A five-day split workout should concentrate on every major muscle group in your body, including those in your chest, back, shoulders, arms, abdomen and legs. Choose two days of the week to rest; this can be in the middle of the five-day workout or at the end of it. Because the abdominal muscles recuperate quickly, you can train your abs three days a week. During weightlifting exercises, use an amount of weight that makes it difficult to finish a set of exercises. Along with your consistent strength training regimen, perform a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week to burn excess fat from your body.
Day One: Legs and Abdomen
On the first day, strengthen your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus and hips with weighted squats. Hold a barbell across your shoulders to add muscle-building resistance. Move on to leg curls, leg presses and leg extensions performed on strength training machines. Finish your leg workout by performing calf raises on the edge of a stair or aerobic step. Hold a dumbbell in each hand for additional resistance. Complete three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Target your abdomen by performing decline crunches with your head on the low end of a declined weight bench. Hold a plate weight to your chest or behind your head to create more resistance for building larger muscles. Use a Roman chair to perform knee lifts, in which you raise your bent knees toward your chest. Hold a dumbbell between your feet for better results. Finish with oblique twists, in which you perform a basic crunch but twist your torso left and right at the height of the exercise to target your obliques. Perform three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions of each abdominal exercise.
Day Two: Chest
Target your pectoral muscles with bench presses. Use either a barbell or two dumbbells. Move on to chest flies, also performed on a flat bench. Target your upper pectoral muscles by inclining the back of the weight bench by 45 degrees to 60 degrees. Perform chest presses with dumbbells, then repeat chest flies against the inclined bench. Do three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Day Three: Back and Abdomen
Bent-over rows can strengthen your central back muscles. Bend forward slightly at the hips and raise a barbell toward your navel by bending your arms. Target your lower back with barbell dead lifts, lifting the bar toward your upper legs by straightening your legs and standing upright. Perform shrugs with a bar to concentrate on your upper back. Keep your arms straight and down in front of your body while performing a shrugging motion. Complete three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Move on to abdominal strength training by performing your choice of any three ab-strengthening exercises. Perform decline weighted crunches, traditional flat crunches, oblique twists, Roman chair lifts, reverse crunches or vertical crunches. Reverse crunches are performed much like a traditional crunch, except you keep your upper body immobile on the floor while you pull your bent knees toward your chest. Push your straightened legs up and push your feet toward the ceiling to perform vertical crunches. Do three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
Day Four: Shoulders
Work your shoulders by performing front raises with a dumbbell in each hand. Raise both weights in front of your body until your straightened arms are parallel with the floor. Move on to side lateral raises performed with a dumbbell in each hand, raising your slightly bent arms out to your sides they are parallel with the floor. Finish your shoulder routine by performing military presses with dumbbells. Raise the weights from your shoulders straight above your head until your arms are straight. Perform three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each exercise.
Dave Five: Arms and Abdomen
On the last day of your five-day muscle building size workouts, concentrate on your biceps and triceps. Use dumbbells to perform biceps curls, hammer curls and concentration curls. Keep your palms facing your body throughout hammer curls. After training your biceps, perform triceps kickbacks and triceps extensions. Perform extensions while holding a dumbbell with both hands or with a dumbbell in each hand. Complete three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions of each arm-strengthening exercise. Choose any three abdominal-strengthening exercises and complete three sets of 12 to 15 repetitions.
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