Many gym goers believe you need to train five or six times a week to see strength gains and build muscle mass.
But if you’re too busy to make it to the gym more than three times a week, don’t fret.
Three high-quality workout sessions are better than dragging yourself to the gym every day to do subpar workouts with no energy or focus.
We’ll explore how to achieve your fitness and aesthetic goals with just three weekly gym sessions.
You’ll learn how to plan a 3-day workout split to strengthen your upper body and lower body muscle groups and promote muscle growth.
We’ve also provided links to the six best 3-day training split programs, where you’ll find free, downloadable spreadsheets to help you reach your goals.
Table of Contents
What is a 3-day workout split?
A 3-day workout split is a routine that involves three workout sessions per week. This training structure boosts muscle growth, increases strength, and is perfect for people with busy schedules.
3-day workout splits target specific muscle groups on different training days, with rest days between sessions.
Some 3-day workout splits target the lower body and upper body muscles separately, while others target the same muscle groups each time.
Many 3-day workout splits also include a two-day rest period towards the end of the weekly cycle to allow your muscles to recover fully.
3-day workout split routine example
- Day 1: squat, bench press, lat pulldown
- Day 2: rest
- Day 3: overhead press, deadlift, dumbbell row
- Day 4: rest
- Day 5: bench press, squat, lat pulldown
- Day 6: rest
- Day 7: rest
The above 3-day split workout routine is one example of how you can fit an effective training plan into three days per week. It follows a full-body split, using compound movements to target your upper and lower body in one session.
The 3-day workout split outlined above is based on the 3-day version of Cody LeFever’s GZCLP program, a beginner-friendly linear progression strength program.
You’ll learn more about the GZCLP program and other popular 3-day workout splits in the following section.
The 6 Best 3-Day Workout Splits
- GZCLP – 3-Day Version
- Greyskull Linear Progression
- Greg Nuckols 28 Programs – 3-Day Variation
- Madcow 5×5
- SPF Powerbuilding – 3-Day Version
- Korte 3×3
GZCLP 3-Day Version
- Experience level: beginner
- Program goals: gain strength, gain muscle, and increase weights for compound movements (squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press)
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: 12 weeks, can be run indefinitely
- Spreadsheet: GZCLP 3-Day Spreadsheet
GZCLP is a linear strength progression program designed by Cody LeFever to build strength in the big four lifts: the bench press, deadlift, squat, and overhead press.
The program begins with establishing a ‘goal weight’ for each lift, which you can easily lift for two reps. Cody’s intention for this program is to allow lifters to do more reps at a heavy weight they can already lift.
A unique feature of the GZCLP program is its customization potential. The program is structured into three lift ‘tiers’ – listed as T1, T2, and T3 lifts.
T1 lifts are performed earlier in the session to improve low-rep maxes, usually lifting 85-100% of your goal weight for three to five reps per set or 10-15 total reps across five sets.
These high-intensity sets build overall strength, stability, and confidence with pushing heavy weights.
The program then moves on to T2 lifts, performed at 65-85% of your goal weight, targeting muscle hypertrophy and improving strength for T1 lifts.
Finally, you perform higher-rep sets of T3 lifts, focusing on muscular endurance, practicing unfamiliar moves, and promoting joint health.
GZCLP is highly customizable, allowing you to select some T2 and T3 movements to work on throughout the 12-week cycle.
GZCLP is an excellent program for beginners wanting to build confidence and increase muscle mass and strength in the foundational lifts while also sculpting their bodies.
GZCLP Linear Progression Program – 3-Day Spreadsheet.
Greyskull Linear Progression
- Experience level: beginner
- Program goals: gain strength, build muscle
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: six weeks, can be run indefinitely
- Spreadsheet: Greyskull Linear Progression Program – 6 Week.
The Greyskull Linear Progression Program (GSLP) is a beginner-friendly 3-day workout split that involves full-body workouts three times per week.
In GSLP, you perform five lifts each training day, targeting the lower and upper body muscle groups in a single session. Following linear progression training principles, GSLP increases the weight for each lift every week.
When running GSLP, you perform your final set as an AMRAP set, allowing for some autoregulation of your performance.
In the final set of each lift, the rep range is 5+, meaning you should do as many reps as possible. This allows your body to adapt to heavier loads, even if you can’t lift heavier weights each week.
The GSLP program is excellent for novice lifters, as it guides you through finding your starting weight and produces strength gains relatively quickly. The program spreadsheet calculates your weekly incremental weight increases to track your progress.
Being a beginner program, you should start with conservative weights, which rapidly increase as you move through the program.
The six-week program can be repeated as many times as you like by copying the spreadsheet, marking the start date, and updating your starting weights each time.
Greyskull Linear Progression Program – 6 Week (2020 v2).
Greg Nuckols 28 Programs – 3-Day Version
- Experience level: intermediate/advanced, can be scaled for novices
- Program goals: build strength, gain muscle, increase weights on Powerlifting lifts
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: four weeks, followed by a 1RM testing week
- Spreadsheet: free to download on the Stronger By Science website by providing an email address
Greg Nuckols created this suite of 28 programs to provide flexible training options for novice, intermediate, and advanced lifters.
The programs offer dedicated training plans for the squat, bench, and deadlift and offer a range of levels to choose from, depending on your experience level.
The 28 programs are highly customizable. You can focus on one lift or run three programs simultaneously to hit each lift every week.
The reason it’s called “28 programs” is because there are three lifts (squat, bench press, deadlift), three experience levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced), and three frequencies (1x, 2x, 3x). Some lifts, like bench presses, have medium and high volume variations of the same experience level, which ends up creating 28 different lift-specific programs to choose from.
If this sounds confusing, don’t worry. It’s a lot simpler than it looks!
For example, you could build the following 3-day workout split:
- Day 1: Bench, Squat
- Day 2: Bench, Deadlift
- Day 3: Bench, Squat
This program combines the “bench 3x beginner,” “squat 2x beginner,” and “deadlift 1x beginner” programs.
Not a beginner? No problem. Simply combine “bench 3x intermediate,” “squat 2x intermediate,” and “deadlift 1x intermediate.”
You get the idea.
Greg designed these programs to accommodate specific goals, strengths, weaknesses, and time allowances.
This program is great for any experience level and lifters wanting to see dramatic increases in their 1RM in a specific lift and target the major muscle groups. Visit Lift Vault’s program page for Greg Nuckols 28 programs to learn more and read some impressive user reviews.
Madcow 5×5
- Experience level: intermediate/advanced
- Program goals: build muscle, increase strength
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: nine weeks, can be run indefinitely
- Spreadsheet: Madcow 5×5 Spreadsheet.
Madcow 5×5 is another linear progression periodization program ideal for intermediate to advanced lifters. Madcow 5×5 is a variation of Bill Starr’s 5×5 strength and hypertrophy program, which has been around for over 30 years.
Madcow 5×5 focuses on five compound barbell exercises; the bench press, deadlift, squat, overhead press, and row. Each session targets the lower and upper body muscle groups together, with one rest day in between and a two-day rest at the end of the week.
As the name suggests, the program involves five sets of five reps, with increasing weights each week. The program also uses rep ranges of 3’s and 8’s.
Madcow is an excellent program for people wanting to build muscle and achieve a 5RM PR on the big five lifts. It is also great for people who have completed Strong Lifts, as you can input your current 5RM in the spreadsheet to calculate your weekly weight progressions.
This program is ideal for intermediate lifters who can no longer progressively overload each week and want to build muscle and get stronger in the big compound lifts.
SPF Powerbuilding – 3-Day Version
- Experience level: intermediate/advanced
- Program goals: build muscle, increase strength, maintain powerlifting capacity
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: 4 weeks
- Spreadsheet: SPF Powerbuilding
The Strength Power and Fortitude (SPF) Powerbuilding program is a 4-week powerlifting program. It is ideal for off-season powerlifters looking to build and maintain foundational strength, muscular endurance, and capacity.
The SPF program runs in 4-week cycles, resetting and testing your work capacity with a max-out session where you complete as many reps as possible (AMRAP). You can select a 3-day or 4-day variation based on your schedule.
SPF dedicates one session each to the bench press, the squat, or the deadlift. These core lifts are the primary focus of each session, with additional isolation exercises to promote hypertrophy and healthy joints.
The program can be run indefinitely, with your new 1RM calculated from your AMRAP sets, to keep seeing strength gains over time.
SPF Powerbuilding Spreadsheet.
Korte 3×3
- Experience level: intermediate/advanced
- Program goals: build strength, improve powerlifting capacity
- Training frequency: 3 days per week
- Program length: 4-week phases, can be run twice for an 8-week program
- Spreadsheet: Korte 3×3 Spreadsheet.
The Korte 3×3 program is a powerlifting-specific program created by Stephan Korte. Korte 3×3 has been used by some of the sport’s strongest competitors, including Michael Bruegger, the first German powerlifter to lift over 2,200 lb.
This program includes two phases. Phase one focuses on higher-volume workouts to build capacity and muscular endurance. Phase two is the competition phase, preparing the athlete to lift maximal weights for fewer reps.
The program overview from Korte is below, sourced from his website.
Korte 3×3 trains the three main powerlifting lifts (bench press, deadlift, and squat) in each of the three weekly sessions. Unlike other lifting programs, there are no additional isolation exercises. All your energy, strength, and focus is on perfecting your form and building as much strength as possible in the foundational lifts.
Korte 3×3 is best suited for powerlifters who want to prepare for competitions and dedicate every session to increasing their 1RM for the bench, deadlift, and squat.
Benefits of a 3-Day Workout Split
- Time efficiency
- Great for muscle growth
- Includes enough rest and recovery
- Prevents fatigue and complacency
- Ideal for beginners
Time efficiency
A 3-day workout routine strikes a great balance between getting in enough weekly volume to continually stimulate new muscle growth and strength gains without spending every day in the gym.
Great for muscle growth
One systematic review and meta-analysis found that the optimal frequency for weight training is likely between two and three times per week for all muscle groups. The ideal amount of training sessions per week varies between individuals, but three sessions per week are the sweet spot for most lifters to keep striving toward their strength and hypertrophy goals.
Includes enough rest and recovery
Heavy weight training strains your muscle fibers, and heavy compound lifts also tax your central nervous system (CNS). Having sufficient rest days allows your muscles to recover and your CNS to return to baseline so you can hit the next session with adequate intensity to keep progressing.
Prevents fatigue and complacency
It’s easy to get lazy with reps and sets when you are in the gym five or six days a week. Many lifters fall into the trap of justifying lower effort by training more often. You may find you have more motivation, mental energy, and dedication by switching to a 3-day split.
Ideal for beginners
A 3-day workout split is achievable for most beginners and will produce impressive newbie gains, build lean muscle mass, and may help you lose fat.
3-Day Workout Split FAQs
We provided six great training options for 3-day workout splits in this article! You can choose between a 3-day full-body split or one that targets each muscle group on separate training days.
Push/pull/legs is a popular training split because it allows maximum volume for each muscle group per workout session.
Full-body workouts work well for people who don’t mind doing the same workout each time they step into the gym and enjoy training the same muscle groups multiple times a week.
If you want to train your whole body in every session, check out our list of the best full-body workouts.
The best 3-day split will depend on your biomechanics, experience level, genetics, and preferences. Most research suggests that getting enough weekly volume for your major muscle groups matters more than the specific split you follow.
Following a 3-day workout split can increase muscle mass, burn calories, and help you lose fat if combined with a proper diet and appropriate caloric balance.
To maximize calorie burn, choose a 3-day workout split focusing on upper and lower body compound lifts. Fat loss can be accomplished with a 3-day split by training the muscle groups on separate days or all together by following a full-body workout split.=
