Muscle building workout generator: free custom bulking routines

How this workout plan generator builds your routine

This free workout builder works like a workout planner you can use in seconds. It picks a proven split for the days you choose, then orders each session so the heaviest compound lifts come first, while you are freshest. Second compound lifts follow, then isolation exercises for smaller muscles such as biceps, triceps, side delts and calves.

Every main muscle group is covered across the week: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves and core. Each exercise has three like-for-like swaps that train the same muscles with your equipment, so a busy gym or a missing machine never stops the plan.

Choosing your training split: 2 to 6 days explained

• 2 days: full body A/B or upper / lower. The minimum that still trains everything each week.
• 3 day workout routine: full body A/B/C, a push pull legs routine, or alternating upper / lower.
• 4 day workout split: the upper lower split — upper A, lower A, rest, upper B, lower B. Every muscle twice a week with rest days between.
• 5 day workout split: upper and lower days followed by push, pull and legs, or four upper/lower days plus an arms, shoulders and abs day.
• 6 days: push pull legs twice a week, the classic bodybuilding split, or upper / lower three times each.

For more detail, read choosing a workout split and push pull legs for beginners.

Hypertrophy workout plan: sets, reps and reps in reserve

For muscle gain, main lifts use 6–10 reps, second compounds 8–12 and accessories 10–15, with most sets finishing 1–3 reps in reserve (RIR): you stop when you could still do one to three more good reps. Strength plans use heavier main lifts for 3–6 reps with longer rest. Beginners keep to 3 sets and stay 2–3 reps from failure while they learn each movement.

Rest about 2–3 minutes after compound lifts and 60–90 seconds after isolation exercises. See RIR and RPE explained and how long to rest between sets.

Structuring your bulking workout for size

A mass building workout is not a special set of exercises. It is a well-structured muscle building plan done consistently while you eat enough to grow. The 2026 ACSM position stand summarised the evidence as around 10 or more weekly sets per muscle group; no single optimal number has been established. Check your totals with the weekly sets per muscle checker or read how many sets per muscle per week.

How to progress: the double progression rule

Keep the same weight until you reach the top of the rep range on every set. Then add the smallest step available — often 1–2.5 kg — and work back up. This progressive overload is what turns any beginner workout routine into a mass builder over months. The next set weight calculator does the arithmetic, and progressive overload explained covers the reasoning.

Adapting this as a dumbbell workout plan

Choose Dumbbells only and the generator swaps every lift for a dumbbell, bench or bodyweight version: goblet squats, dumbbell Romanian deadlifts, one-arm rows, dumbbell presses and curls. When the heaviest dumbbells get easy, add reps, slow the lowering phase or use single-leg and single-arm variations. Read the dumbbell workout plan for beginners for a full home routine.

Fuel your muscle building workout

Training gives the signal; food provides the material. Work out your daily target with the bulking calorie calculator, then set your intake with the muscle gain protein calculator.

Common questions