Steve Cook is a popular fitness influencer, professional bodybuilder, model, and YouTuber. He is known for his aesthetic physique, functional fitness, and strong personality.
He has won multiple bodybuilding contests, including the 2012 IFBB Houston Pro and 2014 IFBB Dallas Pro.
In this article, I’ll share Steve Cook’s workout program which I’ve designed with the help of videos available on his YouTube channel.
This program may not be precise to his actual workout plan. However, it includes all the exercises that he performs in his training.
Steve Cook Muscle Gain Program Summary
Sessions/Week | 5 (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, & Sat) |
Duration/Session | 60-90 minutes |
Workout Plan Goal | Gain Muscle & Strength |
Experience Required | Intermediate |
Target Gender | Male |
Suitable Age Group | 16-35 years |
Recommended Duration | 12 Weeks |
Steve Cook’s Muscle Building Exercises
Here is the list of exercises I’ll use in this program. You can also save and use them according to your fitness level and goal:
Push Exercises
- Incline Bench Press
- Flat Bench Press
- Decline Bench Press
- Single-arm Dumbbell Neutral Grip Press
- Decline Cable Fly
- Landmine Squeeze Press
- Rope Pushdown
- Seated Overhead Barbell Extension
- Push Press
- Smith Machine Behind The Neck Shoulder Press
- Seated Machine Press
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises
- Dumbbell Front Raises
- Lean Away Lateral Raises
- Barbell Skull Crusher
Pull Exercises
- Straight Arm Cable Lat Pullover
- Chin-ups
- Pull-ups
- Seated Machine Row (Prone & Neutral Grip)
- Underhand Grip Lat Pulldown
- Unilateral Pulldown
- Low to High Cable Fly
- Inverted Row
- Bent-over Barbell Row
- Single-arm Landmine Row
- Wide Arm Bent Over Row
- TRX Wide Arm Row
- Face Pull
- High Machine Row
- Spider Curls
- Bayesian Cable Curl
- Cable Concentration Curls
- 45-60 Degree Incline Front Raises
- Incline Prone Dumbbell Rear Delt Row
- Shoulder Shrug
- Upright Row
Legs & Abs Exercises
- Leg Press
- Leg Extension
- Belt Squat
- Back Squat
- Front Squat
- Hack Squat
- Step Up
- Lunges
- Bulgarian Squat
- Leg Curls
- Romanian Deadlift
- Single Leg RDL
- Calf Raises
- Hanging Ab Twisting Knee Raises
- Hanging Knee to Chest
- Decline Bench Leg Raise to Hip Lifts
- Seated Oblique Twist
- AB Wheel Rollout
- Cable Crunches
Steve Cook 5-Day Split for Gaining Mass & Strength
- Monday: Chest & Triceps
- Tuesday: Back and Biceps
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: OFF
- Friday: Shoulder
- Saturday: Abs and Cardio
- Sunday: OFF
Day 1 – Chest & Triceps
Warm-up: Perform one set of 12-15 Inverted Rows, 10-12 Behind Neck Empty Barbell Presses, 10-12 Bent-over Rows with an Empty Bar, Plank Shoulder Sliders (5-6 per side), and 8-10 Clap Push-ups).
Exercises | Sets | Reps | Rest |
---|---|---|---|
Flat Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 12, 10, 8, 6 | 2.5 mins |
Incline DB Rotational Press | 3 | 15, 12, 10 | 1.5-2 mins |
Hammer Strength Chest Press | 3 | 12-10 | 1.5 mins |
Bent-over Cable Crossover | 2 | Failure | 1.5 mins |
Dumbbell French Press | 3 | 10-12 | 1.5 mins |
Single-arm Pushdown | 3 | 10/arm | 60-sec |
Increase the load after each set.
Day 2 – Back & Biceps
Warm-up: Perform 4 sets of 8-15 bodyweight or assisted pull-ups before lifting weights.
Exercises | Sets | Reps | Rest |
---|---|---|---|
1A Close Grip Machine Row | 2 | 10-12 | 2.5 mins |
1B Wide Grip Machine Row | 2 | 10-12 | 1.5-2 mins |
Supine Grip Lat Pulldown | 2 | 12-15 | 2.5 mins |
3A Incline Chest Supported DB Row | 2 | 12-15 | 30-45 secs |
3B Rope Lat Pullover | 2 | 10-12 | 30-45 secs |
Preacher Curls | 2 | 10-15 | 1.5-2 mins |
Bayesian Curls* | 1 | 10+10 | 1.5-2 mins |
EZ Bar Curls* | 1 | 21 | – |
Bayesian Curls: Perform 10 reps then lower the weight to half and aim to perform as many as possible to complete your first set.
EZ Bar Curls: It is based on the 21-rep scheme which involves performing 7 partial curls, 7 curls from midway to full contraction, and 7 regular curls.
Day 3 – Legs
Warm-up: Run on the treadmill for a few minutes, 10-12 leg swings per side, 5-6 World’s Greatest Stretch per side, and perform standing quad stretches for 15-30 seconds. That’s the warm-up.
Exercises | Sets | Reps | Rest |
---|---|---|---|
Belt Squats | 3 | 10, 8, 6 | 1.5 mins |
2A Leg Press | 3 | 10, 8, 6 | 1-2 mins |
2B Smith Romanian DL | 3 | 10, 10, 10 | 1-2 mins |
3A Smith Back Squat | 2 | 10-12 | 1-2 mins |
3B Lying Leg Curls | 2 | 10-12 | 1-2 mins |
Standing Calf Raises | 2 | 10-12 | 1.5 mins |
Seated Calf Raises | 2 | 10-12 | 1.5 mins |
Day 4 – Shoulders
Exercises | Sets | Reps | Rest |
---|---|---|---|
1A Strict Shoulder Press | 4 | 12, 10, 8, 6 | 1-minute |
1B TRX Y | 4 | 5 | 30-second |
1C TRX T | 4 | 5 | 30-second |
2A Seated Behind Overhead Press | 3 | 12, 10, 8 | 2-minute |
2B 90-degree off-the-knee Shoulder Extension | 3 | 12/arm | 1-minute |
Barbell Upright Row (Wide Grip) | 3 | 10-12 | 2-minute |
Single-arm Cable Side Raises | 3 | 12/arm | 1-minute |
5A Seated Bend Over Side Raises | 2 | 7 | 30-second |
5B Three-Way Raises | 2 | 7 | 30-second |
5C Dumbbell Front Raises | 2 | 7 | 30-second |
Perform strict shoulder presses, then move to the TRX cable to do Y and T raises and repeat this four times with 30 to 90 seconds of rest between each exercise.
Superset behind the head shoulder press with shoulder extension.
The last three exercises are a kind of dumbbell complex for shoulders which involves performing 7 rear delt raises, 7 bent arm to rear delt raises, and 7 front raises. All three exercises will be done sitting in the same place with the same dumbbells. After completing 21 reps, take 2 minutes of rest then repeat.
Day 5 – Abs and Cardio
- 400-meter Sprint
- 10 Hanging Toes to Bar
- 400-meter Sprint
- 30 Bicycle Crunches
- 400-meter Sprint
- 25 Reverse Crunches
- 400-meter Sprint
- 1-minute Plank
- 400-meter Sprint
- 50 Leg Lifts
- 400-meter Sprint
- 10 Hanging Toes to Bar
- The End.
Who Can Follow Steve Cook’s Training Plan?
This program is for experienced lifters (preferably males) who have been lifting weights for a while and want to try a well-programmed workout plan to gain muscle mass and strength.
It will be challenging for beginners and can be too much for females, so I don’t recommend them.
I also suggest exploring Steve’s workout videos to learn why and how he performs certain exercises. This will help you get a better understanding of his training approach.