Before you begin contemplating the perfect workout first consider what your main goals are. Are they to build as much muscle as humanly possible with little regard to fat deposition? Are they to lose a lot of bodyfat while maintaining as much muscle possible? Are they purely to maintain general cardiovascular health? Once you answer this important question then you are ready to make the perfect workout.

For the sake of simplicity I will go over just the three goals mentioned above: building as much muscle with little regard to gaining fat, losing as much bodyfat possible while maintaining as much muscle as possible to achieve that ripped, veiny look, and the maintenance of general cardiovascular health.

First, building as much muscle as possible with little regard to fat deposition. In the bodybuilding community this is known as bulking. Bodybuilders have an "off season" and an "in season". The off season, otherwise known as bulking, is where they try to put on as much mass as possible; this usually takes place throughout autumn, winter, and spring. Once summer comes around the corner, it is the in season, or time for cutting. This is when bodybuilders lose as much bodyfat as possible while maintaining as much muscle mass as possible in order to showcase the true awesomeness of their muscles: veiny, hard, and striated instead of being buried behind an unsightly film of fat. They are able to achieve this through implementing a lower calorie/low carbohydrate diet and adding regular cardio.

To successfully bulk, bodybuilders will indulge in a caloric surplus, the main focuses of their mass gaining diet being on quality protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake. Not only will bodybuilders eat more than ever, they will also train harder and heavier than ever before. Therefore, if you are bulking, your workouts should be based around heavy, intense, high volume training.

What do I mean by heavy? Heavy being that your muscles fail in the 6 - 8 rep range with each set. What do I mean by intense? Intense being implementing various muscle shocking techniques, such as super sets and drop sets. What do I mean by high volume? High volume being using a wide variety of exercises and using a good deal of sets and reps for each exercise.

Here is a sample chest workout using the aforementioned guidelines.

Exercise One: Flat DB Press

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

Exercise Two: Incline DB Press

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

Exercise Three: Decline Hammerstrength Press

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

Exercise Four: Incline Hammerstrength Press

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

Exercise Five: Flat DB Fly's

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

Last Exercise: Incline DB Fly's

Set 1, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 2, 6 - 8 reps

Rest

Set 3, 6 - 8 reps

A workout emphasizing cutting should include cardio, either before and/or after resistance training, and the same training principles when bulking except the going heavy part. While one still should go fairly heavy during the cutting phase, they shouldn't attempt to lift as heavily or as intensely when they were bulking because they would be more prone to overtraining and injury. Therefore, a cutting workout should be all about effective cardio, going just heavy and intense enough to maintain muscle mass, and moderate, slightly high volume with more emphasis on higher reps (the 10 - 12 range) than more exercises. The following is a sample cutting chest workout.

Exercise One: Flat DB Press

Set 1, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 2, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 3, 10 - 12 reps

Exercise Two: Incline DB Press

Set 1, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 2, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 3, 10 - 12 reps

Exercise Three: Flat DB Fly's

Set 1, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 2, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 3, 10 - 12 reps

Exercise Four: Incline DB Fly's

Set 1, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 2, 10 - 12 reps

Rest

Set 3, 10 - 12 reps

Cardio can be before and/or after resistance training but it's typical to do cardio after finishing resistance training. Cardio should be 30 - 45 minutes at a moderate to high intensity, anywhere from 4 - 6 times a week, 1 - 3 times a day, depending on how much fat you carry and what your desired bodyfat percentage is.

The final aspect of perfecting one's workout regards cardiovascular health. The minimum for this should be moderate to high intensity cardio at least 3 times a week for 15 - 30 minutes.

For a full list of all exercises for all bodyparts check out this website: http://www.exrx.net/