5 Day Training Split by Lori Braun

5 Day Training Split by Lori Braun

Five Day Training Schedule

Training five days a week helps the beginning and advanced bodybuilder develop consistency, stamina, and discipline. Five day training also allows the proper rest and recovery time for each of the major and minor muscle groups.

Here are some important training guidelines and techniques to enhance your workouts:

1. To avoid injury, you should always do a light warm-up set of 15 reps before each exercise.

2. Dropset – When you exchange a heavy weight for a lighter one in the middle of a set in order to gain more reps this is called a ‘dropset’. Dropsets are optional and are to be done as the last set of each exercise.

3. Smith machine – Many of these exercises; such as flat bench presses, the incline bench press, shoulder presses, squats and lunges can be done on what is known as the Smith machine for variation.

4. Supersets – When you train two muscle groups together, one after the other such as biceps-triceps, chest-back, quads-hamstrings, calves-tibia.

5. Reps – When you start each exercise your reps (repetitions) should be high. By your third or fourth set, as you increase the weight you should drop the number of repetitions.

Heavy Days: Once a week, pick a certain body part or muscle group and go to the maximum with a power move to work that specific muscle group. For example: when training legs, max out on squats. For chest, max out on bench press and so on. By doing this, your body will be taxed to the extent that it will not recuperate before your next workout. This will help you to develop your strength and gain an accurate perception of your progress.

Day One: Chest and triceps

Chest:

1. Incline dumbbell press- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2. Flatbench barbell press- 4 sets of 12, 10, 10, 8 reps.

3. Incline dumbbell flies- 3 sets of 12, 10, 8 reps.

4. Cable crossovers- 2 sets of 15, 12 reps.

Triceps:

1. Pushdowns- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2. Bent-over cable extensions using a rope- 3 sets of 15, 12, 10 reps.

3. Dumbbell kickbacks- 3 sets of 15, 12, 10 reps.

Day Two: Back and biceps

Back:

1. Lat machine pulldowns to the front- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2. Close grip pulldowns to the front- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

3. Seated cable rows- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

4. Hyper-extensions- 3 sets of 18, 18, 18 reps.

Biceps:

1. Incline dumbbell curls- 4 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.

2. Standing barbell curls- 4 sets of 15, 10, 8, 6 reps.

Day Three: Cardio and abs

Cardio:

1. 30-45 min. of bike, treadmill or Stairmaster.

Abs:

1. Crunches- 3 sets of 50, 50, 50 reps.

2. Leg raises- 3 sets of 25, 20, 20 reps.

Day Four: Legs

1. Squats- 5 sets of 15, 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2. Leg extensions- 4 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.

3. Lunges- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 10 reps.

4. Leg curls for hamstrings- 4 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.

5. Standing calf raises- 4 sets of 18, 18, 15, 12 reps.

Day Five: Shoulders/biceps or triceps superset

Shoulders:

1. (Military) barbell press behind the neck- 4 sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 reps.

2. Standing side laterals- 4 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.

3. Upright rows with barbell- 3 sets of 12, 12, 10 reps.

4. Seated bent over dumbbell laterals- 4 sets of 15, 15, 12, 12 reps.

Biceps or triceps superset:

1. Tricep pushdowns on cable machine superset with barbell curls- 4 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.

2. Seated dumbbell extension superset with dumbbell hammer curls- 3 sets of 15, 12, 12, 10 reps.