Best 5-Day Workout Split For Building Muscle 2024

Get remarkable results with our workout split guideline, whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or a beginner. By combining progressive overload and targeted muscle stimulation, this training schedule optimizes your gains. Each day targets a specific major muscle group, ensuring proper recovery and maximum efficiency. Elevate your training, transform your physique, and make significant progress toward your muscle gain goals with this empowering 5-day workout split.

5-Day Workout Split For Muscle Gains

To effectively gain muscle, it’s important to follow certain guidelines. Aim for a rep range of 6-12 reps per set,^[1] using weights that challenge you but still allow you to complete the minimum of six reps and not exceed 12 reps. Compound exercises are best performed with fewer reps (six to eight), while isolation exercises can be done in a slightly higher rep range (8-12).

For optimal results, rest periods between sets should be around 60-90 seconds, allowing you to maximize the effectiveness of each set. Prioritize a proper warm-up to reduce the risk of injury,^[2] which can be as simple as performing the same exercise with lighter weights or engaging in bodyweight exercises.

Consistency is key. Stick to the same exercises each time you go to the gym to track your progress effectively. Consider using a notebook to record your training volume over time, as this principle of progressive overload—gradually increasing training intensity—is essential for improving performance.

Remember, the longer you adhere to this routine, the more gains you will achieve. Additionally, keep in mind that each workout should take approximately one hour to complete, so allocate sufficient time for both warm-up and cool-down activities.

Day 1: Chest

Chest day, a cornerstone of the five-day workout split, is all about strengthening and sculpting your pectoral muscles. The focus is on exercises like bench presses and chest flies that directly target your pecs. But remember, it’s not about heaving the heaviest weights – it’s about mastering your form, controlling your movements, and fostering a mind-muscle connection. Push your chest muscles to their limits before allowing them to recover and rebuild stronger.

Exercise	Sets x Reps
Barbell flat bench press	4 x 6-12
Dumbbell incline bench press	4 x 6-12
Barbell decline bench press	4 x 6-12
Chest flies	4 x 10-12
Push-ups	3 sets to failure
Cable crossovers	3 x 10-12

Day 2: Back

The back muscles, which include the lats, traps, and lower back muscles, are some of the most important muscles in your body. They provide support for your spine, improve your posture, and help you carry out everyday activities with ease. What’s more, training these lower body muscle groups can help prevent injury and enhance your athletic performance. By targeting the lats muscle, you’ll create a nice width to your upper body and give the appearance of a smaller waist. The trap muscle, on the other hand, helps with scapular movement and neck stabilization. Lastly, strengthening your lower back muscles allows you to lift heavier weights with better form and reduces the risk of lower back pain.

Exercise	Sets x Reps
Deadlifts	4 x 6-8
Bent-over rows	3 x 6-12
Lat pulldowns	4 x 6-12
T-bar rows	4 x 8-12
Hyperextensions	3 x 10-12
Face pulls	3 x 10-12

Day 3: Legs

Leg day is an essential part of the five-day workout routine to build muscle as it targets all the major muscle groups of the legs, including quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. The benefits of leg-day workouts are numerous. They help in increasing muscle mass, which in turn increases overall metabolism, burning calories even after your workout session is over. Developing leg muscles also improves muscle definition, making you look leaner and more athletic. Strong legs also help in improving running performance, making you faster and enduring while running.

Exercise	Sets x Reps
Squats	4 x 6-12
Leg press	4 x 6-12
Lunges	3 x 8-12
Leg curls	4 x 10-12
Leg extensions	4 x 10-12
Calf raises	4 x 10-12

Day 4: Shoulders

The goal of shoulder day is to target your deltoids, aka the muscles surrounding your shoulder joint, and improve their size, shape, and strength. A well-rounded shoulder workout routine can help you achieve a stronger upper body, better posture, and more defined shoulders that will make you stand out in a crowd. Strong shoulder muscles also help reduce the risk of injury, especially when performing exercises that put strain on the shoulders such as overhead presses and pull-ups.

Exercise	Sets x Reps
Military press	4 x 8-12
Dumbbell lateral raises	4 x 10-12
Seated dumbbell press	3 x 8-12
Front raises	4 x 8-12
Upright rows	4 x 8-12
Rear delt flies	3 x 10-12

Day 5: Arms

Focusing on your biceps and triceps, this type of workout is designed to help you achieve stronger, more defined arms with greater muscular growth. The benefits of an arm-day workout go far beyond the aesthetic appeal, though.

For one, it can improve your overall strength and physical fitness, enabling you to perform better in other areas of your life, from sports to daily tasks such as carrying groceries. Additionally, an arm-day workout can help reduce the risk of injuries, both in your arms and in other areas of your body, by boosting your muscular support systems. Finally, an arm-day workout can provide you with a sense of accomplishment and motivation, leading to a more positive outlook on exercise and your overall health.

Exercise	Sets x Reps
Barbell bicep curls	4 x 8-12
Hammer curls	4 x 10-12
Pronated curls	3 x 8-12
Tricep dips	4 x 8-12
Skull crushers	3 x 8-12
Cable tricep pushdowns	4 x 8-12

5 Days Workout Plan: Experts’ Tips

Don’t forget to include these cool-down exercises after your workout for proper recovery! Taking the time to recover directly after your workout is just as important as work. This is a list of full-body cool-down exercises, so feel free to pick the ones that are related to the specific muscle groups you worked on that day. 

This workout plan for muscle gain doesn’t need to be done exactly in this order or for five days in a row. If you miss one of the workouts in a certain week, that’s okay! Just ensure you get it the following week and don’t miss the same workout multiple weeks in a row.

Building in rest days to your week can help you maintain the energy and eagerness necessary to stay consistent with going to the gym. Rest days are also important because the workout breaks down the muscles, but we actually build muscle on the rest days.

Is A 5-Day Workout Routine A Good Idea? 

A 5-day workout split provides targeted muscle growth, optimal recovery, and enhanced fat loss. This training frequency has two rest days per week to reduce the risk of overtraining and to promote proper healing. Additionally, the increased muscle mass from the split routine can boost metabolism^[3] and aid in fat loss.^[4] When paired with the best diet plan for weight loss and the best fat burners, you’ll notice a difference fast. 

Should Men And Women Work Out Differently?

While men and women have physiological differences, the basic principles of strength training remain the same, and all genders can benefit from this training split to build muscle. It has been shown^[5] that men have a greater capacity to increase their absolute strength, but muscle growth occurs similarly between sexes. 

In fact, muscle growth is highly dependent on genetic factors^[6] and cannot be attributed to just being male or female. Resistance training has many positive effects for men and women alike, such as improved sleep,^[7] increased lean muscle mass,^[8] and improved cardiovascular health,^[9] just to name a few. Men and women can be good motivators for each other as well, and finding a workout buddy can help you stay on track and motivated at the gym. 

Conclusion

By implementing this 5-day workout split, you should expect full body changes in just a few weeks. By focusing on one particular muscle group per training session, you are more likely to take it to failure, giving you optimal strength gains. This training split also allows for sufficient rest before you hit that specific muscle group again, so you’re not working out already sore muscles. If you have questions about any of the exercises or need a form check, don’t be afraid to ask a personal trainer.