Hypertrophy workout plan: 8 weeks to build muscle

Who this plan is for

This plan suits lifters with 6 months or more of steady training who want size and can train 4 days a week. Hypertrophy means muscle growth. Every set here is chosen for it: moderate reps, taken close to failure, the point where you cannot do another clean rep.

Each muscle gets 2 sessions a week, as on an upper/lower split. The difference is where the arms go. Biceps and triceps move to the leg days. The chest, back and shoulders sessions stay shorter, and you train arms fresh, not at the end of a long upper-body session.

If you are new to lifting, the full-body plan for beginners builds the base faster.

How the week looks

Other days work too, as long as matching sessions sit 3 or 4 days apart.

The sessions

(+1) marks an exercise that gets one extra set in weeks 5 to 7.

Chest, back and shoulders A

Legs and arms A

Chest, back and shoulders B

Legs and arms B

Rest 2 to 3 minutes after the first exercise of each session and about 2 minutes after the other presses, rows, squats and deadlifts. Rest 60 to 90 seconds after raises, curls, pushdowns and other single-joint work. A session takes 60 to 75 minutes.

How many sets each muscle gets

Volume is the number of hard sets per muscle each week. Warm-up sets do not count. A 2017 meta-analysis of 15 studies found that more weekly sets built more muscle, in a graded way. Sets only help while you recover from them. So the plan starts moderate and adds sets only in weeks 5 to 7, once your weights are settled.

Arms get fewer direct sets because every row and pulldown also works the biceps, and every press works the triceps. Glutes work on the squat, the Romanian deadlift and the leg press. Our guide to how many sets and reps build muscle explains where these ranges come from.

How the 8 weeks run

The sets stay the same for 4 weeks while you settle the weights. They go up in weeks 5 to 7 and down in week 8, a deload: a lighter week that lets fatigue drop. Reps in reserve means how many more clean reps you could have done at the end of a set.

Weeks 1 and 2 feel easy on purpose. You learn the exercises and set an honest baseline, so weeks 3 to 7 have room to climb.

In week 8, keep the weights and cut each exercise to 60% of its week 7 sets, rounded down, with at least one set. So 4 sets become 2, and 3 sets become one. You keep practising the lifts while the fatigue clears. The guide to deload weeks covers when else to take one.

After week 8, start again at week 1 with the weights you reached in week 7. Swap one or 2 exercises that stalled for a close variation, for example a hack squat for the back squat.

How to add weight

Use double progression. Keep the weight until you hit the top of the rep range on every set. Then add weight next session and work back up from the bottom of the range.

Say you bench 70 kg for 3 sets of 6 to 10. The Monday you get 10, 10 and 10, put 72.5 kg on the bar the following Monday and aim for at least 6. Add the smallest step the equipment allows: 2.5 kg on a barbell, 2 kg on dumbbells, 5 kg on a machine or cable stack.

What to do when you stall

A lift has stalled when your reps at the same weight have not moved for 2 sessions in a row. Work through these in order.

1. Check food and sleep first. If your weekly average body weight has been flat for 2 weeks, eat a little more before you change the training.
2. Keep the weight and aim for one more rep on one set next session.
3. If it is still stuck, take 5 to 10% off and build back up with the same rule.
4. If several lifts stall in weeks 5 to 7, drop the extra sets or start week 8 early.

The guide to breaking a training plateau covers more options.

How to eat for muscle

Muscle grows from the training, but it needs food to grow from. Keep it simple: eat a little more than you burn, and get enough protein.

• Calories: eat about 10 to 20% above maintenance, the intake that keeps your weight steady. That is what a review of off-season nutrition for natural bodybuilders suggests, with a gain of about 0.25 to 0.5% of body weight a week. For an 80 kg lifter that is 0.2 to 0.4 kg a week.
• Protein: aim for 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg of body weight a day. That is the range the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand on protein gives for most people who exercise. At 80 kg that is about 110 to 160 g, spread over the day’s meals.

Weigh yourself 3 or 4 mornings a week and compare weekly averages, because single days swing with water and salt. If the average climbs faster than the target, eat a little less. If it stays flat for 2 weeks, add a snack.

This is general guidance, not medical advice. If you have a health condition or a history of disordered eating, talk to a doctor or a dietitian first.

Run this plan in Trackist

Trackist writes its own plan from 14 questions about your goal, experience, equipment, joints, schedule, session length and age. Choose building muscle as your goal and 4 training days. Trackist then writes a plan of 4 to 12 weeks with every exercise, set, rep target and rest chosen. A plan of 6 weeks or more ends with a deload week at 60% of the sets.

Trackist repeats the same week and moves the weight, not the number of sets. Add the extra sets for weeks 5 to 7 in the plan editor before week 5 starts. There you can also reorder, swap, add or remove any exercise, so you can lay the days out as above.

At the gym you log weight, reps and RPE for each set. RPE is how hard the set felt, on a scale of 1 to 10, and RPE 8 means about 2 reps left in reserve. Last session’s numbers sit under each field, and a line above each exercise suggests today’s weight. Your body weight sits on a chart against your goal, so you see whether the surplus is working.

If the sessions keep running too hard, say so. Trackist notes the first report, and if you report it again, Trackist rewrites the day or rebuilds the rest of the plan.