5-Day Gym Endurance Plan for Advanced Lifters

A week for an experienced lifter in the gym who wants to build endurance: 5 workouts of 60 minutes (Mon long cardio, Tue long cardio, Wed full body, Thu long cardio, Fri HIIT).

Goal: Endurance
Days per week: 5 days
Minutes per workout: 60 minutes
Split: Cardio and strength
Level: Advanced
Where: Gym

Monday — long cardio

≈ 56 min

Warm-up 1 exercise

Arm Circles
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Cardio

Outdoor run
8.8 km 5:27 /km, zone 2, RPE 5

Cool-down 1 exercise

Doorway Chest Stretch
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Tuesday — long cardio

≈ 56 min

Warm-up 1 exercise

Kneeling Thoracic Rotation
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Cardio

Stair climber
48 min zone 2, RPE 4

Cool-down 1 exercise

Overhead Lat Stretch
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Wednesday — full body

≈ 57 min

Warm-up 1 exercise

90/90 Hip Switches
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Main work

Front Squat
4 × 10 rest 90 s RPE 6.5
Cable Standing Single Arm Chest Press
4 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 6.5
Hammer Strength High Row
6 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 6.5
Muscle-up
4 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 6.5
Push Up
3 × 12 rest 60 s RPE 6.5
Split Squat Isometric Hold
4 × 60 s rest 60 s

Cool-down 1 exercise

Kneeling Hip-Flexor Stretch
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Thursday — long cardio

≈ 56 min

Warm-up 1 exercise

Cat–Cow Mobility
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Cardio

Elliptical trainer
48 min zone 2, RPE 4

Cool-down 1 exercise

Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Friday — HIIT

≈ 56 min

Warm-up 1 exercise

Front-to-Back Leg Swings
3 × 45 s rest 20 s

Cardio

VersaClimber
12 × 40 s rest 20 s zone 5

Cardio

Arc Trainer
35 min zone 2, RPE 4

Cool-down 1 exercise

Standing Quad Stretch
3 × 45 s rest 20 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

The week is built around cardio: long easy sessions, intervals and a strength day that keeps muscles and tendons robust.
The week is built on polarized cardio: most of the time in easy zones 1–2, a smaller share as intervals. The strength day supports it: 10–20 reps at moderate effort.
Rest on the day's main lift is at least 60 s, 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 6.5 means roughly 3–4 reps left in reserve: you choose the weight by that feel, not by a percentage of your max.
The weeks run in blocks: three weeks of rising load (RPE +0.5 a week), then a deload week with one set fewer and RPE 2 lower. This page shows the first week of a block.
Intervals at most twice a week; the rest of the cardio is easy.