Bodybuilding Blitz: Maximum Gains in Minimum Time

If you don’t have much time to spend in the gym every day but still want to build as much muscle as possible, Bodybuilding Blitz is the program you need.

This article outlines the workout plan, exercises, progression tips, and what to expect when you hit the gym for your first workout.

What Is Bodybuilding Blitz?

Bodybuilding Blitz is a 5-day workout split that combines training for muscle growth and strength.

Your training sessions last no longer than 30–40 minutes, but during that time, you’ll perform the best compound exercises for both your large and smaller muscle groups.

What does that mean? Better results in less time.

The program is perfect if you want to train almost every day but can only dedicate a limited amount of time to each workout. For example, you could sneak away during lunch, get a workout every workday, and have the weekend off for other activities. 

If you’re not interested in lunch-break training, the program works great for a fast, effective daily workout at any other time, too. 

Who Is Bodybuilding Blitz For?

This program is designed for everyone from intermediates and up who wants to build muscle like a bodybuilder with short and effective workouts.

Advanced bodybuilders can also benefit from Bodybuilding Blitz when their schedules don’t allow for a high-volume split that takes hours.

As a bonus, you’ll get stronger in the three powerlifting lifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. Don’t mistake Bodybuilding Blitz for a dedicated powerlifting program, though. It’s a bodybuilding program for muscle gains, first and foremost.

The Bodybuilding Blitz Structure

Bodybuilding Blitz is a 5-day split consisting of two training blocks back to back: a three-day push/pull/leg-variant and an upper/lower combo, also called a PPLUL split.

You start with a leg workout on the first day, then train your back and biceps on the second day, finishing off the first block with chest, shoulders, and triceps on the third day. A classic push/pull/legs training program, in other words, but with a reversed order of the workouts to take your recovery and the second training block of the week into account. The only issue is that LPPUL doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

This is classic bodybuilding-style training with a rep range of 10–12, focusing on mind-muscle connection and letting the right muscles do the job.

The second training block consists of two training days and follows directly on the first. It is an upper/lower block where you train the lower body on the first day and the upper body on the second. Here, you focus on large muscle groups, use heavier weights, and perform basic exercises.

Basically, building muscle is the name of the game for the first three days of the week, and the two final sessions are dedicated to free weights and the best exercises for gaining mass and strength. Of course, things overlap, but the focus is on hypertrophy in the first block and strength + hypertrophy in the other. You train your entire body with isolation and compound exercises to hit all your muscle fibers for the best results in the shortest amount of time.

Read more:

>> The 10 Best Bodybuilding Splits: a Complete Guide

Bodybuilding Blitz: The Workouts

An overview of the different days of Bodybuilding Blitz looks like this:

• Day 1: Quads and Hamstrings
• Day 2: Back and Biceps
• Day 3: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps
• Day 4: Lower Body
• Day 5: Upper Body
• Day 6: Rest
• Day 7: Rest

Here is an outline of a week of training.

Download the StrengthLog map to see the % of 1RM, number of sets, and reps details.

Workout 1 – Quads and Hamstrings

1. Squat
2. Leg Extension
3. Barbell Lunges
4. Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Workout 2 – Back and Biceps

1. Lat Pulldown
2. Seated Row
3. Dumbbell Row
4. Barbell Curl

Workout 3 – Chest, Shoulder, and Triceps

1. Bench Press
2. Incline Dumbbell Press
3. Dumbbell Shoulder Press
4. Barbell Lying Triceps Extension

Workout 4 – Lower Body

1. Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Leg Curl

Workout 5 – Upper Body

1. Bench Press
2. Overhead Press
3. Close-Grip Bench Press

As you can see, you train each major muscle group twice per week. Research shows that you make similar gains in muscle mass regardless of weekly frequency: training each body part two, five, or six times doesn’t matter much.¹

However, keeping your workouts short ensures you’re able to give them your all and stimulate muscle protein synthesis to the last set. Each training session of Bodybuilding Blitz is short, sweet, and high-quality.

Bodybuilding Blitz Progression Model

If you don’t consistently challenge your muscles, they get lazy and stop growing.

You keep them on their toes by slowly but surely doing a little more and lifting a little heavier, forcing them to adapt to the stress and grow bigger and stronger.

Your two crucial variables for building muscle are training volume and intensity.

Training Volume

Finding the optimal training volume to build muscle can be tricky. More is usually better, but only up to a certain point. Once you reach it, adding even more sets and reps leads to diminishing returns or possibly even overtraining, which makes your gains grind to a halt.

You want a high volume, but not too high.

According to up-to-date scientific evidence, you need at least 10 weekly sets per muscle group to optimize muscle hypertrophy.²

Even though you’re not spending hours at the gym, Bodybuilding Blitz has you covered.

You hit your major muscle groups with at least ten sets per week, and compound movements for your back, chest, and shoulders also target your smaller biceps and triceps muscles.

Training Intensity

Progressive overload is a fundamental principle of resistance training, including bodybuilding. By increasing the weights when you can, you force your muscles to grow.

Bodybuilding Blitz offers build-in progression in the form of percentage-based progresion and double progression.

Double Progression

With double progression, you increase two things when you can: reps and weight.

1. Pick a rep range, such as 8–12 reps (this program comes with built-in recommended rep ranges).
2. Choose a weight you can lift for the lower end (8–9 reps) of that range.
3. Try to add reps over time until you can hit 12 reps on all sets.
4. Then increase the weight slightly.
5. Your reps will drop back down.
6. Build them up again.
7. Repeat until you’re swole.

Percentage-Based Progression

In big lifts like squats and bench presses, Bodybuilding Blitz will suggest percentages of your one-rep max (1RM) for each set.

When you start the program, you enter your current 1RM, and the app will calculate your training weights.

Be sure to use your current estimated 1RM, not your all-time best (unless they are the same).

If you’re unable to increase the weight, simply stay with that weight until you can. Only beginners can lift more every workout, and as long as you’re consistently pushing yourself, it’s all good.

Workout Days and Rest Days

Bodybuilding Blitz allows you to structure your training week in several ways.

The default option entails training five days in a row, followed by two rest days. That’s the best option if you want the weekend free. The program ensures that any particular muscle group gets enough time to recover without any days off during the workday week.

You could also take a rest day after the three-day training block and another day off after the upper and lower split. For example, if Monday is your first training day, Thursday and Sunday will be your days off.

Rest Intervals

How long you want to rest between exercises is up to you. A rest period of two to three minutes is standard practice, but if you’re tight on time, you can reduce it to one minute, at least on less demanding isolation exercises.

If you have the time and prefer to rest longer between sets, go right ahead. You’ll be able to increase both your training intensity and volume. However, the drawback is that your workout session won’t be as short, which might be your main reason for following Bodybuilding Blitz.

The length of your inter-set rest periods won’t make or break your gains, so feel free to adjust them to your preferences.

Training to Failure

When you train to failure, you cannot complete another repetition without using momentum (“cheating”) or assistance. Current research suggests that training to failure is not necessary for strength gains or muscle hypertrophy.^{3 4}

Failure not detrimental in itself and might offer advanced trainees some benefits if used sparingly. However, doing it all the time could impact recovery, stress your central nervous system, and possibly slowing your gains.

I suggest you terminate most of your sets one or two repetitions before reaching muscular failure. If you want to implement this advanced training technique, do so in isolation exercises where it’s easy to rack the weight when you fail.

When You Reach the End of Bodybuilding Blitz

After three weeks, you have completed one round of Bodybuilding Blitz. Hopefully, you’re feeling pumped and ready for more.

If so, feel free to start the program over and jump back into week one. Keep at it, and the results will keep coming. You get a complete and time-efficient plan to get bigger and stronger, and you don’t have to spend several hours a day in the gym to reach your fitness goals.

Follow This Workout Routine in StrengthLog

Want to give Bodybuilding Blitz a go?

It’s available exclusively in our workout app StrengthLog.

The app makes it super easy to keep track of your weights and reps and ensures you’re on the right path.

It remembers what weights you used in your last session, and automatically loads them into your next one. And trying to improve on your last workout is the key to improving and getting stronger over time.

StrengthLog is free, but for our more advanced premium programs, like this one, you’ll need a subscription to follow it in-app.

We offer a 14-day free trial (no strings attached and no funny business) that you can activate in the app, so you can check it out before making a decision.

Final Words

The Bodybuilding Blitz workouts might be short, but they aren’t easy. And that’s the point. It makes every single minute you spend in the gym count.

Fire up your StrengthLog app and start the program. Get in, hit it hard, and get out.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your training.

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Last reviewed: 2026-10-06

References

1. J Sports Sci. 2019 Jun;37(11):1286-1295. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency.
2. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, June 2022. Resistance training variables for optimization of muscle hypertrophy: an umbrella review.
3. J Sports Sci. 2022 Jun 5;1-23. Towards an improved understanding of proximity-to-failure in resistance training and its influence on skeletal muscle hypertrophy, neuromuscular fatigue, muscle damage, and perceived discomfort: A scoping review.
4. Journal of Sport and Health Science, Volume 11, Issue 2, March 2022, Pages 202-211. Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.