Training every major muscle group in one workout session can take hours out of your day. However, working only one or two muscle groups in a workout session helps you concentrate on those muscles and get out of the gym quickly. Choose four days out of the week to train a group of muscles, if you want to limit workouts to four days a week. For example, train your back on Monday, arms and chest on Wednesday, shoulders and abdomen on Friday and legs on Saturday. Or choose to train a muscle group every day by repeating your four-day cycle without taking a break from workouts, called a rolling workout schedule. Either schedule provides plenty of time for your muscles to recuperate and develop after workouts.
Back
Use free weights on the first day of your weightlifting workout to strengthen muscles in various areas of your back. Target your lower back with barbell dead lifts, lifting the bar off the ground and keeping it close to your body with your arms straight and in front of your body throughout the exercise. Strengthen your central back with bent-over rows, performed with a barbell. Pull the bar toward your navel while bending forward at the waist. Move on to dumbbell bent-over fly exercises as you bend forward at the waist and raise your arms out to your sides until parallel with the ground. Finish your back workout with shrugs, using either a barbell or two dumbbells. Keep your arms straight down in front of your body as you make a shrugging motion. Perform four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Chest and Arms
Concentrate on your chest, biceps and triceps on the second day of your four-day workout. Begin by combining two effective exercises to target both your chest and your biceps. Perform a basic biceps curl on an inclined weight bench. However, as you curl the weight toward your upper arms, shift the position of your wrists by pointing your palms in front of you and perform a chest press by pushing the weights straight into the air. Move on to bench presses with a barbell on a flat weight bench, pushing the bar from your chest straight into the air by bending and straightening your arms. Perform preacher curls on a preacher bench with either a barbell or two dumbbells. Target your triceps with triceps extensions and kickbacks, both performed with dumbbells. To perform triceps extensions, hold a dumbbell with both hands and raise the weight over your head. Bend your arms and lower the weight behind your head. Finish this workout with triceps kickbacks while holding a dumbbell in each hand. Bend forward slightly at the waist and push the dumbbells behind you by straightening your arms. Perform three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each chest and arm exercise.
Shoulders and Abdomen
Use Day 3 of your workout to target your shoulders and abdomen. Start this workout with an Arnold press, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Begin with your weights at shoulder-height, holding the weights with your palms facing your body. As you lift the weights into the air, shift the direction of your palms so that they face in front of you. Move on to front raises and lateral raises, both performed with dumbbells. Raise the dumbbells straight out in front of your body until your straightened arms are parallel with the floor to perform front raises. To begin lateral raises, hold the dumbbells in front of your body with your arms slightly bent and your palms facing one another. Bring the weights out to your sides until your arms are parallel with the ground. Perform four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
After working your shoulders, move on to abdominal-strengthening exercises. Perform crunches in which you hold a dumbbell or a plate weight to your chest throughout the exercise. Finish your third-day workout with oblique twists, in which you twist your torso left and right as you perform a basic crunch to target your side abdominal muscles. Complete three sets of 15 repetitions of both abdominal exercises.
Legs
Finish your four-day workout plan by concentrating on the muscles of your lower body. Target your hamstrings and quadriceps with lunges while holding a barbell across your lower shoulders. Lunge forward with one leg at a time and bend both knees until each leg forms a 90-degree angle. Move on to leg presses performed on a leg press machine. Push the foot platform by straightening your legs and lower it by bending your knees. Concentrate on your hamstrings by using a lying leg curl machine. Lie on your abdomen on the machine's bench with your lower legs under the leg rest and curl your feet toward your buttocks. Target your calves with standing calf raises. Stand on the balls of your feet on the edge of a stair or aerobic step. Lower and raise your heels until you feel a pull in your calf muscles. Complete three to four sets of 10 to 15 repetitions of each exercise.
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