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 the 5-day training split format.
We change up the exercises often, so it's different from our exact weekly schedule, but it's very similar to what we usually do. You'll notice how we pair muscle groups that are trained with the same exercises, always adding a larger muscle group, like the chest and back, with a smaller muscle group, like the biceps and triceps.
WEEKLY TRAINING SCHEDULE
Please note that there are no training sessions on Wednesday and Saturday. These are rest days.
MONDAY: LEGS
The first workout of the week is leg day. We start by warming up our legs with leg extensions before moving on to squats. The squat is the main exercise of the day. We finish the workout with two leg curls, a leg press, and seated calf raises.
We'll use the following workout as a foundation for progressive overload. After a week or two, we'll consider increasing the sets to four, especially on machine exercises where we can go heavier. For example, instead of doing 3 sets of the leg press, we'll do this: 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 TRICEPTS
We dedicate the second workout of the week to chest and triceps. We start by warming up the chest with a flat dumbbell curl before an incline dumbbell press. After an incline Hammer Strength machine press and cable deadlift or pec machine, we do three sets of bodyweight dips to fatigue.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Flat dumbbell curl
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Incline dumbbell press
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Hammer Strength Incline Press
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Cable cross-over or chest machine
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Dips
3 sets x until fatigue
THURSDAY: BACK AND BIceps
After a rest day on Wednesday, we'll be back in the gym on Thursday with back and biceps. The workout starts with a classic deadlift. We'll do deadlifts mainly for strength, using low reps.
Next, we'll do a pulldown starting from the bottom, followed by a machine pullover. The machine pullover is a great and relatively rare exercise for effectively isolating and developing the lats. We'll then do two rows of exercises before finishing with two biceps exercises.
Exercise
Sets x Reps
Pull-up
3 sets x 1-5 reps
Pulldown from below
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Machine-made pullover
3 sets x 10-12 reps
Seated cable row
3 sets x 8-10 reps
Wide grip chest support row
3 sets x 10-15 reps
Machine Incline Biceps Curl
3 sets x 8-12 reps
Machine arm sag
3 sets x 10-15 reps
FRIDAY: SHOULDERS
Friday is dedicated to our shoulder girdle. We have previously combined shoulders and arms into one workout, but in our training plan we will separate them into two different sessions. The shoulder workout starts with a heavy seated Smith machine shoulder press.
Next up 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. Next comes alternating front raises followed by two exercises for the rear shoulders.
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 front raises with dumbbells
4 sets x 10-15 reps
Incline Dumbbell Raise for Rear Shoulders
4 sets x 10-15 reps
Cable facelift
4 sets x 10-15 reps