We are going to start sharing with all our followers an optimal 5 3 1 routine for all people who want a hybrid program between strength and hypertrophy.

This 5 3 1 strength routine has a torso leg split and is quite focused on building up the basics as the best way to gain strength and hypertrophy.

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 5 3 1 strength 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: Torso
Tuesday: Leg
Wednesday: Routine B
Thursday: Torso
Friday: Leg

Although in general this routine is designed to go to the gym four days, if for some reason one week you can only go three days, you can do three days of this routine and start the following week with the training that was missing. An example would be like this.

What is active rest? It consists of resting from our 5 3 1 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 to never skip the warm-up and stretching before doing the 5 3 1 routine if we want to continue progressing without injuries.

5. Substitutions:

We highly recommend doing our 5 3 1 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.
• Press Banca Barra: Press Banca Mancuerna.
• Incline Dumbbell Press: Incline Barbell Press.
• Press Militar: Press Militar con Mancuernas de Pie.
• 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 5 3 1 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 5 3 1 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 Routine 5 3 1

Body day 1:

Day Leg 1:

Body Day 2:

Day Leg 2:

With our 5 3 1 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.

Speaking of routines that deductively share the same purpose, muscle hypertrophy, but the truth is that the specific purpose, personal needs or other types of factors such as the combination of weight training with other sports disciplines must be considered. Then, depending on whether you choose the right routine for the body or the core, you will have certain benefits.

When setting goals, first find out what each of the routines we suspect is based on, the main differences between them, and what benefits each routine offers us, depending on what you are looking for. Therefore, today we analyze the torso and the entire leg. When and how to apply each one.

Basic concepts of the full body routine

What it does: A full body workout exercises all muscle groups in every workout. That works on both the torso and the legs. In this type of routine, multi-joint movements are always used. These involve various joints and all synergistic muscle work.

For example, when we move our chest, the triceps and shoulders work at the same time. Another example is the squat, where we are constantly moving more muscles at the same time.

Frequency and rest: When we talk about full body or fullbody, we are talking about a routine in which each muscle group is trained three times a week. When performing a full body routine, it is recommended that you rest one day between workouts to ensure optimal recovery of your muscles and central nervous system (CNS).

Review an example of a classic full body routine.

Bases of a torso-leg routine

What it does: As its name suggests, the Upper Leg workout trains the upper body and legs separately each session. The most notable difference with the total body routine is that, as we have seen, this session does not train all muscle groups in the same workout.

Frequency and rest: In this case, use the rest space once the torso-leg cycle has finished. You can still rest your torso on Monday, Tuesday legs and Wednesday (the cycle has already been completed) In this routine, working in separate groups in each session does not mean synergies You can train in sessions so you don’t have to rest after each training day.

The core routine is moderate, with each muscle group working twice a week. Remember that with the fullbody routine you work your entire body three times a week. This means a training frequency of 3, compared to the frequency of 2 for Torso-Leg training.

Training pattern: two weekly sessions are carried out for the torso and two for the lower body. One of those sessions is for heavier work and another for lighter work.

On hard training days, increase the load to make it more intense, but on light session days, drop the weight (maintain a constant load), but increase the work by increasing the repetition.

Review an example of a classic Torso-Leg routine.