Hypertrophy Workout Plan
Eight weeks built on what the hypertrophy research actually says: enough hard sets per muscle, most of them close to failure, and the volume climbing week on week.
Program Overview
Hypertrophy training has three requirements and the rest is detail. You need enough hard sets per muscle per week, roughly ten to twenty for most people. Those sets need to finish close to failure, within about three reps of it, because sets stopped well short do very little. And the total needs to climb over a block rather than staying flat. Rep range matters far less than lifters think: anything from five to thirty reps grows muscle when the set is taken close enough to failure. This program applies all three across four sessions a week for eight weeks, with the weekly set count rising deliberately from week one to week seven and a deload in week eight. Every exercise includes a form video.
For the same goal at maintenance calories, our lean muscle workout plan trades speed for staying lean. For a higher-frequency take at the same four days, see our 4-day hypertrophy program.
Who Is This For?
This plan suits you if:
- You want muscle specifically, not strength or conditioning
- You can train four days a week for eight weeks
- You are willing to train close to failure and log it
- You have a year or so of consistent training behind you
Every muscle-building route lives on our muscle building programs page.
Weekly Schedule
Phase 1: Establish the Volume (Weeks 1-4)
Four sessions covering every muscle twice a week, starting at around twelve hard sets per muscle group and adding a set to two movements each week. Compounds stop two reps short of failure, isolation work stops one short, and the final set of each isolation movement goes all the way. Log the reps, not just the weight: in hypertrophy training reps-in-reserve is the variable that matters.
Two reps in reserve on compounds, one on isolation, zero on the last set of each isolation movement. If you cannot tell how close you are, you are probably further away than you think.
Lower the bar to your mid chest with control and press it back to lockout.
Hinge forward and row the bar to your lower ribs, then lower under control.
Press dumbbells from an inclined bench, lowering to upper chest level.
Pull the bar down to your upper chest by driving the elbows down and back.
Raise the dumbbells out to your sides to shoulder height with a soft elbow bend.
Curl an EZ bar with the hands inside shoulder width, elbows pinned to your sides.
Place the barbell on your upper traps, squat down until thighs are at least parallel, then drive up.
Hold the barbell at hip height, push your hips back and lower until you feel a hamstring stretch.
Seated in the machine, lower the platform toward your chest and press it back out.
With your rear foot elevated on a bench, lower into a split squat and drive up. Work both sides.
Rise onto the balls of your feet and lower for a full stretch.
Press two dumbbells from shoulder height to lockout overhead.
Pull the handle to your midsection, keeping the torso upright.
With a soft elbow bend, bring the handles together in front of your chest.
Use the counterweighted machine to perform pull ups with assistance.
Push a rope attachment down and split the ends apart at the bottom.
Curl a straight bar with the hands wider than shoulder width.
Set your hips, brace, and lift the bar from the floor by driving your legs and standing tall.
Sit with your upper back on a bench and a bar across your hips, then drive your hips up.
Elevate the front foot on a plate and lower into a split squat for extra range. Work both sides.
Rise onto the balls of your feet and lower for a full stretch.
Kneeling at a high pulley, crunch down by flexing the spine, not the hips.
A relaxed walk on your off days. It adds up more than people expect over a training block.
A short mobility circuit for the hips and thoracic spine.
Phase 2: Peak Volume, Then Deload (Weeks 5-8)
Weeks five to seven carry the highest set counts of the block, around eighteen to twenty per muscle group, and this is where the training should start feeling genuinely hard to recover from. That is the signal the volume is doing its job, not a sign to push further. Week eight halves every set count at the same weights so the accumulated fatigue drains and the adaptations surface.
When a session's performance drops two weeks running at the same loads, you have found your volume ceiling. Note the number: it is the most useful thing this block will teach you.
Lower the bar to your mid chest with control and press it back to lockout.
Row explosively from a dead stop on the floor with your torso parallel to the ground.
Press dumbbells from an inclined bench, lowering to upper chest level.
Row a single handle to your side, allowing a longer range through the torso. Work both sides.
Raise the dumbbells out to your sides to shoulder height with a soft elbow bend.
On an incline bench, curl with a neutral grip from a full hanging stretch.
Place the barbell on your upper traps, squat down until thighs are at least parallel, then drive up.
Hold the barbell at hip height, push your hips back and lower until you feel a hamstring stretch.
Seated in the machine, lower the platform toward your chest and press it back out.
With your rear foot elevated on a bench, lower into a split squat and drive up. Work both sides.
Rise onto the balls of your feet and lower for a full stretch.
Press two dumbbells from shoulder height to lockout overhead.
Pull the bar down to your upper chest by driving the elbows down and back.
From low pulleys, sweep the handles up and together in front of your chest.
Hinged forward with cables crossed, open the arms wide against the resistance.
With the cables crossed, push down and out so each arm works across the body.
Curl an EZ bar with the hands inside shoulder width, elbows pinned to your sides.
Set your hips, brace, and lift the bar from the floor by driving your legs and standing tall.
Sit with your upper back on a bench and a bar across your hips, then drive your hips up.
With a wider than shoulder stance, squat back to a box, pause, then drive up.
Rise onto the balls of your feet and lower for a full stretch.
Kneeling at a high pulley, crunch down by flexing the spine, not the hips.
A brisk walk on your rest days to aid recovery and keep you active.
Light stretching and mobility for anything that felt tight in your last session.
Hypertrophy Workout Plan PDF
Eight weeks built on the three things that actually drive muscle growth, with the weekly set counts written out.
This is a 4-day upper/lower plan you run for 8 weeks with full gym access, every muscle trained twice a week. Phase 1 (weeks 1-4) starts near twelve hard sets per muscle group and adds a set to two movements each week, with defined reps-in-reserve targets for compounds and isolation work. Phase 2 (weeks 5-8) peaks at eighteen to twenty sets per muscle in weeks five to seven, then halves everything in week eight so the adaptations surface.
- Volume, Proximity, Progression Ten to twenty hard sets per muscle per week, taken within about three reps of failure, climbing across the block. Everything else in hypertrophy training is detail.
- Rep Ranges Matter Less Than You Think Five to thirty reps all build muscle when the set finishes close enough to failure. The plan uses the range that suits each movement rather than a single magic number.
- Find Your Volume Ceiling The block is designed to climb until performance tells you to stop. The PDF explains how to read that signal and what to record when you find it.
Get Your Hypertrophy Plan
Includes both training phases, weekly set counts, reps-in-reserve targets and exercise cues for all four sessions. Download instantly after you submit the form.
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Nutrition Guidance
Volume this high is a recovery bill, and under-eating is the most common reason a good hypertrophy block produces nothing. Our macro calculator sets the surplus and our recipes make the eating manageable. For more depth, read building muscle while minimizing fat gain and how to tell if your training is working.
What Actually Matters Here
- Calories: A 200 to 400 surplus. Hypertrophy at peak volume in a deficit is mostly an exercise in accumulating fatigue.
- Protein: 1.6 to 2.2g per kg daily. Past that, more protein adds nothing; below it, the sets are wasted.
- Sleep is the variable nobody logs: at twenty sets per muscle, seven hours is the difference between adapting and simply surviving the block.
If week six feels unrecoverable on good food and good sleep, the volume is past your ceiling. That is useful information, not a failure.
