The 5-Day Workout That Will Get You Cut

Working the chest just once a week is simply not going to help you get nice, broad pecs unless you have nearly a full hour to devote to chest alone.


Some of us guys are extremely time-pressed, and we only have two to three days a week to exercise. For this scenario, a full, multi-muscle workout can be extremely effective.

Others have a bit more time flexibility, and can squeeze in a workout nearly every day of the week. In this case, working a different body part each day is a good method.

And the remainder of men fall into the middle: able to exercise more than two to three days a week, but definitely not able to get in seven days a week. In this case, a five-day workout split comes in handy.

So what’s the best way to get the fastest results when you’ve got five days to work with? You’re about to find out.

The Average Five-Day Workout

Most five-day workouts are based on body-part splits that isolate specific body sections. For example:

Day 1 - Chest & Biceps
Day 2 - Cardio
Day 3 - Legs
Day 4 - Back & Triceps
Day 5 - Rest
Day 6 - Shoulders & Abs
Day 7 - Rest

Unfortunately, the reality for most guys, and especially for skinny “hard-gainers,” is that this scenario provides too much rest for some muscle groups. For example, working the chest just once a week is simply not going to help you get nice, broad pecs unless you have nearly a full hour to devote to chest alone.

So what’s the alternative?

You can instead do a five-day workout that has you working your upper body three times a week and your lower body three times a week. Compared to the “body part isolation” split, this will massively enhance results through hitting a body part multiple times during the week.

Here’s how to practically implement this approach, with exact workouts that you can simply print and take to the gym.

The Best 5 Day Workout

Weekly Plan:
Day 1: Workout A
Day 2: Workout B
Day 3: Workout C
Day 4: Workout A
Day 5: Workout B

In this scenario, you get to choose which days to rest, which is fantastic if you need flexibility or simply can’t make it to the gym on a specific day. You could, for example, do Days 1 to 5 as Monday to Friday, and recover on the weekends. Alternatively, you can insert a recovery day after Day 2, and another recovery day after Day 5.

The Workouts

Below you will find Workouts A, B and C, with four weeks for each. Once you’ve progressed through four weeks, return to the beginning for the next block of four weeks. As you can see, your repetitions for each exercise will vary depending on which week you are in, and because week four is higher rep/lower weight, you’ll be able to do this without adding in a fifth “recovery week."

Each workout also includes cardio intervals. These are optional, but highly recommended if your goals are fat loss or aerobic sports performance.

Compared to Workouts A and B, which use back-to-back supersets for the either upper body (A) or lower body (B), workout C is a slightly higher-intensity circuit that involves both upper and lower body.

Workout A Instructions

-Perform each pair of exercises as a superset, doing one set of each before resting for 60 seconds.
-Do three sets of each exercise in each superset before moving on to the next pair of exercises. Do the first exercise in the sequence, and then the next exercise in the sequence, back to back with minimum rest and then rest 60 seconds. Once you've done that three times, you move on to the next pair of exercises.

Pairing	Exercise	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4
1	Dumbbell Bench Press Assisted Pullups	10x 10x	8x 8x	8x 8x	15x 15x
2	Dumbbell Side Laterals Dumbbell Shoulder Press	10x 10x	8x 8x	8x 8x	15x 15x
3	Standing Dumbbell Curl Dumbbell Skullcrushers	10x 10x	8x 8x	8x 8x	15x 15x
4	Hanging Leg Raise Low Back Extension	15x 15x	18x 18x	20x 20x	25x 25x

Cardio Interval A Instructions (Cycle, Treadmill or Elliptical)

-Warm  up for two minutes, gradually increasing intensity to about 75% effort
-Sprint for 30 seconds at 90% effort
-Slow to 30% effort for 90 seconds
-Repeat 5 times for a total of 6 intervals
-Cool down for 2-5 minutes, or until breathing becomes easy. 

Workout B Instructions (Day 2 and Day 5)

-Perform each pair of exercises as a superset, doing one set of each before resting for 60 seconds.
-Do three sets of each exercise in each superset before moving on to the next pair of exercises. Do the first exercise in the sequence and then the next exercise in the sequence, back to back with minimum rest and then rest 60 seconds. Once you've done that three times, move on to the next pair of exercises.

Pairing	Exercise	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4
1	Machine Leg Press Walking Lunges	10x 10x	8x 12x	8x 14x	15x 16x
2 (triple superset with 3 exercises)	Machine Leg Extensions Machine Leg Curls Machine Calf Raises	10x 10x 10x	8x 8x 8x	8x 8x 8x	15x 15x 15x
3	Machine Adduction Machine Abduction	10x 10x	8x 8x	8x 8x	15x 15x
4	Swiss Ball Crunches Plank Holds	15x 20s	18x 30s	20x 40s	25x 50s

Cardio Interval B Instructions (Cycle, Treadmill or Elliptical)

-Warm  up for 2 minutes, gradually increasing intensity to about 75% effort
-Sprint for 1 minute at 80% effort
-Slow to 50-60% effort for 2 minutes
-Repeat 3 times for a total of 4 intervals
-Cool down for 2-5 minutes, or until breathing becomes easy.

Workout C Instructions

-Perform one set of each of the 5 exercises before resting for 2 minutes.
-Repeat 3-5 times

Number	Exercise	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4
1	Seated Rows w/ emphasis shoulder blade	10x	12x	15x	20x
2	Machine Incline Press	10x	12x	15x	20x
3	Lat Pulldowns w/ emphasis shoulder blade	12x	15x	20x	25x
4	Swiss Ball Pushup	12x	15x	20x	25x
5	Wall Ball Squat holding Med Ball	10x	12x	15x	20x
6	Russian Twists	10x	12x	16x	20x

Cardio Interval C Instructions (Cycle, Treadmill or Elliptical)

-Warm up for 5 minutes, gradually increasing intensity to about 75% effort-Sprint at full effort for 15 seconds
-Slow to 30% effort 30 seconds
-Begin with 5 interval repeats, and work up to 10 repeats
-Cool down for 2-5 minutes, or until breathing becomes easy