Full Body Three Days a Week: The Complete Plan

A complete three-day full body plan: three rotating workouts, exact sets and reps, a simple rule for adding weight, and the mistakes that stall progress.

For most people training around a job, full body three times a week gives the best return on time spent. Every muscle group gets three stimuli per week instead of one, and you spend about three hours total in the gym. Here is how to set it up concretely: which exercises, how many sets, and how to add weight.

Why three days instead of five

After a session, a muscle stays primed for growth for roughly 36 to 48 hours. If you train chest only on Monday, that group gets nothing for the other five days. Three full body sessions give every group three of those windows per week.

The second reason is practical. In a five-day split, one missed session means a muscle group goes untrained for the whole week. With full body, a missed day still leaves two thirds of the work done.

The target is 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle group per week. Spread across three days, that is 3 to 6 sets per group per session — enough to progress without wrecking you by Wednesday.

Laying out the week

You want at least one rest day between sessions. Monday – Wednesday – Friday works, so does Tuesday – Thursday – Saturday. If the week falls apart, two days back to back followed by two off still beats skipping.

You do not repeat the same workout three times. You rotate three sessions — A, B and C — that hit the same movement patterns with different exercises and different rep ranges. Your joints do not take identical loading three times a week, and progression is easier to manage.

What goes into each session

One knee-dominant leg movement: squat, lunge or leg press
One hip-dominant leg movement: Romanian deadlift, deadlift or hip thrust
One horizontal push: bench press, push-ups or dumbbell press
One horizontal pull: barbell row, dumbbell row or cable row
One vertical push or pull: overhead press, pull-ups or lat pulldown
One accessory of your choice: biceps, triceps, calves or abs, 2 to 3 sets

That is 5 to 6 exercises and 15 to 20 hard sets per session. Adding more usually just extends your stay in the gym.

The actual plan

Day A — heavy, low reps

Back squat: 4 sets x 5 reps
Bench press: 4 x 5
Barbell row: 3 x 8
Romanian deadlift: 3 x 8
Pull-ups or lat pulldown: 3 x 6–10
Plank: 3 x 45 seconds

Day B — moderate

Deadlift: 3 x 5
Overhead press: 4 x 6–8
Leg press: 3 x 10–12
Seated cable row: 3 x 10–12
Incline dumbbell press: 3 x 8–10
Dumbbell curl: 3 x 10–12

Day C — lighter, higher reps

Bulgarian split squat: 3 x 10 per leg
Hip thrust: 3 x 12
Flat dumbbell press: 3 x 10–12
Single-arm dumbbell row: 3 x 12 per arm
Lateral raise: 3 x 15
Cable triceps extension: 3 x 12–15

How to add weight

Use double progression. Take a rep range, say 3 x 8–12. Once you hit 12 clean reps on all three sets, add weight next session and drop back to 8. On the big lifts add 2.5 kg, on upper body dumbbell work 1 to 2 kg.

Take working sets to 1 to 3 reps short of failure. If you could do five more at the end of a set, the weight is simply too light.

Rest periods and session length

Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets on the big lifts and 60 to 90 seconds on isolation work. The whole session fits in 55 to 75 minutes including an 8 to 10 minute warm-up: 5 minutes of easy cardio plus 2 to 3 ramp-up sets of the first exercise.

Food and recovery, briefly

Protein: 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. For an 80 kg person that is 130 to 175 grams a day, spread over 3 to 4 meals. To gain, eat 200 to 300 calories above maintenance; to lose fat, 300 to 500 below. Sleep 7 to 9 hours — without it your numbers stall within two or three weeks no matter how good the program is.

Common mistakes

Adding exercises until the session is 10 movements and 100 minutes long. Six is enough.
Switching programs every two weeks. Stay on one for at least 8 to 12 weeks.
Not keeping a log. If you do not know what you lifted last time, you have nothing to progress from.
Training to failure on everything. Save failure for the last set of an isolation exercise, not for squats.

When to see a doctor

Check with a doctor before starting if you have known heart disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, diabetes, if you are pregnant, or if you are over 40 and have not trained in years.

Stop training and get help the same day if you get chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath out of proportion to the effort, dizziness or fainting. Also see a doctor if joint pain lasts longer than 5 to 7 days, if there is swelling, if you feel tingling or weakness travelling down an arm or leg, or if you notice dark urine along with severe, unusual muscle soreness after a first hard session.

The short version

Three full body sessions a week with at least one rest day between them: Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
Rotate three different workouts (A, B, C), each with 5 to 6 exercises and 15 to 20 hard sets.
Aim for 10 to 20 sets per muscle group per week, taken 1 to 3 reps short of failure.
Progress by double progression: hit the top of the rep range, add 2.5 kg, drop back to the bottom.
Protein 1.6 to 2.2 g per kilogram, sleep 7 to 9 hours, and stay on the same plan for 8 to 12 weeks.