Power Bodybuilding Workouts

There are at least two factors that play a role in determining an individual's ideal bodybuilding routine: the individual's bodybuilding experience and the age of his current routine. While it is important for beginners to stick to the fundamentals, advanced bodybuilders are better served to employ a variety of exercises and techniques. Further, no matter what your training level, you must occasionally change things up to shock your muscles into continued growth.

Beginner's Workout

If you're new to resistance training and bodybuilding, it is crucial that you begin by building a solid muscular foundation. The best way to do this is by focusing on fundamental, compound mass-building exercises such as the bench-press, shoulder-press, row, squats and dead lift. Perform each of these exercises during three full-body workouts each week. For each exercise, complete five sets of five repetitions, using the heaviest weight with which you can maintain good form, and resting for 90 seconds between sets. After several weeks, you may find your progress beginning to plateau; this means it's time to change up your workout. Stick to the fundamentals of the routine, but change the order of exercises and/or replace them with alternatives; for instance, you might swap barbell bench press for dumbbell chest press.

Intermediate Workout

If you've been bodybuilding for several months to a year and feel that you've developed a solid muscular base, it may be time to graduate to the intermediate workout. This time, divide your muscle groups into a weekly split; for instance, you might schedule legs and chest on Monday, back and biceps on Wednesday and shoulders and triceps on Friday. While you should still focus on the basic compound lifts, the extra time in each workout will allow you to incorporate isolation exercises in order to prioritize certain muscles. For each exercise, perform three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions, resting for 90 seconds between sets. Again, if you reach a plateau, change up the order or selection of exercises.

The Expert's Workout

If you've been bodybuilding for more than a year and you're looking to refine your physique, the expert's workout is for you. Assign only one muscle group to each workout, and increase your workout frequency to four to six sessions per week. On this schedule, you'll have the latitude to select a wide variety of exercises for each muscle group, allowing you to fine-tune your appearance. For instance, by emphasizing incline movements on chest day, you focus specifically on your upper chest. At this level, you can also vary your repetitions schemes depending on the exercise; for instance, you may assign four to six repetitions to a set of heavy dead lifts, and 12 to 15 repetitions to a superset of biceps curls.