Muscle building and strength go hand in hand. Without muscle, you can barely develop strength, similarly as you cannot build muscle without strength. Yet, some differences exist.
When we are talking about hypertrophy, we should understand that everyone has a different body. Two individuals can get quite different outcomes despite following the same program.
However, the basic principles of hypertrophy, such as strength training, are universally similar.
Some athletes get boosted using bodyweight movements or just by looking at the weights, while others have to work two times as hard to get a similar muscle. This is an important reminder.
You may decide to follow the toughest guy or fittest female practices in the gym, but the techniques that work for them probably won’t work at all for you. Once you get the principles, then the right technique can be adapted and applied to find the ideal way for you.
What is hypertrophy?
Hypertrophy is just the expansion in the size of an organ or tissue by broadening its component cells.
A hypertrophy program is not planned to develop strength or improve athletic performance (even though there is an overlap, obviously), instead mainly causing muscle development by expanding your muscle fibers’ size.
Keep in mind; this plan is not intended to enhance strength or power. This program is mainly designed to increase muscle size.
Follow this plan for 6 – 8 Weeks, then change to avoid the muscles getting excessively used to a specific workload.
This is the ideal plan where heavyweights are not required.
4 Day Split Program to Build Muscle:
- Day 1 – Back and Biceps
- Day 2 – Chest and Triceps
- Day 3 – Rest day
- Day 4 – Quads, Hamstrings, and Calves
- Day 5 – Shoulders, Traps, and Forearms
- Day 6 – Rest day
- Day 7 – Rest day
| Day 1 | ||
| Back and Biceps | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Deadlift | 2 | 5 |
| One Arm Dumbbell Row | 3 | 8-12 |
| Wide Grip Pull Up or Lat Pull Down | 3 | 10-12 |
| Barbell Row | 3 | 8-12 |
| Seated Cable Row or Machine Row | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| EZ Bar Preacher Curl | 3 | 10-12 |
| Concentration Curl | 3 | 10-12 |
| Seated Dumbbell Curl | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Day 2 | ||
| Chest and Triceps | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Bench Press | 3 | 6-10 |
| Incline Dumbbell Bench Press | 3 | 8-12 |
| Chest Dip | 3 | AMAP* |
| Cable Crossover or Pec Dec | 3 | 12-15 |
| Machine Press or Dumbbell Bench Press | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| EZ Bar Skullcrusher | 3 | 8-12 |
| Two Arm Seated Dumbbell Extension | 3 | 8-12 |
| Cable Tricep Extension | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Day 4 | ||
| Quads, Hamstrings, and Calves | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Squat | 3 | 6-10 |
| Leg Press | 3 | 15-20 |
| Hack Squat or Dumbbell Lunge | 3 | 8-12 |
| Leg Extension | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Stiff Leg Deadlift | 3 | 8-12 |
| Leg Curl | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Standing Calf Raise | 3 | 10-15 |
| Seated Calf Raise | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Day 5 | ||
| Shoulders, Traps, and Forearms | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Seated Barbell Press | 3 | 6-10 |
| Seated Arnold Press | 3 | 8-12 |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raise | 3 | 10-15 |
| Hammer Strength Press or Smith Press | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Upright Row | 3 | 8-12 |
| Barbell Shrug or Dumbbell Shrug | 5 Minutes | Burn |
| Seated Barbell Wrist Curl | 3 | 12-15 |
| Barbell Static Hold | 5 Minutes | Burn |
*AMAP = As many as possible.
Barbell Static Holds. Instead of doing reps, you can simply hold the bar as long as possible.
