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Bodyworks

Gym Workout for Mass, for Beginners, 3 Days a Week

A house goes up from the foundation, one brick at a time. “Bodyworks” lays its groundwork the same way: three workouts a week, chest, back and legs in every one, and the weight going up a little at a time. The first week is an intro week, a good time to settle into the gym and lay the first row.

  • GoalMass Gain
  • LevelBeginner
  • WhereGym
  • Workouts24
  • One workout~46 min
  • ForEveryone
Start it in the appThe app calculates the weight of every set from your 1RM

Who it’s for

  • You’re just starting out in the gym
  • You want to build muscle
  • You can train three times a week

How it works

  1. 013 workouts a week, 5 exercises each; chest, back and legs work in every session, 9 sets a week per muscle group
  2. 02Base, 4 weeks: every weighted exercise for 12 reps, with the load rising week by week
  3. 03Build, 4 weeks: 10 reps, with the load moving in a wave and a step back in week 3
  4. 042 minutes of rest between sets, and the exercises stay the same in both stages
Method

Full body three times a week

When training comes often, a beginner needs only moderate weights, so chest, back and legs work in all three sessions. The load goes up gradually: week by week in Base, in a wave in Build. The app calculates the weight for each set from your max, and every set ends with reps still in reserve.

Weekly volume

Counts sets where the muscle is the main target of the exercise

  • Chest9 sets3 workouts
  • Back9 sets3 workouts
  • Shoulders6 sets2 workouts
  • Quads6 sets2 workouts
  • Arms6 sets2 workouts
  • Abs6 sets2 workouts
  • Hamstrings & glutes3 sets1 workout

Weighted sets end at least 2 reps short of failure

What the research shows

4

  • In untrained lifters, the largest strength gains came from about 60% of max, three times a week per muscle

    Rhea et al., 2003

  • Training a muscle twice a week produces more growth than once a week

    Schoenfeld et al., 2016

  • Muscle growth does not require taking sets to failure

    Refalo et al., 2023

  • The recommendation is to add weight once the target reps can be done with 1–2 reps to spare

    ACSM, 2009
The studies tested the principles; the program itself has not been tested in this form.

Workout A

5 exercises · ~46 min

The whole first workout. Tap an exercise to open its technique with photos and video.

  1. 01Barbell Full SquatQuads3 × 12weight from 1RM
  2. 02Barbell Bench Press — Medium GripChest3 × 12weight from 1RM
  3. 03Dumbbell Shoulder PressShoulders3 × 12weight from 1RM
  4. 04Seated Cable RowsMiddle Back3 × 12weight from 1RM
  5. 05CrunchesAbs3 × 15bodyweight

All workouts in the program

24 sessions over ~7.5 weeks, 3–4 per week. Workouts A, B and C repeat in a loop, 8 times each. The other workouts and the weight for every set are in the app.

Workout intensity

The load of each session: higher means harder. average per round A–C

hardereasierWorkout 1 (A)Workout 2 (B)Workout 3 (C)Workout 4 (A)Workout 5 (B)Workout 6 (C)Workout 7 (A)Workout 8 (B)Workout 9 (C)Workout 10 (A)Workout 11 (B)Workout 12 (C)Workout 13 (A)Workout 14 (B)Workout 15 (C)Workout 16 (A)Workout 17 (B)Workout 18 (C)Workout 19 (A)Workout 20 (B)Workout 21 (C)Workout 22 (A)Workout 23 (B)Workout 24 (C)Round 1: averageRound 2: averageRound 3: averageRound 4: averageRound 5: averageRound 6: averageRound 7: averageRound 8: average

Workout number

AtletIQ app

Program weights — from your 1RM

1RM is the weight you can lift once. Enter it for the base exercises and AtletIQ will calculate working weights for all 24 workouts of “Bodyworks”.

  • The weight of every set comes from your 1RM
  • All workouts of the program in order, with rest between sets
  • Progress for every exercise
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