5-Day Body-Part Split

The classic bodybuilding split — one muscle group per day, each getting a dedicated 60-75 minute session of focused work. Chest / Back / Shoulders / Legs / Arms rotated across five weekdays.

Intermediate lifters who prefer the focus of one-muscle-per-day training. Works well for people whose gym access makes 5-day weeks realistic and who respond to high-volume localised work.

Five sessions per week, one muscle group per day. Each session: 12-20 working sets spread across 4-6 exercises, 6-12 reps.

Linear load progression on compound lifts, organic progression on isolation work. Add a rep or 2.5 kg when the top of the prescribed range is hit across all work sets.

The 5-day body-part split emerged from 1970s-80s bodybuilding practice and has been continuously refined in magazine and Internet training content since. No single author — it's a community standard.