated to chest and triceps. We start warming up the chest with flat dumbbell flyes before incline dumbbell press. After incline Hammer Strength machine press and cable crossovers or pec deck machine, we do three sets of bodyweight dips to failure.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Flat dumbbell flyes
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Incline dumbbell press
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Incline Hammer Strength press
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Cable crossover or pec deck machine
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Dips
3 sets x to failure
THURSDAY: BACK AND BICEPS
After a rest day on Wednesday, we're back in the gym on Thursday for back and biceps. The workout plan begins with classic pull-ups. We do pull-ups mainly for strength, using low repetitions.
Next, we do a close-grip pulldown, followed by a machine pullover. The machine pullover is a great and relatively rare exercise for effectively isolating and developing the lats. Then we do two rowing exercises before finishing the workout with two biceps exercises.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Pull-ups
3 sets x 1-5 reps
Close-grip pulldown
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Machine pullover
3 sets x 10-12 reps
Seated cable row
3 sets x 8-10 reps
Wide-grip chest-supported row
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Machine incline biceps curl
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Machine forearm curl
3 sets x 10-15 reps
FRIDAY: SHOULDERS
Friday is dedicated to our shoulders. We have previously combined shoulders and arms into one workout, but in our training plan, we separate them into two different sessions. The shoulder workout begins with a heavy seated Smith machine shoulder press.
Next are lateral raises to target the lateral deltoids. We prefer to do these seated as we feel it allows us to stretch and contract better. This is followed by alternating front raises, and then two exercises for the rear deltoids.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Seated Smith machine shoulder press
4 sets x 8-10 reps
Seated lateral raise
4 sets x 10-15 reps
Standing alternating dumbbell front raise
4 sets x 10-15 reps
Incline lying dumbbell rear delt raise
4 sets x 10-15 reps
Cable face pull
4 sets x 10-15 reps
