How to Create a Bodybuilding Workout Program

Creating a workout routine can be difficult because there’s a lot to consider. What’s your level of experience? What are your goals? What exercises and techniques are best to achieve them? Does the routine fit within your lifestyle? The list of questions could go on and on and with all the information available, things can start to get confusing. Keep reading if you want to get guidance on how to make a routine that’s perfect for you. It’s simpler than you think.

There are four basic primary components that make an effective workout routine. First, you should be sure to work out about three to five times each week. Second, every workout should last roughly 45 to 60 minutes. Lastly, make sure to incorporate two types of exercise: cardiovascular and resistance. Here are some examples of effective workout schedules:

Three Day Exercise Programs
Pull, Push, and Legs Program

Monday: Push by exercising triceps, shoulders, and chest.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Pull by exercising biceps and back.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Train legs.

OR

Monday: Pushing exercises

Tuesday: Pulling exercises

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Train legs.

Note: Pulling exercises can target the legs too, so this version is recommended if you want more recovery time before your leg day. This version is also better for beginners, since muscle pain is more intense for them.

Shoulders, Legs, Biceps, Back, Triceps, and Chest Program

Monday: Triceps and chest exercises.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Bicep and back exercises.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Shoulder and leg exercises.

Note: This program is more effective for your shoulders and chest.

Four Day Exercise Program

Monday: Triceps and chest.

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Biceps and back.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Legs

Isn’t Exercising Each Area Only Once a Week Ineffective?
Each person is different, but in general, you can only exercise one particular muscle group so often each week. What’s more is that over training can do more harm than good because the body isn’t able to continually sustain the recovery process under such conditions. So whether you train each area once or multiple times every week, the workout routine itself is what matters. In other words, it has to contain the right exercises, structure, and so forth to work.

When it comes to programs that train every area once each week, an emphasis should be placed on compound movements as opposed to isolation movements. Additionally, the weight should be heavy and the reps shouldn’t be too high. The fact is that studies show that intensity and volume play more of a role than how often workouts occur each week. This means that if you target each area with the correct quantity of reps and weight every week, you’ll make gains regardless of how frequently you work out.

It could be argued that this type of training is better for more experienced lifters. Why? Because it fully overloads every area. This is due to the fact that working out just a few times each week requires you to combine primary groups of muscle during each training session. For example, you could do the legs, pull, and push routine two times every week or you could cluster the exercises in to lower and upper body workouts and do them multiple times during a seven day period. This is much more of a challenge than training everything separate where you have a fresh start so to speak. For instance, if you deadlift and squat during the same training session, the one that is done second will be more difficult. The downside to this is that intensity can suffer.

Five Day Exercise Program

Monday: Chest

Tuesday: Back

Wednesday: Arms

Thursday: Shoulders

Friday: Legs

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Rest

Every exercise routine here should be roughly 50 minutes. The pros of this routine are that every muscle area receives full stimulation, there’s adequate recovery time, and it blends well with pretty much anyone’s schedule. There is also space to incorporate additional sets for areas that you need to work on. For example, a few sets of a chest exercise could be done before shoulder training on Thursday. Another example would be adding a few sets of leg exercises at the end of Tuesday.

Most Effective Moves for Strength and Muscular Mass
The two kinds of weight training moves are isolation movements and compound movements. The former consists of just one muscle group while the latter consists of many. Isolation movement examples are side lateral raises and bicep curls. Compound movement examples are deadlifts and squats. Compound movements are generally more effective because they require more effort and strength. Isolation movements shouldn’t be ignored though because they can be utilized to target specific areas that can be stubborn, such as the arms. However, workouts shouldn’t be based around them.

Most Effective Chest Exercises
Chest variation dip
Flat dumbbell bench press
Flat barbell bench press
Incline dumbbell bench press
Incline barbell bench press

Most Effective Back Exercises
Barbell shrugs
Chin ups
Wide grip seated cable row
Close grip seated cable row
T-bar row
Front lat pull down
Close grip lat pull down
Pull ups
Single arm dumbbell row
Barbell row
Barbell deadlift (best overall)

Most Effective Shoulder Exercises
Dumbbell front raise
Barbell rear delt row
Face pull
Seated or bent over rear delt raise
Single arm dumbbell side lateral raise or dumbbell side lateral raise
Arnold dumbbell press or seated dumbbell press
Standing barbell military press or seated barbell military press

Note: Pressing exercises are very important here. However, it’s important to be sure to do other exercises too, such as the dumbbell side lateral raise, in order to develop each of the three parts of this muscle.

Most Effective Leg Exercises
Seated or lying leg curl
Romanian deadlift
Dumbbell lunge
In place or walking barbell lunge
Leg press
Hack squat
Front squat
Barbell squat
Calf raises

Note: Squats are definitely the best exercise for legs. It’s recommend that they are done at the start of these workouts.

Most Effective Bicep Exercises
Chin up
Hammer curl
Dumbbell curl
E-Z bar curl
Barbell curl

Most Effective Tricep Exercises
Triceps pushdown
Lying triceps extension AKA skull crusher
Dips for triceps
Seated triceps press
Close grip bench press

Most Effective Core Exercises
Planks
Ab wheeling
Air bicycle
Hanging leg raise
Cable crunch

Range of Reps
The range should be seen as something called a strength endurance continuum. For strength, it’s best to lift heavy weight with a smaller amount of reps. For muscular endurance, less heavy weight with higher reps is best. So if your goal is to deadlift like 400 pounds, you should work out heavy. On the other hand, if your goal is to do like 40 reps at around 200 pounds, you should work out lighter.

In terms of muscle growth, there are three points you should keep in mind. First, you must regularly increase weight as time goes on to progressively overload muscles. Second, in order to increase weight, it’s necessary to gain strength. Third, to gain strength, it’s essential that you regularly put an emphasis on fewer reps with more weight.

Range of Reps for Males
Beginners should perform about five to seven reps. The weight itself should be approximately 75 to 80% of the one rep maximum. More advanced men can also incorporate something called periodization, which involves higher and lower reps.

Range of Reps for Females
Beginners should do roughly seven to nine reps. The weight should be about 65 to 70% of the one rep max. More advanced women should include lower, heavier reps too.

Workout Reps and Sets
As workouts become more intense with added weight, the volume of reps should lessen. This also means fewer sets. In general, about 25 to 55 reps for every workout seem to produce the best results. For instance, males can perform around 8 to 11 sets of around five reps for each primary group of muscles (eventually reps lower and weight increases). An example for women would be roughly 10 sets of roughly nine reps under the same guidelines, but with medium intensity. For more experienced people, an example would be approximately 70 reps for each session with moderate to extremely high intensity.

Resting
The right amount of rest between each set is important in order to be ready for the next one. Specifically, it allows you to lift the maximum amount in the following set. This ultimately allows full stimulation and overload to occur.

How much rest is needed specifically? Research concluded that individuals that rested about two minutes experienced better performance than those that rested less. Other research determined that individuals built more muscle with roughly the same amount of rest too. Slightly longer time frames of about 2.5 to 4.5 minutes were found by additional studies. Therefore, be sure to rest at least 2 minutes if not a few more. However, an exception to this rule would be with less heavy weight, where less time is still beneficial. For instance, you could reduce the time to about 1 minute for the 10-12 or 8-10 range of reps.

Building the Best Training Program
It’s best to base your program around goals since they have the biggest impact on scheduling and so forth. Note that the programs stated previously can be used for pretty much any goal. However, some programs are better suited for particular objectives, such as the five day program for strength and mass. Also, note that any program requires proper diet and muscle supplementation in order to produce the best results, so be sure to build a nutrition plan too.

Tips for Building Strength and Mass
The five day plan is ideal
Cardio should be restricted to one hour each week or less

Tips for Fat Loss and Muscle Gain
The five day plan is ideal
Incorporate 1.5 hours of HIIT (high intensity interval cardio) each week

Tips for Fat Loss and Muscle Preservation
The three day plan is deal
Incorporate 1.5 hours of HIIT every week

Five Day Program Example
Day 1: Calves and Chest
Warm up incline barbell bench press
Incline barbell bench press X 3 sets
Dips for chest X 3 sets
Flat barbell bench press X 3 sets
Incline dumbbell bench press X 3 sets
Choose calf exercises X 3 sets each

Day 2: Abs and Back
Warm up barbell deadlift
Barbell deadlift X 3 sets
Barbell shrugs X 2 sets
Wide grip chin up X 3 sets
Barbell row X 3 sets
Choose ab exercises

Day 3: Abs and Arms
Warm up barbell curl
Barbell curl X 3 sets
Alternating dumbbell curl X 3 sets
Close grip bench press X 3 sets
Choose ab exercises

Day 4: Calves and Shoulders
Warm up seated barbell military press
Seated barbell military press X 3 sets
Bent over rear delt raise X 3 sets
Side lateral raise X 3 sets
Choose calf exercises

Day 5: Legs
Warm up barbell squat
Barbell squat X 4 sets
Romanian deadlift X 4 sets
Leg press X 4 sets
Choose calf exercises

Four Day Program Example
Day 1: Calves, Triceps, and Chest
Warm up incline barbell bench press
Barbell bench press X 3 sets
Seated triceps press X 3 sets
Close grip bench press X 3 sets
Dips for chest X 3 sets
Flat barbell bench press X 3 sets
Calf exercises

Day 2: Abs, Biceps, and Back
Warm up barbell deadlift
Barbell deadlift X 3 sets
Alternating dumbbell curl X 3 sets
Barbell curl X 3 sets
Wide grip chin up X 3 sets
Barbell row X 3 sets
Ab exercises

Day 3: Calves and Shoulders
Warm up seated barbell military press
Barbell military press X 3 sets
Bent over rear delt raise X 3 sets
Side lateral raise X 3 sets
Calf exercises

Day 4: Abs and Legs
Warm up barbell squat
Barbell squat X 3 sets
Romanian deadlift X 3 sets
Leg press X 3 sets
Ab exercises

Three Day Program Example
Day 1: Calves and Push
Incline barbell bench press warm up
Incline barbell bench press X 3 sets
Seated barbell military press warm up
Seated barbell military press X 3 sets
Close grip bench press X 3 sets
Side lateral raise X 3 sets
Chest dips X 3 sets
Flat barbell bench press X 3 sets
Calf exercises

Day 2: Abs and Pull
Warm up barbell deadlift
Barbell deadlift X 3 sets
Barbell curl X 3 sets
Wide grip chin up X 3 sets
Barbell row X 3 sets
Ab exercises

Day 3: Legs
Warm up barbell squat
Barbell squat X 4 sets
Romanian deadlift X 4 sets
Leg press X 4 sets
Calf exercises

Note: Remember there is the alternate method of three day programs too.

Now that you know how to create an effective workout program, you should be able to get better results from your workouts. Which workout do you think would work best for you and why?