The Best Bodybuilding Programs

There are almost infinite routine combinations for a workout program. Your experience level will dictate how often to train your body parts. However, certain training criteria can be applied to the training program regardless of being at the beginner or advanced level. And no bodybuilding program would be complete without implementing a solid nutrition plan, an essential component in realizing your full bodybuilding potential.

Beginner

Your muscles do not grow inside of the gym, you only stimulate the process there. After a muscle is overloaded, it must adapt to the training demands and compensate for future workouts. Muscle growth occurs when you rest and sleep. Delayed-onset muscle soreness is an indication that your muscle has not fully recovered yet. Refrain from overtraining your muscles, and design a training and nutrition program that will facilitate recovery.
Beginner bodybuilders are best starting out with a 3-day training split. A training split is a schedule for training muscle groups on designated days. The most common routine for beginners is to perform workout bouts on alternate days (e.g., Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Complete recovery of each muscle group after a training session has to occur before the same muscle group is subjected to overload again.
An effective way of accomplishing this is to follow a push-pull training split. On push day, you train all the muscle groups that are responsible for "pushing." The chest, shoulders and triceps work as synergists in producing force for extension actions. For example, during the bench press, the prime mover is the chest (pectoralis major), but the shoulders (anterior deltoid) and triceps are also recruited throughout the movement. These muscle groups can be trained on the same day since they are used indirectly with pressing movements.
On pull day, you train the muscle groups responsible for "pulling": back, trapezius, rear deltoids and biceps. While the push-day synergists are recovering, you are able to train the pull-day muscle groups. The third day consists of training your legs. Legs can also be trained in between push and pull day to split up your upper-body workouts. This training split will allow sufficient time for rebuilding your muscles and prevent overtraining.

Advanced

Advanced bodybuilders are able to train more frequently. As you progress, your muscles are able withstand higher training intensity and volume. Therefore your muscle groups can be divided further over 5 or 6 days, and more exercises for each muscle group can be included. However, do not train the synergist muscle group muscles the day after, or they may not be recovered. For example, don't train biceps the day after training your back because they were heavily recruited during back movements. Here is an effective advanced training split:
Monday: Back
Tuesday: Chest, abs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Legs
Friday: Shoulders, abs
Saturday: Arms
Sunday: Rest
Despite what training level you are, specific criteria for muscle hypertrophy has been established. Exercises should consist of three to five sets, six to 12 repetitions, with 60- to 90-second rest periods to best stimulate muscle growth. Keep your workouts down to 1-hour durations to maintain focus and high intensity.

Nutrition

Nutrition and supplementation aid recovery by rebuilding damaged muscle tissue. Consuming adequate amounts of protein (0.75 to 1 g/lb. of body weight) is imperative to muscle growth. Meal frequency is also important; eat smaller meals throughout the day every 2 to 3 hours. Carbohydrate intake can be manipulated depending on off-season or precontest training, but fat intake should be kept low (20 to 30 percent of daily caloric intake). Consistency is key to bodybuilding success; make healthy eating habits a part of your lifestyle.