BILL PEARL’S SIX-DAY-PER-WEEK ROUTINE

BILL PEARL’S SIX-DAY-PER-WEEK ROUTINE

By Shane Robert

One of my all-time favorite lifters is Bill Pearl. He had the kind of dense, rugged physique that I think most people aspire to build, with the strength to back it up. His prime competitive career lasted more than 20 years, competing against and defeating many of the greats of his era, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even after his competitive years, Pearl continued training hard well into old age, right up until his death at 91 in 2022.

He also wrote numerous books and articles and shared his knowledge freely, influencing generations of lifters in their pursuit of building better bodies.

One thing that stands out about Bill Pearl is that he always seemed to keep an open mind. He was willing to experiment with different training ideas rather than becoming attached to a single system. Despite the countless articles and books he published featuring various training programs, there is one particular training layout that Bill described in a 1991 interview with bodybuilding journalist Dennis Weiss that I have rarely, if ever, seen discussed elsewhere.

It’s an interesting one.

BILL PEARL’S SIX-DAY-PER-WEEK ROUTINE

The basic layout is:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Full-body workouts, using one exercise for each major body part and six ascending sets per movement. Exercises are paired together to make the workouts more time-efficient.
• Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: Specialization-style split workouts, with 18-20 sets per body part trained that day.
• Six days per week: Hamstrings, calves, forearms, neck, and abs are trained at the end of every workout. You can change exercises each day, or do the same ones. Your call.

That means you are essentially training your entire body six days per week, but with a different emphasis from day to day.

THE FULL-BODY DAYS

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you train all of the major muscle groups using just one exercise per body part. You perform six ascending sets of each movement. In other words, the weight increases from set to set, with each set becoming progressively heavier. The exercises should be arranged so that you can pair movements together, minimizing the amount of time spent standing around between sets.

You also change the exercises from workout to workout. For example, for chest you might use:

• Monday: Barbell bench press
• Wednesday: Incline dumbbell flyes
• Friday: Dips

The idea isn't necessarily to find one perfect exercise and repeat it indefinitely; this is not powerlifting. Instead, Pearl's approach allows you to work the same muscle through different movements and angles throughout the week.

Each week, try to add a small amount of weight or an additional repetition to your six-set poundages.

THE SPLIT DAYS

The other three days are divided by body part:

• Tuesday: Chest and back
• Thursday: Shoulders and legs
• Saturday: Biceps and triceps

On these days, each body part receives 18-20 sets.

Unlike the full-body days, these workouts give you considerably more volume for fewer muscle groups.

Here is the part of the routine that makes the whole thing particularly interesting.

THE DAILY WORK

At the end of every training day, whether it is a full-body workout or a split workout, you still perform six sets for:

• Hamstrings
• Calves*
• Forearms
• Neck
• Abdominals

So while the major muscle groups rotate between full-body and split workouts, these five areas are trained every day. That makes for a tremendous amount of weekly work.

*In the original interview, Pearl states that he does 30 minutes of straight calf work, but that is nuts, so I took the liberty to modify it.

AN EXAMPLE WEEK

This is merely an example of how you might lay out a week while following Pearl's basic guidelines. Feel free to substitute any exercise for another.

Monday - Full Body

Pair the exercises to keep the workout moving:

A1. Bench Press - 6 ascending sets
A2. Barbell Row - 6 ascending sets

B1. Overhead Press - 6 ascending sets
B2. Split Squat - 6 ascending sets

C1. Barbell Curl - 6 ascending sets
C2. Lying Triceps Extension - 6 ascending sets

Then finish with:

• • Hamstrings - 6 sets
  • Calves - 6 sets
  • Forearms - 6 sets
  • Neck - 6 sets
  • Abs - 6 sets
    

Tuesday - Chest & Back

Chest: 18–20 sets
Back: 18–20 sets

For example:

• • Incline Barbell Press - 5 sets
  • Flat Dumbbell Press - 5 sets
  • Dips - 5 sets
  • DB Fly - 5 sets

Paired with:

• • Pull-Ups - 5 sets
  • Barbell Rows - 5 sets
  • Pulldowns - 5 sets
  • Pullovers - 5 sets

Finish with six sets each for hamstrings, calves, forearms, neck, and abs.

Wednesday - Full Body (different exercises from Monday)

A1. Incline Dumbbell Press - 6 ascending sets
A2. Chin-Ups - 6 ascending sets

B1. Dumbbell Shoulder Press - 6 ascending sets
B2. Front Squat - 6 ascending sets

C1. Incline Dumbbell Curl - 6 ascending sets
C2. DB French Press - 6 ascending sets

Then the daily six sets for hamstrings, calves, forearms, neck, and abs.

Thursday - Shoulders & Legs

Shoulders: 18-20 sets
Legs: 18-20 sets

For example:

• • Seated Dumbbell Press 5 sets
  • Lateral Raise - 5 sets
  • Behind the Neck Press - 5 sets
  • Rear Delt Raise - 5 sets

Paired with:

• • Hack Squat - 6 sets
  • Leg Press - 5 sets
  • Leg Extension - 5 sets
  • Lunges - 4 sets

Then finish with the usual six sets for hamstrings, calves, forearms, neck, and abs.

Friday - Full Body (change movements once again) 

A1. Dips - 6 ascending sets
A2. One-Arm Dumbbell Row - 6 ascending sets

B1. Upright Row - 6 ascending sets
B2. Leg Press - 6 ascending sets

C1. Hammer Curl - 6 ascending sets
C2. Single-Arm Cable Extensions - 6 ascending sets

Then the daily hamstring, calf, forearm, neck, and ab work.

Saturday - Arms

Biceps: 18–20 sets
Triceps: 18–20 sets

For example:

• • Barbell Curl - 5 sets
  • Incline Dumbbell Curl -  5 sets
  • Rope Hammer Curl - 5 sets
  • Preacher Curl - 5 sets

Paired with:

• • Close-Grip Bench Press - 5 sets
  • Skull Crushers - 5 sets
  • Cable Pressdowns - 5 sets
  • Rolling DB Triceps Ext. - 5 sets

Then finish with six sets each for hamstrings, calves, forearms, neck, and abs.

Sunday - Rest

REPS AND PROGRESSION

Pearl recommended starting in the 6-10 repetition range. However, rather than relying exclusively on adding weight forever, another progression option is to gradually build the repetitions over time. For upper-body movements, you could eventually work toward 15 repetitions, while leg exercises could progress toward 25 repetitions.

Once you reach the upper end of the repetition range, you can increase the weight and begin building the repetitions again. This approach makes sense for a routine with this much volume. If you tried to increase the weight on every exercise every week indefinitely, you'd eventually run into a wall. Gradually increasing repetitions gives you another way to make progress without constantly loading more weight onto the bar. 

A good rule of thumb, one that may not be en vogue in the modern era, is to train at about 85-90% of maximum. Meaning, none of these sets are taken to failure. They should be challenging, especially in the latter sets, but always doable. On paper, this program looks absurdly high-volume: full-body training three days per week, high-volume split training on the other three days, plus five additional body parts trained every single day. However, with that important caveat, it is, I think, quite doable.

I’m not saying that you have to do this program, or that it is the best program. Rather, I find it interesting to share a legitimate program from one of the best bodybuilders in history, who came to it through literal decades of experimentation and implementation.