How to Build Muscle Training 3 Days Per Week

The best training program in the world is absolutely worthless without the will to execute it properly, consistently, and with intensity.
––John Romaniello

Training three days per week for about an hour each time?
 
Not sure how to design a muscle-building program to make the most of your sessions?
 
Tired of HIIT workouts and circuits that make you sweat, but aren’t changing the way you look?
 
You’ve come to the right place, my friend.
 
This article is divided into the following three sections:
 

• Part 1: What’s the best three-day split for muscle growth in general and for your specific physique goals?
• Part 2: Which exercises, rep ranges, and training techniques should you choose to maximise your gains and minimise the time spent in the gym?
• Part 3: How do you tie Part 1 and 2 together to design your program?

 
This article will provide you with a foundational understanding of some of the components of a training program, so that you can start designing your own, but it can’t cover all there is to know about muscle-building training.
 
To learn more about the principles of muscle growth (hypertrophy), check out these articles:
 

• Training for Strength VS Mass
• A Beginner’s Guide to Designing a Full-Body Workout
• 3 Fundamental Training Variables for Muscle Growth

 
If you’re ready to learn how to design a kickass three-day program, read on.

Part 1: Program structure
 
When you’re training three times per week, you can choose from the following splits depending on your goals:
 

• Three full-body days: Useful for overall muscular development, this split includes one exercise per muscle or muscle group in every single session.
• One upper, one lower, and one full-body day: Also beneficial for overall muscular development, this split focuses on all the upper body muscles on one day, all the lower body muscles on another day, and the major muscle groups across the entire body on the final day.
• Two full-body days and either a lower day or an upper day: This split places a little more emphasis on either the lower or upper body, so you can pick the specific muscles you want to prioritise.
• Two upper days and a lower day: This works well if you’re interested in building more muscle in the upper body and you’re happy to accept a slower rate of gain in the lower body, or to maintain your current lower body musculature as it is.
• Two lower days and an upper day: This is the opposite of the previous split and will therefore be more beneficial if you want to develop your lower body more than your upper body.

 
Part 2: Exercise selection
 
In the first part of each session, include exercises following each of these fundamental movement patterns:
 

• Upper body pushing:
  • Horizontal pushing: flat free-weight bench press, plate- or pin-loaded chest press machine, push-up, etc.
  • Vertical pushing: incline free-weight bench press, free-weight shoulder press, incline chest press machine, shoulder press machine, etc.
• Upper body pulling:
  • Horizontal pulling: any rowing exercise
  • Vertical pulling: pull-up and lat pull-down variations
• Squatting: Other than the obvious (squats), other exercises following a squatting pattern include the leg press, hack squat, V-squat machine, pendulum squat, lunges, split squats, etc.
• Hip-hingeing: Deadlift variations, 45º hip extension, etc.

 
These lifts are known as “compound exercises” because they engage multiple muscles and muscle groups, so they provide a great bang for your buck in terms of muscle growth stimulus and time efficiency. They tend to be suited to heavier loads and lower reps, so you can train them within the 5-12 rep range.
 
If you’re doing a full-body session, include an exercise per movement pattern, alternating between vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling. For instance, if you’re doing a lat pull-down in one session (vertical pulling), you can do a row in the next (horizontal pulling).
 
If you’re doing an upper or a lower session, include a compound lift and an isolation lift that, as the name implies, “isolates” the main muscle or muscle group engaged by the compound exercise.
 
For example, the bench press is a compound lift that trains the pecs, but also the front delts and triceps, whereas the dumbbell fly, when performed correctly, trains primarily the pecs.
 
You can do straight sets of the same exercise in a row, taking adequate rest between them, or you can save time by super-setting two exercises.
 
A super set is a set of one exercise, followed by a set of another exercise, with little to no rest between the two.
 
If you choose this option, your performance on the second exercise will be impacted to a certain degree. To reduce this to a minimum, you can:
 

• Rest at least 60s between the two exercises
• Pair exercises that train opposing or entirely unrelated muscle groups

 
An example of a super set training opposing muscle groups would be:
 

• A1: Flat dumbbell press (pecs, anterior deltoids, triceps)
• A2: Chest-supported dumbbell row (the back complex, posterior deltoids, biceps)

 
On the other hand, an example of a super set training entirely unrelated muscle groups would be:
 

• A1: Leg press (quads and glutes)
• A2: Flat dumbbell press (pecs, anterior deltoids, triceps)

 
In the second part of the session, you can choose two to three exercises focusing on smaller muscle groups that are only trained indirectly when you’re performing compound exercises.
 
For instance, your lateral delts, biceps, and triceps will be trained indirectly with upper body pushing and pulling exercises. So, if your goal is to develop these three muscles, you can include an isolation exercise hitting each of them at the end of each session.
 
Isolation lifts are usually better suited to lighter loads and higher reps, so you can train them within the 12-30 rep range.
 
To save time, you can also:
 

• Do these final two to three exercises in sequence, thus performing a super set (if you have two lifts) or a tri-set (if you have three)
• Use different metabolite techniques other than super sets and tri-sets, such as drop sets, myo reps, blood flow restriction training (BFR), etc.…

 
Metabolite techniques – also called “intensity” or “advanced” techniques – are training modalities that result in the buildup of metabolites (lactic acid, inorganic phosphate, and H+) within a muscle.
 
Metabolite techniques aren’t only time-efficient; they may also contribute to muscle growth by producing metabolic stress. (If you want to read more on this topic, I recommend The Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy by Brad Schoenfeld.)
 
Part 3: Practical application
 
The following is a practical example of a training program bringing all of these concepts together.
 
Start with defining your goal.
 
For instance, if your top priority is to develop your upper body and particularly back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps, you can choose this split and schedule:
 

• Split: Upper 1, Lower 1, Upper 2
• Schedule: You can train on alternate days, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can also perform Upper 1 and Lower 1 in a row, then take a rest day before hitting Upper 2. Finally, you can train three days in a row, but you may recover better if you take at least one complete rest day after two training days.

 
When designing your sessions, prioritise compound lifts that train the back and shoulders, placing them first in each upper session. Your isolation lifts will hit biceps, triceps, and lateral delts.
 
The compound lifts in your lower body session will target quads, hamstrings, and glutes. You can arrange these exercises in order of priority, based on which muscle you want to grow the most, or in order of difficulty, with the most technical lifts done first.
 
In the example, I’ve decided to prioritise quad development and I’ve included an abdominal exercise as an isolation lift.
 
This is what the program could look like:
 
Upper 1
 
Compound A1: Assisted pull-up machine 3x5-10
Compound A2: Seated dumbbell shoulder press 3x8-12
Compound B1: Seated cable row 3x8-12
Compound B2: Flat dumbbell bench press 3x10-15
Isolation C1: Standing cable cross-over lateral raise variation 3x10-15
Isolation C2: Seated cable incline curl 3x10-15
Isolation C3: Standing cable overhead triceps extension 3x10-15
 
Lower 1
 
Compound: Barbell back squat 3x5-10
Isolation: Leg extension 3x10-15
Compound: 45º hip extension, biasing hamstrings over glutes 3x8-12
Compound: Barbell hip thrust 3x10-15
Isolation: Seated or lying hamstring curl 3x12-20
Isolation: Abdominal crunch 3x10-15
 
Upper 2
 
Compound A1: Bent-over barbell row 3x5-10
Compound A2: Incline dumbbell press 3x8-12
Compound B1: Lat pull-down with a neutral grip 3x10-15
Isolation B2: Standing cable cross-over lateral raise variation (different from Upper 1) 3x10-15
Isolation drop set: Standing cable cross-over lateral raise variation (the same as Upper 1) 3x12-20
Isolation drop set: Seated barbell preacher curl 3x12-20
Isolation drop set: Standing cable triceps pushdown 3x12-20
 
Practical Takeaways
 

1. You can use many different splits to build muscle depending on your goals and preferences.
2. Make compound lifts the core of your program and include isolation lifts to develop smaller muscles of interest that may get less “tender loving care” from compound lifts alone.
3. You can save time with super sets and other metabolite techniques.

 
Thanks for reading. May you make the best gains.
 
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