How to plan your training week: 3-, 4- and 6-day examples

A good training plan isn't the one that looks most impressive on paper; it's the one you can keep for weeks. If you plan six days and manage three, starting with a three-day plan usually brings more progress.

1. Decide on the number of days first

Be realistic: with work, school, family and sleep in mind, how many days a week can you get to the gym? That number is the skeleton of your plan. For beginners, three days a week is usually enough and easy to sustain.

2. Pick a split that fits those days

A split is how you spread muscle groups across the days of the week. The three most common options are:

3 days a week: Full body

You train the whole body every session, for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Each muscle group gets three sessions a week, and the week stays balanced even if you miss a day. A great starting point for beginners.

4 days a week: Upper/Lower

Two upper-body days and two lower-body days, for example upper on Monday, lower on Tuesday, upper on Thursday and lower on Friday. Each muscle group is trained twice a week, and sessions are shorter and more focused than full-body ones.

3 or 6 days a week: Push/Pull/Legs

Push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back, biceps) and leg days. Three days a week trains each muscle group once; six days trains each twice. The six-day version needs more time and recovery and usually suits experienced lifters better.

3. Balance your weekly sets

A common starting range for muscle growth is roughly 10–20 hard working sets per muscle group per week. Beginners often grow well on fewer. What matters is adjusting the number gradually based on your logs, not raising it all at once. Don't count warm-up sets.

4. Treat rest days as part of the plan

Muscles grow during recovery, not during the workout itself. Leaving at least one day between two hard sessions for the same muscle group is a good general rule. A rest day isn't an empty day; it's part of the plan.

5. Adapt to your equipment

When you can't get to the gym, you can build a plan with dumbbells and a bench, or with bodyweight only, using the same principles: a realistic number of days, a balanced split and gradual progress.

Planning your week in Workout Mate

• The Programs tab has editable starter templates: Full Body (3 days), Upper/Lower (4 days), Push/Pull/Legs (3 and 6 days), dumbbell home training and no-equipment bodyweight.
• You assign a routine to each day in the weekly schedule, and the Today screen shows that day's routine.
• When you add a template and your schedule already has days set, you see the clashes before anything is saved and decide yourself.
• The Today screen shows this week's progress towards your weekly goal.

Templates are editable starter examples, not personalised professional programmes. The free version saves up to 4 routines; Workout Mate Pro makes routines unlimited.

This article is general information, not medical, nutrition or personal coaching advice. Consult a health professional before starting a new programme, especially if you have a health condition.