To maximize muscle growth, your training schedule is crucial.
A well-designed plan ensures that you stimulate each muscle group sufficiently to grow without overexertion, allowing for crucial recovery time. A 5-day gym workout schedule can be an effective way to structure your week for serious muscle gain.
This guide breaks down:
The best gym schedule for muscle gain is one that allows you to optimize 3 variables for muscle hypertrophy.
For most trained lifters, this means hitting each major muscle group 2-3 times per week, depending on your situation (1). You can structure a 5-day workout schedule in several ways to achieve full-body muscle engagement over the course of 5 days.
The most common way to organize a training week is through a “workout split,” which divides your training sessions by muscle group or movement pattern (2).
A Push/Pull/Legs split is one of the most popular and effective ways to organize your training. You dedicate separate days to upper body pushing muscles, upper body pulling muscles, and your lower body.
With a 5-day schedule, you could run this cycle and then repeat the first 2 days:
This structure follows a plan, such as the 5-day workout split each muscle twice a week routine.
An upper/lower split divides your workouts into upper-body days and lower-body days.
This workout is an excellent option for ensuring high frequency for all muscle groups.
A 5-day schedule could look like:
This split hits every muscle group twice a week with ample recovery time in between.
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A traditional body part split, often called a “bro split,” focuses on one or two muscle groups per session.
While this split allows for a high volume of work for each muscle group in a single session, the major drawback is that each muscle is only trained once per week.
For most people, training muscles more frequently leads to better gains.
For a deeper dive into organizing your training, read more about designing a 5-day workout split.
Read more: 6 Compound Exercises for Women to Build Strength and Transform Their Bodies
Yes, a 5-day workout schedule is excellent for muscle gain, provided it’s programmed correctly. The key to hypertrophy is achieving sufficient training volume, which is the total amount of work you do (sets x reps x weight) (3).
Research shows that for hypertrophy, you should aim for at least 10 sets per muscle group per week (4). A 5-day split makes it easy to accumulate this volume without spending hours in the gym each day.
You can spread the muscle work across the week, allowing for high-quality sets even when you’re deep into a workout.
Training 5 days a week allows you to:
Most plans are suitable for all genders, but for more specific programming, see our 5-day workout routine women-specialized.
Many want to know, “What is a powerful 5-day gym workout schedule for muscle gain?”
However, the “best” and “most powerful” schedule is relative and depends on your experience, recovery capacity, and preferences.
However, a program that hits each muscle group twice a week with a mix of compound and isolation exercises is a fantastic starting point. This exercise focuses on ensuring you’re building a strong foundation while also targeting specific muscles for growth (6).
A “5-day workout schedule for woman” would be similar to a man’s workout; however, women’s workouts can include more glute focus exercises.
If you have access to a full gym, this 5-day workout split is for you.
We designed it for intermediate lifters aiming to build lean muscle mass by using a variety of equipment.
To effectively target every major muscle group, this plan incorporates:
This targeting factor ensures you can optimize muscle stimulation and avoid hitting a plateau.
The program provides a 5-day training week. You can choose the days that best fit your schedule, but be sure to incorporate 2 rest or active recovery days.
This workout focuses on building strength and size in your upper body pushing muscles.
We’ll use a combination of free weights and machines to hit these groups from multiple angles.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Bench Press | 5 | 8-10 |
| Incline Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-10 |
| Cable Crossover | 3 | 10-15 |
| Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 4 | 8-10 |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raise | 3 | 12-15 |
| Triceps Pushdown | 3 | 10-15 |
| EZ Bar Skull Crusher | 3 | 10-12 |
This session is all about your lower body, targeting the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. It’s rounded out with focused core work to build a strong foundation.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Back Squat | 4 | 8-10 |
| Romanian Deadlift | 4 | 8-10 |
| Leg Press | 4 | 10-12 |
| Leg Extension | 3 | 12-15 |
| Seated Leg Curl | 3 | 12-15 |
| Weighted Cable Crunch | 3 | 15-20 |
| Russian Twist (with weight) | 3 | 15-20 Each Side |
Today, the focus is on developing a strong, broad back and building bigger biceps with a variety of pulling movements.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Bent Over Barbell Row | 4 | 8-12 |
| Lat Pulldown | 4 | 10-12 |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 |
| Dumbbell Pullover | 3 | 12-15 |
| Barbell Bicep Curl | 3 | 10-15 |
| Dumbbell Hammer Curl | 3 | 10-15 |
Your second leg day of the week introduces a variety of exercises to ensure you achieve balanced lower-body development and strength.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Deadlift | 4 | 5-8 |
| Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 8-12 Each Leg |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 4 | 10-15 |
| Standing Calf Raise Machine | 4 | 15-20 |
| Cable Woodchop | 3 | 12-15 Each Side |
| Ab Rollout (with wheel) | 3 | 10-15 |
To finish the week, this workout hits all the major muscle groups of your upper body, providing one last stimulus for growth before your rest days.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| T-Bar Row | 4 | 8-10 |
| Seated Arnold Press | 4 | 8-10 |
| Flat Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 |
| Chest Supported Dumbbell Row | 3 | 10-12 |
| Overhead Cable Tricep Extension | 3 | 10-12 |
| Preacher Curl Machine | 3 | 10-12 |
| Barbell Shrug | 3 | 12-15 |
To progress, apply progressive overload weekly. Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing training demands to allow muscles to adapt and grow stronger. Without it, progress stalls.
Here are some general guidelines:
You can follow this program for up to 12 weeks. Once you complete the cycle, what’s next?
You have 3 routes to choose from:
This routine requires gym equipment. If you need a plan without it, check out this 5-day workout routine at home and a 5-day gym workout schedule for muscle gain at home.
Yes, one hour in the gym is absolutely enough time to build muscle, primarily if your workout is structured efficiently. The length of your session is less important than the quality of the work you perform. A 5-day workout routine for weight loss and muscle gain requires consistency.
To make the most of your hour, focus on:
A well-planned hour-long session, performed consistently, will produce far better results than a longer, unfocused workout.
The optimal rep range for hypertrophy (muscle growth) is 8-12 reps per set (9). Many experts agree that this range provides a great combination of mechanical tension and metabolic stress, which are key drivers of muscle growth (10). However, you can build muscle outside this range. Lighter loads for 15-20 reps and heavier loads for 3-5 reps can also stimulate hypertrophy, so incorporating a variety of rep ranges is a smart strategy (9). No, you will not lose muscle gains if you take 5 days off from the gym. Muscle atrophy (loss) is a much slower process. It typically takes at least 2-3 weeks of complete inactivity for any significant muscle loss to occur (11). Taking a few rest days, or even a whole week off for a deload, is beneficial for recovery and can help prevent overtraining (12), ultimately supporting long-term progress. Engaging in cardio every day is not necessary for muscle gain and may even be counterproductive if it’s too intense or interferes with your recovery. Cardiovascular exercise is essential for overall health and can enhance your work capacity, enabling you to handle a greater volume in the weight room (13). Aim to get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity weekly. Consider dividing these minutes into 5, 30-minute brisk walks. However, you should also incorporate 1-2 higher intensity cardio sessions (14). On this 5-day plan, Day 5 focuses solely on higher-intensity conditioning, which is sufficient for the week. No, you should not train your abs every day. The abdominals are a muscle group just like any other and require time to recover and grow (15). Training them 2-3 times per week with targeted exercises is sufficient. Additionally, your core is heavily engaged during compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses, so it gets plenty of work throughout the week.Frequently Asked Questions
How many reps to build muscle?
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A 5-day workout schedule is a powerful tool for building muscle, offering the perfect balance of training volume, frequency, and recovery. By choosing a smart split and focusing on progressive overload, you create an environment where your muscles have no choice but to grow.
Remember that consistency is the most important variable of all. Stick to the plan, fuel your body with proper nutrition, and prioritize your rest. Your hard work will pay off with noticeable gains in strength and size.
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