A good strength training program is the first step to achieving your fitness goals. But don’t just start throwing weights around and doing random exercises.
In this article, you’ll learn the basics of how to design a strength training program from scratch.
From setting goals to choosing the right exercises, this article breaks down the essentials of creating a strength training plan that’s effective, fun, and, most importantly, sustainable.
The Best Strength Training Program
Unfortunately, there is no one “best” strength training program. Strength training isn’t a “one-barbell-fits-all” kind of deal. It depends on factors like your training goals, time commitments, fitness level, and even injury history.
The best training split is the one that you enjoy, fits your schedule, meets your goals, and keeps you motivated to train regularly. The sweet spot right now might not cut it in a couple of months when your short-term goals have changed.
Here are the steps to consider when designing a strength training program of your own.
Step 1: Setting Goals for Your Strength Training Program
The first thing on the agenda when designing your strength training program is establishing your goals.
Knowing your goal before you start planning your workout plan in detail is like learning the destination before starting a journey, like having a GPS for your fitness journey,
Goals give you a specific direction to move towards, ensuring every drop of sweat is spent wisely.
Without a goal, you might end up wandering aimlessly through exercises. Going to the gym and doing random stuff gives you random results.
Also, with a clear goal, you can tailor your workouts to meet your specific needs.
Whether it involves adding five pounds of lean muscle mass, increasing your bench press by 20 pounds, or leaning down to see your abs, you can customize your weight training program so that each workout takes you one step closer to that goal.
Having more than one goal is perfectly fine—most of us do. However, balancing too many goals at once is like trying to juggle flaming kettlebells. Even if your ultimate goal is to become a competitive bodybuilder or powerlifter, you want your strength training program to target a goal that is more attainable in the short term.
Figure out what’s most important to you right now. Is it building muscle, losing fat, or getting stronger?
Focus on one or two goals at a time to maximize results.
Also, your goals shouldn’t oppose each other.
For example, building muscle and improving your squat 1RM are compatible goals. Losing as much weight and body fat as fast as possible while gaining 10 pounds of muscle aren’t.
Step 2: Designing the Program Structure
Choosing the right training split for your strength training program is essential for maximizing gains, optimizing recovery, and preventing injury.
A training split is essentially how you divide your workouts throughout the week.
It involves dividing your workouts into specific muscle groups or movement patterns across different days while allowing for adequate rest.
A well-designed split maximizes your time in the gym, allowing you to get better results without spending hours every week doing things that don’t contribute optimally to your goals.
What It Involves
First, determine how many days a week you can realistically commit to training.
If you are like most regular people, you have school, a job, a family, or other commitments and can’t devote hours every day to training like professional athletes of bodybuilders.
That’s why you want to choose a split based on your experience, goals, and how much time you have.
- For general health and fitness, training two or three times per week is perfect for most people. That’s also a great training frequency for beginners. Full-body workouts are ideal here.
- For intermediate training, three to five workouts per week are usually recommended. Once you have some training experience, you need more training volume to make further progress, and it’s often more manageable to start splitting your body into shorter sessions.
- Advanced trainees often thrive on four, five, or even six weekly training days. At this level, training one to three muscle groups each workout allows for adequate volume and intensity to stimulate muscle growth and further strength adaptations.
Example Training Splits
Full Body Split (2 or 3 days/week)
Training the entire body two or three times per week using a full body split is a classic and time-efficient way to structure your weekly workouts.
A full-body split workout maximizes efficiency by hitting all major muscle groups with only a handful of exercises each session for balanced muscle development and strength gains.
The full-body approach is particularly beneficial for beginners and is perfect for busy schedules.
- Monday: Full Body
- Wednesday: Full Body
- Friday: Full Body
Our Beginner Barbell Workout Plan or Beginner Strength Training Program are ideal full-body splits for beginners, while our Full Body Workout Routine offers intermediate—and advanced-level trainees the next level of whole-body training.
Upper/Lower Split (4 Days/Week)
An upper/lower split is a type of workout routine in which you divide your training sessions into two main categories: upper-body and lower-body workouts.
It’s one of the most popular ways to structure your workouts and can be easily adjusted to fit all fitness levels and goals.
Upper/lower splits are the perfect next step up from a beginner full-body routine. Splitting your body into two workouts allows for a higher training volume without each session getting overly long.
They are equally effective for both building muscle and gaining strength as well as for general fitness.
- Monday: Upper Body
- Tuesday: Lower Body
- Thursday: Upper Body
- Friday: Lower Body
StrengthLog’s Upper/Lower Body Split Program is one of the most popular routines in our workout app.
Push/Pull/Legs Split (3 to 6 Days/Week)
Another extremely popular training split is the Push/Pull/Legs split (PPL for short). It involves further dividing your body into three training days rather than one or two.
- On day one, you train your upper-body pushing muscles: chest, shoulders, and triceps.
- Day two is all about working your pulling muscles: back and biceps.
- Day three is the legs day, consisting of quads, hamstrings, and calves.
A push pull legs split can be tailored to fit different schedules, experience levels, and fitness goals. Whether you’re training three, four, or six days a week, you can adjust it accordingly.
PPL splits are particularly popular among bodybuilders. However, they can benefit anyone who wants to build muscle. However, there are better options for beginners who might be overwhelmed by the PPL training volume.
They are also an option for powerlifters, as you can focus on each of the big three lifts on different days: the bench press on push day, the deadlift on pull day, and the squat on leg day.
Example of a three-day PPL split:
- Monday: Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
- Wednesday: Pull (Back, Biceps)
- Friday: Legs
And a six-day split:
- Monday: Push
- Tuesday: Pull
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Push
- Friday: Pull
- Saturday: Legs
We have two fantastic PPL splits in the StrengthLog workout tracker: the StrengthLog Push Pull Legs Intermediate routine and the Push Pull Legs Advanced routine.
The first is perfect for general muscle-building and strength goals, while the advanced split is intended for bodybuilders and experienced lifters.
>> The Best Push Pull Legs Split for Building Muscle
Body Part Split (4–6 days/week)
The body part split, or “bro split,” is a bodybuilding workout routine in which you train different muscle groups on different days.
The idea is to focus on one (or two) muscle groups per session, allowing for maximum volume and muscle fatigue, followed by plenty of recovery time before hitting that same muscle group again.
Body part splits are the most popular type of resistance training program among high-level bodybuilders, but they also work well for general strength and muscle-building purposes. They fell out of favor for a while, with more high-frequency routines stealing the limelight. However, recent research shows that training each muscle once per week is a viable option.1
Example of a bro-split:
- Monday: Chest
- Tuesday: Back
- Wednesday: Shoulders
- Thursday: Legs
- Friday: Arms
Our premier bro split is Bodybuilding Ballet, available in StrengthLog as a premium program in 4-day, 5-day, and 6-day versions.
As are the other workout routines mentioned above, along with hundreds more strength training programs and workouts, many of which are free. In addition, it’s the best way to create your own programs, which you can then track in the app!
Download StrengthLog today and see for yourself. It’s 100% free. And ad-free!
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These are just a few of the numerous training splits you can utilize to get one step closer to your goals.
Deciding on a training split is a necessary first step when designing your training program, but don’t worry overmuch about picking the “wrong” one or missing out on gains because of your choice.
Remember, the “best” program is the one you enjoy and can stick with. People have built championship physiques and world-class strength with almost any kind of program.
What you do in the gym is more important than searching for the magic program.
Speaking of doing things in the gym…
Step 3: Exercise Selection
Once you have decided on a workout split, it’s time to select which exercises to include. It’s like picking toppings for a pizza, but instead of pepperoni and mushrooms, you’re choosing deadlifts and push-ups.
- If you are an aspiring powerlifter, your workouts will center around your competitive lifts: the squat, deadlift, and bench press.
- If you train for aesthetics or general health, you have greater freedom of choice when picking exercises than if your training is dedicated to sports performance.
That being said, there are still exercise choice guidelines for designing your workout program.
Choose Based on Goals
Your exercises must reflect your goals if you train for athletic purposes.
- Strength: Focus more on compound exercises with lower reps and heavier weights.
- Hypertrophy (Muscle Growth): Mix of compound and Isolation exercises with moderate reps and weights.
- Endurance: Higher reps with lighter weights, perhaps incorporating more bodyweight exercises.
Equipment Availability
Tailor your exercise selection to what you have on hand.
- Gym Access: Use barbells, dumbbells, cables, and machines.
- Home Workouts: Bodyweight exercises, resistance bands, dumbbells, or kettlebells.
Big Lifts First (Compound Movements)
It’s almost always a good idea to perform compound movements that work multiple muscle groups, like squats, deadlifts, leg presses, barbell rows, and bench presses, early in the workout.
If you perform Olympic lifts, do them at the beginning of your workout. These lifts, like the snatch and the clean and jerk, require a lot of technique, coordination, and explosive power. Doing them first ensures you’re not fatigued, reduces the risk of injury, and allows you to perform them with proper form. Also, your nervous system is at its most responsive at the beginning of your workout, making it the best time to handle the demands of Olympic lifts.
Compound exercises are the bread and butter of most strength training programs. They give you the most bang for your workout buck and require the most energy and effort. If you save them for last, chances are you won’t be able to handle as heavy weights or give them your all.
Some examples include:
Upper Body:
- Push: Bench Press, Push-Ups, Overhead Press
- Pull: Pull-Ups, Bent-Over Rows, Deadlifts
Lower Body:
- Squat Variations: Back Squats, Front Squats, Goblet Squats
- Hip Hinge: Deadlifts, Romanian Deadlifts
Isolation Exercises (Accessory Work)
Isolation exercises are single-joint movements that target specific muscles.
There are instances when you might want to start with an isolation movement, like when you use the advanced strength training technique pre-exhaustion (you fatigue a muscle with an isolation exercise before performing a compound exercise that targets the same muscle).
However, as a general rule for most trainees, save the less demanding isolation work for when you’ve done your compound exercises.
While both strength athletes and bodybuilders can benefit from isolation exercises, they are more important in a strength training program for bodybuilding.
That is because bodybuilders’ goals revolve around maximizing muscle hypertrophy and achieving a balanced and aesthetically pleasing physique, which requires detailed attention to each muscle group.
Powerlifters use isolation exercises more sparingly, focusing on them to address weaknesses or imbalances that affect their performance in compound lifts.
Examples of isolation movements:
Upper Body:
Lower Body:
Core Work
If your workout calls for core exercises, you generally want to place them last.
A tired core can negatively affect your form on other exercises. Keeping them for the end helps maintain good form during the rest of your workout.
Examples of core exercises:
Exercise Selection Checklist
Here’s a simple checklist you can use when picking exercises for your workouts.
- Work on large muscle groups before targeting smaller ones.
- Perform exercises that involve multiple joints before those that involve a single joint.
- Focus on exercises for weaker areas before moving on to stronger areas.
- Do Olympic lifts before basic strength exercises and single-joint movements.
- Start with the most intense exercises and progress to the least intense ones, especially when doing multiple exercises for a particular muscle group.
Example Exercise Selection for a Workout
Let’s try designing a workout for our new strength training program by picking the exercises for an example chest and abs session with the above tips in mind.
We start with the core lift for the chest: the bench press.
- Bench Press
We then add one more compound exercise, targeting the upper chest.
- Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
Lastly, we include a great isolation exercise for a finishing pump.
- Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Standing Cable Chest Fly
On to abs. Let’s start with the most challenging exercise, the ab-wheel.
- Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Standing Cable Chest Fly
- Ab-Wheel Roll-Out
For the second ab exercise, we add hanging knee raises.
- Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Standing Cable Chest Fly
- Ab-Wheel Roll-Out
- Hanging Knee Raise
Lastly, we finish the workout in style with the plank.
- Bench Press
- Incline Dumbbell Press
- Standing Cable Chest Fly
- Ab-Wheel Roll-Out
- Hanging Knee Raise
- Plank
And that’s it—easy as A, B, and C! This is a complete chest and abs workout that hits the muscle fibers from all angles.
Follow the same steps for your other workouts, and your strength training program will take shape before your very eyes.
Step 4: Decide on Sets and Reps
Now, let’s move on to two other key components of your strength training program: sets and reps.
Reps (Repetitions)
Reps are how many times you do an exercise in one go. For example, if you do 10 push-ups in a row, that’s 10 reps.
Sets
Sets are like rounds of your reps. If you do those 10 push-ups, take a break, and then do 10 more, you’ve done two sets of 10 reps each. In other words, a set is a group of reps.
Putting It Together
When you see something like “3 sets of 10 reps” or ” 3 sets x 10 reps,” it means you do the exercise 10 times, rest, and repeat that sequence two more times. By the end, you’ll have done 30 total reps, broken into three manageable chunks (sets).
Rep Ranges
“Rep range” stands for “repetition range.” It simply means the number of times you repeat an exercise in one go or “set.” For example, if someone says, “Do 8–12 reps of bicep curls,” they mean you should lift that weight between 8 and 12 times before taking a break.
Why does it matter? Different rep ranges target different fitness goals:
- Low reps (1–5): Great for building strength. You’ll use heavier weights but fewer repetitions.
- Medium reps (6–12): Perfect for building muscle size (hypertrophy). It’s a balance of weight and repetitions.
- High reps (15+): You use lighter weights but do more repetitions, which is just as good for building muscle but also improves endurance and stamina.
Now, there is a significant overlap in rep ranges. Both a low and high number of reps build muscle, and you get stronger by doing high-rep training, too, if you are relatively new to lifting.
Strength
If you want to increase your strength as much as possible, most of your sets should consist of heavy lifting and low reps.
- For beginners, a load of 60% of 1RM (one-repetition maximum, the maximum amount of weight you can lift for a single repetition of a given exercise with proper form) is highly effective for strength gains.
- Experienced lifters need to use a heavier weight to gain strength, at least 80% of their 1RM.
- Elite athletes gain the most strength using loads corresponding to 85% or more of their 1RM.
However, over a more extended period of time, using a variety of training loads produces the greatest strength gains.
Source: 2
Muscle Growth
Recent studies show that any load >30% of your 1RM (four or five reps up to at least 30 reps) is equally effective for building muscle.3 4 5
Yes, contrary to popular belief, using light weights and doing many reps builds as much muscle as heavy weights and fewer reps.
With one caveat.
If you do 15+ reps, you need to train to failure (when you can no longer perform another rep with proper form) to trigger similar muscle growth. And if you have ever tried doing so, you know it’s not very enjoyable. In fact, it’s downright painful, especially in compound exercises.
In practice, 6–12 is the optimal rep range for muscle hypertrophy. You don’t stress your muscles and joints like you would using heavy weights all the time, and you avoid the discomfort that comes from doing many reps to failure.
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Whatever your training goal, and even if you do the majority of your sets in a certain rep range, it’s a good idea to include some heavier and lighter work in your strength training program, too.
If you need help figuring out your 1RM in various exercises, you can use our nifty 1RM calculator:
>> The Best 1RM Calculator: Calculate Your One Rep Max
How Many Sets Should You Do?
Research suggests that, in general, you need 10 or more weekly sets per muscle group for optimal gains.6 7
However, there are no rules set in stone when it comes to how the number of sets you should do.
For example, beginners do not need 10 sets to get results. On the other hand, advanced bodybuilders and strength athletes might need plenty more than 10 sets to keep growing bigger and stronger.
Beginners
When you’re just starting out with weight training, you can see significant improvements by doing just a few sets per exercise each week.
Your muscles are still in that honeymoon phase, where even looking at a dumbbell might make you stronger. Since your muscles are new to strength training, they will respond well to 1–3 sets per exercise.
Intermediates
As you gain more experience, you’ll need to increase the amount of training. You’ve been around the gym block a few times, and your muscles need more stimulus to keep growing.
At this level, it is beneficial to do 10 or more sets per muscle group each week. You can choose to do these sets all in one workout or spread them across multiple sessions. Typically, people do 3–6 sets per exercise, but you might find that doing more or fewer sets works better for you.
Advanced
If you’ve been training for years, you can benefit from doing up to 20 weekly sets or even more. Your muscles have seen it all and need more variety and volume to continue improving. By now, you know what type of workout routine suits you best.
There’s no secret formula for sets and reps that will guarantee further progress, so try different training volumes and frequencies to see what gives you the best results.
Rest Periods
Whether you’re lifting to get stronger or bigger or for athletics, the time you spend resting between sets can significantly affect your performance.
For building muscle, it’s a good idea to rest for at least one minute between sets.8
However, you also need to consider the exercise.
- Compound movements like deadlifts and squats require more rest than, say, a bicep curl.
- The complexity of the exercise is also an important factor. Olympic lifts, for example, require longer rest intervals to recover for optimal performance.
For most people, resting 2–3 minutes for compound exercises and 1–2 minutes for isolation exercises is the perfect balance. This applies to both general strength training and bodybuilding.
Powerlifting, on the other hand, focuses on maximal strength, so you need to be fully recovered to lift heavy weights.
Longer rest periods ensure your muscles and nervous system have enough time to recover, allowing you to give it your all in each set. Three minutes might not be enough for full strength recovery, and research shows benefits of resting up to five minutes between sets.9
Read more:
>> How Many Sets and Reps Should You Do to Build Muscle?
Step 5: Monitor Progress and Make Adjustments
The key to continually making progress with your new strength training program is called progressive overload.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is when you gradually increase the stress you place upon your body during training or an exercise program. It’s the cornerstone of any effective strength training program.
- Your muscles need to be challenged to grow. Progressively increasing the load stimulates muscle fibers to adapt and grow stronger.
- Constantly challenging your muscles with heavier weights or more reps ensures continuous strength gains.
- Without increasing the demands on your muscles, they’ll get lazy and adapt to the workload, and progress will stall.
The most straightforward way to apply progressive overload is to lift heavier weights. Start with a weight you can comfortably lift for your target number of repetitions. Once you can complete all your sets and reps without struggling, it’s time to increase the weight.
If you’re not ready to bump up the weight just yet, adding more repetitions is a great way to increase the challenge. Once you can perform the higher number of reps, consider increasing the weight and dropping the reps back down. Rinse and repeat.
Track Your Workouts
Because progressive overload is essential, you must implement it into your strength training program.
That’s why it’s crucial to track your workouts. No one can remember every set of exercise.
Keep a journal or use an app to log the weights, reps, and sets for each exercise. Record every workout. Every. Single. One. Doing so helps you see your progress and motivates you to push further.
With our workout log app StrengthLog, you can both create your own workout program and track each strength training workout once you are happy with it to ensure you’re on the right path to success (i.e., gains).
StrengthLog is 100% free, but some more advanced program-building features require a premium subscription.
The good news is that we offer all new users a free 14-day premium trial, which you can activate in the app – no strings attached.
>> Click here to read more about building a strength training program in Strengthlog.
When to Change Up Your Training Program
So, you’re enjoying your strength-training program, but as the weeks go by, you might start to wonder when it’s time to change things up.
If you are still making progress and enjoying your workouts, there’s no need to make dramatic changes. Don’t change a winning concept. Keep practicing progressive overload by adding weight and doing more reps when you can. Your muscles will respond by growing bigger and stronger.
However, if your workout routine is starting to feel as stale as a three-month-old protein bar, it might be time to shake things up.
Here are some signs that it’s time to switch up your training program:
- If your progress has stalled and you’re no longer seeing gains in strength or muscle growth, it’s a red flag. It’s not necessarily your workout routine that’s at fault, as it could be a nutrition or recovery issue, among other things. However, if you’re no longer progressing, it’s time to take an honest look at your approach and find the weak link.
- Training isn’t always fun, but when the thought of your workout routine makes you want to binge-watch paint drying instead, it might be time for a change. Your workouts should be challenging and, ideally, fun, not something you dread.
- If your performance is stagnating or even declining despite consistent effort, your body might be telling you it’s overtrained or under-stimulated by your current routine.
- If you’re constantly feeling drained, not sleeping well, and feeling aches and pains, your training program might be more than you can recover from.
- Conversely, you need a higher training volume to keep progressing as you gain experience and your fitness level increases; sooner or later, you might need to up the number of exercises, sets, or intensity.
- Your motivation might wane if you’ve achieved your initial primary goal and haven’t set new ones. New goals can reignite your passion for training; your program might need to be adjusted to align with those.
Final Words
You have reached the end of “How to Design a Strength Training Program”! 🎉
Thank you for reading!
Now, you’re armed with the knowledge and tools to craft a program that turns you into a powerhouse.
Remember, the best program is the one you enjoy and can stick with. Consistency is your best friend and progress, no matter how small, is still progress.
And, if you ever need a training program but don’t want to design your own, you can do like thousands of others and go with one of ours.
>> 100+ Strength Training Programs & Workouts
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned gym rat, and whatever your training goals, you’re sure to find a workout routine to help you achieve them.
Now, following the steps in this guide, it’s time to turn your plan into action and design the strength training program you need to crush your goals.
References
- 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.
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 41(3):p 687-708, March 2009. Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults.
- J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Dec;31(12):3508-3523. Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
- J Hum Kinet. 2020 Aug; 74: 51–58. The Effects of Low-Load Vs. High-Load Resistance Training on Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy: A Meta-Analysis.
- Front. Sports Act. Living, 04 July 2022. Resistance Training Variables for Optimization of Muscle Hypertrophy: An Umbrella Review.
- J Hum Kinet. 2022 Feb 10:81:199-210. A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy.
- International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, Vol 1 No 1 (2021). Resistance Training Recommendations to Maximize Muscle Hypertrophy in an Athletic Population: Position Stand of the IUSCA.
- Singer, A., Wolf, M., Generoso, L., Arias, E., Delcastillo, K., Echevarria, E., Martinez, A., Korakakis, P.A., Refalo, M.C., Swinton, P.A., Schoenfeld, B.J. (2024). Give it a rest: A systematic review with meta-analysis on the effect of inter-set rest interval duration on muscle hypertrophy. SportRχiv.
- Increased Neuromuscular Activity, Force Output, and Resistance Exercise Volume When Using 5-Minute Compared with 2-Minute Rest Intervals Between the Sets.
