5-Day Muscle-Building Workout Plan for the Gym
This plan prioritises weekly volume: enough hard sets per muscle to drive growth, spread so no single session runs long.
Five sessions a week is for when training is a priority and recovery — sleep, food, stress — is in good shape to support it.
It uses a standard gym: a barbell and rack, dumbbells, a bench and a cable station.
At a glance
- Days per week
- 5 days
- Split
- Push / Pull / Legs / Upper / Lower
- Session length
- 50–65 min
- Level
- Intermediate
- Equipment
- Barbell, rack, dumbbells, bench, cable station
Your week
- Monday — Push
- Tuesday — Pull
- Wednesday — Legs
- Friday — Upper body A
- Saturday — Lower body B
Why this split
Five days is enough to run push, pull and legs and then train the upper and lower body once more. Each muscle gets two sessions a week with different exercises, which spreads the volume a muscle-building block needs across the week rather than cramming it into one day.
The sessions
Monday · Push
| Exercise | Sets | Reps or time | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Standing overhead press | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Cable triceps pushdown | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Plank | 3 | 30–45 s | 60 s |
Tuesday · Pull
| Exercise | Sets | Reps or time | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-up (or assisted pull-up) | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Barbell bent-over row | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Seated cable row | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Dumbbell curl | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Hanging knee raise | 3 | 30–45 s | 60 s |
Wednesday · Legs
| Exercise | Sets | Reps or time | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell back squat | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Romanian deadlift | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Dumbbell walking lunge | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Standing calf raise | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Plank | 3 | 30–45 s | 60 s |
Friday · Upper body A
| Exercise | Sets | Reps or time | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Barbell bent-over row | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Pull-up (or assisted pull-up) | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Dumbbell curl | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
Saturday · Lower body B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps or time | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 4 | 6–10 | 2 min |
| Leg press | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Standing calf raise | 3 | 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Hanging knee raise | 3 | 30–45 s | 60 s |
How to progress
Muscle grows from hard sets, so effort matters more than the exact weight. Take most sets to within one to three reps of failure, and add reps before you add load.
Once you reach the top of the rep range on every set of an exercise, increase the weight and start again at the bottom of the range. Keep a log — the reps you did last week are the target for this one.
- Main lifts: 1–3 reps in reserve. Accessories: the last set can go to failure.
- Add reps first, then weight.
- If sessions start feeling flat for a week or more, take a lighter week before adding volume.
Work out your starting weights with the one rep max calculator
When the week does not go to plan
No plan survives a real week unchanged. A bad night of sleep, a late meeting or a sore knee is not a reason to abandon the plan — it is a reason to change the next session while keeping the goal fixed.
Milo builds a plan like this one from your goal, the days you have and the equipment you own, then proposes changes when your sleep, schedule or progress say it should. You see the reason behind every change and decide whether to take it.
Questions
Is 5 days a week enough for building muscle?
Yes — this is where most of the gains from extra volume live. Each muscle is trained twice a week, which beats once a week for growth when total sets are equal.
How long should I follow this plan?
Run it for 10–16 weeks. Swap one or two accessory exercises after the first eight if they stop progressing, but keep the main lifts so you can see whether you are actually getting stronger in the rep ranges that build size.
What if I miss a session?
Skip it and carry on with the next session in the order. With four or five days, each session repeats later in the week or the next, so one missed day costs very little — doubling up the next day costs more.
How should I warm up?
Five minutes of easy cardio, then two or three lighter sets of the first exercise building up to your working weight. Sets of later exercises need at most one warm-up set.
General guidance for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you have an injury or a health condition, check with a professional before you start.