Increase Muscle Mass and Strength with Four Weekly Workouts | Hardworkout Magazine

Key takeaways

- The eight-week programme is built around four strength sessions a week: chest and lateral shoulders, back and rear shoulders, arms and abs, and legs.

- Rest-pause means taking a 10–15 second break at failure and then continuing with the same weight, while a drop set means lowering the weight and carrying on immediately without a break.

- Rest-pause, drop sets and slow eccentric phases are used only in the final set of the marked exercises, with 90 seconds of rest between sets.

- A moderate calorie surplus of roughly 200–300 kcal a day combined with 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight supports muscle growth while limiting fat gain.

- Two to four moderate cardio sessions of around 20 minutes a week can improve recovery between sets without derailing the strength programme.

If you have been strength training for several years, it may be necessary to make changes to your training in order to continue building muscle and getting stronger.

The next eight weeks are about pushing yourself a little extra, gradually increasing the weights, and working purposefully to become both bigger and stronger. With demanding strength sessions and enough time for recovery, you have a good opportunity to take your training to the next level.

Who is this eight-week programme for?

The program consists of four strength workouts per week, divided into chest and outer shoulders, back and rear shoulders, arms and abs, as well as legs.

You should have good experience with strength training, master basic strength exercises, and be accustomed to training at high intensity.

In addition to regular working sets, three training methods are used to increase intensity: rest-pause, drop sets, and slow eccentric phases. These are used in the last set of selected exercises and are explained further below.

The rest days give the body time to recover between sessions, so that you have energy for the next training day.

Training days can be moved if another distribution works better. However, try to avoid more than two to three consecutive training days.

What is rest-pause, and how do you do it?

Rest-pause involves performing a set until you can no longer do more repetitions with good technique, taking a short break of 10–15 seconds, and continuing with the same weight.

Example with bicep curls with dumbbells:

- 8 repetitions with 10 kg per dumbbell

- 15 seconds pause

- 3-4 extra repetitions with the same weight

The short pause gives the muscles time to recover a bit, allowing you to perform more repetitions than you would in one continuous set. The method can be used to increase training volume without adding more regular sets.

How do drop sets work?

In drop sets, you reduce the weight when you can no longer perform more repetitions with good technique and continue immediately with lighter weights without a break.

Example with incline bench press with dumbbells:

- 10 repetitions with 16 kg per dumbbell

- Reduce the weight to 10 kg per dumbbell

- Continue with as many repetitions as you can with good technique

By reducing the weight, you can continue with more repetitions even if you can no longer lift the original weight.

Drop sets are therefore a time-efficient method to increase intensity and stimulate muscle growth.

Why should you lower the weight slowly?

The eccentric phase is the part of an exercise where the muscle lengthens while developing force.

In a bicep curl, for example, this occurs when you lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

By taking 3-5 seconds to lower the weight, you increase the time the muscles are under tension, which can contribute to increased muscle growth.

Choose a weight that allows you to lower it in a controlled manner throughout the entire movement.

How heavy weights should you use?

Choose weights that make the last repetitions challenging, without compromising technique.

If you are supposed to perform 10 repetitions but can easily do 15, you should increase the weight. If you can only manage 5-6 repetitions, the weight is too heavy.

In regular working sets, you can finish with 1-2 repetitions in reserve. Sets with rest-pause and drop sets are performed closer to exhaustion.

For further progression, you should use the principle of progressive overload. This means gradually increasing the weights or the number of repetitions as you get stronger, to stimulate further muscle growth and increased strength.

Weekly Plan – Four Strength Workouts

The program is divided into four training days, with rest or active recovery between the sessions.

- Monday: Chest and lateral shoulders

- Tuesday: Back and rear shoulders

- Wednesday: Rest or active recovery

- Thursday: Arms and abs

- Friday: Legs

- Saturday: Rest or active recovery

- Sunday: Rest

On rest days, you can take a leisurely walk, cycle lightly, or do some mobility exercises.

Training Program – Exercises and Sessions

All four sessions are performed once a week for eight weeks.

There is a scheduled 90-second break between sets. For heavy exercises, you can take longer breaks if you need to.

The repetitions are given in the order they should be performed. If it says 12, 10, 12, it means 12 repetitions in the first set, 10 in the second, and 12 in the third.

Rest-pause, drop sets, and slow eccentric phases are only used in the last set of the exercises that are marked.

Monday: Workout 1 – Chest and Side Shoulders

- Incline bench press with barbell: 3 sets x 12, 10, 12 reps (rest-pause)

- Dumbbell bench press: 3 sets x 12, 10, 15+ reps (drop set)

- Cable crossover: 3 sets x 12 reps (3–5 seconds lowering phase)

- Dumbbell lateral raise, seated: 3 sets x 12 reps

- Cable lateral raise, one arm at a time: 3 sets x 12 reps per arm