Many gym-goers find that training 5 days a week is the sweet spot that enables them to progress consistently while being able to recover properly. But what if you want to train 5 days in a row and get all of your workouts done Monday through Friday?
It’s possible to train Monday-Friday, but I’d advise most people to avoid training the same muscle groups and training to failure 5 days in a row. You can train specific body parts once a week, choose a push/pull/leg routine, or follow an upper/lower split or full-body routine with some active recovery days mixed in.
In this article, I’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of training 5 days in a row and show you how to structure a Monday to Friday workout plan. I’ll also provide some sample routines to help get you started.
If you want to get started with a Monday-Friday workout plan right away, check out the Fitbod app. You’ll get a personalized training plan that fits your schedule and will help you reach your goals. Try Fitbod for free!
Is It Okay to Train Monday to Friday? (5 Days In A Row)
It is okay to workout Monday to Friday if you want to get to the gym 5 days a week and your schedule will only allow you to train on the weekdays. There are several benefits to following this kind of workout schedule.
Related Article: Best 5 Day Workout Split For Building Muscle and Strength
Benefits of Monday To Friday Workout Plan
It can be more convenient
Working out Monday through Friday makes it incredibly easy to go to the gym before or after work or on your lunch break.
If you have a long commute to work and your gym is closer to your office than it is to where you live, fitting in your workouts on the weekdays means you won’t have to make a long drive to the gym on Saturdays and Sundays.
Your weekends are free
This goes hand-in-hand with the point above, but working out Monday through Friday means you don’t have to spend time at the gym on the weekends.
This is beneficial for parents whose kids have a lot of weekend activities, individuals with jobs in industries that require them to work on Saturdays and Sundays, or anyone who just likes to take the weekend to relax and recharge.
You may be able to spend less time in the gym
This is true of any 5-day-a-week training program, but when you train Monday through Friday, you have more days to fit in all of your training volume, which means you may not have to spend as much time in the gym.
Of course, this will depend on what kind of workout split you follow and how many exercises you do each day. But it’s easier to spread out your training volume over 5 days than it is to cram in a lot of exercises into 2, 3, or even 4 days.
Related Article: How Long Should A Workout Be? (Science-Backed)
Drawbacks of a Monday To Friday Workout Plan
One major drawback of a Monday to Friday workout plan is that it leaves little time for recovery.
Although you get two full days of rest on Saturday and Sunday when you train Monday through Friday, you don’t get any rest days to break up your 5 days of training. This can make it difficult to train effectively each time you hit the gym.
Daily stressors can also make it harder for you to recover from 5 back-to-back workouts. If you’re not sleeping well, in a busy season at work, or dealing with personal issues, all of those stressors can make it difficult to find the energy to get to the gym 5 days in a row.
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How To Structure A Monday To Friday Workout Routine
1. Consider your goals
Think about your goals before you determine how you want to structure your 5-day workout split. There are various ways you can manage to work out 5 days in a row, but whether you focus strictly on lifting weights or a combination of lifting weights and cardio will depend on what you want to accomplish.
If you’re training for general health or fat loss, you may choose to strength train 3 days a week and do cardio on the other 2 days. If you want to get stronger or build muscle mass, you’ll be better off strength training all 5 days.
As well, you should also consider whether or not you want to focus on specific body parts so you can prioritize those in your 5-day split. For example, if you’re satisfied with your legs’ strength or muscle mass but want to grow your chest, you may want to only train your legs once a week and train your chest twice a week.
2. Alternate which muscle groups you train
If you’re going to train 5 days in a row, you should avoid doing full-body workouts each day. It is possible to train the same muscle groups on back-to-back days, but doing it 5 days in a row is a bit much.
It’s best to either train certain muscle groups each day, do an upper/lower or push/pull/legs split, or alternate your lifting days with light cardio or active recovery days.
Related Article: Full-Body Workouts Every Day: Will You Get Better Results?
3. Consider breaking up your workouts with active recovery
I’m sure most people reading this are primarily concerned with strength training Monday-Friday. But when you’re training 5 days in a row, it can help to break up your training sessions by having an active recovery day in the middle of the week, say on Wednesdays.
This can be a nice respite from lifting weights so your body feels primed to train hard again on Thursday and Friday before you have two full rest days in a row. And if your cardio workouts are shorter, you may also enjoy having one day of the week where you can get in and out of the gym more quickly.
4. Train at different intensities
Trying to train to failure 5 days in a row is a common weightlifting mistake. It will quickly become unsustainable, even if you’re alternating muscle groups.
While you should lift with the intention of leaving 2-3 reps in the tank with each set, you can also manage your training intensity by alternating your heavy and moderate or light days.
For example, you could do something like this:
- Monday – heavy lower body day
- Tuesday – light upper body day
- Wednesday – active recovery
- Thursday – heavy lower body day
- Friday – light upper body day
This is a simple way of implementing daily undulating periodization, a training methodology in which you manipulate variables such as sets, reps, and weight lifted on a daily basis.
There are multiple benefits of following a training split like this. For one, doing your heavier upper body work when you know you have two full rest days coming up can motivate you to push through your workout. Subsequently, by doing your heavier lower body work after having two full rest days in a row, your muscles will feel fresh and well-recovered.
Also, by varying the intensity enables you to train the same muscle groups multiple days per week without killing yourself from pushing your body too hard every day in the gym.
The Monday To Friday Workout Split
Below are several Monday to Friday workout routines for you to choose from based on your goals.
Full Body and Cardio Training Split for Monday-Friday Workouts
This is a good option for anyone who wants to incorporate both strength training and cardio into their routine for overall health or fat loss purposes.
Monday
- Squat – 3 x 6-8
- Bench press – 3 x 6-8
- Lunge – 4 x 10 per leg
- Single-arm dumbbell row – 3 x 10 per side
- Overhead tricep extensions – 4 x 10-12
Tuesday
- 30 minutes of steady-state cardio (elliptical, cycling, light jog)
Wednesday
- Deadlift – 3 x 6-8
- Overhead press – 3 x 6-8
- Hip thrust – 4 x 10
- Pull-ups – 3 x AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
- Hanging knee raises – 3 x 10
Thursday
- 30 minutes of steady-state cardio (elliptical, cycling, light jog)
Friday
- Squat – 3 x 6-8
- Incline bench press – 3 x 10
- Lying hamstring curl – 4 x 12
- Seated cable row – 4 x 12
- Preacher curls – 4 x 12
Monday-Friday Body Part Split
The body part split is ideal for anyone who wants to prioritize hypertrophy and is okay with only training each muscle group once per week.
Monday – Chest
- Barbell bench press – 4 x 10
- Incline dumbbell fly – 4 x 10
- Cable crossovers – 4 x 12
- Handle Band Pec Fly – 4 x 12
- Pushups – 3 x AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
Tuesday – Arms
- Barbell bicep curl – 4 x 10
- Concentrated curl – 4 x 12 per arm
- Hammer curl – 4 x 12
- Close-grip bench press – 4 x 10
- Skull crushers – 4 x 12
- Cable Tricep pushdown – 4 x 12
Wednesday – Legs and core
- Squat – 4 x 10
- Leg press – 4 x 10
- Deadlift – 4 x 8
- Good morning – 4 x 10
- Calf raises – 4 x 12-15
- Planks – 3 x 45-60 seconds
Thursday – Back
- Weighted pull-ups – 4 x 8-10
- Barbell row – 4 x 10
- Wide-grip lat pulldown – 4 x 12
- Seated cable row – 4 x 12
- Single-arm lat pulldown – 4 x 12
Friday – Shoulders
- Barbell shoulder press – 4 x 10
- Seated Arnold press – 4 x 10
- Lateral raise to front raise – 4 x 12
- Rear delt flies – 4 x 12
- Upright rows – 4 x 12
Monday to Friday Push/Pull/Legs Split
This PPL split is an ideal routine for anyone who’s looking for a higher amount of training volume to maximize muscle growth while improving strength at the same time.
PPL routines are commonly done 6 days per week. Since you won’t have a sixth training day that would enable you to consistently do push/pull/legs each twice a week, you’ll have to move one of the training days onto the next week.
So in the sample workout below, you’d do your second leg workout on Monday of the second week, then do a push workout on Tuesday, and keep rotating your training days accordingly.
Monday – Push
- Bench press – 4 x 8
- Close-grip bench press – 4 x 10
- Seated dumbbell shoulder press – 4 x 10
- Cable tricep pushdowns – 3 x 12
- Dips – 3 x AMRAP (as many reps as possible)
Tuesday – Pull
- Barbell row – 4 x 8
- Seated cable row – 4 x 10
- Preacher curl – 4 x 12
- EZ bar curl – 3 x 12
- Pull-ups – 3 x AMRAP
Wednesday – Legs and core
- Squat – 4 x 8-10
- Reverse lunges – 4 x 10 per side
- Leg extension – 4 x 12
- Romanian deadlift – 4 x 8-10
- Lying hamstring curl – 4 x 12
- Stability Ball Rollout – 4 x 10
Thursday – Push
- Barbell shoulder press – 4 x 8
- Landmine press – 4 x 8 per arm
- Cable crossovers – 4 x 12
- Dumbbell skull crushers – 3 x 12
- Push-ups – 3 x AMRAP
Friday – Pull
- Wide-grip lat pulldown – 4 x 10
- Chest-supported dumbbell row – 4 x 10
- Cable bicep curl – 4 x 12
- Cable Rear delt flies – 3 x 12
- Chin-ups – 3 x AMRAP
Related Article: 4 Day Push Pull Workout Routine to Build Strength & Muscle
Monday to Friday Upper/Lower Split with Active Recovery
This is a good workout plan for anyone who wants to consistently train both the upper body and lower body twice a week while still being able to incorporate some cardio. As you’ll see, I also included percentage guidelines in this routine so you can alternate between heavy and light training days.
Monday – Heavy Lower Body
- Squat – 4 x 5 @ 80% of your 1RM
- Deadlift – 4×4 @ 80%
- Hip thrusts – 1 set each of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps (increase weight as the reps go down)
- Good morning – 4 x 10
- Hanging knee raises – 4 x 8-10
Tuesday – Light Upper Body
- Pause bench press – 3 x 6 @ 70%
- Standing dumbbell shoulder press – 3 x 10
- Single-arm dumbbell row – 4 x 10
- Lat pulldown – 4 x 12
- Superset:
- Hammer curls – 4 x 10
- Skull crushers – 4 x 10
Wednesday – Cardio/Active Recovery
- 30 minutes of steady-state cardio (elliptical, cycling, light jog)
Thursday – Light Lower Body
- Front squat – 3 x 6 @ 60% of your back squat 1RM
- Deficit deadlift – 3 x 6 @ 70%
- Walking lunges – 4 x 10 per leg
- Back extension – 4 x 10
- Calf raises – 4 x 12-15
Friday – Heavy Upper Body
- Bench press – 4 x 4 @ 80% 1RM
- Barbell shoulder press – 4 x 6
- Barbell bent-over row – 4 x 8
- Cable Face pulls – 4 x 10
- Lateral raise – 4 x 10-12
I also recommend checking out the Fitbod app if you’re looking for a 5-day workout split. You can customize your workouts to the amount of time you have, the equipment you have available, and how well recovered you are from your previous sessions.
How To Progress Over Time
When working out Monday to Friday, there are a few ways you can progress over time.
You have it a bit easier if you’re new to working out because you can follow a linear periodization model. You’ll be able to consistently add weight to your lifts each week for 6-12 months (and sometimes even longer) before you start to plateau. I recommend increasing weight from 2.5-5lbs for upper body lifts and 5-10lbs for lower body lifts each week.
Once you can no longer sustain that kind of progress, or if you already have a couple of years’ worth of training experience under your belt, blocking out your training cycles becomes more advantageous.
Along with this, you’ll also want to incorporate more percentage-based training or do RPE (rate of perceived exertion) training. RPE is a tool to use to gauge how difficult your lifts feel on a scale of 1-10:
- 10 – an all-out attempt, usually when you’re going for a new PR and don’t think you could have gotten any more reps
- 9 – you may have been able to do another one or two reps, but they would have been difficult
- 8 – you could have done two more reps
- 7 – you could have done three more reps
- 6 – an easy weight, likely something you’d use to warm up
- 5 and below – easy weight that barely requires any effort
The combination of block training and percentage-based or RPE training is called block periodization. With block periodization, you’d plan out several weeks’ worth of training and break them up into smaller chunks in which you train at different intensities.
Let’s say you planned a 12-week training cycle. The first four weeks could be a hypertrophy or accumulation phase where you’re not lifting heavier than about 75% (about an RPE of 7). The next four weeks would bump up the intensity a bit so you’re lifting closer to 85-90% (an RPE of 8).
Over the final four weeks, you’d lift at and slightly above 90% (an RPE of 8-9) as you prepare to test new rep maxes at the end of the cycle. Once you have new 1RMs, you can take a deload week, then start the cycle over with the new weights.
Looking for a workout program? Try using the Fitbod App, which will design your program based on your logged training data and goals. The workouts will adapt automatically to your levels of recovery and rate of progress. With over 600 movements and exercises videos, you can be sure to perform the movements correctly for optimal results. Take the guesswork out of your workouts. Try Fitbod for free.
Final Thoughts
Training 5 days in a row is possible if you want to go to the gym Monday-Friday and keep your weekends free. However, managing fatigue by training at different intensities and/or not training the same muscle groups every day is essential.
You may also wish to mix in some cardio or active recovery days into your Monday to Friday workout plan to help flush out sore muscles and aid in recovery for your subsequent lifting sessions.
About The Author
Amanda Dvorak is a freelance writer and powerlifting enthusiast. Amanda played softball for 12 years and discovered her passion for fitness when she was in college. It wasn’t until she started CrossFit in 2015 that she became interested in powerlifting and realized how much she loves lifting heavy weights. In addition to powerlifting, Amanda also enjoys running and cycling.
