My typical weekly workout routine
My workouts each week typically look like this:
Monday: Chest (Monday is International Chest Day, of course I must observe this gym tradition!)
Tuesday: Shoulders
Wednesday: Back
Thursday: Biceps and Triceps
Friday: Legs
Saturday: If I miss any workouts during the week, Legs will be pushed to Saturday. If not, I will either rest or hit Chest or Back if I really feel like working out.
Sunday: Rest
My favorite exercises
The most effective muscle-building workout routines are centered around high weight with low reps. To gain a ripped, strong physique, you must structure all of your workouts around heavy, compound lifts (compound means that multiple muscle groups work together at the same time). The four best compound exercises are the squat, deadlift, bench press, and military press.
Here's a list of my favorite exercises I hit for each of these days:
Chest Day
I always start each chest day by warming up on the flat bench press. I follow the Bigger Leaner Stronger warm-up routine found here.
Then I'll jump into sets of flat bench press at 85% of my 1RM. Currently, that is 225 pounds for 5-6 sets of 5 reps. Then I'll hit incline bench for another 3-5 sets with a bit less weight. In between my working sets on flat and incline bench press, I'll often throw in standing calf raises with about 400 pounds for sets of 10 reps.
I'll finish each chest day with chest flys, either on the cable machine or with dumbbells.
Shoulder Day
I only seriously began lifting shoulders in mid-2016. Before then, I would hit light shoulder raises on arm day and even (rarely) hit Arnold dumbbell presses.
Now, I've dedicated an entire workout each work to shoulders and I've noticed huge improvements in my physique. Massive, ripped deltoids make a killer physique by accentuating one's V-shaped torso and separating the arms from the rest of the body.
To build boulder shoulders, I focus most of my shoulder day effort on standing military presses, a crucial heavy compound exercise. I will typically complete 6-8 sets of 5 reps. My current weight for this is 140 pounds.
I supplement military presses with single arm "cheat" flys, my favorite shoulder exercise.
Back Day
I'm not really a fan of deadlifting, but it is hands-down the best exercise for building a ripped back and greatly improves your squat strength. Like all other compound lifts, I use the Bigger Leaner Stronger warm-up routine to get ready to deadlift heavy weight.
On back days, I'll hit 5-8 sets of 5 reps on deadlift, then hit lat pulldowns (or pullups) plus a bunch of accessory back exercises. My favorites are 45 degree bent over rope lat pulldowns, underhand bent-over barbell rows, and seated cable rows. Occasionally the barbell deadlift bothers my back and I'll use the trap/hex bar.
Arm Day
Like most guys, I freaking love arm day. I stroll into the gym wearing a sweatshirt over a tank and proceed to pump up my arms for 10 minutes. Then...BAMMM! I take off my sweatshirt and proceed to pump up my ego with a mirror and countless bicep curls. No shame.
I love hitting heavy barbell curls with 100+ pounds. I must admit I'm guilty of doing these in the squat rack occasionally, but only if the gym is bare and other squat racks are available. I also love preacher curls, hammer curls, and overhead cable curls. My rep ranges on these exercises varies between 4-6 reps and 12-15, but I try to stay at the heavier, lower rep regions.
The only thing I enjoy more than hitting biceps is hitting triceps. The most effective exercises for tricep mass and strength are close grip bench press (hands within 8 inches of each other) and weighted dips. For both of these heavy tricep exercises, I stick to a 4-6 rep range.
Beyond close grip bench and weighted dips, I love bent over triceps extensions and single arm cable tricep pushdowns, both of which I hit until failure.
Leg Day
I always start each leg day by warming up with barbell squats. I follow the Bigger Leaner Stronger warm-up routine found here.
Then I'll jump into sets of barbell squats at 85% of my 1RM. Currently that is 315 pounds for 5-6 sets of 5 reps. Then I'll jump to leg press for another 3-5 sets to failure with about 600 pounds.
I'll finish my leg day with a hamstring exercise such as straight-leg deadlifts or seated hamstring curls.