5 Day Workout Plan: Beginner, Build Muscle
A 5-day program for beginners, aimed at building muscle.
- 5 days a week
- Hybrid
- Full gym
- about 30–45 min
- No cardio
- You’ll need: barbell and rack, bench press station, adjustable bench, dumbbells, lat pulldown, 9 weight machines
Each week
Upper Body
- Barbell Bench Press — 3 × 8–10
- Pec Deck / Machine Fly — 3 × 10–12
- Barbell Row — 3 × 8–10
- Lat Pulldown (Wide Grip) — 3 × 10–12
- Seated Dumbbell Press — 3 × 8–12
- Cable Tricep Pushdown — 3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell Curl — 3 × 10–12
Lower Body
- Barbell Back Squat — 3 × 8–10
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL) — 3 × 8–10
- Barbell Hip Thrust — 3 × 10–12
- Leg Extension — 3 × 10–12
- Lying Leg Curl — 3 × 10–12
- Standing Calf Raise — 3 × 12–15
- Crunch — 3 × 12–15
Push
- Barbell Bench Press — 3 × 8–10
- Incline Chest Press Machine — 3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell Fly — 3 × 10–12
- Seated Dumbbell Press — 3 × 8–12
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise — 3 × 12–15
- Cable Tricep Pushdown — 2 × 10–12
- Overhead Dumbbell Extension — 2 × 10–15
Pull
- Lat Pulldown (Wide Grip) — 4 × 8–12
- Chest Supported Dumbbell Row — 3 × 8–12
- Reverse Pec Deck / Machine Rear Delt Fly — 3 × 12–15
- Barbell Curl — 2 × 8–12
- Hammer Curl — 2 × 10–12
- Straight Arm Pushdown — 1 × 12–15
Legs
- Leg Press — 3 × 8–12
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL) — 3 × 8–10
- Leg Extension — 3 × 10–15
- Seated Leg Curl — 2 × 10–12
- Seated Hip Abductor — 3 × 12–15
- Leg Press Calf Raise — 3 × 12–15
Report card
- Weekly volume — on target. All 8 scored muscle groups sit in the 7–22 sets/week range.
- Movement patterns — on target. Every movement pattern this goal cares about is covered.
- Training frequency — on target. Every high-volume muscle is trained 2x/week or more.
- Rep ranges — on target. The intensity mix fits this goal.
- Structural balance — on target. Push:pull and quad:hinge ratios are balanced.
- Recovery spacing — on target. Hard sessions for each muscle are spaced at least a day apart.
- Session workload — on target. No session is overloaded — the weekly work is sensibly distributed.
- Rest & session time — not assessed. Estimated session times — rest periods aren't stated, so pacing wasn't judged.
- Conditioning — on target. No conditioning — fine for this goal, though 1–2 easy sessions a week would cost nothing and buy health.
- Progression plan — not assessed. A written program doesn't show how loads should move week to week — progression gets assessed once the program is being tracked.
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