When you're putting together a weightlifting schedule there are a number of things you need to be thinking about. What muscle groups seems to be lagging behind? How many times a week can you get in the gym? Are you training naturally or on anabolics?

How you set up your training schedule has a dramatic impact on how your muscles develop. For example, the muscle group that you work directly after a rest day will tend to respond more rapidly than one worked after a lifting day. This should be obvious, because the more rest you get, the more energy you have to put into your workouts. Also important is what order you arrange your workouts in. For example, if you work chest on Monday and shoulders on Tuesday, you'll notice that your unable to perform front-delt exercises to your maximum potential because those muscles are worn out from Monday's workout.

While it's important to keep issues like these in mind, remember that it's very difficult to create a schedule where every muscle group can be worked under optimum conditions. What you should try to do is prioritize your schedule so that lagging body parts are worked on days when they are completely fresh. If your legs are lagging behind the rest of your body, then work them on Monday after you've taken the weekend off.

As an aside, it's worth noting that some muscle groups are naturally more capable of repairing themselves quickly. I would place the abdominals in this category. My rule is: if my abs are not sore, and I'm in the gym, then I work them. For that reason, abs are not listed in the workouts below. Work them as often as you need to. Usually my abs get hit four days a week. Also, I believe that you can get a more effective ab workout by hitting them before you hit the weights. The reason is that, after a serious weight workout, it's very difficult to summon up the energy to push yourself through three or four thirty-rep sets of crunches or what-have-you. I have some more thoughts to share on the ab training page .

Because different things seem to work for different people, the best I can do here is offer you a kind of guide from which you can build your own customized schedule.

Four-On/Three-Off

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Quads  Chest   Rest      Delts    Back   Rest     Rest
Hams    Bis              Tris     Calves

			

I present this schedule as more of a work in progress than as a model to be followed.

This has been the basis of my schedule for the past six months or so. I found that my shoulders and triceps were too tired from the chest workout to perform well which is one reason why I am looking at ways to restructure this. Also, my quad workouts are particularly devasting and I find that I'm unable to do deadlifts on back day with only three days rest in between the two.

Two-On/Two-Off

Day 1  Day 2   Day 3     Day 4    Day 5  Day 6
Chest  Quads   Rest      Back     Bis    Rest
Tris   Hams              R Delts  Delts
                         Traps    Calves
			

For those who aren't sure: the rear deltoids (abbreviated R Delts) are the muscles in the back of your shoulder that pull your arms backwards. The trapezius (Traps) muscle is what makes football players look like they have no neck.

Mr. Olympia's Schedule

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Firday Saturday Sunday
Delts  Back    Rest      Chest    Rest   Quads    Rest
Traps  R Delts           Bis             Hams
Abs                      Abs             Calves
			

If you don't mind working out for one day on the weekend, this schedule comes highly recommended for advanced bodybuilders.

Three-On/Two-Off

Day 1  Day 2   Day 3     Day 4    Day 5
Chest  Quads   Delts     Rest     Rest
Back   Hams    Bis
       Calves  Tris
			

This is a split that I used, with good results, for three months. Eventually, I decided that I needed to emphasize my back more so I restructured it so that I didn't have to work chest and back on the same day. For those of you who have tried it, you know what a grueling workout that is. However, your biceps get plenty of attention on Day 3 because you can hit them first and your shoulders will still be fresh when you continue on to that part of the workout. I stuck with this program because of the progress that I was seeing in my bicpes.

Three-On/Four-Off

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Chest  Rest    Quads     Rest     Back   Rest     Rest
Bis            Hams               Delts
Tris           Calves
			

It's my personal opinion that this is one of the best schedules a beginning to intermediate bodybuilder can adopt. Every workout is done after a day of rest and no workout is so long you have to sacrifice more than an hour and a half or so.

Four-On/Three-Off

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Upper  Lower   Rest      Upper    Lower  Rest     Rest
Body   Body              Body     Body
			

Advanced bodybuilders will probably find that they can't give any single muscle group enough emphasis with this schedule because each workout targets so many. However, beginning bodybuilders should consider this schedule. Pick big compound movements that involve a lot of muscle groups and you'll find this schedule allows you to quickly get acquainted with the weights and how to move them around.