How to choose a program

Step 1. How many days a week

This is the main question, and it needs an honest answer. A five-day program you do three times a week is worse than a three-day program you do every time: missed days break the balance, and some muscle goes weeks without work.

• 2 days — full body twice a week. Not much, but it works, and missing one workout doesn't leave a group untrained for two weeks.
• 3 days — full body three times, 5×5 for strength or a three-day split.
• 4 days — upper and lower, twice each.
• 5–6 days — push-pull-legs: presses, pulls, legs, on rotation.

If your week is unpredictable, pick a program with fewer days — it's easier to keep.

Step 2. Goal: strength or size

Most programs build both, but with different emphasis.

• Strength. Fewer exercises, heavy compounds for 3–6 reps, long rests and adding weight every workout for as long as it keeps working. The classic is 5×5: three big lifts per workout.
• Size. More volume — sets per muscle per week — a 6–15 rep range, and isolation on top of the compounds. How many sets you need is in the volume guide.
• Glutes and legs first — a program where the lower body gets more work and the upper body maintenance.

If the goal is just "getting in shape", go full body: it builds both strength and size and forgives missed days.

Step 3. Experience

A beginner (under six months) doesn't need a complicated split. You grow from almost any sensible load, and the main job is learning the compound lifts and getting used to going to the gym. Full body 2–3 times a week or 5×5 is the best start: every movement repeats often, so technique comes faster.

Intermediates (six months to two years) need more volume and variety: upper-lower, a three-day split, push-pull-legs. Now it matters that every muscle gets 10+ working sets a week.

Advanced lifters often outgrow generic programs: they need their own volume balance, priorities for lagging muscles and periodisation. That's a good reason to build a program with a coach rather than take a ready one.

On equipment: almost any program works in an ordinary gym with a barbell, a rack, dumbbells and cables. Training at home with dumbbells and a pull-up bar? Go full body and swap the barbell for dumbbells; the coach will pick substitutes for what you have.

Step 4. Frequency and volume per muscle

Check a program against two numbers. The first — how many times a week each muscle gets trained. In the Schoenfeld et al. (2016) meta-analysis, twice a week gave more growth than once; in the newer Pelland et al. analysis, frequency on its own mattered more for strength, while for size total volume decided. In practice: twice a week is a good norm for nearly everyone.

The second — how many working sets per muscle add up over a week. In the Schoenfeld et al. (2017) meta-analysis, more sets gave more growth, with diminishing returns. For each of my programs I've counted the sets every group gets — see the tables on the muscles pages. For example, "Full body — 3 days" gives the back 13 sets per pass and the quads 6: fine for a beginner, but at an intermediate level your legs need topping up.

My ready-made programs

• Full body — 2 days — for beginners with two evenings a week for the gym.
• Full body — 3 days — the classic starter: three similar full-body workouts.
• Strength 5×5 — for beginners chasing strength: three big lifts, alternating days A and B.
• Upper / Lower — intermediate, 2–4 workouts a week.
• 3-day split — intermediate, when you want more work for every group.
• Push / Pull / Legs — intermediate and up, 3–6 workouts a week.
• Glutes and legs — 3 days — when the lower body comes first.

Each has exercises by day and set schemes. Take a program into your diary and during the workout I show what's next on the plan.

How long to stick with one program

Longer than you'd like: 8–12 weeks at least. The first two weeks go into finding working weights and getting used to the exercises — it's too early to judge before that. Changing programs every month means starting over every month and never getting to the progression.

Change when your estimated max on the main lifts hasn't grown for several weeks while sleep, food and consistency are fine (what to do then is in the guide on plateaus), or when life changed: less time, a new gym, a new goal.

If none of the ready ones fits, tell the AI coach how many days you train, what your gym has, your experience and goal. It'll build a program by days with exercises and set schemes, count the volume for every group and let you take it into your diary.

Read next

• Ready-made programs
• An AI coach that reads your diary
• How many sets per muscle per week
• Muscles