5 Day Workout Plan: Intermediate, Build Muscle
A 5-day program for intermediate lifters, aimed at building muscle.
- 5 days a week
- Hybrid
- Full gym
- about 40–55 min
- No cardio
- You’ll need: barbell and rack, EZ-curl bar, bench press station, adjustable bench, dumbbells, lat pulldown, cable row, 7 weight machines
Each week
Upper Power & Hypertrophy
- Barbell Bench Press — 4 × 4–6
- Barbell Row — 4 × 5–7
- Incline Dumbbell Press — 3 × 8–10
- Lat Pulldown (Wide Grip) — 3 × 8–12
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise — 3 × 10–12
- Skullcrushers — 3 × 10–12
- Barbell Curl — 3 × 8–10
Lower Squat Focus
- Barbell Back Squat — 4 × 4–6
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL) — 3 × 6–8
- Leg Press — 3 × 8–10
- Seated Leg Curl — 3 × 10–12
- Seated Calf Raise — 4 × 10–12
- Hanging Leg Raise — 3 × 10–12
Push Hypertrophy
- Overhead Press (OHP) — 4 × 4–6
- Close-Grip Barbell Bench Press — 3 × 6–8
- Incline Dumbbell Fly — 3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise — 3 × 10–12
- Overhead Dumbbell Extension — 3 × 10–12
- Ab Crunch Machine — 3 × 12–15
Pull Deadlift Focus
- Deadlift — 4 × 4–5
- Pull Up — 3 × 6–8
- Seated Cable Row — 3 × 8–10
- Reverse Pec Deck / Machine Rear Delt Fly — 3 × 12–15
- Dumbbell Shrugs — 3 × 10–12
- EZ Bar Curl — 3 × 10–12
Legs Hypertrophy & Posterior
- Front Squat — 3 × 6–8
- Stiff Leg Deadlift — 3 × 8–10
- Bulgarian Split Squat — 3 × 8–10
- Leg Extension — 3 × 10–12
- Seated Hip Abductor — 3 × 12–15
- Leg Press Calf Raise — 4 × 12–15
Report card
- Weekly volume — on target. All 8 scored muscle groups sit in the 10–22 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 — worth a look. Glutes gets hard sessions on consecutive days.
- 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.
More workout programs · Workout plan builder · Rate my workout routine