Gym Workout Plans For Men

Who Needs A Workout Plan | Benefits Of Workout Plans | Beginner Gym Workout Plan | Intermediate Gym Workout Plan | Advanced Gym Workout Plan

Whether your goal is to lose weight, build muscle, or get strong, if you’re looking to progress in the gym, having a workout plan is key.

We asked PureGym Calcot based PT and Assistant Manager at and bodybuilder Lysander Maynard to explain why having a workout plan is so important. He’s also shared three men’s weekly workout plans: a beginner, intermediate, and advanced. These gym workout plans are aimed at those who want to gain muscle and improve their strength.

Does Everyone Need A Workout Plan?

Everyone who works out can benefit from having a workout plan, and we’ve outlined the general benefits of workout plans below. However, if you’re new to the gym (less than one year), it’s likely you’ll still get good results even without following a plan. This is known as “newbie gains”, and happens because of the neurological adaptions and rapid muscle growth that occurs in the early stages of training.

For intermediate (those who’ve been training over a year) and advanced (those who have been training at least two to three years) lifters, having a plan becomes even more important as these gains level off, so you need efficient and effective workouts to progress.

We have gym workout plans for all levels below.

What Are The Benefits Of Having A Workout Plan For Men?



• Goal focused.

  The first step in creating an effective workout plan is defining your goals – do you want to lose weight? Build muscle? Increase power? Knowing what the objective of your workouts are means you can create or follow a workout plan tailored to these goals, making it easier to reach them.

• Eliminates guesswork.

  Going to the gym without a workout plan is like doing your food shop without a shopping list. You’ll get it done, but you’ll probably miss out some key exercises and do some you didn’t need to. When you have a plan in place, you know exactly what exercises you need to do and when. 

• Efficient workouts.

  Having a list of exercises in place can make your workouts much more efficient, especially when the gym is busy. Instead of wandering around looking for things to do, you can simply see what kit is free and work your way through your plan. 

• Progressive overload.

  Whether your goal is to build strength, power, endurance, or muscle, progressive overload (making the sets harder by adding weight, reps, time under tension, or reducing rest), is key to making changes. Unfortunately, it’s extremely hard to progressively overload when you are changing the exercises you do each workout! Having a workout plan allows you to track and adjust your training to increase the intensity each week.

• Easy to track.

  Having a workout plan makes it easy to track your progress and make adjustments when needed. This helps with motivation and accountability, and allows you to identify when something isn’t working so that you can adapt it and progress.

Beginner, Intermediate, And Advanced Workout Plans For Men

Making your own workout plan…. However, if you’d prefer to follow an existing workout plan, Lysandar has created an intermediate and advanced weekly gym workout plan for men you can follow along. These workout plans are aimed at improving strength, endurance, and building muscle mass.

Start each workout with a 5-10 minute warm up, and finish with some stretches to cool down. Choose a weight that allows you to reach the set number of reps with only 1-2 reps in reserve, so if your rep range was 8-10, you wouldn’t be able to lift more than 11-12.

Beginner Gym Workout Plan For Men

This is a 3-day split workout plan, which is enough for beginners to start to build muscle and strength. As you get more advanced, you may want to increase the number of workouts – our intermediate and advanced workouts below can help with this.

Day 1 – Push



• Dumbbell bench press – sets: 4 | reps: 6-8, 10-12, 10-12, 12+

• Chest press machine – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 8-10, 10-12

• Cable flys – sets: 2 | reps: 12-15

• Shoulder press machine – sets: 3 | reps: 10-21

• Tricep push down – sets: 3 | reps: 12

Day 2 – Pull



• Lat pulldown – sets: 4 | reps: 6-8, 10-12, 10-12, 12+

• Bent over rows – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 10-12, 10-12

• Chest supported row – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 10-12, 12+

• Face pulls – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Bicep curls – sets: 1 | reps: 7 half reps (bottom), 7 half reps (top), 7 full reps

Day 3 – Legs



• Dumbbell squats – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12

• Leg press – sets: 4 | reps: 6-8, 10-12, 10-12, 12-15

• Hamstring curl – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Walking lunges – sets: 2 | reps: 12 steps each side

• Calf raises – sets: 3 | reps: 25-30

Intermediate Men’s Workout Plan

This is a 4-day split workout plan aimed at intermediate lifters.

Day 1 - Quads & Hamstrings



• Dumbbell Bulgarian split squats – sets: 4 | reps: 10-12, 12-15, 12-15, 15-20

• Leg press – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 12+, drop set: 12, 8, to failure

• Barbell RDLs – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, 12-15

• Goblet squats – sets: 2 | reps: 15

• Walking lunges – sets: 1 | reps: 12 each side

• Leg extensions – sets: 3 | reps: 12, 20, to failure

Day 2 - Chest, Arms & Delts



• Incline dumbbell press – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12, 12-15, 12-15

• Barbell bench press – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 12+, drop set: 12, 8, to failure

• Pec dec flys – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12, 12-15, 4 x 5 second hold

• Superset: dumbbell flys and push ups – sets: 2 | reps: 12 db fly, push ups to failure

• Side delt flys – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, 12-15

• Cable curls – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, to failure

• V bar tricep pushdown – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, to failure

Day 3 - Back



• Lat pulldowns – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12,

• Barbell rows – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 6-8, 12+

• Chest supported dumbbell rows – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12, failure, 12

• Pull ups – sets: 3 | reps: to failure

• Barbell shrugs – sets: 5 | reps: 10-12, 12-15, 6-8, 20, 20

• T bar row – sets: 2 | reps: 6-8, to failure

Day 4 - Shoulders & Arms



• Dumbbell shoulder press – sets: 3 | reps: 8-10, 10-12, 10-12

• Barbell bench press – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8, 12+, drop set: 12, 8, to failure

• Side delt flys – sets: 3 | reps: 10-12, 12-15, to failure

• Superset: cable side raise and rear delt flys – sets: 2 | reps: 15 each

• Dumbbell front raises – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, 12-15

• Tricep rope extension – sets: 2 | reps: 10-12, to failure

Advanced Gym Workout Plan For Men

This is a 5-day split workout plan aimed at those who have been training at least two or more years.

Day 1 - Legs



• Barbell squats – sets: 3 | reps: 7, 5, 3

• Smith machine hack squats – sets: 3 | reps: 8-12

• Barbell RDLs – sets: 3 | reps: 8-10

• Seated leg press – sets: 3 | reps: 12

• Lying hamstring curls – sets: 4 | reps: 12-15

• Walking lunges – sets: 3 | reps: 10-15 each side

• Leg extensions – sets: 2 | reps: 20

Day 2 - Push & Biceps



• Barbell bench press – sets: 3 | reps: 7, 5, 3

• Incline barbell press – sets: 3 | reps: 8

• Shoulder press – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Chest dips – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Cable flys – sets: 2 | reps: 15-20

• Bench supported dumbbell curls – sets: 3 | reps: 8-12

• Hammer grip dumbbell curls – sets: 3 | reps: 12

• Cable curls – sets: 2 | reps: 15

Day 3 - Upper



• Pull ups – sets: 3 | reps: 8

• Seated shoulder press – sets: 3 | reps: 6-8

• Dumbbell lateral raises – sets: 4 | reps: 20-30

• Rear delt flys – sets: 4 | reps: 20-30

• Face pulls – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Chest dips – sets: 3 | reps: 10

• Straight arm pulldown – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• V bar pushdown – sets: 3 | reps: 15

Day 4 - Pull & Calves



• Barbell deadlifts – sets: 3 | reps: 7, 5, 3

• Bent over barbell rows – sets: 3 | reps: 8-12

• Pull ups – sets: 3 | reps: 8

• Lat pulldowns – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Chest supported DB row – sets: 3 | reps: 15

• Supermans – sets: 3 | reps: 15

• Standing smith machine calf raises – sets: 4 | reps: 8-12

• Seated calf raises – sets: 4 | reps: 12-15

Day 5 - Arms & Abs



• Lying tricep extensions – sets: 4 | reps: 12-15

• V bar pushdown – sets: 4 | reps: 12-15

• Supported dumbbell curls – sets: 4 | reps: 12-15

• Underhand cable curls – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Hammer strength preacher curl – sets: 3 | reps: 12-15

• Weighted crunch – sets: 5 | reps: 10-15

• Weighted supermans – sets: 5 | reps: 20-30

• Ab wheel roll outs – sets: 5 | reps: 10-15

• Deadbugs – sets: 5 | reps: 20-30

For best results, aim to follow your workout plan for 6+ weeks to allow for any neurological adaptions to take place. You can then adjust or completely change your plan depending on how much progress you are making.

Want more workout plan ideas? Check out our workout plans for bodybuilding here, workout plans for cutting here, and workout plans for beginners here.

If you need help creating a workout plan, why not work with a Personal Trainer – you’ll get a bespoke plan created as well as ongoing help and support.