When you get hooked to lifting weights and working out, it is difficult to take a rest day. Some lifters set out to train every day of the week, however we are here to offer some insight on whether or not a 7 day workout plan is an effective way to build muscle and strength over the long run.
Training 7 days per week, for months on end is tough work. When looking to build muscle and strength, doing the hard work is only part of the equation. 7 day workout plans, while ambitious, may not offer significantly more benefit than training five to six days a week and offering yourself 1-2 days of rest.
Nonetheless, we will review the mindset behind a 7 day workout plan, and discuss the benefits, drawbacks, and offer a 7 day workout plan split if you are still inclined to give working out every day a go.
But, if you are still on the fence of whether or not you need to workout 7 days a week…
You may want to let Fitbod build you an individualized workout program custom to your goals, equipment, schedule, and training data.
Is It Okay To Train 7 Days A Week?
Training every day of the week is not necessarily good or bad, but more a question of what is the most effective way to reach your goals.
A 7 day workout program, while ambitious, does not offer much more benefit than training with intensity five to six days a week UNLESS you are able to stay consistent and recover properly.
If you are looking to train every day of the week, be ready to commit yourself to training hard, eating better, and getting enough sleep. 7 day workout plans can be very effective, but also intense and damaging if you do not recover properly and train smart.
If you cannot commit to being 100% focused on your efforts in the gym and out, then you may want to rethink your ambitious efforts and put that dispersed 7 day workout energy into a really effective and intense 5 day or 6 day workout progam.
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Benefits of Training 7 Days Per Week
Increasing your training frequency throughout the week has its benefits, which are discussed below.
These benefits however, like many things, have a point of diminishing returns. We will discuss such things in the drawbacks section to follow.
Can Train Muscle Groups 2-4 Times Per week
When looking to increase muscle growth, training volume is a key ingredient that can be achieved by training a muscle more than once or twice a week.
When you lift 7 days a week, you allow for more opportunities to train a muscle, rest a muscle, and repeat that structure.
For example, you can easily train your lower body three days a week on a 6-7 day split, which could be the added volume you need to bust through a lower body strength and muscle growth plateau.
Workouts Can Be Shorter in Duration
Adding more workouts per week also allows you to keep workout duration shorter, as you are spreading out the total weekly volume across more sessions.
In doing so, you are able to do less, or at least not as much as you would need to do if you trained a muscle only once or twice a week to get similar results.
Sessions lasting longer than 75-90 minutes often result in low stimulus, highly fatiguing work, meaning you are “working out hard” but not getting the most effective muscle building stimulus.
By training more, you are able to keep workouts to a more manageable time allowance, and ultimately put in higher quality workouts.
Can Help You Break Through Plateaus
Adding an extra workout or two to your training week can be the difference between staying the same and busting through a training plateau (unless you are not recovering between sessions, then adding more may not be the best idea).
When it comes to muscle growth, understanding how to manipulate training frequency (workouts per week) and overall training volume (how many sets and reps you do in a given week) is key.
By adding an extra session or two to an existing 5-6 day workout program, you may be able to add one more high quality training session to a muscle growth that is on the edge of leveling up.
Drawbacks of Training 7 Days Per Week
Training 7 days a week has its benefits, however many lifters should really ask themselves if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks of training 7 days a week.
It is important to note the outcomes of training that people are after (muscle gain, strength building, and fat loss) are done outside the gym, either via diet, recovery, or sleep.
If you are someone who is already training 5-6 days a week, adding an extra session may be beneficial, however it can just as easily detract from your ability to put in high quality workouts on the other days.
It Can Be Very Easy to Overtrain
Overtraining happens after a prolonged period of time when you are not recovering properly.
This usually follows after a stage of overreaching, which is an in transition period of time where you are training very hard and accumulating fatigue. Unlike overreaching (which is part of any good program), overtraining occurs when you do not allow the body to rest, such as when you take rest days, or deload weeks.
When training every day of the week, you may find it very difficult to allow muscles, and more important connective tissues (joints, tendons, and ligaments) to heal from the stress of a workout.
If this happens, you may find yourself not able to workout at all, or at the very least have limitations in workouts that now negatively impact your training more than the benefits of training every day of the week.
Not Ideal for Beginner and Intermediate Lifters
Training every day of the week is not an ideal way to acclimate a beginner or intermediate lifter to sound training. If someone has not been lifting consistently (at least one full year, without any workout breaks longer than 1 week at a time), they should not try a 7 day workout program.
Why? Because not only is it intense on the body, it may not be any more effective than sticking to a program for a full year, without breaks, and training with intensity and focus 4-5 days a week, every week.
If you are a beginner or intermediate lifter and are eager to workout hard and often, let Fitbod build you a customized workout program that suits your needs and has you master a 4-5 day muscle and strength building program.
Requires Extra Attention to Proper Form
While proper form and attention to detail should always be a key emphasis in your workouts, training every day leaves very little margin for error in your recovery needs.
Since you are limited with the overall recovery you can get in without taking some rest days, you need to make sure you listen to your body, do not push yourself too hard in a singular day (you can still train hard, just don’t get overzealous one day and be sore for the next week).
Requires Smart Load Selection (No Ego Lifting)
Smart load selection and overall training volume are key points of emphasis (and concerns when doing it incorrectly) when training every day, as more advanced lifters may run into issues with overuse injury and or excessive fatigue.
With the “train every day” mentality, you need to have a long term mindset rather than a short sided, crush yourself every day kinda vision for your workouts. Slow and steady wins the race when training 7 days a week, so allow the body to adapt slowly and do not overtrain it by lifting more than your body has in it on a given day.
May Need to Adapt Daily Workout Based on How You Feel
It is not realistic to think you will never experience an “off day” when training regularly.
Stress comes in all forms, such as family, bad sleep, poor nutrition, work stress, and lifestyle changes.
Because you are training every day, you need to become even more in tune with how you feel on a given day, and do not put yourself in situations where you may get injured, or even derail recovery.
If you walk into a gym, or start lifting, and realize that your body is very sore, or that you feel weaker, or that you have a small, nagging pain, pushing through those will only set yourself up for failure (injury).
Being flexible when needed and understanding how that will not derail a long term program is the mark of any experienced lifter.
Your Diet, Sleep, and Stress Management Must Be on Point
As you may have guessed by now, recovery between sessions is one of the biggest challenges when training every day.
If you are not able to control the other variables of your life (diet, sleep, work, famly, and lifestyle stressors), or at least recognize them and adapt your training when needed, you MAY find yourself running down and missing multiple days or weeks from good workouts.
Training every day is intense, and requires more than simple willpower or determination. It requires dedicated focus outside of the gym, just as much or even MORE than in the gym.
Who Should / Shouldn’t Train 7 Days Per Week
7 day workout plans can be beneficial for some individuals, and completely derailing for others.
Because this type of workout plan requires so much energy and focus inside the gym, and attention to recovery outside the gym, only the most dedicated and experienced lifters should attempt it.
If you are a lifter who has already been training for more than 6 months consecutively, and have adjusted well to 5-6 day hard training splits, you may benefit from adding one additional training day and devoting it to an area you want to place more emphasis.
This can be thought of as a short term approach, done for 6-8 weeks and then going back to a 5-6 day split to determine if the added day provided a long-term benefit and did not impact recovery or progress.
If you are someone who has not trained for more than 6 months following a 5-6 day hard training split, then a 7 day workout plan is not recommended until you gain more experience training in higher volumes.
How To Structure A 7 Day Workout Routine
When building a 7 day workout plan, you first need to determine your overall goal, how much time you can spend in the gym,and what level you are at when starting the program.
If your overall fitness levels and strength are relatively low, you can get away with a lot more than if you are a very strong, developed, and experienced lifter. The closer you are to your peak form, the less margin for error you have.
That said, let’s assume you are someone who has been training for more than 1 year consecutively, and has had experience training 5-6 days a week, with you targeting all major muscle groups at least twice per week.
If you have not done this, I recommend you try out the Fitbod training app, which will build a 5-6 day intense training program to get you more mucus, build strength, and prepare you for a 7 day workout plan.
Training Split
This can vary depending on the goal of the program, however in general you could aim to train all major muscle groups or movements 2, or even 3 times per week.
If you are after muscle growth (bodybuilding), you could devote 2-3 days a week to each muscle group, with some days training heavier and others training lighter.
Some example 7-day workout splits for bodybuilding could be:
Push/Pull
- Day 1 – Push (Quad, Chest, Triceps)
- Day 2 – Pull (Hamstrings, Glutes, Back, Biceps)
- Day 3 – Push (Shoulders, Chest, Triceps)
- Day 4 – Pull (Hamstrings, Glutes, Back, Biceps)
- Day 5 – Push (Quad, Chest, Abs)
- Day 6 – Pull (Hamstrings, Glutes, Back)
- Day 7 – Bonus Day (Biceps, Triceps, Abs, Shoulders)
Upper/Lower
- Day 1 – Upper (Chest, Back, Abs)
- Day 2 – Lower (Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves)
- Day 3 – Upper (Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps)
- Day 4 – Lower (Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves)
- Day 5 – Upper (Chest, Back, Abs)
- Day 6 – Lower (Quads, Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves)
- Day 7 – Upper (Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps)
Arnold Split + 1
- Day 1 – Chest, Back
- Day 2 – Shoulders, Arms
- Day 3 – Legs, Lower Back
- Day 4 – Chest, Back
- Day 5 – Shoulders, Arms
- Day 6 – Legs, Lower Back
- Day 7 – Bonus Day (added volume to any muscle groups you desire)
If you are after more strength (strength sports), you could devote 2-3 days to train the major movements of your sport or goal (bench, squat, deadlift OR snatch, clean, jerk).
Related Article: Arnold Split: What Is It? Pros, Cons, & Should You Do It
Some example 7-day workout splits for strength sports could be:
Powerlifting
- Day 1 – Back Squat, Belt Squat, GHD
- Day 2 – Bench Press, Incline Press, Row
- Day 3 – Back Squat, RDL, Hamstring Curl
- Day 4 – Bench Press, Overhead Press, Pull Up
- Day 5 – Deadlift, Belt Squat, GHD
- Day 6 – Bench Press, Row, Pull Up
- Day 7 – Bonus Day (Biceps, Triceps, Abs)
Olympic Weightlifting
- Day 1 – Snatch, Snatch Pull, Back Squat,
- Day 2 – Power Clean, BTN Snatch Push Press, Pull Up
- Day 3 – Power Snatch, Front Squat,
- Day 4 – Clean, Snatch Balance, Push Press
- Day 5 – Power Snatch, Snatch High Pull, Pull Up
- Day 6 – Clean, Clean Pull, Front Squat
- Day 7 – Power Clean/Snatch, Strict Press, Upper Body Accessories
Sets and Reps
The sets and reps in a 7 day workout plan can vary depending on your goals, and are not any different than a 5-6 day plan.
The only consideration would be that since you are not taking a rest day, you will want to make sure at least one day during the week is not as intense as the others (such as the “bonus” days in the splits above).
You can do this by doing more accessories in one day, or even working lower percentage work for speed and technique to give the joints and nervous system a break (this really applies to the more strength focused workouts).
When in doubt, do less on a single day than you think, as the 7 day workout plan accumulates a ton of volume over the course of the program, rather than a singular day. Your goal should be to get a good workout in, but NOT be very sore or destroyed after a workout.
Loading (Intensity)
The main concern here would be if you trained in high volumes with high loads, which is why monitoring overall sets and reps (training volume) is key during a workout program where you take no rest days.
Exercise Selection
Exercise selection may come into play throughout the training week if you are finding some heavier compound movements are causing muscle soreness or limitations in other sessions.
For example, in the above Powerlifting 7-day workout plan, we utilize the belt squat twice a week to train the lower body, rather than doing another back loaded movemenst or more sets of the back or front squat.
This is because the program already has the lifter squatting 2-3 times a week, and doing deadlifts 1-2 times a week. That may result in a lot of fatigue in the lower back, so as a preventive measure we program in the belt squat to allow for muscle growth in the legs to happen without adding extra lower back stress.
Related Article: Best Workout Split: How To Pick The Best Workout Split For You
The 7 Day Gym Workout Plan
Below is a sample 7-day workout plan that is designed to build maximal amounts of muscle.
Monday (Lower)
- Back Squat: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- RDL: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Walking Lunge: 3 sets of 8-10 steps per side
- GHD: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
Tuesday (Upper)
- Incline Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Lat Pulldown: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- One Arm Dumbbell Row: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Cable Chest Flye: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Wednesday (Upper)
- Seated Barbell Military Press: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Skullcrusher: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- One Arm Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Preacher Curl: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Curl: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Thursday (Lower)
- Deficit Deadlift: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Hack Squat: 4 sets of 10-15 reps
- Lying Hamstring Curl: 4 sets of 10-15
- Sled Push: 4-6 sets of 45-60 seconds
Friday (Upper)
- Flat Barbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Chest Supported T Bar Row: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- One Arm Cable Pulldown: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Dumbbell Pullover: 4 sets 10-15 reps
Saturday (Lower)
- Back Squat: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Belt Squat: 4 sets of 10-15 reps
- GHD: 3 sets of 10-15 reps
- Reverse Sled Drag: 4-6 sets of 45-60 seconds
Sunday (Upper)
- Seated Dumbbell Military Press: 4 sets of 5-8 reps
- Pushdown: 4 sets of 10-15 reps
- Face Pull: 4 sets of 10-15 reps
- Preacher Curl: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Curl: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
How To Progress Over Time
Week to week progressions should be very conservative during a 7 day workout plan, simply because recovery is very tough to come by.
It may be helpful to choose one exercise or movement per day that you will try to progress, then aim to match your previous week’s numbers (or at least not crush yourself on every exercise, every week).
Lastly, it is important to recognize that some weeks or days you feel run down or beat up, so make sure to listen to your body. If this is a regular thing (more than one week at a time) then you may need to deload, or go back to a split that allows for more recovery.
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Mistakes To Avoid On The 7 Day Workout Plan
Below are a few of the most common mistakes that can be made when training 7 days a week, and ones you should avoid when doing a 7 day workout plan.
Training TOO Hard on a Given Day
This is something that is very common, even when not training 7 days a week.
A workout program is a systematic, long term approach to training. Each workout is designed to compliment the next. Therefore, if you go off the program or get overzealous on a single day, and derail the next, you undermine the entire program.
In a 7 day workout plan, this issue is even more important because there is no margin for error and no days that you can take off as a rest day to recoup.
Training a Muscle TOO Frequently
With a well thought out training split, you should not have too much of an issue here, however it is still something that comes up during high frequency training programs.
Most major muscle groups could be trained 2-3 days a week, with smaller muscle groups like arms and abs trained 2-4 times a week. The more times a week you train a muscle, the lower total number of sets you need to do on a given day.
Ignoring Joint Pains or Discomfort
This is something that is part of every program, however when training every day of the week, it becomes very important. Whenever you get nagging joint pain or even slight discomfort, you need to pay attention to it and listen to the body.
Training 7 days a week leaves very little margin for error and if ignored could leave you sidelined for days, if not weeks, which in that case you would have just been better off training 4-6 days a week instead of 7.
Not Recovering Enough
This last one is an obvious one, as all of these other issues come strictly from under recovery (and potentially poor programming).
If you are not recovering, you will notice more soreness, stiffness, and lower energy as the weeks progress.
You may even find that you are not progressing or able to do the same loads with the same relative intensity as prior weeks.
If this is the case, you are not recovering properly, and need to focus on eating better, staying hydrated, and sleeping more.
If this does not fix it, then I recommend you do not do a 7 day workout plan.
Final Thoughts
A 7 day workout plan is an intensive training split that has the potential to benefit smart, more experienced lifters.
The risk of overtraining, over use, and derailing long-term consistency are present, which is why this may not be the most optimal approach to long term training for most people.
Nonetheless, this guide offers plenty of insight and information on how to go about designing and executing a 7 day workout plan based on your goals.
If you are still in the dark on how to develop a 7 day workout plan that fits your needs, goals, and progresses you week to week, be sure to check out the Fitbod app and let us design it for you.
About The Author
Mike holds a Master’s in Exercise Physiology and a Bachelor’s in Exercise Science. He’s a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), USA Weightlifting Advanced Coach, and has over 10+ years of experience working with collegiate athletes, national level lifters, and beginners alike. Mike is Founder of J2FIT Strength and Conditioning, a growing global training company with gyms in New York City, Cincinnati, and online offering personal training, online custom coaching programs.
