Push/Pull/Legs/Full Body Routine – 4-Day Workout Split

If you want an effective 4-day workout split you can use to build muscle, this page will show you exactly what to do.

There are many different ways to set up a 4-day workout routine, such as the push/pull and upper/lower split, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The one I want to talk about today combines a push/pull/legs routine with a full-body workout, creating a push/pull/legs/full-body hybrid.

The push/pull/legs/full-body routine involves training the major muscle groups in three different workouts:

• Push workout
• Pull workout
• Lower body workout

Then in the full-body workout, you train the whole body in a single session.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Monday: Full Body
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Upper Body Push
• Thursday: Upper Body Pull
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Lower Body
• Sunday: Off

Upper Body Push Day: Muscles Worked

In the push workout, you train the muscles involved in pushing movements for the upper body, typically the chest, shoulders and triceps.

Upper Body Pull Day: Muscles Worked

The pull workout, on the other hand, focuses on the muscles involved in pulling movements for the upper body, typically the back and biceps.

Lower Body Day: Muscles Worked

The lower body workout revolves around the quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings and calves. Depending on the exercises you use, a lower body workout may also hit the spinal erectors, muscles running up both sides of your spine.

Why does this particular 4-day split workout routine work so well?

On the training frequency side of things, you’re hitting each muscle group twice a week, which usually works better for hypertrophy than training a muscle once a week.

Having separate push, pull and leg days also lets you focus on a few areas of the body in each workout. 

For many people, this is a more enjoyable way to train.

When the workout is over, their muscles feel pumped up and ready to explode. It’s a good feeling.

Some thrive on the variety of training different muscles on different days, which can help from a motivation point of view.

Building a decent amount of muscle mass takes many years of hard work and effort. And a big part of staying consistent is feeling like you actually want to go to the gym.

If following some kind of split routine means you’re more likely to put the work in, that’s a big advantage. 

This or that training program might well be optimal for hypertrophy from a physiological point of view.

But if you don’t like the program, it’ll be a constant battle to motivate yourself to go to the gym. A training program that’s optimal for muscle growth isn’t optimal if you hate it so much that you don’t do it.

4-Day Split Workout Routine: Strength & Hypertrophy

There are lots of different ways to set this up, depending on your goals.

The full-body workout, for example, might be focused on increasing your strength in a few compound exercises, like the parallel squat, bent-over barbell row, military press, bench press, lat pulldown, chin-up or pull-up, while the other training sessions are geared more towards hypertrophy.

That is, the strength-type workout would involve training at a higher intensity. And by intensity, I’m talking about the amount of weight you lift, rather than intensity of effort (i.e. how hard you’re working during a set).

That is, maximizing strength development involves a higher training intensity than maximizing gains in muscle size.

For instance, let’s say you can lift 175 pounds for a single repetition in a particular exercise, such as the squat or bench press.

A training intensity of 85% would mean lifting 85% of 175 pounds, which is roughly 150 pounds.

Training to build strength usually means lifting heavy weights for low reps. And by low reps, I’m talking about sets of somewhere between 1 and 8 repetitions.

In contrast, muscles can be made to grow with with both heavy and light weights. Hypertrophy-type workouts will often involve working at a lower intensity, meaning higher reps, lighter weights and more single-joint exercises.

In this case, your training week might look something like this:

• Monday: Full Body (Strength)
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Upper Body Push (Hypertrophy)
• Thursday: Upper Body Pull (Hypertrophy)
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Lower Body (Hypertrophy)
• Sunday: Off

You also have the option of changing the order in which you do the workouts. 

The longer strength-type workouts could come at the weekend, when you have a bit more time, while the hypertrophy-type training sessions are done in the week.

• Monday: Upper Body Push Day (Hypertrophy)
• Tuesday: Upper Body Pull Day (Hypertrophy)
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Lower Body (Hypertrophy)
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Full Body (Strength)
• Sunday: Off

Or you could do it the other way around, and do most of the heavy lifting in the push/pull/leg workouts, and go lighter in the full-body workout.

• Monday: Upper Body Push Day (Strength)
• Tuesday: Upper Body Pull Day (Strength)
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Lower Body (Strength)
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Full Body (Hypertrophy)
• Sunday: Off

How many sets and reps should you do?

Studies show that a relatively small number of weekly sets is enough to stimulate muscle growth. In some cases, as little as five weekly sets per muscle group has been shown to make your muscles bigger [3].

However, if you want to maximize your gains, you’re better off doing at least 10 sets for the major muscle groups each week [4].

When I say “muscle group,” I’m not referring to a region of the body like the arms or the lower body. Rather, I’m talking about a set of muscles, such as the quadriceps, that work together.

Let’s say, for example, that you do four sets of squats, four sets of hack squats and four sets of leg curls every week. In total, you’ve done 12 sets for your lower body.

But it’s your quads that have done most of the work.

While the hamstrings have been trained directly on the leg curl, as well as being called into action (to a degree, at least) during the parallel squat, they haven’t done as much work as the quadriceps.

That is, four sets of squats doesn’t count as four sets for the quads and four sets for the hamstrings.

In this example, if you wanted to make sure the hamstrings did roughly the same amount of work as the quads, you could throw in an extra exercise, such as Romanian deadlifts.

As far as reps are concerned, anywhere between 5 and 30 reps will get the job done. Most studies show similar gains in muscle mass with high reps versus low reps.

Push/Pull/Legs/Full Body Routine

One of the other benefits of training just 2-3 muscle groups in a single workout is that the workouts can be shorter, which are often easier to fit into your day.

So I’m going to assume that you’re relatively busy during the week, and only have a limited amount of time to set aside for lifting weights. But you do have a bit more time at the weekends, which means your training sessions can last longer.

This 4-day split is set up to allow for shorter workouts in the week, while the longer full-body workout is done at the weekend.

Upper Body Push Day Workout

• Bench Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Overhead Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps

Upper Body Pull Day Workout

• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Dumbbell Row 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Face Pulls 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Lower Body Day Workout

• Squat 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Extension 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 10-15 reps

Full-Body Workout

• Incline Dumbbell Press 4 sets x 10-15 reps
• Leg Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Front Lat Pulldown 4 sets x 10-15 reps
• Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl 2 sets x 8-12 reps
• Triceps Pressdown 2 sets x 8-12 reps

You can throw in some work for your abs and calves as and when time allows.

Other 4-Day Workout Routines

• nSuns 5/3/1 Program
• Push/Pull Workout Routine: 4-Day Split for Muscle Gain
• Upper/Lower Split: Best 4-Day Workout Split for Hypertrophy