Strength Training- 3X Per Week Template = Big Results

Have you wanted to try some at home workouts or maybe go into a gym and plug in to a rotuine that you knew was going to help you get stronger; build muscle; and also hit commonly skipped areas like unilateral work, rib and spine movement, power work and even some “cardio”? Well, we at Resilient Body have spent some time putting together some templates for various workout splits over the weeks ahead to share with you.

At 3 days per week, our first workout template hits a sweet spot for many of you who may not have a ton of time to squeeze in dedicated sessions for strength and muscle building along with cardio. It also works great if you do have time but like to use exercise to bolster other activities or sports you may enjoy playing recreationally. For a synopsis of what we consider efficient workouts and movements, which we employ in this template here, have a read.

This 3 day per week workout routine employs training your full body each day. It does this with a shifting emphasis each day on muscles and characteristics important for being strong, fast and building muscle (along with some “cardio”).

While not every base is covered in this template, it works great for most anyone who is trying to check most all the boxes and not specialize in let’s say for instance powerlifting, bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting or a specific sport; but it uses parts taken from their respective training methodologies and puts them to work in a potent and time efficient way. The end result is a 40-60min start to finish workout that gets you really fit with plenty of time to recover or take a day in between to do what you enjoy doing most. However, you may find that you also have a lot of fun with these types of sessions as well!

The Template:

You may notice that the template has specific types of movements plugged in to certain days and positions. However, these movements can be easily swapped along with the “cardio” type work at the end. For instance, You can easily swap your heavy lower for heavy upper lifts in Day 1 and Day 2 to make for more upper or lower biased days. You can also keep everything full body each day as-is and simply swap out a different exercise under each movement type every 4-8 weeks. Finally, you can also play around with having Day 2 move to Day 1 if, for instance, you do Day 1 on Monday and Day 2 on Wednesday. You can basically go by your preference and still get enough specific types of exercise in quantity and balance each week to suit you best.

Let’s now look at specific exercises plugged into the template:

Now see how specific exercises take the place of the main movement types and the number of sets and reps become more specific as well. You can basically choose any exercise that fits under the movement category that you want and keep it there for the 4-8 week block of training to make progress on it. Keep in mind that we chose a lower body 3 part superset of 3 exercises that pair well together, but you could easily put in other exercises that are similar. For instance, you may want to get some more lateral (side to side) motion in your lunge work in Day 2 so you put in Cossack Squats. No problem! You could even alternate that every other week if you like and feel comfortable. Lastly, you will just want to make sure you have movements that compliment each other and work in multiple planes of motion and direction spread throughout your days/week (i.e. vertical and horizontal pushing and pulling both).

Finally Let’s Look at the rationale for the week as well as what a detailed version of Day 1 would look like with a warm-up.

While these are shorthand notes for the rationale, they get at the heart of why a specific type of movement is there. Ultimately, this is to help you with this template/framework for your own workouts. Keep in mind the extra interval and zone 2 cardio type sessions with resistance training built in could just as easily be swapped for more sets of the above exercises, done as standalone (i.e. just bike or jog or swim for the stated duration or longer), or have additional exercises that support your other exercises or preferred activities outside of the gym.

Day 1 broken down:

Key Takeaways:

Efficiency Focus: As always, we are looking to make 3 days as efficient as possible, but there are many ways to do this to suit you. Feel free to move things around a bit or select better movements for you and perhaps with equipment you have available. It needs to be efficient for YOU.

Lots of Tension: Muscle tension seems to be one of if not the most important factor for muscle growth and it helps develop strength too. There are probably other mechanisms at play we don’t know about fully but make sure you find and create lots of tension with your lifts and work hard on several sets each session. This can lead to several pathways to produce more muscle growth, strength, neural adaptations and connective tissue health.

3 Days = Full Body: With 3 days of working out versus 4, 5, or 6, we will need to get in more sets and reps for more parts of the body in those days. Use this general template but also know that in the end it can be about doing something that may be a little shorter in duration, longer, or perhaps even have more or less types of certain movements that are best for your needs in those 3 days.

Be on the lookout as we will soon be releasing more workout templates. Are there specific types of workouts, templates, or movements you want to see? Let us know.

Lastly, everyone is unique and what you may want to work on in your fitness routine may not look the same as someone else. If you struggle to find what makes your body feel the best and also perform long-term, we would love to help you. Simply shoot us a message.

In the meantime, give this template a try and remember to do your best to stay in control, focus on connecting to your body, and work hard!

Interested in what you can do to get the most minimal but effective dose for your health and fitness goals? For a deeper dive into some of our routines and suggestions, check out this article we wrote about MED training here.

Want an awesome 4 day workout plan that check all the boxes in 40-60 minutes? Check out the RB build daily programming- https://www.resilient-body.com/rb-build

As always, if you have any questions or are interested in working with us, shoot us a message.