How To Construct A Weight-Training Body Routine That Works

If you are one of those guys who go to the gym only on the weekends, then you don't have much chance of you building up solid muscle bulk compared to those who go on a regular schedule. So it's vital that you take your gym trips seriously and develop a good weekly routine.

To do this, you should have the time to work out for 3-5 days a week doing an hour each time. But how do you organize your training schedule?

Well, there are two types of routine you can do: A Full Body Routine or A Split Body Routine. Let’s have a look at the differences.

What Is A Full Body Routine?

A full body routine involves 3 workouts per week, at each workout you train ALL your LARGE muscle groups.

When I say large muscle groups, I mean your upper legs , back, chest and shoulders. So each workout will include at least one back exercise, one chest exercise, one shoulder’s exercise and one legs exercise.

This means each muscle will get around 1 exercise per workout.

So What Is A Split Body Routine?

A split body routine on the other hand, splits your large muscle groups over a number of sessions, ranging from 2 to 5 sessions. So for example you may have one day where you work your chest, one day for shoulders, one day for back and one day for legs. Using split routines, each muscle group is likely to get more than 1 exercise per workout.

I recommend you do the split body routine and I’m going to show you some of them.

2 Session Body-Split Routine

This involves getting a full body workout from two sessions. In other words you work your large muscle groups over 2 workouts (e.g. session 1-Back And Legs , Session 2- Chest And Shoulders.

If you do 4 workouts a week you can cover your body twice doing this, and in each session you can even add 1 exercise to work the smaller muscle groups, like biceps, triceps, abs, forearms and calves. Choose the one you feel requires the most work.

4 Session Body-Split Routine

Here you get a full body workout from 4 sessions.

In a nutshell at each workout you work a different large muscle group. You can also add one small muscle group per workout, so you can complete 3-4 exercises on a large muscle group and 1-2 exercises on a small muscle group each session. (e.g. session 1-legs and calves , session 2-chest and biceps , session 3-back and triceps , session 4-shoulders and abs)

So How To Choose Which One Is Suited For You?

As a beginner you should start off with a full body routine. This allows your body enough time to recover AND it makes sure you do not overtrain your muscles.

As you get more advanced you can move from a full body routine to a split body routine, where it is best to start with a 2 session split. This is more intense, and provides a better workout than a full body routine, BUT this is only beneficial if your body can take it. So only do this if you are NOT a beginner.

Finally, to increase intensity you can move into the 4 session split body routine. This will provide your muscles the best workout and best growth. But please only do this when you are strong enough to, otherwise you will fail!

So now you know what your weekly routine should look like.

Get FREE DVDs on Body Routines here.