A 6-Day per Week Bodybuilding Plan for Size & Strength

How to build muscle with high-frequency training

Image credit: Author

I spent the end of 2023 experimenting with a 6-day per week training split. I was really happy with the results — I gained a decent amount of muscle and made some noticeable improvements in my physique.

So now I’d like to share the program with you.

Finer points of the program:

Before we get into the program itself, keep in mind that this plan was written for me, by me; my fitness goals may not be the same as yours.

Specifically, my main goal when writing this plan was to maximize muscle gain while minimizing fat gain. I was eating in a caloric surplus and accepted that I was going to put on some amount of fat in the process, but the less fat I gained and the more muscle I built, the better.

You’ll also notice that I generally train every muscle group twice per week.

Note that no program needs to be perfectly symmetrical. Small muscles like shoulders, calves, biceps, and so on tend to recover pretty quickly, so you can typically train them more frequently than you could train bigger muscles like quads or hamstrings — especially if you’re doing exercises like heavy squats or deadlifts. The recovery demand is much greater.

But generally speaking, I aimed to hit everything roughly twice each week.

Now then, onto the program!

The Program:

Day 1:

• Barbell Bench Press
• Close Grip Bench Press
• Dumbbell Upright Row
• Dumbbell Skullcrushers

Day 2:

• Barbell Deadlift
• Leg Extensions
• Single-leg Calf Raises

Day 3:

• Pullups (Note: Substitute w/assisted pullups or a pulldown if unable to do a pullup)
• Cable Facepulls
• Bicep Curls
• Dumbbell Wrist Curls

Day 4:

• Incline Dumbbell Bench Press