Building muscle and strength isn't just about hitting the gym hard; it’s about smart planning, tracking your progress, and putting in consistent effort. The key to achieving that often lies in your training frequency and split.
With a 5-day workout split, you open yourself up to greater exercise selection and volume, which is advantageous for hypertrophy and strength gains, but you do so at the potential sacrifice of recovery and intensity if your routine isn't in good order. It’s hard to train hard every day, so organization is essential.
Thankfully, there are tried and true 5-day plans for you to follow. The two below will not steer you wrong if you are on a path to muscle growth and strength gains.
Table of contents:
A 5-day weight training routine works for various goals around strength gain, muscle building, and fat loss. You just have to be able to commit to a rigorous and consistent workout schedule.
Intermediate to advanced lifters will find a 5-day routine most effective, as it requires a solid foundation in weight training techniques and recovery management. However, beginners who have the basics down and a strong commitment to their workout plan will see fantastic results with the right 5-day split and a focus on gradual progression
If you want a well-rounded 5-day weight training split to build muscle and strength, these are the two options that I most recommend as the head trainer at SET FOR SET.
At your discretion: Core and cardio
The 5-day body part split, aka bro split, is great for all levels. It gives each major muscle group plenty of attention, without pushing you so hard that you can't recover well enough. It's a solid pick if you want to build muscle and get stronger without overdoing it. It's a common split for a reason, it works.
At your discretion: Core and cardio
The 5-day ULPPL split, a hybrid that combines both the upper-lower and push-pull-legs splits, is designed to optimize gains by targeting each muscle group twice a week. This approach is utilized most often by intermediate to advanced lifters looking to overcome plateaus inherent in less frequent, muscle group-specific splits, offering a change in stimulus for the body. While anyone can do this routine, it's important to understand the workouts are more demanding.
Here are the best exercises for a 5-day weightlifting split (most of which we've included in the two splits below). There is a healthy mix of multi-joint and single-joint exercises, each selected for their proven effectiveness.
This program is designed to build muscle & strength, with an emphasis on building a lot of muscle mass. Do this split for 8-12 weeks.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
I recommend using the two-in-a-row rest day schedule, but you could put one rest day between day 2 and 3 or 3 and 4 to the same effect.
WARM UP: A dynamic warm up should be done before each workout. Focus on the mobility of the muscles and joints that you will be working on that particular workout and get your body temperature up.
WARM UP SETS: The sets below do not include warm up sets - Always do warm up sets before getting into your working weight. Do as many as you need to warm up at any given exercise, but never take warm up sets close to failure. They should be light weight and low reps, gradually increasing the load to your working weight.
| Flat Bench Press | 4 sets | 6-10 reps (pyramid) |
| Flat Bench DB Fly | 3 sets | 8-10 reps |
| Incline DB Bench Press | 4 sets | 8-10 reps |
| Low to High Cable Fly | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Chest Dips | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Decline Push Ups | 3 sets | Max reps |
| Deadlift | 4 sets | 3-6 reps (increase weight each set) |
| Pull Ups | 4 sets | 6-12 reps |
| Bent Over Rows | 4 sets | 8-12 reps (2 sets underhand, 2 sets overhand) |
| Close Grip Lat Pulldown | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Machine High Row | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Trap Raises | 3 sets | 10-20 reps |
| Barbell Curl | 3 sets | 8-10 reps |
| Alternating Hammer Curls | 3 sets | 10 reps each arm |
| Reverse Cable Curl w/ Straight Bar | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Triceps Pressdown w/ Rope | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Triceps Kickback | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Skull Crushers | 3 sets | 8-10 reps |
| Back Squat | 4 sets | 6-10 reps (increase weight each set) |
| Stiff Leg or RDL | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Split Squat | 3 sets | 8-12 reps each side |
| Hip Thrust | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Leg Curl x Leg Extension (superset) | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Standing or Seated Calf Raise | 3 sets | Max reps |
| Seated or Standing OHP | 4 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Arnold Press | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Lateral Raise | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Cable Y-Raise | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Rear Delt Fly | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Face Pull | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
On your rest days, feel free to. REST. But if you are the type of person who has to move, do some light activities that won't affect your recovery, such as mobility training, some forms of Yoga, walk, easy hike, etc.
You probably noticed there are no core-specific exercises in the bro split above.
It's important to note that your core will be worked with the big compound lifts. However, doing a little extra core work is great and often undervalued.
For core workouts, try to do 1-2 per week. They can be done after any training day or whenever you feel like it during the day. As a seasoned trainer, I prefer that you rest on your rest days, but if you feel that it won't hurt your workouts the coming week, you can also do your core workouts on your rest days. Remember though, if your core is sore, your lifts will suffer, as your core is a huge element to any big compound movement.
Here are some examples of effective and efficient core workouts.
CORE WORKOUT EXAMPLE #1:
Rest 30-45 seconds per set.
CORE WORKOUT EXAMPLE #2:
Rest 30-45 seconds per set.
CORE WORKOUT EXAMPLE #3:
Rest 30-45 seconds per set.
The above bro split workout plan is designed to targets all of your primary muscles in full and from all angles. However, if you find yourself more comfortable with different exercises or variation (i.e. Front Squats vs Back Squats), then choose whatever works for your fitness level, mobility, preferences or weak areas, and the equipment available to you.
This 5 day workout split is designed to build muscle and strength while keeping lean. The workouts are going to provide a higher calorie burn than the bro split and you are going to be doing slightly more volume each workout.
Like any split, you should stick with this plan for at least 8 weeks if you want measurable results. However, with this one, it's important to monitor how you feel and take a deload or rest week as needed to catch up on recovery.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
FYI: Our upper and lower workout days are going to focus on strength, so the reps will be lower and you will mainly be doing big compound lifts, and the PPL portion of the week will emphasize hypertrophy. That said, you will see improvement in both strength and size with all of the rep ranges you'll use, as science shows any rep range can build muscle if the weight load is correct (more on rep ranges vs weight load after I run through this workout routine).
WARM UP: A dynamic warm up should be done before each workout. Focus on the mobility of the muscles and joints that you will be working on that particular workout and get your body temperature up.
WARM UP SETS: The sets below do not include warm up sets - Always do warm up sets before getting into your working weight. Do as many as you need to warm up at any given exercise, but never take warm up sets close to failure. They should be light weight and low reps, gradually increasing the load to your first sets working weight.
| Bench Press | 4 sets | 4-8 reps |
| Bent Over Row | 3 sets | 4-8 reps |
| Seated OHP | 4 sets | 6-10 reps |
| Pull Ups or Chin Ups (weighted if needed) | 4 sets | 6-10 reps |
| Barbell Curl x Chest Dips (superset) | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Hanging Leg Raises or Lying Leg Raises | 3 sets | 6-12 reps |
| Deadlift | 4 sets | 1-5 reps |
| Front Squat (or Hack Squat) | 4 sets | 4-8 reps |
| Hip Thrust (or Reverse Hack Squat) | 4 sets | 6-10 reps |
| Split Squat | 3 sets | 10 reps each side |
| Leg Press (wide foot placement) | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Standing Calf Raise | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Incline Bench | 4 sets | 8-15 reps |
| Incline Fly or Cable Fly | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Arnold Press | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Lateral Raise x Front Raise (superset) | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Triceps Kickback x Rope Pushdown (superset) | 3 sets | 12-15 reps |
| Up Down Planks | 3 sets | 30 seconds |
| Lat Pulldown | 4 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Seated Row | 4 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Straight Arm Lat Pulldown | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Rear Delt Fly or Face Pull | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Concentration Curl x Hammer Curl (superset) | 3 sets | 10 reps |
| Side Plank | 3 sets | 30-45 sec/side |
| Back Squat | 4 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Stiff-Leg or RDL | 3 sets | 10-12 reps |
| Good Mornings | 3 sets | 8-12 reps |
| Leg Curl x Leg Extension (superset) | 3 sets | 10-15 reps |
| Seated Calf Raise | 3 sets | 10-20 reps (pyramid) |
The above workout plan is designed to targets all of your primary muscles in full and from all angles. The first part of the week focuses on strength using heavier loads and the second part of the week on hypertrophy using medium loads.
If you find yourself more comfortable with different exercises or variation, then choose whatever works for your fitness level, mobility, preferences or weak areas, and the equipment available to you.
Do this routine for 8-12 weeks and then assess and change things up as needed.
Pros:
Cons:
Here are some important rules and tips to follow when creating or following a workout plan with the goal of building muscle and/or strength.
It's important to understand the information below so you can make adjustments to the routine as needed or desired.
Avoid doing pushing muscle groups and pulling muscle groups back to back. For example, you don’t want to do Chest on Day 1 and then Shoulders on Day 2. Separate the days by opposing muscle groups. This is why we’ve structured the weekly routine in that way.
You don’t need to do every single exercise you know on any given day. Choose 5-6 exercises that complement each other (not repeat one another), meaning they target the same muscle group or body area but in a different way. It’s all about angles and training variables. For example, doing a flat barbell bench press and then a flat dumbbell bench press doesn’t make sense, rather you should do a flat bench press and then an incline press (which changes the training variable of body position, thus targeting your chest differently).
You’ll notice that the program has various rep ranges depending on the exercise at hand. Reps can range anywhere from 1-15 for building muscle and strength, and it really depends on the exercise and how far you are into your workout.
Generally speaking, you should put the big compound lifts at the beginning of your workout when your strength levels are highest. This means you will be doing lower reps with a heavier load. Then, towards the middle and end of your workout, you focus on the “accessory” exercises, using a higher rep range with lighter weight.
So, unless you are near-advanced or advanced, stick to the the 6-15 rep range. There are only a few exercises where 1-5 reps makes sense, and that’s the big three - bench press, squats, and deadlifts. If you do these big lifts with heavy weight loads, use caution. If a workout plan tells you to do 1-5 reps, which ours does, and you feel you are not at that level, then work in the 5-6 rep range with a weight load you feel comfortable with yet is challenging enough to bring you to near failure (near failing meaning you have a couple reps left in the tank) - and use a spotter just to be safe.
I recommend 60-90 seconds of rest between sets. This should be enough time to let your muscle recover for the next set yet not get cold. If you are doing very heavy weight and big compound movements, you may need a little more time between sets and that’s perfectly fine. Just make sure you are not resting to the point where your muscles get cold. You will know when you are ready for the next set, your heart rate will tell you. But push yourself as sometimes you will extend the rest time longer than you actually need.
Progressive overload involves gradually increasing the intensity of your workouts over the course of your training period. Without doing this, you won’t be able to continue to build muscle or strength because your muscles will no longer be adequately stressed to continue adapting.
Progressive Overload Methods Include:
While there are several ways to progress, for our 5 day split workout routines, all you need to focus on is increasing the weight load and increasing the reps (to the top of the given rep range).
I provided a rep range for most exercises, so if you start on the low end, you can progress to the top of the range. Once you reach the top of the range, you should increase the weight load and drop the reps down to the lower end as needed.
i.e., If the rep range is 10-15 for 3 sets, work up to 3 sets of 15, then increase the weight load slightly.
Conversely, if either of the plans involves too much volume for you, you can adjust by making it 3 sets instead of 4, or 2 sets instead of 3, then you can progress by adding sets to the exercises.
The rep ranges in our 5 day workout split programs can also be slightly altered. For example, if it says 8-12 reps for any given exercise, but you prefer 10-15 reps, that's fine. Once you decide on the change you want, just keep the same rep range over the course of the training period so you can focus on the aforementioned progressive overload method.
Be sure to keep track of your workouts. Make an excel or diary of your training. It helps! It allows you to clearly see and work towards your progressive overload goals. If you do this properly, you will build muscle and strength without fail.
Note: Progress is NEVER linear. It's perfectly normal to have days where you don't outperform the previous weeks. In fact, it'll happen quite often. But as long as you progress over time, you are doing well.
No matter what split you do, you should always be implementing progressive overload if your goal is strength & mass building.
Follow a program closely for 4-12 weeks so you can actually make progress, but after that training cycle is up, change up your routine. For most people, the point of diminishing returns is around 8 weeks, so to avoid that, you need to use periodization.
Essentially, after every training cycle, you take a week or so to deload or completely rest and then start up a new training plan. It can be the same split with changes to the exercises and structure or it can be a completely different split.
This will help you avoid plateaus and injury or overtraining.
With each training cycle, you should stay consistent with your routine, only making changes in weight load, reps, sets, volume, intensity, rest time, etc., which is what we call progressive overload.
The concept of recovery is simple and straightforward, but for a lot of people, it’s hard to follow through.
The three pillars of recovery are nutrition, hydrations, and sleep.
Remember, muscle growth occurs outside of the gym!
If you want to build muscle, you need an ample amount of protein and high quality carbs. You should be eating around .75 gram of protein for every lb of bodyweight. So, if you weight 180lbs, you need at least 135g of protein each day (yes, even on days you are not working out). Carbs should be around 2-3.5 grams per lb of bodyweight. Avoid cards before bed and always consume carbs after your workout.
If you are looking to lose weight while keeping on muscle, then you should up the protein and lower the carbs. For a fat loss diet, your protein needs to be at around 1 gram per lb of bodyweight. Your carbs should be cut in half, only consuming them in the mornings, a little an hour or so before your workout, and just after a workout.
Water is essential for building muscle. It helps energize your muscles and keeps them performing at the highest level. It also helps you keep off fat.
You should be drinking about half your bodyweight in ounces of water. So, if you weight 200lbs, you need 100 ounces of water per day (or 3 liters).
Make sure you are getting 8+ hours a night. If you are training hard, you body needs more sleep than those who are not. If not, your immune system will suffer, as will your workouts.
When I say 8+ hours of sleep, I mean good sleep. If you are constantly waking up in the night, you are affecting your deep sleep, which is the sleep that aids in recovery and boosts the good hormones. So, if you have any issues with your sleep, work on fixing them. Good quality sleep is vital.
There are many supplements out there, but there are really only a few that you need to consider for your 5 day gym workout routine:
To wrap things up, let's answer several frequently asked questions regarding exercising 5 days a week.
Working out 5 days a week is perfectly fine as long as you are not training each muscle group every day or too close together. If you want to train 5 days a week, then you should follow one of the 5 day workout split options because they are structured in a way that allows you to workout at this weekly frequency without overtraining. A systematic approach is important to ensure good recovery. By separating your body parts into different days, you can train more frequently.
Most people do perfectly fine with a 5 day workout “bro split” because the workouts are so focused on one area of your body and there's plenty of recovery, so its hard to overtrain.
Word of Caution for Beginners:
If you are a beginner, 5 days a week may be unnecessary. Your body as a whole may need more time to recover. It’s not even about your muscles, because you are training specific muscle groups each day with a bro split. It’s about your nervous system. As a complete beginner, a workout with 16-20+ sets per muscle group can be too taxing, especially if you still haven’t dialed in on good nutritional practices or aren't getting enough sleep. This could be a recipe for failure or some serious DOMS. So, I recommend most beginners to go for a 3 day split or 4 day split that trains 2-3 different muscle groups per workout with 6-10 sets each muscle group. As you become more experienced and in better shape, you can gradually increase your training volume and eventually do a 5 day split.
If you decide to go for a 5 day split and you are feeling fatigued after a couple weeks, place a rest day in-between every 2 workout sessions. It’s fine if you complete your split routine in 8 or 9 days rather than 7. Recovery is vital.
Working out 5 days a week is more than enough to build muscle. You can spread out the volume of your training throughout the week, which a lot of people find easier to manage than 3-4 days of high volume training.
If you are a beginner, you will build muscle with just 3 days a week, or even a 2 day split can be enough as long as you bring the intensity those two days. It’s the newbie gain phenomenon - people new to training will see gains quickly and easily, usually in their first three months, then things start to slow down as you reach an intermediate level. By 6 months in, you will need to start ramping things up.
Follow the training plan for at least 8 weeks and at most 12 weeks. If you are a beginner, you should start seeing physical results around 4 weeks in. If you an experienced lifter, you will see some good results by the time the training cycle is over (especially if you do some before and after pics). What you will noticeably see throughout the training cycle are improvements in your strength and overall fitness. Also, if you eat right, you should be able to build muscle while keeping lean. A clean bulk is always the best bulk.
It can take years to build the body you want. One training cycle is just a step on the ladder.
I can’t give you an exact length of time for each workout for a 5 day split as it depends on your training goals, your schedule, the muscle groups you are targeting, and your fitness level. However, generally speaking, your workouts should last no longer than 60 minutes (including warm up but excluding cardio). The average time for workout sessions for a 5 day split is usually around 45-60 minutes. Remember, you are training 5 days a week, so the volume is spread out more over the week, which means you can do slightly less total volume each workout than you would with a 3 or 4 day split.
Now, to give you some ideas why your workout may be longer or shorter:
Let’s say your training goal is strength, then you would be doing heavy sets of approx. 5 reps. In this case, you’d need at least 2 minutes of rest between each set, so your workout may last longer.
On the flip side, maybe you are doing a bro split for muscle hypertrophy, using just 30-60 seconds rest between sets and aiming to do a total of 20 sets per workout. This workout shouldn’t take you any longer than 45 minutes - 30 seconds working time + 45 seconds rest = 75 seconds per set x 20 sets = 1,500 seconds, which is 25 minutes, but it would be very hard to maintain 45 seconds every set especially with setting up for new exercises. So, it would really be like 40 minutes or so. This is the perfect workout time for metabolic training, which focuses on burning a lot of calories while building muscle.
Another example of why workout times will vary is your schedule. If you only have 30 minutes, then you can make that work! It’s as simple as that. Anyway, 30 minutes 5 times a week is perfectly adequate.
As for fitness level, obviously the more experienced you are and the better shape you are in, the more your muscles can handle. So, it may take a beginner just 10 sets to reach fatigue for a specific muscle group, whereas an advanced lifter takes 20 sets, which is why beginners usually do better with splits that train 2 muscle groups per workout.
So, as you can see, it all depends. But the general rule of thumb is 45-60 minutes for a 5 day split. Just make those minutes count by not lollygagging around - a 30 minute workout that’s intense is far better than a half-ass workout that takes 90 minutes. Plus cortisol (the fat producing hormone) starts to increase after 60 minutes or so, especially for people over 40, which is obviously something you want to avoid.
If you want to lose fat or simply keep lean, cardio is a must. Calories burned when weightlifting, especially with a bro split, simply can’t compare to traditional cardio. So, if cardio is important to you, I recommend that you do 20-40 minutes of cardio 3-4 days a week, although even 2 days is ok.
You can do cardio after your workout, on your rest days, or in the morning or evening separated from your weightlifting sessions. If it was up to us, we’d say do cardio in the morning and weightlifting in the evening. Your muscles are strongest in the evening because your body is warmer. For most people, they will get the best strength workouts in later on in the day.
If you are interested in comparing morning workouts to night workouts, you can read this: When should I workout, morning vs night?
Absolutely! You can use the same structure as the 5 day workout splits above, but just do bodyweight exercises. And, yes, you can build muscle like this if you employ progressive overload. You just need to focus on increasing volume, reps, intensity, as well as decreasing rest.
If you want to do a bodyweight-only 5 day workout split, follow the same workout plan above, but swap out the exercises for bodyweight exercise.
Here are the best exercises to include in a bodyweight 5 day training plan:
Notes for bodyweight training:
Stick with one of the two plans provided in this article for 8-12 weeks.
While it’s ok to make some small variations to accessory lifts, you should be strict with your main lifts and keep the workout the same for the entire 8-12 week cycle. This will allow you to track and see real progress.
After 8-12 weeks, you can change up your routine (i.e. if you were doing the bro split, try the ULPPL split after!) OR simply change the order of the muscle groups’ training days.
Using the bro split workout plan above as an example, this could be an effective change for the next 8-12 week training period:
You can also change up the order of the exercises or the exercises themselves. For example, you could switch back squats with front squats, standing overhead barbell press with seated overhead dumbbell press, and so on.
However, be sure to maintain focus on big compound lifts first, and accessory exercises second, as the big compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead presses are what build serious muscle mass and require higher strength levels, which you will have earlier in your workout.
Want More Training Plans?
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BEST HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days.
