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Double Barrel

Gym Workout for Mass, for Beginners, 2 Days a Week

A double-barrelled gun gives you two shots, one right after the other. “Double Barrel” is built around two days in the gym: each workout trains the whole body, so chest, back and legs are loaded twice a week. Pick your two days and start with the intro week.

  • GoalMass Gain
  • LevelBeginner
  • WhereGym
  • Workouts16
  • 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 new to the gym
  • You can get to the gym two days a week
  • You want to build muscle

How it works

  1. 012 workouts a week, 5 exercises each, all full body; 6 sets a week for chest and 9 each for back and legs
  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 twice a week

Muscle growth depends above all on the number of sets per week; with volume equal, frequency makes little difference. With two days in the gym, each session trains the whole body, and chest, back and legs get worked twice a week. 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

  • Back9 sets2 workouts
  • Chest6 sets2 workouts
  • Quads6 sets2 workouts
  • Shoulders3 sets1 workout
  • Hamstrings & glutes3 sets1 workout
  • Abs3 sets1 workout

Weighted sets end at least 2 reps short of failure

What the research shows

3

  • With weekly volume equal, training frequency has little effect on muscle growth

    Schoenfeld et al., 2019

  • Muscle growth increases with volume, and each extra set adds less than the one before

    Pelland et al., 2026

  • Muscle growth does not require taking sets to failure

    Refalo et al., 2023
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. 03One-Arm Dumbbell RowMiddle Back3 × 12weight from 1RM
  4. 04Lying Leg CurlsHamstrings3 × 12weight from 1RM
  5. 05CrunchesAbs3 × 15bodyweight

All workouts in the program

16 sessions over ~7.5 weeks, 2–3 per week. Workouts A and B 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–B

hardereasierWorkout 1 (A)Workout 2 (B)Workout 3 (A)Workout 4 (B)Workout 5 (A)Workout 6 (B)Workout 7 (A)Workout 8 (B)Workout 9 (A)Workout 10 (B)Workout 11 (A)Workout 12 (B)Workout 13 (A)Workout 14 (B)Workout 15 (A)Workout 16 (B)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 16 workouts of “Double Barrel”.

  • The weight of every set comes from your 1RM
  • All workouts of the program in order, with rest between sets
  • Progress for every exercise
Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play