We are going to start sharing a 3-day routine with all our followers so that everyone who wants to start in the world of weights.

These types of 3-day fullbody training programs are the most recommended for people who are new to the world of weights and for people with little time who cannot go more than three times a week. It is the most efficient way to progress both in strength and hypertrophy since every day we touch all muscle groups emphasizing compound movements and with a high volume of training since we have a rest day between training days.

There are many variables to progress in hypertrophy or strength: volume, intensity, density, rest, so let’s not make the mistake of thinking that this 3-day routine falls short because you only train three times a week. It’s the best way to lay a solid foundation to then opt for other training options that are more suited to our goals.

Guidelines:

1. Weekly Division of the Routine:

Monday: Routine A
Tuesday: Active Rest
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: Active Rest
Friday: Workout C

We must leave a rest day between days of training for proper recovery and avoid injuries.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our usual 3-day routine, but continuing to be active by doing some moderate activity with a moderate pace and duration. Examples of active rest: yoga or stretching session, 45-60 minute walk, foam roller routine, riding a bike… there are options for all tastes.

2. Rest between sets:

This routine has a great weight of multi-joint exercises to lower repetitions, so in order to maintain performance you have to have long rests between series. The rests are variable according to our sensations or you are afraid to rest 4 minutes if you feel fatigued before your last series of Deadlift, but if you feel fresh go for the next concentrated series.

3. Effort:

Given the predominance of multi-joint exercises, we do not recommend training near failure if we want to maintain performance and technique throughout our sets. As a general rule in compound exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 2 or 3 more repetitions. In the more analytical exercises we recommend training with a weight that allows us to do 1 or 2 more repetitions.

If we are beginners we can apply a linear weight progression and almost every week we will be able to lift more weight than the previous one, but if we are already intermediate we recommend other types of more complex progressions that we will talk about later.

4. Warm up and stretch:

The warm-up will be the same every day, it is VERY IMPORTANT never to skip the warm-up and stretching if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 3-day routine with the scheduled exercises, but if for whatever reason you can’t do any of the exercises, you can substitute them as follows.

• Squat: Press + 15 reps of lower back extension (i.e. if you have 3×8 of Squat, replace it with 3×8 of press and 3×15 of lower back extension).
• Deadlift: Hip Thrust `+ 15 repetitions of lumbar extension.
• Romanian Deadlift: Nordic Curl.
• Stride: Unilateral Hip Thrust with Dumbbell.
• Hip Thrust: Hip Thrust on a quadriceps extension machine.
• Calf Raise standing machine: Calf Raise with dumbbell.
• Femoral Curl: Femoral Curl with Dumbbell (between the feet).
• Quadriceps Extension: You can eliminate them.
• Barbell Bench Press: Dumbbell Bench Press.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Military Press: Standing Military Press with Dumbbells.
• Pulley Openings: Dumbbell Openings or Pec Deck.
• Funds: Bench Press Declined Dumbbells.
• Supine Pulley Pulldown: Biceps Pull Ups.
• T-Bar Row: Dumbbell Bench Row.

6. Change of routine

Many people wonder how long we can do this 3-day routine and still get results, the answer is simple until you get tired! If you like training this way, it fits your lifestyle and you keep making progress, there is no reason to change this routine for another. If our objectives change or we want another distribution of days, we can opt for another type of routine such as torso-leg (4 days), pull-push (4 days), divided routine (5 days) or push-legs (6 days).

Our recommendation is that if you are a beginner, stick with this 3-day routine for at least 12 weeks.

7. And the diet?

To make truly significant progress in the gym, diet is just as important as training if not more. Avoid processed foods, eat a reasonable amount of protein for your weight and training level, and calculate a caloric deficit/surplus based on your goals. Read our article if you want to have a Perfect Body

The 3 day routine

Day A:

Day B:

Day C:

With our 3-day routine and the complementary information, you can now go to the gym and start hitting the irons. Don’t forget to record your progress and upload it to Fitenium!

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can follow their performance, compete and get discounts in nutrition and sports equipment stores. Download it here.

It is very nice to read on social networks that there are no excuses and that if you want to achieve goals you cannot fail in the gym and all those motivating comments, but for most people there are moments in life that responsibilities are greater than the desire to train. Having children, that incredible job opportunity or other responsibilities that cannot – and should not – be taken lightly and in most cases means that we do not have time for more than a couple of weekly training sessions. That is why we propose some examples of a 2-day routine for those mothers and fathers who have little time but who want to continue to stay healthy and strong.

Although to progress in strength or hypertrophy doing 4-6 weekly sessions varying the volume per session is surely optimal, that does not mean that we cannot progress by training two days a week as indicated by this study. That is why we should not get discouraged but try to optimize these two weekly sessions that we have and adjust our expectations.

That is why in this article we propose 5 ways to divide the weekly work into two sessions according to different parameters. The material is not too important either, depending on your options and preferences there is no problem in using bars, dumbbells or body weight while executing the movement pattern. We also offer some options for each pattern. If you have a little more time and can do 3 weekly sessions, we recommend a 3-day Fullbody routine.

2-day routine: Anterior Chain – Posterior Chain

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Day 1: Previous Chain

a) 4×8 – Horizontal Pectoral Press (Bench Press with Bar or Dumbbells, Weighted Push-ups…)
b) 4×8 – Squat (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
c) 4×10 – Vertical Shoulder Press (Military Press with Bar or Dumbbells, assisted handstand push-ups…)
d) 4×12 – Stride (With Barbell or Dumbbell, adding instability…)
e) 4×12 – Curl Biceps (With bar or hand, preacher, concentrate, on polea…)
f) 4×15 – Lateral Raises (With dumbbell, kettlebell, pulley…)

Day 2: Posterior Chain

a) 4×8 – Deadlift (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
b) 4×8 – Vertical Pull (Pull-ups, Pulley Pulldown…)
c) 4×10 – Back Horizontal Pull (Pendlay Row, Pulley…)
d) 4×12 – Hip Push (Hip Thrust, Gluteal Bridges…)
e) 4×12 – Triceps Extension (French Press, Cable Extensions…)
f) 4×15 – Rear Shoulder Horizontal Pull (Facepull with Cable, with Dumbbells…)

2 day routine: Torso – Leg

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Day 1: Torso

a) 4×8 – Horizontal Pectoral Press (Bench Press with Bar or Dumbbells, Weighted Push-ups…)
b) 4×10 – Vertical Shoulder Press (Military Press with Bar or Dumbbells, assisted handstand push-ups…)
c) 4×8 – Vertical Pull (Pull-ups, Pulley Pulldown…)
d) 4×10 – Back Horizontal Pull (Pendlay Row, Pulley…)
e) 4×12 – Curl Biceps (With bar or hand, preacher, concentrate, on polea…)
f) 4×12 – Triceps Extension (French Press, Cable Extensions…)

Day 2: Leg

a) 4×8 – Squat (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
b) 4×12 – Stride (With Barbell or Dumbbell, adding instability…)
c) 4×8 – Deadlift (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
d) 4×10 – Hip Thrust (Hip Thrust, Gluteal Bridges…)
e) 4×12 – Quadriceps Extension (Machine Extension, Sissy Squat…)
f) 4×12 – Femoral Curl (Machine Curl, Nordic Curl…)

2-day routine: Pull – Push

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Day 1 – Push

a) 4×8 – Horizontal Pectoral Press (Bench Press with Bar or Dumbbells, Weighted Push-ups…)
b) 4×10 – Vertical Shoulder Press (Military Press with Bar or Dumbbells, assisted handstand push-ups…)
c) 4×8 – Squat (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
d) 4×10 – Hip Thrust (Hip Thrust, Gluteal Bridges…)
e) 4×12 – Triceps Extension (French Press, Cable Extensions…)
f) 4×12 – Quadriceps Extension (Machine Extension, Sissy Squat…)

Day 2 – Pull

a) 4×8 – Deadlift (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
b) 4×12 – Stride (With Barbell or Dumbbell, adding instability…)
c) 4×8 – Vertical Pull (Pull-ups, Pulley Pulldown…)
d) 4×10 – Back Horizontal Pull (Pendlay Row, Pulley…)
e) 4×12 Femoral Curl (Machine Curl, Nordic Curl…)
f) 4×12 – Biceps Curl (With barbell or dumbbell, preacher, concentrate, cable…)

2-Day Workout: Fullbody

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Day 1: Fullbody A

a) 4×8 – Squat (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
b) 4×8 – Horizontal Pectoral Press (Bench Press with Bar or Dumbbells, Weighted Push-ups…)
c) 4×10 – Back Horizontal Pull (Pendlay Row, Pulley…)
d) 4×12 – Stride (With Barbell or Dumbbell, adding instability…)
e) 4×12 – Triceps Extension (French Press, Cable Extensions…)
f) 4×15 – Lateral Raises (With dumbbell, kettlebell, pulley…)

Day 2: Fullbody B

a) 4×8 – Vertical Pull (Pull-ups, Pulley Pulldown…)
b) 4×8 – Deadlift (With Barbell or Dumbbell, Unilateral…)
c) 4×10 – Vertical Shoulder Press (Military Press with Bar or Dumbbells, assisted handstand push-ups…)
d) 4×10 – Hip Thrust (Hip Thrust, Gluteal Bridges…)
e) 4×12 – Curl Biceps (With bar or hand, preacher, concentrate, on polea…)
f) 4×15 – Rear Shoulder Horizontal Pull (Facepull with Cable, with Dumbbells…)

What are we looking for in these 2-day routine?

Get the most out of each workout, having few sessions available, each of them should affect the largest part of the body in the most effective way possible. This is achieved with multi-joint exercises and focusing on movement patterns rather than the exercise itself. Working in supersets is also a very interesting option for people with even less time, in which case we recommend antagonistic supersets doing the 2-day Torso – Leg or Fullbody routine.

The antagonistic movement patterns are as follows:

1) Horizontal Press – Horizontal Pull
2) Vertical Press – Vertical Pull
3) Biceps Curl – Triceps Extension
4) Squat – Hip Thrust
5) Deadlift – Lunge
6) Quadriceps Extension – Leg Curl
7) Lateral Raises – Rear Shoulder Pull

Complement this 2-day routine.

It may be the case that we only have time to go to the gym the time we need only 2 times a week, but that we also have some “breaks” throughout the week in which we can do a quick routine of 15-20 minutes, which we can take advantage of to do a quick routine in intervals. The routine that we propose lasts a total of 15 minutes, divided into 3 rounds of 5 exercises in which we work for 40 seconds and rest for 20.

Exercise 1: Jumping Jacks or Comba
Ejercicio 2: Mountain Climbers
Exercise 3: Squat or Jump Lunge
Exercise 4: Abdominal Plank
Exercise 5: Push-ups

Three rounds of these exercises with the breaks mentioned above are a great addition to any of our 2-day routines and will keep you reasonably fit. We must not forget that a large part of our physical condition does not come so much from training but from a good diet that adapts to our energy needs and is healthy.

conclusions

Life takes many turns and we can’t always go to the gym 5 days a week. In these cases we have to adapt to our new situation and try to get the most out of each training session, taking advantage of the fact that we have more rest days between sessions, each of which must be more intense to maximize our progress. Even if it’s not optimal, you shouldn’t get discouraged and stop training, since that will mean that we don’t progress and also lose what we’ve gained.

Good luck and see you at Fitenium!

If you don’t already know Fitenium is a free, mobile, video-based social network for athletes who train strength or bodyweight exercises. At Fitenium users can share the progress you make from training, so we look forward to seeing your progress with your favorite 3-day gym routine. Download it here.

When it comes to progressing in the gym, there is a lot of noise about what is the ideal number of optimal training sessions. Most gym users train 4 or 5 times a week, although there is scientific evidence that suggests that we will enjoy most of the benefits of exercise simply by training 2 times a week. If you are one of those people who does not have a lot of time and can only train a couple of times a week, we recommend that you review our article on training protocols in two sessions. However, there are also a large number of people who have time to train 3 times a week and there are also a large number of very efficient protocols to progress without spending more days. In this article we will present several examples of a very complete and efficient 3-day gym routine.

Why go to the gym for three days?

Both hypertrophy and strength gain do not occur while we train, but in the subsequent process of recovery from our training. Training is just one more piece in muscle development. That is why a 3-day gym routine is a great option for people who do not have much time to rest and barely get 5-6 hours of sleep. Of course, those rest days do not imply lying on the sofa, but we can take advantage of it to do some cardiovascular training, stretching, perhaps a foam roller routine or simply be active that day. Light bodyweight training may be a good option, but never go above a 5 or 6 on the scale of perceived exertion.

So don’t be afraid to limit your progress and use any of our three day gym routines!

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Routine 1: Full body

If this routine already sounds familiar to you, it is because we already recommended it in our 3-day Fullbody Routine article. It is one of our favorite divisions and we recommend it to anyone starting to train. It’s a great way to familiarize yourself with the gym basics of the Bench Press, Squats, Deadlifts, and Military Presses. Anyone who starts out in the gym with this routine is going to progress like a rocket.

When organizing the routine, we recommend leaving at least one day of rest between each training session, the most common division being to train Monday, Wednesday and Friday and rest Tuesday and Thursday, but we can do it however we want.

That being said, this is the 3-day fullbody type gym routine.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

You can track your training much more effectively using the Fitenium app where you can train this routine for free. You will not only find the exercises that you must perform each day, but also advanced visualizations to follow your progress and achieve results.

Access the Fitenium app where you can train this routine for free.

 

Rutina 2: Push – Pull – Legs

This routine for three days in the gym is the little sister of the 6-day Pull – Push – Legs for people with a lot of time to train and with good rest. As usual in this type of divisions, multi-joint exercises are prioritized to optimize each series that we do in the gym. In this case, the routine is divided into a push training (push) in which we do movement patterns in which we move the weight away from us (bench press, military press, French press…), another pull training ( pull) in which we draw the weight towards us (rowing, facepull, chin-ups…) and a leg day in which we work on both movement patterns.

This routine is very interesting for people who combine the gym with other sports, since it allows them to conveniently organize their leg day according to their stipulated rest. As always, we recommend leaving a day of active rest between training sessions, since every time we visit the gym it will be quite demanding.

Day 1 – Push or Push

Day 2 – Pull or Pull

Day 3 – Leg

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Remember that you can find your personalized training program in the Fitenium app. You will not only find the exercises that you should perform each day, but also visualizations of how to perform them, notes on training programs, rest times and much more.

Routine 3: Torso – Pierna – Fullbody

This three-day gym routine is a variation of the previous one in which we give more weight to the lower body. In the end, our legs are almost 50% of our muscle mass, so it makes sense to give them about half of our training. This training is very interesting to obtain a balanced physique and it places a lot of emphasis on strength, since the third day is exclusively a basic training.

Perhaps the only problem could be that training so much strength can interfere with other sports goals, so this routine is ideal for people who want to progress in strength, aesthetics and don’t have much time.

Day 1 – Torso

Day 2 – Leg

Day 3 – Full Body

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Follow your progress on your profile in Fitenium app. You will have at your disposal all kinds of metrics about your progress and evolution, exercises performed and calendar. Also, if you wish, we can send you training notifications and personalized emails with your progress.

Routine 4: TRX and elastic bands to train at home

Not all of us have the same obligations and many people are limited to training at home, but that should not be a reason to stop training since we also have an exercise routine 3 days a week for which you only need some suspension system and our body weight to do our training.

All those mothers and fathers who have to keep an eye on them while working out, this routine is for you!

Day 1: Chest – Triceps

Day 2: Back – Biceps

Day 3: Legs and Shoulder

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Create a training habit with Fitenium app. Look at this training calendar. Do you think you can match it? With Fitenium you can achieve it. You also have the option to record your execution on video to follow your technique and avoid injuries.

conclusions

Doing a 3-day gym routine is more than enough to gain strength and muscle mass. What’s more, some studies even suggest that it may be an optimal number of sessions with adequate volume and rest. However, we cannot forget that much of the progress comes from the diet, whether we want to lose fat or if our goal is to gain muscle mass.

With all these possibilities, the only thing that stands between you and getting fit is your own perseverance and the motivation of a community of athletes like you and me who share their workouts, you don’t even need a gym. Good luck in this adventure, you have just taken the first step to change your life!