The Best 3-Days a Week Strength Training Routine

Can you get results strength training just 3 days a week? Yes! I’ll show you how.

In this quick guide I’ll show you how and why 3 days is enough time to get real results. I’ll give you a couple of strength training routine options that you can use to transform your body. And I’ll leave you with a few tips you can use to keep seeing results.

Let’s get started…

Why Resistance Training?

First of all, why am I talking about resistance training and not cardio when it comes to transforming your body? Minute for minute, don’t you burn more calories during a 60 minute run than you do during a 60 minute lift session? Yes…but that’s not what changes your body.

It’s not that cardio isn’t a beneficial form of exercise. It’s just that, if you want to see results – if your goals have anything to do with changing your body composition – then resistance training aka strength training is the most efficient way to do that.

Here’s why:

The specific number of calories that you burn during a cardio session depends on a lot of things, including your age, height, weight, speed, and fitness level. You can burn hundreds of calories in 60 minutes, no doubt. But as soon as you stop running, the calorie burn stops.

When you strength train, you won’t burn as many calories in 60 minutes. The real benefit comes after your workout ends. The real benefit from your strength training workout comes from the fact that strength training is stress. It’s a challenge to your body that requires adaptation. That adaptation – that muscle growth and recovery – is what transforms your body.

If you’re interested in really understanding the different benefits between strength and cardio, this short article gets more in depth and really answers the question: What’s Better for Fat Loss?

Can You Really Get Results With Just 3-Days a Week?

There’s no doubt!

My favorite (and maybe over-used) trainer phrase is this:

The best workout for you is the workout you’ll do.

Me, a lot

But seriously, if you only have 3 days a week to workout, then that’s what we’re working with and it’s a lot better than no days a week!

Why and how 3-days a week can work for you:

• It’s convenient. The biggest benefit here is easily that it fits your schedule. If you’ve got a hundred things on your plate (and who doesn’t), from work to kids to a house to a dog to travel to whatever else there is, but you can commit to 3 days? I’ll take it.
  
• It allows for complete recovery in between sessions. Working out three days a week, when set up properly, gives your muscles at least 1 day of complete recovery in between work sessions. This is important because you don’t build and grow during your workout…you build and grow after your workout is complete.
  
• Results might even come faster because you can approach each workout with the least amount of fatigue and soreness. Going into a your lifting session fully recovered is crucial to feeling able to put 100% effort into each rep. The harder you work during your workout, the faster the results.
  
• You have enough time to build lean muscle and strength. Most research shows that for muscle and strength growth, the overall volume of work you do each week matters more than how you do the week. Which means that you can do 3 sets of 3 different leg exercises 3 times a week, or you can do them all on one day and the results are comparable.

The Best 3-Days a Week Strength Training Routine

There are two strength training routines that work well with 3-day a week programs: full body splits, and lower/push/pull splits.

The Full Body Split Routine

In a full body split routine you’ll work every muscle group at least one time during each workout. You’ll train 3 days a week with at least 1 day of rest in between workouts. The exact days you workout doesn’t matter, as long as you keep a rest period in between. This is the most popular schedule for a full body split being done 3-days per week:

Note that if you have weekends off, you might one to save one workout for the weekend when you have more time and feel more relaxed. I also have clients who prefer to keep their weekend free to do other hobbies and to travel, so they find time during their work week to fit the sessions in.

As for the workout itself, you have a couple of options. You can find one full body workout that you enjoy and master – and do that three times a week. Or you can do my preferred method which is create 3 different full body workouts that hit the same muscle groups in different ways.

For example…

The Lower/Upper Push/Upper Pull Routine

For this routine you’d still complete 3 strength training workouts per week, but each would be dedicated to specific muscle groups. Again, the exact days that you do lower body or upper body don’t matter too much. In fact, you could actually do all three workouts on consecutive days since you won’t be working the same muscle groups. But I still recommend at least a day of rest in between to let your central nervous system fully recover.

There are some definite benefits to this lower/upper/upper routine. This style emphasizes your training and attention on related/supporting muscle groups. This allows for even greater recovery between workout sessions than total body splits.

That said, your overall volume of training for each muscle group might be less, since you’re only hitting that area once a week.

Here’s an example of what this kind of routine could look like for you:

Tips Get the Best Results From Your 3-Day Strength Training Routine

1. The number of sets and reps that you do should reflect your overall training goal.
   
   If your goal is to build strength: 2-6 sets x 4-6 reps at 85% or more of your 1 rep max is ideal.
   If your goal is hypertrophy/to build lean muscle: 3-6 sets x 6-12 reps at 60-85% of your 1 rep max.
   If your goal is muscular endurance: 2-3 sets x 12-20 reps at less than 65% of your 1 rep max.
   
2. To figure out the weight that you should be lifting without knowing your 1 rep max will take some trial and error, and it will take some tracking. You want to choose a weight that is heavy enough that you can hit the bottom number in the rep range, but not so heavy that you can’t complete the top number of reps. For safety-sake, start low on the weight scale and work your way up.
   
3. Keeping a workout log is the best way to stay on track, and keep progressing week after week, year after year. Track the exercises you completed, the number of sets and reps you did and at what weight. Next time you do the workout check your log so that you know where to get started.
   
4. Don’t forget about nutrition. You cannot out-train a poor diet. If your goal is body composition changes, you’re going to need to stay within a certain calorie range, and consume enough protein to build muscle.

Need Help with Your Diet and Workouts?

I know this can feel overwhelming so please know, you don’t have to do this alone! I’m here to support you in any way. If you want help with…

• Nutrition and healthy eating I can help you develop a step-by-step, habit-based approach to better dieting and a healthier relationship with food. Click here for more information on Nutrition Coaching with Julia Hale Fitness.
  
• Fitting fitness into your life so that you can reach your goals, I coach women across the United States completely virtually and I can give you an action plan for success, and accountability and support to see it through.