The Ultimate 12 Week Body Transformation Workout Plan (with PDF)

If you’re looking for a way to begin transforming your body for the better, look no further than our 12 Week Body Transformation Workout Plan!

This workout plan prescribes a combination of intense isolation and compound resistance training exercises, a little cardio for additional cardio-pulmonary and metabolic benefit, and smart eating as a starting point for long term body transformation.

Jump to the workout plan.

Or you can download the PDF from the link below:

The 12 Week Body Transformation Workout Plan In a Nutshell

Program style	Resistance training and bodybuilding
Program structure	Three-Way / PPL / Upper-Lower
Program duration	12 weeks
Workout duration	1-2 hours
Scheduling	6 day split
Goal	Body transformation
Level	Beginners to advanced
Equipment needed	Dumbbells, barbells, weight plates, cable machines, pull bar, chest press machine, hex bar, leg extension machine, leg curl machine, riser, adjustable bench

Who Can Benefit From This Workout Plan?

Anyone. Beginners, experienced lifters, younger folks and older. Anyone who is in physical condition to exercise can follow this plan.

If you’ve got lots of excess body fat to lose, no 12 week plan will get you where you likely want to go. But we all start someplace, and our 12 week plan will put you on your path to a better body.

How quickly you can get closer to your ideal body depends on how far away you are from that goal now, and how willing you are to do what it takes to get there.

Either way, it takes commitment. So commit and don’t look back!

Workout Plan Structure

Our 12 week transformation workout plan uses three different split routines, each lasting 4 weeks.

Although this program is only programmed for 12 weeks, you should understand that in order to sustain your transformation, you need to continue training.

So once you have completed this workout plan, we encourage you to pick one of the three splits that suits you best and stick with it for a while, applying progressive overload. Reps go up, then the weight. Simple.

Week 1-4: Three-Way Split

Three-way splits are a sophisticated format used by champion bodybuilders, designed to allow for a lot of work and just enough recovery time between workouts.

The splits are:

• Legs-Arms
• Shoulders
• Chest-Back
• Core and Met (aka cardio) work is added to the secondary split days.
• Arms are included in only one day. That’s intentional. Your arms will be involved in many other exercises, and if you hit arms hard on Arm Day, you should see the results you want. The single, hard arm day will give you the recovery you need before you directly address them again the next week, and guard against overuse injury like elbow tendinosis.
  • If you feel you need a secondary arm day, add arms to the secondary leg day (Legs 2) and use higher reps of no fewer than 15.

Week 5-8: Push-Pull Legs Split

Push-Pull Legs (often abbreviated PPL) is a popular and easy–to-remember workout scheme. Pushing and Pulling upper body movements are divided into separate days and legs are worked on their own.

Isolation exercises for some muscles are pulling movements when a compound exercise for the same muscles are pushing movements. Example: side laterals “pull”, where overhead dumbbell presses are “pushing” movements. In this case, the dumbbell press requires the triceps to work and the triceps always pushes.

Week 9-12: Upper-Lower Split

The final split separates the body at the waist. Designating isolation exercises as specifically upper or lower is easy. Compound movements get tricky and are judgement calls. For instance, the Romanian Deadlift could easily be dubbed an upper body exercise, or a lower body exercise.

We have specifically structured this split with two Upper days between the Lower days to provide sufficient rest between the strenuous leg workouts.

What Makes These Splits Effective For Body Transformation

Three considerations make these splits effective:

1. Exercise distribution.
2. Attention to progressive overload.
3. Varied intensities through careful balance of isolation and compound exercises.

Exercises and body parts have been slotted to allow time for adequate recovery before those muscles must be worked again.

The splits also consider doing less-strenuous moves on days before the really challenging days. Leg days done correctly are usually the toughest due to the loads used and energy requirements.

Greater Focus on Isolation Exercises

The ratio of isolation to compound weight training with a little metabolic work thrown in for good measure is what sets up the conditions for muscular hypertrophy.

Brignole discusses the comparative benefits of isolation resistance in his book “The Physics of Resistance Exercise”, using the example of men carrying a heavy log overhead. How does one know who is shouldering more of the log’s weight? It would be easy to know the amount carried if only one man was carrying the same log.

This log example although simple is no different than compound exercise, where multiple muscles must be involved in the pursuit of training a single target muscle. It simply doesn’t make the same sense.

Working a muscle as exclusively as possible is an efficient way to build target areas of the body. Put another way, you’ll always know exactly which muscle you’re working, and you’re not working a functional movement by comparison.

The exercises here carry very low injury risk, paying special attention to lower back and shoulder health. Doesn’t mean they’re easy.

Many of the exercises programmed here won’t look like much to a bystander. Probably won’t draw a crowd. We are working on sculpting a body part-by-part. You may leave the gym surprised at how toasted your muscles are when you work them in isolation.

Decide now if you’re more interested in putting on a show or in growing muscles that get attention later. Eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney said, “I go to the gym to accomplish something, not prove something”.

12 Week Body Transformation Workout Plan

Let’s break out the workout days according to split, describe what’s involved in each one, and give you an idea of what to expect each day.

Equipment

This workout plan requires a commercial gym or a well-equipped home gym. Here’s the rundown:

Exercise	Equipment Options
Unloaded squats	TRX or bands
Sissy Squats	Bodyweight (add BB plate or weighted vest if needed), cable machine, or Pendulum Squat machine (if available)
HTC Split Squats	Dumbbells
Leg Extensions	Leg Extension machine
Leg Curls	Leg Curl machine, seated or prone
Hip Extensions	Cable or Multi-Hip machine
Toe raises	Bodyweight or Tib Anterior accessory
Warm-up with unloaded squats	TRX or bands
Squats, heel elevated	Dumbbells or Barbell
Romanian Deadlift (RDL)	Dumbbells or Trap Bar
Hip Abductions	Cable or Multi-Hip machine
Hip Adductions	Cable or Adduction machine
Hip Flexions	Cable machine
Standing Calf raises	Dumbbells, Calf machine
Stair climbing or Walking	Stair machine or treadmill if in-gym
Biceps Curls, single arm	Cables, or Dumbbells
Gironda Drag Curls	BB
Triceps extensions	Cable machine, any attachment (straight, EZ Curl, V-bar)
Hammer Curls	Dumbbells
Side Lateral Raises	Cable machine, Dumbbells
Rear Delt Flyes	Cable machine, Dumbbells
Shrugs	Cable machine, DB, BB, shrug machine
Hammer Grip Shoulder Press	Dumbbells
Incline DB Rows or Helms Row	Dumbbells
Infraspinatus raises	Dumbbells
“Y” Raises (Upper Trap Raises)	Dumbbells or Barbell plate
Decline DB Presses or Cable Chest Presses	Dumbbells or Dual Axis Cable machine
Flat DB Bench	Dumbbells or Dual Axis Cable machine
Pec Deck	Forearm pad version preferred.
Underhand Chest Press	Dumbbells or Cable machine
Dumbbell Presses, overhand flat bench	Dumbbells
Lat Pull-Ins	Cable machine
Chest-supported DB row	Dumbbells
Scapula Shrugs	Cable machine, or Dumbbells and incline bench
Back Extensions	Roman chair, Barbell plate optional
Lat Pull-Downs	Cable machine, wider-than-shoulder width handle
Motorcycle Rows	Cable machine
Crunches	Bench or Floor
Sit Ups with a Twist	Bench or Floor
Side Bends	Cable machine or Dumbbells
Stairs	Stair machine, or staircase. RPE 5-6
Walk	Path with hills if available, or treadmill set on incline. RPE 5-6

Program Guide

In order to reap full benefits from this 12 week body transformation workout plan, here are some important guidelines to follow:

• Warm up and stretch
• Focus on form
• Apply progressive overload
• Adjust rep ranges
• Rest and recover

These will ensure you minimise injury and maximise muscle building potential. They are detailed further below.

Warm Up and Stretch!

Warm up before your workout to prevent injury and practice the movements. Warm-ups are important for anyone and even more crucial for older adults. If you’re a newcomer to the gym but a veteran in another sport, you’ll already understand the value of a good warm-up.

You should also get in the habit of stretching the target muscles before actually targeting them. This program will target basically every single muscle you have in your body, so getting those muscle loose is crucial.

There’s nothing worse than getting started on a heavy set of bench press and pulling a pectoral muscle, which could have easily been prevented with some simple chest stretches.

Focus on Form

For all exercises, use a rhythmic pumping motion. Do not jerk the weights or sacrifice form by getting other body parts involved. Example: swaying backwards to boost curls past a sticking point.

If your form isn’t perfect using the weight you selected, pick a lighter weight. Be patient! You’ll get there faster if you practice doing the movements the right way.

Form > Load. Always use proper exercise form without worrying about the amount you’re lifting. This takes discipline. Workouts should accomplish something, not prove something.

Apply Progressive Overload

Progressive overload stimulates the adaptive responses that make muscles grow. For that reason, apply progressive overload to all exercises in the program. That means reps come before weight.

Start with poundage you can lift with perfect form for the specified rep range.

Once you’re able to do the suggested number of reps comfortably with good form, increase the weight so that the last couple of reps become challenging.

Adjust Rep Ranges

Each exercise starts with higher rep range and progresses to lower ranges. This accomplishes two things:

1. Considers that all skeletal muscles consist of both Types I and II fibers. Type I fibers are believed to respond best to higher “endurance” level work where the power-generating Type II fibers are best addressed with lower reps and higher loads.
2. The higher rep ranges at the beginning of an exercise are essentially warm-up sets that employ the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands). In layperson terms, your warm-up might as well be doing the thing you’re trying to improve.

Finally, when we say “rep range”, we mean exactly that. It’s a range. If, for a set of 12 to 15 for instance, you do 13 for one set and then 12 for the next, fine. As long as the form is excellent and you cannot do another rep without sacrificing form.

The rep ranges shown here have been shown to work for building muscle size, shape, and density.

If you can easily do more than the specified number at a given rep range without reaching mechanical failure, increase the weight so that the final one or two reps are challenging but able to be performed with excellent form.

Rest and Recover

Rest and recovery are as important as working out. Work out hard, rest and recover religiously.

Rest between workouts

Day 7 is rest day. No gym. No runs. No stair climbs. No push-ups. No sit-ups. Nothing. Just rest.

Let your hard work do its thing and your body recover.

Not only your muscles take a hit during intense training. Your central nervous system does too, and the CNS is what powers your muscles. This is clinically documented.

Rest between sets

Rest long enough between sets for you to be able to do the next set with equal or more intensity. It’s that simple. I can’t put a number on that.

One minute may be too much; it may be too long. Who knows?

You do. You need every set to be a thing of beauty, and if I tell you “Bro, you need to set a timer and do the next set exactly one minute after the one before”, how the f*** do I know what’s going on in your body?

What’s important is that you’re killing it each and every set.

Apply Reps In Reserve (RIR)

Reps In Reserve refers to the number of repetitions you could do beyond what’s specified in the program. A 2 RIR on a 12-rep set would mean you could do 14 reps before mechanical failure (when you can’t do another rep with good form).

I’m leaving RIR up to you with only a couple of guidelines (because eventually, you need to figure this stuff out on your own.)

1. It’s a good idea to follow a 1 or 2 RIR at first until you master the exercises. This guards against overtraining and helps you execute your reps flawlessly for the entire set without sacrificing form.
2. Decrease or increase RIR if you’re having a great day, or a crappy one. If you’re not feelin’ it, it’s fine to leave a couple of reps in the tank. Just don’t confuse RIR with taking it easy, nor should you think that by not pushing all the way to mechanical failure is, well, failure.

Be Strict About Your Nutrition

Resistance training transforms physiques in the presence of correct diet. You can’t out-train a bad diet.

By “diet”, I don’t mean some special eating plan. Eating right has to be sustainable, eating the same way for years. A six to 12 week whatever diet might deliver temporary results but the fat will return with a vengeance. You’ll only get fatter with on and off dieting.

Aim for the standard 1g of protein for every pound of bodyweight, or 2.2g per kilogram. You really don’t need more than that.

An inconvenient truth is that the human body stores excess protein as fat, just like any other nutrient consumed in excess. Regardless of what the supplement salespeople say, there is no special metabolic off ramp in your gut that directs protein to your muscles. Doesn’t work that way. Unpopular, but true.

Losing Fat

If you have excess fat to shed, the one and only way to do that is by eating less than you burn.

Eat a balanced diet rich in whole, unprocessed foods. If you’ve got fat to lose, stay away from flour-based foods and sugary drinks.

Oh, and alcohol. Beer is the worst. It’s bread in a bottle, it metabolizes quickly, the alcohol metabolizes as sugar. There’s a reason why beer guts have that name.

The pros who look great into their 60s, 70s, and even 80s will tell you to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.

Another pro tip for losing fat: learn to love a low level of hunger. Being a little hungry isn’t bad. Being too hungry for too long is. Your body cares more about keeping you healthy and alive than it does you looking ripped or hot.

The combination of resistance training and metabolic conditioning (metcon/cardio) work optimizes the routine for fat loss, as supported by data.

Supplementing this routine with an intermittent fasting eating schedule will help fast track fat loss.

It’s important to understand the nuances around fat loss. It’s not the activity itself that consumes fat. It’s the building of muscle that requires energy even in rested state.

The metabolic (aka cardio) work that’s included is a way to add more total work to the routine on secondary days in effort to work on Type I muscle fiber and also get the health benefits of cardio-respiratory training.

Regardless of how hard you work, you will not lose fat if your total caloric intake does not decrease over time.

Might as well add that starving yourself won’t work either. Doing so triggers a starvation response and will result in rebound weight gain mentioned above. You’ll end up fatter than before.

You may even consider going on a keto diet by using our 7-day keto diet plan. Keto is a low-carb way of eating that enforces your body to go into a certain state that helps promotes fat loss.

Gaining Weight

On the flipside, if you’re a skinny guy like I was, your eating approach needs to be a little different. Here are some basic guidelines.

Same advice as above on diet composition: balance, lots of fruits and vegetables. Your intake should exceed baseline energy consumption.

Eat more than you burn by a little bit. Flour-based products like bread and pasta are an easy way to ramp up your intake if consumed in moderation. Assumes you’ll be training like a fiend.

Eat bigger the day before your more strenuous workouts. Example: pasta for dinner the night before primary leg day. Back in the day, this was called carb loading. You’ll need the energy anyway and complex carbs will be your best energy source.

How soon will you see results?

Speed of results will depend. Beginners will see newbie gains. Results will come more slowly for the experienced people. Younger people will get results faster than exercisers who are middle-aged and older.

Don’t expect unrecognizable difference in 12 weeks. Expect a more in-shape, fit you.

If you follow the plan and watch the nutrition, you’ll be able to notice a difference in the mirror, your close friends and relatives may also notice, and your clothes will start to fit a little differently in a good way.

Your physique will not radically change in 12 weeks. Other sites may tell you that lie. I won’t. The only way a radical change will occur is with anabolic use, which I don’t support. But they do work, which is why people use them. Saying they don’t would also be a lie and I won’t lie to you.

Your muscles will start to take on a more athletic shape. This routine focuses most on Type II muscle fiber which, when developed, adds muscle “dimension”. Put another way, it adds “corners” and edges to muscles. Developed muscles improve the aesthetic geometry of the body.

True, radical body transformation can begin in those first 12 weeks. True, lasting transformation requires lifestyle change, learning effective exercises and workout schemes and then pursuing them over the long term. You can’t apply a microwave mentality to a crockpot process.

Download our 12 week body transformation workout plan pdf here.