People who just started going to the gym often find themselves confused and insecure when it comes to deciding what kind of exercises they should do at the gym. The most common reason is the lack of experience, prior knowledge or unrealistic expectations. If you’re just starting your fitness transformation and it’s only been a couple of months, you shouldn’t expect any miracles from your body… yet. That’s why you need to consider getting a fitness program that is suitable to your level. You need a workout routine that symmetrically develops all your muscle groups and builds your strength.
Having a fitness program or a routine will significantly improve your workouts and will make sure that you achieve great results. With it you will be able to measure your progress, your muscles will receive just the right amount of training, and you will find it easier to stay motivated when going to the gym. I remember my first fitness program and how excited I was to complete it every week and to measure my progress. It felt like an achievement system in a video game and I was already planning my progress for the next week. I was able to figure out the right amount of weights, volume and intensity. So, to sum up, you should definitely get a fitness program, if you want to gain experience in the gym and to build strong muscles.
There are many different types of programs that are suitable for different types of people and their physical fitness. Usually, gym goers do programs called “splits” that divide the exercises, targeting different muscle groups in separate workouts, which they do in different days. The idea behind this is to prevent muscle fatigue and overtraining, to prevent injuries and to increase the effectiveness of each exercise. For example, if you first do a chest exercise and then you try to do a shoulder press or shoulder raises you will find that your deltoids have been weakened by the chest exercise. As a result you will not be able to complete your shoulder exercise and if you’re not careful, you might even get shoulder injuries. Fatigued muscles are much more likely to spasm and to get pulled. That is why you should consider having a fitness program.
The program I recommend in this blog post is the 4-day split. It is a fitness program that consists of 4 workouts and 3 days of rest. It is a perfect program for beginners, because it provides just the right amount of exercises for increasing one’s stamina and strength. It will help beginners increase their muscle tone and to gain muscle mass. The workouts consist of 6 exercises with 2-3 sets each. Each set can be completed with 8-12 repetitions. It includes exercises for all muscle groups, so that you can get muscle growth for your entire body. Here’s a full description of the program:
Duration: 60-75 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
Monday: Chest and Biceps
Begin the split with a powerful chest and biceps workout. These are the muscle groups, all men want to grow, since it’s the most attractive to the opposite sex. Having strong chest muscles and huge biceps can really get you attention from women, as far as my personal experience goes 😉 Here are the exercises and sets:
Exercise Sets Reps
Chest
- Bench Press 4 8-12
- Incline Bench Press 3 8-12
- Dumbbell Bench Press 3 8
- Cable Crossovers 3 6-8
Biceps
- Standing Barbell Curl 4 8
- Dumbbell Bicep Curl 3 8
Tuesday: OFF! Congratulations! You get to rest today 😀
Wednesday: Leg day!
Leg exercises are by far the most hated exercises in all of gym culture 😀 However, they are essential to your overall muscle growth. The largest muscles and strongest muscles in your body are the quads and they work all day non-stop, so it will take a lot to overload them. Here are some of the exercises I like to do during my leg workouts:
Exercise Sets Reps
- Barbell Squat 4 8-10
- Front Squat 4 8
- Leg Press 4 8
- Leg Curls 3 10
- Leg Extensions 2 10
- Seated Calf Raises 3 8
Thursday: Shoulders and triceps
Building your shoulders and arms is crucial to your future progress in the gym. Shoulder injuries are one of the most common injuries among fitness goers and the way to avoid them is to build them strong and resilient. Your arms have to be strong, if you want to bench more, lift more etc. Here are my most favorite shoulder and arms exercises:
Exercise Sets Reps
Shoulders
- Military Press 4 5-8
- Seated Barbell Press 4 8-10
- Lateral raises 4 7
- Dumbbell Front Raises 3 7
Triceps
- Cable Triceps Extensions 4 8-10
- Seated French Press 4 8-10
Friday: OFF! Good job! Rest now!
Saturday: Back and abs exercises
The last workout from your split is the back and abs workout. It is very important not to skip back day. Beginners and intermediate gym goers often find those muscle groups really hard to develop properly. That is why I strongly recommend you don’t skip this workout. Here are the exercises:
Exercise Sets Reps
Back
- Pull-ups 4 5-8
- Deadlift 4 8-10
- Barbell rows 4 8-10
- Lat Pull Down 4 8-12
- Seated Cable Row 2 12
Abs
- Plank 2-3 45-60 seconds
- Crunches 2 15-25
- Dumbbell Side Bend 2-3 15-20
Sunday: REST! Get ready for Monday again!
So that is the full 4 day split list. If you feel that this workout is too difficult for you, feel free to adjust the volume and the intensity. You could also include other exercises for the muscle group, you feel, is the least developed. This workout program will be challenging for people at first, but once you get used to it, I believe that you will see great results within the first three weeks. The main focus of the program is to build stronger muscles and to grow. This means that you are not aiming at high repetitions and high intensity. Take longer breaks! Rest if you need to and make sure that you perform the exercises correctly. Proper nutrition is essential to increasing your gains and to provide enough energy. I always go hungry after one of these workouts, so I always make sure I have something to eat afterwards. I don’t do diets with this program and I believe that you shouldn’t as well. The sheer number of exercises also makes this program great for losing fat and for staying fit. You could even eat a burger every day, and you won’t get fat with this 4-day split.
What to expect?
After 8 weeks of this program, you should expect great increases in your strength and visible muscle growth. I believe that you will be able to lift at least 20% heavier and your stamina will be much greater than before. Beginners will see the greatest growth, in my opinion. If you’re satisfied with the results, you could do this program for another 8 weeks or increase the intensity and volume. Another great benefit of this split or fitness program is the experience you will gain in working out. You will become a real fitness expert when it comes to your body and you will know exactly how much you can lift and what the right ways for performing the exercises are.
Experienced athletes would see slightly lesser results, since this program is pretty standard in the fitness practice. However, if they perform everything correctly and put sufficient weights on each exercise, they will still see an increase in strength and muscle growth.
So that’s all for this blog post! I hope you liked my suggestion and that you decided to try it out. Let me know what you think in the comments or share your results this 4 day split. What is your favorite fitness split? Share with us in the comments!
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