The Ultimate Workout Blueprint: How to Build a Program Tailored to You

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There are many different types of training styles:

Hypertrophy (the most common training style in gyms. Focuses on building muscle size and aesthetics)
Powerlifting (a strength sport focusing on squats, bench press, and deadlifts)
Strength Training (a training style focused on increasing strength and power)
CrossFit (varied functional movements performed with high-intensity exercises)

This blueprint will focus on hypertrophy training, otherwise known as training to build muscle mass.

Topics We’ll Be Exploring

Basic Understanding of Muscle Groups
The Six Primary Movements
Isolation Exercises
Training Splits (When To Train & Rest)
Sets, Reps, Rest Times
Summary (Putting It All Together)
How To Stay Motivated

1. Basic Understanding of Muscle Groups

It’s important to understand each muscle group so you’re aware of what muscles are being worked.

FRONT OF BODY:

Side Abs are also referred to as “obliques”
Quadriceps are also referred to as “quads”
Tibialis Anterior are the muscles which run along the front of your lower leg (shins).
Deltoid = Shoulders. There are three deltoids, also referred to as “delts” (front, middle, rear)

Chests are commonly referred to as ‘pecs’, short for pectoral muscles and are also split into three segments.

Image credits: athlenex.com

BACK OF BODY:

For simplicity sake, the “Infraspinatus” region can be considered as part of the “Upper Back”.
Middle back is commonly referred to as “Lats” or “Latissimus Dorsi”
Gluteus Maximus is your butt, also referred to as ‘glutes’.

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Firm round glutes, with a strong lower body and lean mid-section is a highly sought after physique for many women. This requires prioritizing:

Glutes
Quads
Hamstrings
Lean mid section (mainly comes down to nutrition)

photo credits: @jenselter

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The V-Taper physique is a highly sought after physique by many male gym-goers. This requires prioritizing:

Wide shoulders (mid deltoid)
Wide back (lats)
Thick upper chest
Lean mid section (mainly comes down to nutrition)

2. The Six Primary Movements

There are six primary movements that work out every major muscle group in the body:

Vertical Push
Vertical Pull
Horizontal Push
Horizontal Pull
Leg Press/Squat Variation
Hip Hinge

These six compound movements are all that’s needed to effectively build muscle across the entire body. It’s especially useful for:

Beginners just starting out
Anyone who prefers a minimalist workout program

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Differences Between Compound vs Isolation Movements Compound Movements: Any exercise that involves multiple muscle groups working together at the same time. These types of movements are ideal for efficiently building muscle on multiple areas of the body. Examples:

Pulls Ups - works the upper back, lats, biceps, forearms
Bench Press - works the chest, triceps, front delts
Romanian Deadlift - works the hamstrings, glutes, lower back, abs, upper back, forearm

Isolation Movements: Exercises that focus specifically on one particular muscle group. These types of movements are helpful to emphasize growth or to target specific muscles which may be lagging behind. Examples:

Bicep Curls (trains biceps specifically)
Calf Raises (trains calves specifically)

Below are some great exercises for each of the six compound movements. You only need to select one exercise from each movement for a complete workout. If you like variety, choose up to two exercises from each category to switch between different sessions (discussed later in this article). For beginners, I highly recommend sticking with one exercise from each movement to keep things simple.

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The best training program is the one you’ll stick to. The training program you’ll stick to is the one you enjoy. Choose the exercises that feel right for your body and that you enjoy performing.

Vertical Push

Muscles worked: front deltoid (front of shoulder), mid deltoid (side shoulder), triceps, upper chest

Vertical Push Exercises:

Seated Overhead Press Machine: View Tutorial
Seated Barbell Shoulder Press (on Smith Machine): View Tutorial
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press: View Tutorial

Vertical Pull

Muscles worked: lats (mid back), upper back, biceps, forearms

Vertical Pull Exercises:

Iliac Lat Pull-Down: View Tutorial / Extra Tutorial Tip
Kneeling Lat Pull-Down: View Tutorial
Single Arm Lat Pull-Down: View Tutorial
Wide Grip Lat Pull Down: View Tutorial
Pull Ups (Assisted Machine / Bodyweight / Weighted): View Tutorial
Chin Ups (Assisted Machine / Bodyweight / Weighted): View Tutorial

Horizontal Push

Muscles worked: front deltoid (front of shoulder), chest, triceps

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All chest movements will involve your entire chest, however:

An incline bench will emphasize the upper chest.
A flat bench emphasizes the middle chest.
A decline bench emphasizes the lower chest.

Horizontal Push Exercises:

Chest Press Machine: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Cable Flyes: View Tutorial
Smith Machine Bench Press: View Tutorial
Dumbbell Bench Press: View Tutorial
Pec Deck: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2

Horizontal Pull

Muscles worked: upper back, rear delts (rear shoulders) lats (mid back), biceps, forearms

Horizontal Pull Exercises:

Chest Supported Row Machine: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Machine T-Bar Row: View Tutorial
Seated Cable Row: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Chest Supported Dumbbell Row: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2 / Tutorial 3

Leg Press/Squat Variation

Muscles worked: quads, glutes, calves, abdominals, obliques

Leg Press/Squat Variation Exercises:

Leg Press Machine: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2 / Tutorial 3

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Learn how to properly place a barbell or smith machine bar on your upper back:

Tutorial 1
Tutorial 2

Split Squats (Smith Machine / Dumbbell): Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Bulgarian Squats: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Hack Squat: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Dumbbell Lunges: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2

Hip Hinge

Muscles worked: hamstring, glutes, lower back, forearms, abdominals

Hip Hinge Exercises:

Romanian Deadlift (Barbell): Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2 / Tutorial 3
Romanian Deadlift (Dumbbell): Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Hip Thrust Machine: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Smith Machine Hip Thrust: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Hip Extension (Glute & Hamstring Focused): View Tutorial
Hip Extension (Lower Back Focused): View Tutorial

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No barbell bench press or barbell squats?

You won’t find any of these free weight exercises suggested above. Why aren’t they included? These exercises have a high injury risk profile, especially when you work up to heavy weights. The two main drivers of muscle growth in the gym are: 1. Training Intensity (how close you train to failure) 2. Progressive Overload (increasing reps and weights over time) Training close to failure on exercises like these poses a risk where one small mis-judgement in your ability or distraction can result in serious injury - sometimes even with a spotter. And if you’re not training close to failure for fear of not being able to bring the weights back up, then you’re not training with enough intensity, resulting in less muscle growth stimulus. For the purpose of hypertrophy training, there are many superior exercises which allow you to train your muscles closer to failure, without the high risk factor (machines/cables, etc). Note: If you really enjoy doing them and it’s what gets you into the gym consistently AND you can do so carefully (with a spotter/safety rails), then include them in your plan.

3. Isolation Exercises

Now that you’ve got your primary six movements selected, it’s time to consider adding in isolation movements. This is completely optional. Isolation exercises can be a great addition to a workout program, especially to:

Target any lagging/weak muscles
Further emphasize and develop certain muscles for aesthetic or athletic purposes

Some body parts to consider including isolation exercises for are:

Mid deltoid (side shoulder)
Rear deltoid (rear shoulder)
Biceps
Triceps
Forearms
Abdominals
Obliques
Calves

Mid Deltoid Isolation Exercises:

Cable Lateral Raises: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Dumbbell Lateral Raises: View Tutorial

Rear Deltoid Isolation Exercises:

Rear Delt Flys: View Tutorial
Rear Delt Pec Deck Fly: View Tutorial

Bicep Isolation Exercises:

Preacher Curl (Machine, Cable, Dumbbell, EZ-Bar): View Tutorial
Incline Dumbbell Curl: View Tutorial
Dumbbell Bicep Curl: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2

Tricep Isolation Exercises:

Tricep Pushdown (Rope/Bar): Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Single Arm Tricep Rope Pushdown: View Tutorial (use the end of the rope for resistance support instead of 1/2 way like in the video)

Calves Exercises:

Standing Calf Raises (Machine/Dumbbell/Barbell): View Tutorial
Seated Calf Raises (Machine/Dumbbell/Barbell): View Tutorial

Forearms Exercises:

Barbell Wrist Roller: View Tutorial
Ez-Bar Reverse Curls: View Tutorial

Abdominal Exercises:

Rope Crunch: Tutorial 1 / Tutorial 2
Weighted Ab Crunches: View Tutorial

Oblique (Side Abs) Exercises:

Torso Rotation Machine: View Tutorial
Cable Oblique Twist: View Tutorial
Weighted Twists: View Tutorial

4. Training Splits (When To Train & Rest)

image credits: sweat.com

Now that you’ve selected your exercises, it’s time to decide your training and resting days (training split).

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The best training split is the one that fits your schedule.

For optimal results:

Train each major muscle group twice per week
Allow 48 - 72 hours of rest before training the same muscles again for sufficient recovery. Example: If you trained biceps on Monday morning, wait until at least Wednesday morning before training biceps again.
For smaller muscle groups that you dedicate isolation exercises to, training them one to two times a week is sufficient since most will already be trained via the compound movements.

Below are the most common training splits:

Two Days a Week
Three Days a Week
Four Days a Week
Six Days a Week

Two Days a Week

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Note: The days don’t have to be Monday and Friday. It can be Tuesday + Saturday, Wednesday + Sunday, etc as long as you’re leaving 48 - 72 hours between training the same body parts. You can also add in any isolation movements on these workout days.

This is an example of what a two day per week workout could look like. Monday:

Vertical Push: seated overhead press machine
Vertical Pull: wide grip lat pull-down
Horizontal Push: standard chest press machine
Horizontal Pull: chest supported row machine
Leg Press/Squat Variation: leg press machine
Hip Hinge: hip extensions

Friday: Exactly the same workouts as Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are rest days.

The two day training split is perfect for anyone who wants to spend minimal days in the gym. Sessions can be completed in as little as 20 minutes, depending on the number of sets performed (discussed later in the article).

Three Days a Week

Mondays and Fridays are focused on the core compound movements to train the entire body. Wednesdays focus on any muscles that are lagging or intended to be trained for aesthetic/athletic purposes. Below is an example of what a three day training split could look like. Monday:

Vertical Push: seated overhead press machine
Vertical Pull: iliac lat pull-down
Horizontal Push: incline smith machine bench press
Horizontal Pull: chest supported row machine (wide grip, elbows flared)
Leg Press/Squat Variation: smith machine split squat
Hip Hinge: barbell romanian deadlift

Wednesday:

Mid deltoid: wrist height cable lateral raises
Abdominals: rope crunch
Obliques: torso rotation machine
Forearms: barbell wrist roller
Biceps: preacher curl machine
Calves: smith machine calf raises

Friday: Identical to Monday. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday are rest days.

Four Days a Week

The four day training split allows you to keep session lengths short yet effective. There’s always at least two days of rest between working out the same muscle groups. Since lower body days have less exercises, this is where you can fit in additional isolation movements such as ab exercises (even though they’re technically upper body).

Six Days a Week

The six day training split is ideal for those who:

Want to be in the gym almost everyday
Are short on time, but can get in a quick workout almost everyday

Muscles focused on PUSH days:

Chest
Triceps
Shoulders (front and side)

Muscles focused on PULL days:

Back
Biceps
Shoulders (rear)

Muscles focused on LEG days:

Quads
Hamstrings
Glutes
Calves

5. Sets, Reps, Rest Times

How many sets are ideal?

For maximum muscle growth: Three sets
For best balance of time, recovery and muscle growth: Two sets
For time efficiency: One set

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Note: Not all sets in your workout need to be the same number of sets. For example, if you’re looking to build a V-Taper physique, you could dedicate three sets to upper chest, mid shoulder, and lat exercises, while performing only two sets for everything else.

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Four sets or more only provides minimal muscle growth benefits, while creating noticeably more muscle damage - this negatively impacts your recovery time and is unnecessary. Most gym-goers would build muscle faster if they trained less and with higher intensity. Remember: muscles aren’t built in the gym. They’re only stimulated. Muscles are built via nutrition and during rest.

Is One Set Enough to Build Muscle?

The short answer: Yes

Photo credits: @mangan150

This is P.D. Mangan, a 68 year old microbiologist who went through an amazing physical transformation by focusing on only one training set and going to failure, twice a week.

How many reps are ideal?

As you can see in the image below, it’s only the final ~5 reps before reaching failure that really matter for stimulating muscle growth.

So whether you choose 5 - 10 reps, 10 - 15 reps, 20 - 30 reps, or any other rep range, they’re all a means to an end with the final ~5 reps counting the most. These are the general rep ranges that work for most people:

5 - 10 or 6 - 12 reps: great for compound movements
8 - 12 or 10 - 15 reps: great for isolation movements

Ideal Rest time between sets When you’re performing intense exercises, your muscles utilize internal energy systems to perform these exercises. 3 minutes of rest time between sets allows these energy systems to substantially recover, enabling much more energy to be available for the following sets. 2 - 3 minutes of rest tends to be a good amount of time to aim for between sets, especially if you’re training with enough intensity. Without sufficient rest times between sets, you won’t be able to perform subsequent sets at your optimal ability, resulting in reduced stimulus for muscle growth.

6. Summary (Putting It All Together)

To summarize, here are the steps to building an effective workout program:

Select one exercise from each of the primary compound movements
Choose any isolation movements to add into your workout program (optional)
Choose a training split that fits your schedule
Choose your preferred number of sets, rep ranges and rest times.
Use an app such as Strong or Alpha Progression to track your workouts for progressive overload
Train in accordance with the 4 principles of muscle growth
Stay consistent with all the above and over time you’ll build an impressive physique.

It typically takes years (on average 3 - 5 years, all the way up to 10 years) of training consistently to build a physique like many of the natural fitness influencers you see online

7. How To Stay Motivated

Staying motivated is a hugely underrated topic when it comes to consistently going to the gym. In order to stay motivated, it’s essential to find your WHY - a powerful enough purpose where on the days that you’re feeling lazy, your WHY is strong enough to overcome the laziness. For me, this is understanding sarcopenia.

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Sarcopenia: From the age of 30 onwards, our muscles begin to involuntarily deteriorate by roughly 1% per year. By the time we’re 80, some people have lost 50% of their muscles.

Witnessing friends and family who have constantly aching knees, are unable to walk unassisted or stand up on their own is terrifying to me. I don’t want to wait until that becomes my reality before I start trying to reverse the effects of sarcopenia. For some people, having a strong purpose that they’re working towards is enough motivation. However, I’ve noticed that a higher number of people who stay consistent in the gym have something they’re intentionally moving AWAY from:

Moving away from obesity/diabetes
Moving away from sarcopenia
Moving away from mobility issues/pain
Moving away from a look they’re not happy with
Etc

When I’m in the gym, I’m moving further away from sarcopenia. When I skip gym, I’m moving closer towards the negative impacts of sarcopenia. Dedicate time towards figuring out your WHY - it’s the fuel that’ll keep you consistent with going to the gym.

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The Ultimate Workout Blueprint: How to Build a Program Tailored to You

On this page

The Ultimate Workout Blueprint: How to Build a Program Tailored to You
Topics We’ll Be Exploring
1. Basic Understanding of Muscle Groups
2. The Six Primary Movements
Vertical Push
Vertical Pull
Horizontal Push
Horizontal Pull
Leg Press/Squat Variation
Hip Hinge
3. Isolation Exercises
4. Training Splits (When To Train & Rest)
Two Days a Week
Three Days a Week
Four Days a Week
Six Days a Week
5. Sets, Reps, Rest Times
6. Summary (Putting It All Together)
7. How To Stay Motivated
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The Ultimate Workout Blueprint: How to Build a Program Tailored to You