I will introduce you to my full minimalist workout plan for mid to advanced natural bodybuilders who want to push their bodies even harder. Gain more strength and endurance with this simple but effective workout program.
Main goal
Our main goal with this workout plan is to gain more strength, muscle mass and improve our overall endurance.
Minimalist workout plan
This plan is divided into two, full-body workout splits, targeting the different parts of our body in each day. You can also scale and tweak the program to fit your lifestyle. It can be effective, even doing it 2 times a week.
Schedule
Monday - Upper Body
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Lower Body
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Upper Body
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Rest
Warm Up
We do this warm up in every workout day - before the main workout. The warm-up is divided into two main parts:
- 15 - 30 minutes cardio
The first thing I begin with is 30 minutes treadmill walking on max Incline (15%) and speed 4.5 - 5 km/h. If you want to learn more - why we do slow incline walking instead of running - check out my post about why walking on treadmill on full incline is better than running! Feel free to tweak the speed and incline as you like, just remember to increase it gradually every time you work out, so you can become stronger. The last 5 minutes we start decreasing the tempo and incline gradually, every minute with little amount, or we just hit the cooldown button of the treadmill, and it should do it by itself.
- 5 minutes full-body warm-up
After the cardio, we will be already warmed up, so we do a quick 5 minutes full-body warm up which we can choose by yourself. I suggest you to start with this video guide below:
Rest
Ideally, rest can be extended from 1 to 3 minutes between supersets. I suggest that you give your body more rest, especially with push-ups and dips.
Duration
About 1 hour.
Upper Body
The first day of our workout journey is for our upper body. It consists of antagonistic supersets - training two opposing muscle groups, back to back, without rest.
1. Pull-ups - dips Superset
- Pull-Ups – 4 sets x 10 reps or near failure.
- Dips – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
Using the weight vest could be beneficial if you're advanced at calisthenics already. I am using 10 kg one for the same reps for example.
We are doing this superset with 1 - 3 minutes rest, depending on our Heart Rate and overall exhaustion. Learn how to track your HR efficiently in my post about How to know if you're over-training? What should be your Heart Rate during exercise?
2. Cable rope biceps curls - Straight bar triceps push downs Superset
- Cable rope biceps curls – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
- Straight bar triceps push downs – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
This superset will hit our hands. I suggest you to do some hand stretches between every set.
3. Dumbbell side lateral shoulder raises - Trap dumbbell shrug Superset
- Dumbbell side lateral shoulder raises – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
- Trap dumbbell shrug – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
Lower Body
This workout plan is for full-body, but it's targeting mostly the upper part. Keep that in mind and do your tweaks if needed for this day.
I love street fitness and calisthenics, so I include pull-ups, chin-ups and dips in all of my workouts. So In this workout, we repeat the same fist superset as the previous one, just replacing Pull-ups with Chin-ups. Also with weighted vest as you prefer.
1. Chin-ups - dips Superset
- Chin-Ups – 4 sets x 10 reps or near failure.
- Dips – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
2. Leg Extensions - Lying leg curls Superset
- Leg Extensions – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
- Lying leg curls – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
3. Leg Press - Standing calf raises Superset
- Leg Press – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
- Standing calf raises – 4 sets x 12 reps or near failure.
That's it!
Doing these 2 workouts, you are training almost every part in your body, doing cardio and stretching your body. It's customizable by your needs. If you feel that you're overtraining, do 3 series instead of 4 and add more rest between sets.
