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4-Day Gym Muscle Building Plan for Beginners

A week for a beginner in the gym who wants to build muscle: 4 workouts of 60 minutes (Mon upper body, Tue lower body, Thu upper body, Fri lower body).

Goal
Muscle gain
Days per week
4 days
Minutes per workout
60 minutes
Split
Upper / lower
Level
Beginner
Where
Gym

Monday — upper body

≈ 61 min
Warm-up 4 exercises
  1. Arm Circles

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Dumbbell Halo

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Seated Pelvic Tilt (Anterior / Posterior)

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Kneeling Thoracic Rotation

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Main work

  1. Push-Up Wide

    3 × 8 rest 90 s RPE 7

  2. Hammer Strength High Row

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  3. Push Up

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  4. Lever Lateral Wide Pulldown

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  5. Hammer Strength Iso-Lateral Row

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

Accessory work

  1. Dumbbell Decline Chest Fly

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  2. Alternate Hammer Curl

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  3. EZ Bar Skullcrusher

    3 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  4. Controlled Forearm Pronation and Supination

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

Cool-down 4 exercises
  1. Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Overhead Lat Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Standing Wall Shoulder Opening Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Overhead Triceps Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Tuesday — lower body

≈ 51 min
Warm-up 4 exercises
  1. 90/90 Hip Switches

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Hip Circles

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Front-to-Back Leg Swings

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Bodyweight Squat to Stand

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Main work

  1. Machine Leg Press

    3 × 8 rest 2.5 min RPE 7

  2. Barbell Lunge

    2 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  3. Front Squat

    2 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  4. Nordic Hamstring Curl

    6 × 12 rest 60 s

Accessory work

  1. Seated Calf Raise

    6 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

Cool-down 4 exercises
  1. Kneeling Hip-Flexor Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Rock

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Pigeon Glute Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Lying Figure-Four Glute Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Thursday — upper body

≈ 58 min
Warm-up 4 exercises
  1. Cat–Cow Mobility

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Arm Circles

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Seated Pelvic Tilt (Anterior / Posterior)

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Kneeling Thoracic Rotation

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Main work

  1. Machine Chest Press

    3 × 8 rest 2.5 min RPE 7

  2. Chest-Supported T-Bar Row

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  3. Arnold Press

    4 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  4. Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

    2 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

Accessory work

  1. Cable Pec Fly

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  2. Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  3. Side Laterals to Front Raise

    3 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  4. Spider Curl

    3 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

Cool-down 4 exercises
  1. Doorway Chest Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Overhead Lat Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Standing Wall Shoulder Opening Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Friday — lower body

≈ 57 min
Warm-up 4 exercises
  1. 90/90 Hip Switches

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Hip Circles

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Front-to-Back Leg Swings

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Rock

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

Main work

  1. Barbell Thruster

    3 × 8 rest 2.5 min RPE 7

  2. Dumbbell Single Leg Hip Thrust

    2 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  3. Barbell Split Squat

    2 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

  4. Sissy Squat

    3 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 7.5

Accessory work

  1. Bodyweight Hip Abduction

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  2. Seated Leg Curl

    3 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  3. Hang Power Clean

    2 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

  4. Dumbbell Single Leg Calf Raise

    5 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 8

Cool-down 4 exercises
  1. Standing Quad Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  2. Standing Hamstring Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  3. Kneeling Abdominal Stretch with Side Lean

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

  4. Kneeling Hip-Flexor Stretch

    2 × 15 s rest 15 s

RPE is how hard a set feels on a 1–10 scale: at RPE 7 you have about three more reps left.

This is a sample week the Workoutify generator built for this questionnaire. For your own days, time and equipment it will build yours. Built on October 25, 2026

Why it is built this way

  • Upper and lower body alternate: on 4 days each muscle is trained twice a week with rest in between.
  • Reps: 5–20. The day's main lift sits near the bottom of the range, compounds at 8–12, isolation up to 20. Muscle grows from tension and sets taken close to failure.
  • Rest on the day's main lift is at least 2.5 min, so the next set goes with the same weight. Accessory exercises get shorter rest.
  • Effort is set on the RPE scale from 1 to 10. RPE 7–8 means roughly 2–3 reps left in reserve: you choose the weight by that feel, not by a percentage of your max.
  • For beginners the weeks follow a linear scheme: sets, reps and effort stay the same week to week. Technique and the habit come first.

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