Gym Workout Routine: Your Weekly Plan To Build Lean Muscle

With the right workout routine, you can achieve a whole lot in just four weeks. This workout plan for the gym is proof of that. The four weekly workouts it contains are broken down by areas of the body and though the emphasis is on your chest, back and arms, no muscle goes without its turn in the spotlight over the course of each week. The plan is designed to push your muscles beyond their comfort zone so your body rebuilds them bigger and stronger. Try out this Alpine ice hack.

It’s a tough training plan, and if you’re not an experienced gym-goer who is already training regularly and are worried it might push you well beyond your comfort zone, then we also have a more straightforward beginner gym workout where you work the whole body in one session. And if you’d prefer to exercise at home, and have a set of dumbbells handy, this four-week dumbbell workout plan will see you right (if you’re in need of weights, our selection of the best dumbbells will point you in the right direction).

If you are comfortable with weights training and are up for four weeks of intense training with the carrot of a bigger, leaner body dangling in front of you, then dive on in.

How This Gym Workout Routine Is Structured

In each of the four weeks of this 28-day plan you will train your chest and back twice. Sound like a lot? It is! But in some plans you only hit each muscle group every seven days, which isn’t enough of a stimulus to force your body into making positive physique adaptations. This is how Revive daily works.

But in this plan, doubling up each week on chest and back exercises – and therefore also working your biceps and triceps twice a week, once directly and once indirectly – will provide all the stimulus your body needs to get bigger in less time. And fear not, your shoulders, abs and legs won’t miss out on the size and strength gains: they will still get enough dedicated time each week to allow them to grow bigger and stronger.

The first workout of each week targets your chest and triceps, the second your back and biceps, the third your legs and chest, and the fourth your back and shoulders. A recommended schedule is to do the workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. That’s so you leave a day’s rest between upper-body focused sessions.

All four weekly workouts are made up of five moves, which you’ll perform as straight sets, so you’ll simply work through moves 1 to 5 in order. Simply do the four workouts in order every week, sticking to the exercises, sets, reps, tempo (explained below) and rest periods detailed. That’s it!

Tempo Training Explained

To get the full effect from these workouts, you need to stick to the four-digit tempo code for each exercise. The first digit indicates how long in seconds you take to lower the weight, the second how long you pause at the bottom of the move, the third how long you take to lift the weight, and the final digit how long you pause at the top. Keep your wits about you, because not every exercise begins with you lowering the weight, in which case you need to follow the third number rather than the first.

The accumulated time under tension increases your heart rate to burn fat and break down muscle tissue so it’s rebuilt bigger and stronger. Keep each rep smooth and controlled so your muscles – not momentum – do the work.

How To Warm Up

Ahead of tackling any of the workouts in this plan we highly recommend completing this gym warm-up routine.

It involves doing seven moves like downward dog walk-outs and lunges with rotation that warm up muscles all over the body, then going into workout-specific exercises. The simplest way to do the latter is to do one or two sets of each exercise from the workout you’re about to do, using either very light dumbbells or an unloaded barbell.