If you’re new to the gym and have just hit your first plateau, use this classic bodybuilders five-day split program to restart your gains.

Most beginners workout programs take a whole-body approach, aiming to hit all the major muscle groups in a single routine that can be repeated three times a week. Once your body adapts to this, those early gains you were enjoying will quickly begin to level off, and you’ll need to try a new approach.

This workout program is designed as an introduction to the classic bodybuilder’s five-day split approach. It is called a “split” because it splits your body into five different areas, and you target one area per workout each week. The advantage of this approach is that you can increase the frequency and duration of your workouts while still giving each area of your body time to recover, while you are focusing on a different area.

Rotate though each day in sequence, aiming to complete all five every week, allowing yourself two rest days. Select a weight for each exercise to just complete 12 repetitions, and fail on the last one. (in other words, you can manage no more than 12 repetition).

Use this program for four weeks and be sure to increase the weights as your strength increases and you smash past that plateau.

You need an iPhone with Reps & Sets installed to download programs.
If you don’t have an iPhone, you can preview this program here: Monday: Legs, Tuesday: Chest, Wednesday: Back, Friday: Shoulders, Saturday: Arms.