Arnold x Upper Lower Split: 5-Day Workout Routine 

This hybrid workout routine combines the Arnold split with an upper lower split to create the Arnold x upper lower split.

What is the Arnold x Upper Lower Split?

The Arnold x upper lower split is a 5-day training program suitable for late intermediate and advanced lifters who want to gain muscle.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Monday: Chest/Back
• Tuesday: Shoulders/Arms
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Upper Body
• Saturday: Lower Body
• Sunday: Off

The first three days of the program, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, is the Arnold split part of the routine. 

The upper body work is spread across two workouts. The first targets the chest and back, while the second is focused on the shoulders and arms. The legs are trained by themselves on day three.

Then, you have a day off.

In Friday’s upper body workout, you hit your chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps. The final session of the week comes on Saturday, where you train your quadriceps, hamstrings, lower back, glutes and calves.

Technically, the lower back is part of your upper body. However, because the lower back is heavily involved in exercises like the squat and deadlift, which fall on lower body day, I’ve grouped the lower back in with the lower body.

Is the Arnold x Upper Lower Split Effective?

The Arnold x upper lower split is certainly an effective way to gain muscle. Each muscle group is trained at least twice a week, which tends to work better than a training frequency of once a week.

Hitting a muscle group once a week can certainly work in the sense that it will lead to muscle being built. But for most people most of the time, a higher frequency of training will deliver faster gains.

Because you’re lifting weights 5 days a week, you also get to hit each muscle with a sufficient level of volume to stimulate growth.

However, the high frequency of training means that it’s not going to be suitable for everyone, and you will need to make sure your nutrition and recovery are on point in order to make the most of any 5-day workout routine.

Who Should Use the Arnold x Upper Lower Split?

The Arnold x upper lower split is better suited to intermediate and advanced lifters, rather than beginners.

Newbies can make gains with a relatively low volume of training, and will often do just fine with a workout routine that involves lifting weights 3-4 days a week.

But once you’ve moved past the beginner stage of training, chances are you’ll need more work to keep the gains coming, which will often require the addition of 1-2 training days to your weekly schedule.

The Arnold x upper lower split is also a good choice if you prefer shorter, more frequent workouts, and you’re able to train on a consistent basis 5 days a week.

Distributing your weekly training volume across 5 workouts, rather than 3 or 4, allows for shorter training sessions, making them easier to fit into your day.

Shorter workouts also feel less draining, which makes it more likely that you’ll actually do them on a consistent basis.

Arnold x Upper Lower Split: Workout Schedule

Workout 1: Chest & Back

• Flat Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps
• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Push Ups 3 sets x As Many Reps As Possible
• Barbell Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets of 5-8 reps
• Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Workout 2: Shoulders & Arms

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• V-Bar Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Standing Dumbbell Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Overhead Triceps Extension 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Hammer Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Workout 3: Legs

• Barbell Squat 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Leg Extension 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps

Workout 4: Upper Body

• Incline Dumbbell Press 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Neutral Grip Pull-ups 4 sets x As Many Reps As Possible
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Seated Cable Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bent-Over Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Overhead Triceps Pressdown 2 sets x 10-15 reps
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 2 sets x 12-15 reps

Workout 5: Lower Body

• Deadlift 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat 2 sets 8-12 reps
• Glute Ham Raise 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 15-20 reps

How to Warm Up

The number of sets listed are the actual work sets only, and don’t include warm-up sets.

It’s always a good idea, especially if you’re using heavy weights, to do several progressively heavier warm-up sets. This will prepare the joints, the muscles and the nervous system that controls those muscles for the heavy work to come.

In most cases, somewhere between 1-3 warm-up sets will do the job. However, the exact number of warm-up sets you do will vary depending on a number of factors, including the temperature of the gym you’re training in, how your joints feel, the amount of weight you’re lifting, and where that exercise is placed in the workout.

There have been times when I’ve been training in a cold gym, it’s early in the morning and my joints are feeling a bit stiff, where I’ve ended up doing 7-8 warm-up sets before getting into the heavy stuff.

On the flip side, with some of the exercises that come later in the workout, the muscles being worked are already warm, so you won’t need many, if any, warm-up sets.

What about stretching?

In most cases, there’s very little benefit in stretching, be it dynamic or static, as part of a warm-up.

While the adverse effects of stretching on strength and power have been exaggerated, most studies show that pre-exercise stretching does little for injury prevention and has no beneficial effects on lifting performance.

Can you stretch as part of your warm up? Yes. Do you have to? No. It’s certainly not mandatory, and many people will do just as well without it.

You can read more about how to warm up for weight training here.

How Long To Rest Between Sets

Take 2-3 minutes rest between sets. If in doubt, err on the side of giving yourself too much rest rather than not enough.

As a rule, I’d suggest resting for longer between sets of compound exercises that work a large amount of muscle mass, such as squats, rows, deadlifts, leg presses and so on. 

You won’t need as much rest between single-joint exercises, such as dumbbell curls, lateral raises and pressdowns.

Don’t try to save time by cutting your rest periods short and racing from one exercise to the next. The hypertrophy stimulus generated by a given workout will be that much greater if you get a decent amount of rest between each set before tackling the next one.

How To Progress the Arnold x Upper Lower Split 

No matter how your training split is set up, it’s important to train hard and focus on improving your performance in the gym over time.

Do the same exercises, for the same number of sets and reps, while lifting the same amount of weight, for the next five years. Nothing much is going to happen.

That’s because the training you’re doing is a challenge your body has already adapted to. As a result, no new muscle mass will be gained.

I’m not saying you’ll make progress every time you go to the gym. To do so indefinitely would be impossible, and there’ll be times when you end up lifting the same amount of weight, for the same number of sets and reps you did before.

However, you should be pushing yourself to increase the amount of work your muscles are doing in the gym, whether that’s lifting heavier weights, doing more reps with the same weight, or doing more sets.

You need to give your muscles a reason to get bigger, or you’ll remain stuck at the same size you are right now.

So make sure to keep a training journal, write down your numbers, and always try to beat your previous workout in some way.

You’ll notice that the workouts use rep ranges, such as 5-8 or 8-12, rather than a fixed number of reps in each set.

For example, let’s say that the prescription for a particular exercise is 3 sets of 5-8 reps.

The idea is that you select a weight that allows you to perform at least 5 reps in each set, but no more than 8.

Every time you go to the gym, you try to do more reps than you did the workout before. Once you’re able to do 8 reps in every set, increase the weight for the following workout.

It’s a form of progression known as the double progression method. Here’s an example of how it might look in practice:

Workout 1

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 5 reps

Workout 2

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 7 reps

Workout 3

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 7 reps

Workout 4

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 8 reps

Workout 5

• Set 1: 105 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 2: 105 pounds x 6 reps
• Set 3: 105 pounds x 5 reps

As you can see, in workout four, once you’re able to do 8 reps in all 3 sets, you add weight in the fifth workout and repeat the cycle. 

This simple double progression method can work well for most exercises, and will produce decent gains in muscle mass over several months, just as long as you stay consistent and work hard.

It’s also important to make sure that your technique remains solid from one workout to the next. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that you’ve gotten stronger, when all you’re doing is cheating on those last few reps to get the weight up.

The exact number of workouts it takes to reach this point will vary from person to person, and from exercise to exercise.

It might take 10 workouts or it might take 5. But wait until you can do 3 sets of 8 reps before adding weight.

Other Workout Splits

• Arnold Split
• PPL Split
• Upper/Lower Split
• Full Body/Push/Pull Split
• Upper/Lower Split: Dumbbell Workout Routine