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FACT CHECKEDThere are a lot of people out there who are under the impression that the more time spent in the gym the better. This is certainly not always the case. One of the most important aspects of fitness is REST, and that's where a 3-day workout split offers significant advantage over higher frequency routines cluttered with too many exercises or 'junk volume'.
With rest days interspersed between just three workouts per week, you can maximize the intensity each time you hit the weights. This makes it a highly effective approach for building muscle and strength...As the old saying goes "sometimes less is more."
In this guide, I have four complete 3 day workout split routines laid out for you. I will explain the benefits of each plan and how to determine which is best for you to start.
Table of Contents:
A 3-day split is any routine that divides your training days or muscle groups into three separate workouts per week. This means there are a lot of ways it can be organized. However, there are several 3-day split routines that are tried and true, and you really can't go wrong with any of them.
The best 3 day workout splits are:
**Below you'll find complete routines that you can run for each of these.**
Here are a few program details that I recommend and that apply to all four routines:
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To help decide which is the right 3-day split to start with, consider the 'best for' and 'emphasis' details provided for each split.
Push days involve upper body pushing or pressing exercises for chest, shoulders, and triceps; Pull days involve upper body pulling exercises for back, biceps, and forearms; Leg days involve lower body exercises for glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.
Best for: Building Muscle & Strength
Emphasis: Volume and intensity, with a slight favor to lower body and pulling muscles.
The 3-Day Push Pull Leg Routine:
Monday: Push |
Wednesday: Pull |
Friday: Legs |
Bench Press: |
Pull Ups: 3-4 sets x 8-15 reps |
Back Squats: 4 sets x 5-8 reps |
Overhead Press: |
Bent Over Rows: 3-4 sets x 6-10 reps |
Deadlifts: 4 sets x 5-8 reps |
Incline DB Bench Press: 3 sets x 6-10 reps |
Kroc Rows: 3 sets x 8-12 reps/side |
Split Squats: 3 sets x 8-12 reps/side |
Lateral DB Raise: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Shrugs: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
RDL: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Triceps Extension: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets x 15-20 reps |
Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Triceps Pressdown: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Biceps Curl: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets x 10-20 reps |
Notes:
This is a pure bodybuilding plan that places your three largest muscle groups on their own days, with the smaller muscle groups supplementing them. Generally speaking, for a 3 day plan, the above is the best way to split up the major muscle groups. However, if you have specific muscles that are lagging and need more attention, it can be adjusted. For example, if your chest is good but your shoulder development needs a lot of work, you could swap chest in session 1 with shoulders in session 3.
Best for: Building Muscle
Emphasis: Training volume, somewhat favoring upper body development.
The 3-Day Classic Bodybuilding Routine:
Monday: Chest & Triceps |
Wednesday: Back & Biceps |
Friday: Legs & Shoulders |
Bench Press: 3-4 sets x 6-10 reps |
Pull Ups or Chin Ups: |
Deadlift: 3 sets x 5-8 reps |
Flat Bench Fly: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Bent Over Row: |
Back Squat: 3 sets x 6-10 reps |
Incline Bench Press: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Seated Close Grip Row: |
DB Lunge x DB RDL: 3 sets x 10 reps (superset) |
Chest Dips: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Face Pulls: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Seated OHP: 3-4 sets x 8-15 reps |
Triceps Overhead Ext.: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Shrugs: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Lateral Raises: 3 sets x 12-15 reps |
Skull Crusher: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Bicep Curl x Hammer Curl: 3 sets x 10 reps (superset) |
DB Front Raise x Rear Delt Fly: 3 sets x 10 reps (superset) |
Notes:
An upper lower split divides training into upper body workouts and lower body workouts. Upper body days include all of your upper body muscles: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, and triceps; Lower body days include all of your lower body muscles: glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.
With 3 days being an odd number, you'll need to rotate the sessions each week - i.e., Week 1: Upper, Lower, Upper; Week 2: Lower, Upper, Lower; repeat.
Best for: Gaining Strength & Muscle
Emphasis: Good mix of training frequency (hitting muscle groups more than once per week) and volume. Somewhat favoring lower body training given the comparison of how many muscles need addressing in an upper body session.
The 3-Day Upper Lower Routine:
Note: To avoid doing the same workout twice in a week and to maximize exercise selection, you have A & B workouts for both upper and lower body days. Remember to rotate through these weekly (i.e. A, A, B -> B, A, A -> B, B, A). This also means your training cycle for this plan should ideally last 4, 8 or 12 weeks, as everything comes back full circle every 4 weeks.
Upper A: | Lower A: |
3-4 sets x 8-12 reps | 3-4 sets x 5-8 reps |
3-4 sets x 8-12 reps | 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
3-4 sets x 8-12 reps | 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
3 sets x 12-20 reps | 3 sets x 8-12 reps/side |
3 sets x 10-15 reps | 3 sets x 10-15 reps each |
3 sets x 12-15 reps | 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Plank:
3 sets x 30-60 sec |
Upper B: | Lower B: |
Pull Ups or Chin Ups: 3 sets x max reps |
Back Squat: 3-4 sets x 5-8 reps |
Military Press: 3-4 sets x 6-10 reps |
RDL: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Incline Bench Press: 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps |
Split Squat: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Kroc Rows: 3 sets x 8-12 reps each side |
Hip Thrusts: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Cable Lateral Raises: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Single-Leg Leg Press: 3 sets x 10-15 reps each side |
Chest Dips: 3 sets x max reps |
Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets x 12-20 reps |
Hanging Leg Raises: 3 sets x 8-15 reps |
Woodchoppers: |
As the name suggest, a full body workout split involves full body workouts for each of the three sessions. However, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll be training each muscle group equally each session. Rather, it'll be strategically designed with different compound lifts and isolation exercises each workout, allowing you to have more efficient workouts while still hitting your muscles equally over the course of the week.
Best for: This is the most versatile option for a 3 day split. It's great for strength, muscle development, and changing things up from a higher volume plan. It's like the perfect balance and I recommend running this once or twice a year for 4-12 weeks. It can work well for fat loss and muscle maintenance if combined with appropriate cardio and/or HIIT. It's also ideal for strength-specific training too, with weight load and volume (reps x sets) adjusted accordingly.
Emphasis: Training frequency (hitting muscle groups more frequently). Well-rounded.
The 3-Day Full Body Routine:
The full body routine involves you doing full body workouts 3 times a week. However, you'll notice that you only have 2 big lifts each workout, and the rest are assistance/accessory exercises. That doesn't mean they are easy, but they are less taxing than the major big lifts.
Monday: | Wednesday: | Friday: |
Back Squat: |
Military Press: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Deadlift: 3 sets x 5-8 reps |
Bench Press: |
Bent Over Row: 3 sets x 6-10 reps |
Incline DB Bench: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Pull Ups: 3 sets x max reps |
Leg Press: 3 sets x 12-15 reps |
Arnold Press: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Lateral Raises: 3 sets x 15-20 reps |
Chest Dips: 3 sets x max reps |
RDL: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Bicep Curl x Tricep Dips: 3 sets x 10-12 reps/each |
Hammer Curl x Tricep Extension: 3 sets x 12-15 reps/each |
Diamond Push Ups x Inverted Rows: 3 sets x 10 reps/each |
Plank: 3 sets x 30-60 sec |
Hanging Leg Raise: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Single Arm Farmer's Walk: 3 sets x 20-50 meters each side |
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If you want to see real results, you need to use progressive overload.
Progressive overload ensures that you are adequately stressing your muscle enough each week for them to be forced to continue adapting (grow and get stronger).
There are many ways to progressive overload:
For a single weight training cycle (i.e. 4-12 weeks), it is best to focus on increasing reps and increasing the weight load. However, if your range of motion is not optimal, that should actually be first and foremost. Don't increase anything until your range of motion is good.
Assuming your range of motion is good, first increase reps, then increase weight load.
For example, if the program calls for 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps, then you can work up to 10 reps using the same weight load, and once you reach 10 reps for all sets, increase the weight load a little. From there, you can also add another set when you are feeling ready.
After a training cycle, you will take a week break or a deload period. Once you start the next training plan, you can employ other forms of progressive overload depending on your goals. You may want to increase the volume, decrease rest, and try newer, harder exercises.
It’s vital that you put as much emphasis on your recovery as you do your workouts.
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If you want to create your own 3 day workout routine rather than following ours above, be sure to consider the information below...
Because you have a limited amount of days and thus total weekly volume, you will need to choose the best possible exercises for your workout plan.
Here are the must-have exercises no matter what 3 day split you choose...
Now, you may not have access to a barbell or you may not be ready to use a barbell for some of these exercises. However, you can still do the above exercises with dumbbells or kettlebells. You could even do them with resistance bands.
Of course, barbells are the most ideal as they allow you to use the heaviest load, which is a very important aspect of building muscle and strength. Nevertheless, you can still get an effective workout in without a barbell and plates.
Assuming you will have access to a gym, then beginners should use dumbbells until ready for barbell lifts (i.e. goblet squats rather than barbell back squats).
If you are comfortable with barbell exercises, then the ideal compounds are:
Then, you will have accessory exercises that you will do after your main lifts.
While these aren’t all there are to choose from, and you won't choose all of these for your workout plan, they represent some of the best options for secondary exercises to hone in on specific muscles.
Feel free to switch up the exercises in our 3 day workout plans above with any of these exercises.
As for isolation exercises, here are some of the best ones...
Your plan can include a few isolation exercises. But, remember, you will get far better results with a 3 day split if you focus more on compound movements. Compound movements just give you a better bang for your buck.
The isolation exercises should be saved for the end of your workouts just to exhaust the smaller muscle groups that didn’t get enough work from the compound exercises.
For example, on leg day, you can end with calf raises if your calves are lagging because the calves definitely won’t have been worked sufficiently enough to grow from the compound leg exercises. The same applies to many muscles like the lateral delts, biceps, triceps, etc.
Core exercises will be placed into the isolation category. You won’t need to place too much emphasis on core because your core is trained with all your big compound movements.
Nevertheless, you should do one or two core focused exercise at the end of each workout.
The best core exercises are:
The above will strength your core through all planes of motion.
Your workouts should be done in this order:
You will need more energy for the compound lifts, so that’s why they come first.
You can see this by looking back to our sample routines in the beginning of this guide.
Pay attention to how I structured our 3 day workout routine samples. You can see how each 3 day split had a different amount of main lifts and isolation exercises. This is because splits like the PPL and Classic Bodybuilder only have one or two main muscle groups per session, where splits like the upper lower and full body have multiple big muscle groups per session. This means those session will have fewer isolation exercises as the compound lifts will allow the entire body (or upper and lower body) to be worked without spending hours in the gym like it would take with smaller more targeted movements.
Main Compound Lifts:
Assistance Compound Movements:
Accessory Isolation Exercises:
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If your main goal is to build muscle, it’s important that you work through a wide range of reps to build strength, size and endurance. Both strength and endurance will greatly help your muscle building goals.
Generally speaking, for a 3 day workout split, you should be working in the 6-20 rep range, depending on the exercise.
You will get a good crossover of strength and hypertrophy gains in the 6-15 rep range and a good crossover of hypertrophy and endurance in the 12-20 rep range. So, you can really train for all three (size, strength, endurance) in a single workout. Moreover, it will allow you to target both slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch respond best to heavy loads with lower reps and slow twitch to higher reps.
All in all, 6-20 reps is perfect if your main goal is hypertrophy, as you will be working towards size no matter what. Killing three birds with one stone kind of deal.
Related: How Long You Should Rest Between Sets (Backed By Studies)
By following the above advice, you should have enough weekly volume to see good improvements in strength, size and endurance.
Workouts for a 3 day split may be a little longer than they would be for 4 day, 5 day, or 6 day splits because you need to stuff a little more volume into your workouts. That said, this doesn’t mean you should be in the gym for 2 hours.
On average, you workouts should take you about 60 minutes, plus whatever time it takes to warm up and cool down. This doesn’t include cardio
Ideally, you should stick with a workout plan for 8-12 weeks, but you can go longer. Once you start to see diminishing returns, you know it's time to reassess.
8-12 weeks is a good minimum, as that should be enough time to see results and if the plan is worth being a staple in your rotation, and/or if you'll continue to run it for 4-12 weeks more.
It's also a time people should consider a deload week. Think of it as an active recovery week so that you can continue to progress on the next 8-12 weeks cycle.
With a 5-day or 6-day split, I recommend taking a week off to catch up on recovery every 2-4 months, or at least a deload week every 2-3 months, but with 3-day splits promoting recovery so well, you may not need a week off or a deload that soon or so often. Take a deload or week rest when you feel you need it.
During your deload week, you can do full body workouts or your current routine at considerably less intensity (half the weight load, maybe less sets). You may also want to just do bodyweight workouts (see good option just below).
This deload period is important for avoiding plateaus. You can’t constantly train on an upward trajectory. Progression will never be perfectly linear, even if you didn’t take a deload period. So, I highly recommend that you employ this tactic between each training cycle.
After your deload period, you'll go back in with more focus. Your next plan can be the same (i.e. if you are doing a PPL now, you can do a PPL again), but consider switching up some training variables, like the order of your exercises, try new accessory movements, alter the rest time, increasing volume, etc. It depends on your goals. But once you adjust, try to stick with it for a given time to measure results.
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A 3-day split also works great for bodyweight training, and you can employ all the same workout routines I mentioned above. You just need to select bodyweight exercises, and your progressive overload will focus around decreasing rest, increasing volume, and increasing intensity - harder exercises, slower tempo, explosiveness, range of motion.
What's more, just because you are doing bodyweight exercises doesn’t mean you will be doing more total exercises per workout, but you may need to do more volume (reps and sets). Keep your workouts to 5-8 exercises and up the intensity so each exercise and set is challenging enough to build muscle and strength.
While you can (and should) format the workouts in the same way you do a weight lifting split, you can also use interesting protocols like circuit workouts and AMRAPs.
While you can choose any of the same 3 day splits I discussed in this guide, I'll provide a sample 3 day bodyweight routine using the Push Pull Legs split.
Day 1 - Push: | Day 2 - Pull: | Day 3 - Legs: |
Standard Push Ups: 3 sets x 20-25 reps |
Pull Ups: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Squats: 3 sets x 25 reps |
Pike Push Ups: 3 sets x 8-15 reps |
Chin Ups: 3 sets x 6-12 reps |
Jumping Lunges: 3 sets x 20 reps |
Wide Grip Push Ups: 3 sets x 20 reps |
Close Grip Underhand Inverted Row: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Curtsy Lunges: 3 sets x 15 reps/each leg |
Close Grip Push Ups: 3 sets x 10-15 reps |
Wide Grip Overhand Inverted Rows: 3 sets x 8-12 reps |
Side Lunges: 3 sets x 10 reps/each side |
Parallel Dips: 3 sets x 8-20 reps |
Neutral Grip Pull Ups: 2 sets x max reps |
Nordic Ham Curls: 3 sets x 3-5 reps |
Triceps Bench Dips: 3 sets x 15-20 reps |
Superman Back Extensions: 3 sets x 10 reps |
Glute Bridge Walkouts: 3 sets x 10 reps |
Here are more bodyweight exercises to use for your workouts:
PRO TIPS:
Here are answers to questions I often get asked by clients in regards to 3-day workout plans.
Yes. Generally speaking, 3 days of weight lifting per week is the minimum amount of days where results for building muscle are still great. You don’t need to spend every day in the gym to get big.
When you train 6-7 days per week, especially as a beginner or intermediate lifter, your progress with stagnate quickly because you aren't allowing enough time for recovery.
A 3 day split is very effective for building muscle because it allows you to maximize both the intensity of your workouts and your recovery, which is key for muscle growth. If you train hard and recover well, results will be stellar.
This depends on your fitness level. For intermediate to advanced lifters, the PPL or classic bodybuilder split will be best for muscle gain. These routines allow more volume (exercises & sets) to the muscle groups in a given workout, which is likely needed to adequately break down and stimulate the muscles of a seasoned lifter.
However, for most beginners, the full body or upper lower split will be best for building muscle, as you won’t need as much volume to grow. Higher frequency of hitting the muscles will actually produce better results. That said, beginners will see incredible muscle gains with any of these splits.
All of the splits can be good for building strength. If your goal is to get stronger at certain lifts, focus those big lifts in the 3-8 rep range @70-90% 1RM. The big compound lifts come first so everything after doesn't change.
It should also be noted that strength is built in hypertrophy rep ranges (i.e. 8-12) and vice versa.
If your major focus is on gaining strength, you might want to consider the 5x5 workout program (intermediate to advanced) or the 531 program for beginners.
To cut weight and lose fat, you need to eat at a calorie deficit. It's that simple, except for the fact that maintaining muscle is crucial too during fat loss. You don't want to lose fat and muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn while resting. Maintaining muscle while losing fat will lead to a healthy, strong metabolism, turning your body into a fat burning machine.
To achieve this, you need some extra(-fat-loss-)curricular activities, in addition to a weight training routine. The 3-day split itself won't change much if your primary focus is getting shredded. Choose the one you will enjoy the most and do at least two cardio or HIIT workouts on top, either on rest days, as two-a-days, or after your workout. 20-40 minutes is all you need. Less if the HIIT workouts are hard.
With HIIT workouts, you will get some good endurance-based muscle fiber recruitment, and even more importantly, the afterburn affect (EPOC), which will have you burning a higher amount of calories long after your workouts are over.
This is preferred to mixing cardio with weight training by having low rest times or doing something like jumping jacks between sets. While that works to burn more calories, you'll be doing so at the sacrifice of properly hitting the lifts, and thus keeping those muscles full. It's also very taxing.
It really depends on what your goals are but overall the best 3 day split is the push pull leg split. It’s one of the most efficient and effective workout splits because all the related muscle groups are trained together in the same workout, which means there will be minimum overlap between workouts. This facilities recovery of your muscle groups much better than many other splits.
If you have some experience in weightlifting, and you want to do a 3 day split, I recommend to start with the PPL split.
If you are a complete beginner, start with the full body split for 4-12 weeks.
A 3 day split can be great for anyone and everyone, men and women alike.
However, there are certain groups that it makes the most sense for:
The only people I really don’t recommend a 3 day split for are advanced bodybuilders who need more volume and training days. 3 days may simply not be enough to get the results an advance lifter needs. Moreover, advanced trainees are well experienced in structuring effective workouts and diets that allow them to recover enough between sessions. They are extremely diligent with recovery.
Note: Just because you are big doesn’t mean you need to train more often. In fact, bigger muscles take longer to recover. A lot of big guys see better results with a 3 or 4 day split. The workouts just need to be tough.
If you are still unsure which split to do OR if a 3 day split is right for you, consider the following points:
Here are the benefits when looking at 3 day weightlifting splits:
As with any split, there are some drawbacks. For example...
Other Training Splits For You To Consider:
Have questions about 3 day splits? Leave a comment below!
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