Muscular-Fitness

Whether you are a beginner to weight training or a veteran bodybuilder 3 days per week weight training allows you to train each and every body part without suffering from the symptoms of overtraining. When I first started bodybuilding 20 years ago I would train almost every day, train every muscle group at least twice per week and sometimes my workouts would last for over 3 hours. Wow, how things have changed all these years later. Now days I am as big as I have ever been and train less than half as much, rarely ever do I get an injury anymore and love training even more at 37 than I did when I was 17.

Weight training 3 days per week is about the minimum you need to train to still be able to make good gains in size and strength. Any less and it would be difficult to train every muscle group with enough focus and intensity. I never like to train any longer than about 1 hour per workout, any longer and your body starts to fade quickly. If you are a man, you only have enough circulating testosterone in your system to last for a 1 hour hardcore workout.

The following is my suggestion for the ideal weight training workout over 3 days per week. I would usually follow this workout training on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but you can do it any 3 days per week depending on the time you have available to workout.

Day 1

Chest

Incline dumbbell presses 3 sets x 10 reps

Flat or machine press 3 sets x 10 reps

Flat dumbbell flyes 3 sets x 10 reps

Cable crossovers 3 sets x 10 reps Total 12 sets

Shoulders

Smith machine presses in front 3 sets x 10 reps

Or dumbbell presses 3 sets x 10 reps

Dumbbell side laterals raises triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps Total 6 sets

Triceps

Lying triceps extensions 3 sets x 10 reps

Triceps dips 3 sets x 10 reps

Or Tricep pushdowns triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps Total 6 sets

Day 2

Quadriceps

Barbell or smith machine squats 3 sets x 10 reps

Leg press 3 sets x 15 reps

Leg extensions triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps

Hamstrings

Stiff leg deadlifts 3 sets x 10 reps

Lying leg curls triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps

Day 3

Back

Deadlifts 3 sets x 10 reps

Or bent over barbell rows 3 sets x 10 reps

Dumbbell rows 3 sets x 10 reps per arm

Or seated long pulley rows 3 sets x 10 reps

Wide grip chin ups 3 sets x 10 reps

Wide grip lat pulldowns 3 sets x 10 reps

Or close grip lat pulldowns 3 sets x 10 reps   Total 12-15 sets  (optional)

Traps

Barbell shrugs 3 sets x 10 reps

Or dumbbell shrugs 3 sets x 10 reps Total 3 sets

Biceps

Standing barbell curls 3 sets x 10 reps

Seated dumbbell alternate curls triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps

Or seated preacher curls triple drop 3 sets x 10 reps Total 6 sets

This 3 day per week training routine covers all the muscle groups, uses both compound and isolation movements and is best using a weight for each set where you hit the absolute muscle failure point on around the last 1 or 2 reps for each set. You will need to choose your own weights accordingly to be able to train each set to failure.

The triple drop sets are designed to completely fatigue the muscle and will lead to certain muscle growth and are an ideal high intensity technique especially employed to promote growth. To do a triple drop set, use a weight you can just perform 10 reps, drop the weight and go straight into another set of 10 reps with a slightly lighter weight for another 10 and then repeat a third time, hence the name triple drop sets.

To stay lean on this routine I would suggest doing 1 hour of cardio on at least 3 other days per week and take 1 full day each week to rest with no training at all. For diet tips read the following article, What to Eat to Get Lean and Muscular.