Monday to Friday Workout Plan: 5 Day Schedule for Muscle Gain

If you want to lift five straight days, Monday to Friday, with no cardio-only days and no training on the weekends, here are four different workout plans you can use to build muscle and get stronger.

Should you lift weights five days straight? Or is it better to have a rest day for every 2-3 days of hard training?

As long as your workout schedule is set up properly, there’s no reason why you can’t lift weights five days a week, Monday to Friday.

In some studies, subjects who trained the same muscle groups 3 or 6 days a week made very similar gains in size and strength.

If you can train the same muscles six days a week and still make gains, there’s no good reason why you can’t do five straight days of lifting, hitting the same muscle groups 2-3 times a week.

Monday to Friday ULPPL

First up we have the upper/lower/push/pull/legs (ULPPL) routine, which is ideal for anyone wanting to gain both muscle size and strength.

There are five different workouts in total, with each muscle group being trained twice a week.

Monday Workout – Upper Body

• Chin-Ups 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Bench Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Bent-Over Barbell Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Tuesday Workout – Lower Body

• Leg Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps

Wednesday Workout – Push

• Flat Bench Dumbbell Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Triceps Pushdown 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Thursday Workout – Pull

• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 4 sets x 12-15 reps
• Seated Cable Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bent Over Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Friday Workout – Legs

• Back Squat 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Extension 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Hip Thrust 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 4 sets x 12-15 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 15-20 reps

Monday to Friday Upper/Lower Split

The 5-day upper/lower split works well for intermediate and advanced lifters who need more volume to keep the gains coming.

The default version of the upper/lower split involves lifting weights four days a week, with each muscle group being worked twice a week.

In the 5-day version, you do three upper and two lower body workouts in the first week. This switches round the following week, where you do two upper and three lower body workouts.

Here’s what the first week looks like:

Monday Workout – Upper Body A

• Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Overhead Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Incline Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Tuesday Workout – Lower Body A

• Squat 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 8-12 reps 
• Leg Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps 
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps 
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps

Wednesday Workout – Upper Body B

• Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Chin-up OR Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps *
• Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Dumbell Row 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps

* If you’re doing chin-ups, just do as many good reps as possible in each set.

Thursday Workout – Lower Body B

• Deadlift 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lying/Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Seated Calf Raise 4 sets x 12-15 reps

Friday Workout – Upper Body A

• Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Overhead Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Incline Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 8-12 reps

In the second week you switch things around, with Monday’s workout hitting the lower body, Tuesday’s workout hitting the upper body, and so on.

Monday to Friday Arnold Split

The Arnold split is a body part split that involves training your chest and back, shoulders and arms, and legs on separate days.

The default version of the Arnold split has you doing each workout twice a week, meaning that you’re training six times a week.

However, if building your upper body is high on your list of priorities, and you’re happy to accept a slower rate of growth in your lower body (or even just to maintain size and strength in your legs), the 5-day version of the Arnold split involves just one leg day a week.

Monday Workout – Chest/Back A

• Flat Bench Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Push Ups 3 sets x As Many Reps As Possible
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 4 sets of 5-8 reps
• Dumbbell Flyes 4 sets x 12-15 reps

Tuesday Workout – Shoulders/Arms A

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• V-Bar Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Overhead Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Hammer Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Wednesday Workout – Legs

• Barbell Squat 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Leg Extension 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps

Thursday Workout – Chest/Back B

• Neutral Grip Pull-ups 4 sets x As Many Reps As Possible
• Incline Dumbbell Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Cable Row 4 sets of 8-12 reps
• Cable Crossover 4 sets x 12-15 reps
• Wide Grip Front Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Friday Workout – Shoulders/Arms B

• Barbell Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Face Pulls 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Rope Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps

You also have the option of combining the Arnold Split with a push/pull/legs routine to create a PPL x Arnold Split hybrid. More info is here.

Monday to Friday Push/Pull Split

A push/pull workout routine is a 5-day workout split that’s ideal for people who don’t like leg days. 

Rather than devote an entire workout to your lower body (as you would do with an upper/lower or Arnold split), you do a little bit of leg work every time you train.

That is, the push day workouts involve some exercises that focus on your quads, such as the squat, while the pull day workouts will include some work for your hamstrings, like the leg curl.

The default version of the push/pull split involves training four times a week. But with the 5-day version, you do three push and two pull workouts in the first week. Then in week two, you do two push and three pull workouts.

Monday Workout – Push Day Workout A

• Squat 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Tuesday Workout – Pull Day Workout A

• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Wide Grip Front Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Seated Cable Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Face Pull 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Wednesday Workout – Push Day Workout B

• Leg Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Push-ups 3 sets x 20-40 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Thursday Workout – Pull Day Workout B

• Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Lying OR Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Close-Grip Underhand Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Bent-Over Lateral Raise 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Friday Workout – Push Day Workout A

• Squat 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps

Can You Do a 5-Day Full-Body Workout, Monday-Friday?

Is doing a full-body workout 5 days in a row a viable approach to building muscle?

To most people, the idea sounds completely outrageous.

Working the same muscle groups Monday through Friday is just going to wreck your joints, make your muscles shrink, and leave you overtrained and burned out.

However, there’s some interesting research to show the idea isn’t as crazy as you might think.

In one study, Brazilian researchers found that hitting a muscle group five times a week actually delivered significantly greater gains in muscle thickness compared to a more conventional bro split routine.

Subjects taking part in the study, all of whom had been lifting weights three days a week for at least 12 months, were assigned to one of two groups.

The first group did a full-body workout every day, Monday through Friday, hitting each muscle group five times per week. Saturday and Sunday were rest days.

The second group followed a more conventional 5-day split that involved working a muscle once or twice each week.

Lifters in the full-body group saw significantly greater gains in muscle thickness, measured using ultrasound, in both the biceps and quadriceps.

The full-body group also gained nearly twice as much muscle in the triceps compared to the split group, although the difference wasn’t statistically significant.

High frequency training hasn’t produced a faster rate of muscle growth every time it’s been tested, and it’s certainly not suitable for everyone, for the reasons I explain here.

But it’s one of those things I’d put in the “worth a try” category, especially if you’ve got a few years of serious training behind you and the gains are proving increasingly hard to come by.

You can read more about the subject of high-frequency training and muscle growth here.

Monday to Friday Workout Plan: Benefits

Works well for intermediate and advanced trainees

Newbies will often make impressive gains lifting weights three days a week on alternate days, as their muscles can be made to grow with a relatively low volume of training.

Intermediate and advanced lifters, however, typically require a larger training stimulus to keep the gains coming, which is going to require hitting the gym more often than three days a week. 

Most intermediate and advanced trainees will see better results with a split routine that involves training 4, 5 or even 6 times a week.

The workouts can be more enjoyable and satisfying

Compared to full-body workouts, some people prefer split routines where the focus is on a relatively small number of muscle groups in each training session.

For one, it means you can do more total sets for each muscle group. This gives you much more of a pump – your muscles blow up and feel full, your skin feels tight, and you look a whole lot bigger than you actually are. 

The pump is relatively short-lived, and getting one isn’t essential for muscle growth. But it certainly feels good while it’s happening.

The higher volume of training also tends to generate more delayed-onset muscle soreness. 

Just like getting a pump, experiencing a degree of muscle soreness the day after a workout is no guarantee that muscle is going to be built any faster. But it’s an oddly satisfying sensation nevertheless.

If you enjoy a particular workout routine, you’re far more likely to stay with it than one you don’t.

Good for weight loss and muscle gain

If you want to lose fat and gain muscle, a 5-day workout schedule is one of the best ways to go about doing so.

The five weekly workouts will burn extra calories, not just during the workout itself, but in the hours that follow, making a significant contribution to the calorie deficit required to lose fat.

And because you’re lifting weights five days a week, you’re able to hit all the major muscle groups with a sufficient level of volume to stimulate growth.

An effective training frequency for muscle growth

Most 5-day workout splits allow you to hit each muscle group at least twice every seven days, which tends to work well for hypertrophy.

Training a muscle once a week can and will make a muscle grow. However, most people will see greater gains with more frequent training.

Most studies show that the major muscles should be trained at least twice a week in order to maximize growth.

Good for building a weekly routine

For a lot of people, their daily routine during the week is much the same. They get up, go to work, come back home, do a bit of this and a bit of that, then go to bed.

Building a gym visit into that routine, be it before work, in your lunch break or on the way home, can make it a whole lot easier to stay consistent with your training.

Your weekends are free

If your routine during the week is much the same, it’s nice to have the weekends free to do exactly what you want.

You get a couple of days off to recharge your batteries before you’re back in action on Monday morning.

Monday to Friday Workout Plan: Drawbacks

Very little flexibility

A workout schedule that involves training on consecutive days, Monday through Friday, doesn’t allow for any flexibility if you need to move a scheduled training session to another day.

The end result is that workouts are either missed altogether or pushed back to the following week (which ends up messing around with training frequency per muscle group).

The occasional skipped training session here or there isn’t going to put the brakes on your progress. But if you’re missing workouts on a consistent basis, your muscles aren’t going to grow as quickly as they otherwise would do.

Some people will struggle with recovery

Lifting weights 5 days in a row, especially if your overall training volume is on the high side, is also going to be too much for some people to recover from.

And by recovery, I’m not just talking about individual muscle groups. As long as your overall volume isn’t excessive, individual muscles should have no problem recovering from one workout to the next.

Rather, what I’m talking about is systemic recovery.

What do I mean by that?

Every exercise you do has a local effect in the sense that it works the various muscles involved in moving the load from point A to point B. A compound exercise like the squat, for instance, is going to work the muscles in your legs, hips and lower back.

However, training also has what’s known as a systemic effect, which refers to the impact a given workout has on your entire body.

Recovery is about more than allowing enough time between training sessions for the same muscle group. Your body as a whole, from connective tissue to your central nervous system, also needs a break.

To be clear, many people will do just fine training five days in a row. I’ve done it myself many times. But it is a potential downside to be aware of.