Are you looking for a 3 day mass workout that doesn’t waste your time in the gym?
Goal Of This Workout
This workout routine runs for 12 weeks and is ideal for someone who really wants to build as much muscle as possible.
We’re going to utilize heavy compound lifts, a progression scheme that is easy to follow, and eat nutritious foods.
Diet and Nutrition Tips
You are going to gain some muscle, some fat, and a lot of strength during this routine all in the name of becoming a mass monster.
I would recommend going on a slow bulk for this routine to get the most out of it. It is easier to cut some fat afterwards than trying to make strength gains on a calorie deficit.
If you keep your weight consistent and need some tips to add calories into your diet, here are some of the best and healthiest ways to do so:
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Whole milk
- Heavy cream
- Cheese on everything
- Protein shakes
- Peanut butter
- Olive oil
- Extra dressing
These all add flavor and healthy fats to your diet. Personally, I prefer adding calories through this means instead of going to McDonalds and smashing a couple McDoubles.
You will feel better, have more energy, and your stomach will thank you.
Note: A little bit goes a long way, so be sure to know how many calories you are adding.
The real “trick” to this routine is not necessarily the training, but the recovery and eating that go along with it.
This routine is going to get you bulked up and you will need to do a small cut after running this routine for 12 weeks, but the strength and muscle you gain is worth it.
Eat More
This routine is going to require you to eat 400 calories over your maintenance calories. This means if you’ve been “stalled” and haven’t been making any gains, add 400 calories to your day every day and you are going to start getting much stronger and bigger.
The cardio and conditioning work is going to help keep fat gains to a minimum but if you want to really pack on some muscle and get jacked, you’re going to have to get your grub on.
Time to bust out some of your favorite foods; eating too clean will be hard to get another 400 calories out of your diet, so get a cheeseburger or two every now and again.
Rest More
You are going to have to get plenty of rest so your body can recover and build muscle.
More rest with the additional food is going to really make a huge difference in how your body responds to a workout so the more rest you can get, the better.
De-Stress More
Stress puts a strain on your body and nervous system and keeps you from recovering as quickly. De-stress as much as you can.
Things like getting a massage, meditation, hikes in the woods, listening to calming music, and just getting away from everything are great ways to help you de-stress.
Recommended Supplements
Without a good diet, supplementation is mostly a waste of money. I will be the first to tell you to spend money on some good meats than a jug of protein.
For those who have their diets in check, here are the supplements I would use with this routine.
Pre-Workout
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Pre-Workout
Solid pre-workout from a well-known long-standing company. Great if you need a little more pep in your step.
Helps with getting a few more reps out and can help with focus as long as you don’t stare at your phone the whole time.
Protein
MTS Machine Whey Protein: 5lbs
This is in my opinion the best tasting protein on the market. Period.
Great blend with no secrets, no amino spiking, and it is some of the best in the industry.
So far I’ve had Red Velvet, Cookies and Cream, and Key Lime. All are A+.
BCAA
Marc Lobliner has his sweetening on point with these supplements.
I’ve used mixed berry and grape and I love them both.
Creatine
Check out our review on BodyTech Creatine Monohydrate.
It is a tried and true supplement and studies suggest it will help with performance and recovery.
I highly recommend this.
Cardio and Conditioning Schedule
For the cardio and conditioning I want you to choose at least two different cardio machines you will use at the gym at least one activity outside of the gym.
Conditioning is important to your overall health and the better condition you are in, the more work you can do in the gym and be able to fully recover.
Pre-Workout
For your pre-workout, I want you to use a warm up routine where you will use one cardio machine for a 10 minute session.
No need to spend a lot of energy here, your main goal is to raise your heart rate and your core body temperature so you can do your workouts injury free.
Post-Workout
Immediately after you are done training, I want you to hop on a different machine than the one you warmed up with.
You can switch which machines you use when as long as you use two different machines each day you train.
Hop on your machine and do 20-30 minutes of post-workout cardio.
You can use steady state or high intensity interval training for your cardio here.
I would recommend mixing it up and incorporating both into the mix.
This isn’t supposed to be a scientific approach, I just want you up and moving.
Outside Of The Gym
Once you are outside of the gym either on one of your rest days or a day that you trained, do some sort of activity. Find a sport you would like to play in, hike, go walking, ride a bike, or learn boxing. The possibilities are endless.
It makes no sense to only go to the gym and exercise when you can go outside of your house right now and enjoy your life. What good is having an athletic body or the ability to do amazing things when all we do is lift weights and then go sit at home?
Workout Schedule
- Monday – Chest, Triceps, Abs
- Tuesday – Off
- Wednesday – Back, Biceps, Traps
- Thursday – Off
- Friday – Legs, Shoulders, Abs
- Saturday – Off
- Sunday – Off
If your schedule doesn’t permit you to use this ideal schedule above, it is okay just go what days you can.
The benefit to this schedule is having a day of rest in between each training session and then 2 days in between the week.
Become A Mass Monster With This 3 Day Split
This 3 day split is pretty basic, there isn’t going to be anything special about this routine except that it uses the rep-goal system.
I’ve been having guys use this more often and have seen a lot of great results.
The best part about the rep-goal system is that it is auto-regulating and can achieve many different types of goals.
To make things simple; You have a set amount of reps you need to achieve and a certain amount of sets to get there.
For example if you have 5 sets to get 30 reps on bench; do not think of it as 5 sets of 6. Instead, go until you feel like you are about to fail each set until you reach 30.
My bench session sets today was: 12 reps, 10 reps, 6 reps, 2 reps. I’ve reached my rep goal of 30 and I got it within 5 sets.
I usually keep track in my head my next rep and start my second set with whatever the last set ended with.
Example: I finished my first set at 12, my second set I started at 13 and ended at 22, third set I started at 23 and ended at 28, fourth set I counted 29 and then 30.
| Chest, Triceps, and Abs | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Rep Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 30 |
| Incline Dumbbell Bench Press | 5 | 35 |
| Hammer Bench Press Machine | 4 | 35 |
| Close Grip Bench | 3 | 25 |
| Tricep Extensions | 3 | 30 |
| Rope Crunches | 3 | 30 |
| Planks | 3 | ALAP |
| Back, Biceps, and Traps | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Rep Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlifts | 4 | 20 |
| 1 Arm Dumbbell Row | 4 | 25 |
| Wide Grip Lat Pull Down | 4 | 25 |
| Barbell Preacher Curls | 3 | 30 |
| Hammer Curls | 3 | 30 |
| Face Pulls | 4 | 40 |
| Dumbbell Shrugs | 5 | 60 |
| Legs, Shoulders, and Abs | ||
| Exercise | Sets | Rep Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Squats | 4 | 20 |
| Leg Curls | 3 | 30 |
| Hack Squats | 4 | 25 |
| Military Press | 4 | 30 |
| Side Lateral Raise | 4 | 25 |
| Reverse Flys | 4 | 30 |
| Side Bends | 3 | 50 |
| Weighted Crunches | 3 | 50 |
Workout Tips
Deadlifts – Your rep goal is to hit 20 reps in 10 minutes. Treat each rep as a single and reset after each rep. Push yourself and work hard.
ALAP – As long as possible. Hold planks until absolute failure.
Rest Periods – Making the rest periods shorter is going to up the intensity and give you a massive pump. The goal is no longer than 45 seconds between sets, but if you are not ready after 45 seconds don’t push yourself to get injured.
Take these tips and run with them. If at the 12 weeks you are still making consistent gains, take a couple of weeks off and hit some more cardio and do a small calorie cut to get rid of some of the fat you gained this cycle.
You are going to be building a lot of strength and muscle and I’m confident you are going to like the results.
Sharing is caring, and as always leave any comments or questions below!
Hi Cutty,
Is there any reason why there is no specific calf exercise?
Thanks,
Matt
There’s no reason other than I just didn’t put any in. If you want to do some calf work you can add it in on chest and leg day. Pick whatever exercise you find the most effective.
Cutty
Hi mate, tried this workout today, started on back, I did 8, 6, 4 , 2… I felt I could increase the weight on the 4 and 2 so I did, is this correct if this is the case should my starting weight be more?? I wanted to max out on the last two reps? What’s your views
For rep goal system you want to keep the same weight and keep doing the reps until you can’t. Once you hit the amount of reps in your goal that’s when you stop.
I mean using a reverse pyramid works too but this workout wasn’t designed with that in mind.
Cheers mate, I guess as its my first week it’s a bit of trial and error of how many reps I can get out at each weight and at least I will know that next week I should start heavier and stay on the same weight. Thanks mate. Enjoying it so far
Whenever I start a new rep theme or try out something new it usually takes a week or two to start getting dialed in. That’s generally why I tell people to give a routine at least 8-12 weeks because many programs build that into the program. Hell on MadCow 5×5 when I ran it a long time ago would take up until the 5th week before you start even doing weights above what you originally could do.
Good luck, keep in touch!
hey cutty , about deadlift.. can i replace it ..? i just dont like it.. if yes tell me which exercise can i replace it with
There’s not really a replacement for deadlifts I guess just don’t do them.
Rack pulls below your knees.
Rack pulls are a great alternative to deadlifts.
Cutty,
Truly great website w/ great information. Just wrapped up 12 weeks of the 3 day split for mass. Fantastic program. Followed your guidance for in/out of the gym & really worked hard in the gym. I had not heard of rep goals before reading about them here. Looking back, it is an awesome approach. It was tuff sledding for 12 weeks. At times I hated it,… but I loved it too. Have so many people asking me how I was training b/c of the tangible results. I direct them to your website. Also the article on 21 muscle building mistakes is epic. I’m taking 2 weeks off before jumping into something else – either the 3 day power and pump or the 4 day power and muscle.
Thanks. ED
Ed,
That’s great news. I’m glad that you have had great results. I’m glad the routines are straightforward and thank you for showing people the website! I learned the rep goal system from someone else and I plan on writing my own page about it so I can refer people to that page when needed. The rep goal system is completely different than doing pyramids or anything else – I personally like it. If I were prepping for a powerlifting meet I probably wouldn’t use this technique… but I may use it on the accessory work.
I’ve been coming up with new ideas for articles so if you have anything you would like me to cover, please let me know! Be sure to keep in touch so I can hear about your progress :)
Cutty
Just in short, how do you progress in this routine? Do you always stick with the same rep-goal, and just alter the weight over time to hit the constant rep goal, or do you do something else? Wanting to start this routine but im not sure how to progress!
Yes the general rule is if you hit the rep goal – add lbs next time (5lbs or next increment). Once you start failing to hit all of your reps in the rep goal then you start keeping track of how many reps in how many sets you get. So if you’re stuck on a 225 bench but you are able to get all but 4 reps – you try next week to get those remaining 4 reps. Maybe you get all but 2, etc. You would progress just as you would any other type of rep scheme, this just gives you a better feel of how you are progressing.
Great workout.
Do you have any suggestions on a nutrition plan that would go along this workout routine?
My greatest concern is my late-night workout. I start at 9PM and finish around 10:30PM.
I wake up at 6:30AM and start a day with a protein+fat breakfast.
Lunch is veggies (stew or something) and protein. Some snack around 3PM with yogurt and nuts. Early pre-workout (around 6PM) dinner is protein+carbs.
Immediately after a workout I take protein drink, and 30-60min later I eat cottage cheese with some peanut butter.
I ask this “should I change anything” because I’m stalled with body recomposition and don’t really know in which direction should I go.
Thank you in advance,
regards
P.S. I’m 36 years old, 190cm in height and 105kg weight; going to gym for the last 4 years or so
Sounds like you’re on the right track. If you can get another protein shake in throughout the day, it may help. Adding 100-200 extra calories a day will be all it needs to start recomping some more. You seem to keep carbs down so I think if you sway either one way or the other – add or remove 100-200 calories, you’re going to start noticing a difference. If you would rather cut a few pounds than gain a few (even though later on it will even out) you could remove 100-200 cal a day.
Otherwise I think you are doing good. Maybe manipulate water consumption and maybe add in a little more cardio/conditioning work.
Keep it up.
With the 3 day split are the conditioning days done on non weight training days? What is the preferred method; liss or hiit? Is the duration of cardio going to be the standard 20-30 minutes?
Sorry for taking so long to reply, I’ve not paid much attention the last few days to a lot of stuff I should have. You can do either – I would recommend liss if you do conditioning on training days and hiit on non-training days. This article was written with the idea of “not going every day to the gym” so doing your conditioning immediately after your weight training is how it is written but whichever way is best for you.
Hey there,I’m thinking of going your plan a go,just asking that what happens after the 12 weeks,do I stick to the same plan or I have to go to another one(provided it has positive results)
THANKS.
Just like what Ronnie Coleman believes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If you’re noticing progress and making gains then I would say to keep running it until you start running into plateaus.
Hi Cutty,
I’ve read, and completed so many workout plans and I’ve never seen one like this… I’m really intrigued and excited. I really like the Rep Goal system.. while I am sure it’s not the intended purpose, I feel like it takes a lot of the thinking and extra time out of the workout, which makes it perfect for my AM workouts before heading into work. I’ll post some updates once I get into this starting next week.
When I switched to it rather than prescribed reps, I felt as if I accomplished more than I would have if I would have stopped. It is somewhat self-regulating which means some sessions will really kick some butt while other sessions may not be the best. It’s pretty good.
Definitely keep me posted.
End of Week 1
Just an update. I am into my 2nd week and really loving this workout. I feel really accomplished when I am leaving the Gym. I was a little bit nervous about only working out 3 days a week, but I am finding that the Quality over Quantity really offers something significant; post workout/post workout week I feel as I did during the days I was working out 4-5 days. The 45 seconds in between sets is pretty insane, but I like it a lot. I’ll have to admit it is pretty humbling relative to the low weights I am throwing around, as my muscles are getting fatigued pretty significantly prior to reaching the Rep Goal. However, I was out of the Gym for a couple of months, so I am sure that has a lot to do with it. Looking forward to finishing week 2!
Looking great Dan. You will gain more muscle endurance back – working on your conditioning also will help with muscle endurance so the more you push the better it will get.
The rep goal system is challenging and I really like the way it makes you feel.
I’m glad to hear things are going great. I can’t wait to hear more updates :)