4 day cardio and weight training program

Even still, many of the best weight lifters in the world choose to work out 4 days a week regardless of having the time to go more often. For example, some top-rated programs, such as PHAT, are specifically designed to be trained 4 days a week. Choosing a 4-day split for your workout program will offer a variety of benefits.

Here are the top reasons you should train using a 4-day workout routine. Perhaps the most significant benefit of this workout is that it gives trainees plenty of recovery time throughout the week.

In fact, this is one of the main areas that trainees get wrong, especially beginners. One area that trainees tend to like about a 4-day workout split is that it can keep you focused for your workout.

At the same time, it requires you to go in with a purpose and train like every rep counts. There are no frivolous movements in a 4-day split, nor is there leftover time to do them anyways.

With a 4-day workout split, you go in and perform the best of the best movements and then get out. Connected to allowing you adequate rest, using a 4-day workout split is designed in such a manner so that you can come in and work out hard every session. That and you will just have more energy. Since there are 4 days to train, you have an ample amount of days to divide your body parts or movements. This means you can program a 4-day split program specific to strength, hypertrophy, or a combination such s PHAT or power-building plan.

In fact, for beginners and intermediate lifters, 4 workout days per week is actually the most ideal for building muscle and strength. It allows you to keep the intensity of your workouts high and get adequate recovery in-between sessions, which is the perfect recipe for building muscle and strength.

People who train too frequently end up getting burned out and they don't even realize it. As just mentioned, there are numerous ways that you can run a 4-day split depending on your specific needs and goals.

Performing full-body workouts 4 days a week can work, but it can be a little tricky. It will require even more attention to recovery and monitoring load used. This type of workout is more likely to benefit the person who is more interested in maintaining overall fitness levels rather than pushing it hard during the session. Some of the benefits are:. While being 5-days, the best example of a program which follows this idea is Dr.

This is actually great program for those who want to train for both strength and hypertrophy. A program like this has you training specifically for strength on two days and then running a routine more similar to bodybuilding for the other two days.

Some of the benefits include:. It divides movements into three days:. The first thing to note is that a PPL split cycles through 3 workout sessions. To work this into a 4-day workout program, you simply just cycle through the sessions. This will result in your sessions changing order every week.

Some may still prefer to us a bodybuilding split and hit every muscle hard once a week. To do this, bodybuilders will usually train maybe 5 days or even 6 days a week. The easiest way to do this would be as follow:. The benefits of training like this are mainly geared towards the bodybuilder.

Using a split like this allows to you to cause maximal damage to a muscle in the belief that it will grow more. It just so happens that the optimal frequency of training a specific muscle group seems to be twice a week. Studies show training a muscle twice a week was sufficiently better than training once a week, with questionable benefits coming from training three times a week.

Basically, training twice a week is definitely better than once, but may or may not be better than training three times a week. Right, modify your workout when needed, but I generally do the heavy lifts first. Let me know how you progress!

Your email address will not be published. Goal Of This Workout This routine is designed to maximize your results by utilizing big compound lifts and supplementing with a good variety of accessory lifts. This routine is designed for anyone who is looking to build strength and muscle. Diet and Nutrition Tips You can beat your muscles down in the gym but the only way to recover build muscle is to fuel your body with quality food.

Recommended Supplements Note: If you cannot get good foods into your mouth, this section is irrelevant. This is a great blend without too many stimulants. Multi-Vitamin Optimum Nutrition Opti-Men Once you get your diet on point, taking a multi-vitamin is important as a strength athlete. Get the most of your gains and life with this multi-vitamin. Cardio and Conditioning Tips I would recommend doing a short minute cardio session post workout at least twice a week for optimum muscle growth and recovery.

Leave your comments, questions, or results below! I answer them all. Older Comments. Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Your email address will not be published. This is the most studied supplement in the industry and makes a huge difference on endurance and recovery.

I highly recommend this supplement. I almost put these into the nice to have supplements category but these serve more of a purpose to me than simply an intra-workout drink. Multi-vitamins are never bad to take unless you take too many and these are a nice to have supplement.

I was fortunate enough to use a probiotic for a short time and I will say that they are nice to use. It was eerily tasty and it was hard to eat only one. There are a couple of ways I recommend taking care of your recovery; supplements to shuttle nutrients to muscles, and sleep.

Personally I feel that sleep is the number 1 piece of the puzzle you need to make progress in the gym. This can easily be done with a post-workout shake or a big healthy meal, but if you are short on time then these supplements will help.

A unique benefit to ZMA is vivid life-like dreams. Casein protein digests slower and is nice to take just before you sleep. Cardio, conditioning, GPP, or whatever you want to call it… aerobic exercise is important for your health and to build strength. Some low intensity cardio before you train is recommended for warming up your nervous system and muscles. Getting off your ass and keeping your heart rate up is the key. Building your explosive power carries over to strength sports and I guarantee that your lifts will go up.

The progression scheme for this is easy; add more weight, take a deload week every 3rd week, and strive to improve form every session. It is much easier to add 5 pounds a session with good form than it is muscling up the weight and hitting a plateau from poor form habits. For example if you bench , start with and move up from there. Since training for strength taxes your nervous system the hardest, picking a weight that is near or at your maximum weight will limit you on how far you can go with this routine… remember, we are building strength, not testing it.

Warming up is important because it helps prime your body to perform exercises at its peak ability and helps prevent injuries.

A lot of warming up goes by feel which means you have to start listening to your body and writing down in your log how the weight feels and learn to make adjustments. It is bench day and you will be doing for 3 sets of 8.

Some people will argue there is science to warm ups and I will tell you that these book readers would rather critique your training and citing science studies than getting under the bar and training. Simply put, learn your body.

I personally like a little more volume for warming up chest and shoulders. Instead of guessing what exercises you could do instead, I wanted to make a list of exercises that I would suggest substituting. Ideally I wanted to do a 5 day split but my schedule just will not allow it.

Any suggestions? I hear you on that.. You can also make bigger changes. Switching up the length of time can be dependent on your weekly progress. If you know next week is going to be chaotic, then your best choice may be doing HIIT because it takes less time. Planning everything out can be tedious, but you have all the tools you need from here to get started. You have some goals in mind, you know the types of cardio and which one s best fit for you, and you know how to shake up your routine and adjust it as you progress.

What follows are sample programs together to give you an even better idea of how your cardio routine should look. Now you can plan out your new routine and get after your goals with purpose. The Goal: Cutting and fat loss. For more weights and cardio plans, nutrition tips, interviews and workouts, get TRAIN magazine direct into your inbox every month for free by signing up to our newsletter. View Larger Image. Why plan your cardio for muscle or fat loss?