4 Day Workout Split: Upper/Lower Hypertrophy Program

Of all the training programs I’ve used over the years, the upper lower split is one of my favorites.

It’s a 4 day workout split that’s simple, flexible, and can be used by beginner, intermediate or advanced lifters alike to achieve many different goals – building muscle, getting stronger, or even just retaining muscle while you lose fat.

Here’s what’s covered:

• What is an Upper/Lower Split?
• 4-Day Upper/Lower Split Routine
• Workout 1: Upper Body A
• Workout 2: Lower Body A
• Workout 3: Upper Body B
• Workout 4: Lower Body B
• 4-Day Upper/Lower Split: The Short Version
• 4-Day Upper/Lower Split for Strength
• Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Upper Lower Split?

With an upper lower split, you train the muscles in your lower body and upper body on separate days.

An upper body workout will normally hit your chest, back, shoulders, biceps and triceps, while the lower body workout works your quadriceps, hamstrings, 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.

4-Day Workout Split: Upper/Lower Hypertrophy Program

The 4 day workout split is the default version of the upper lower split. You hit the upper body on Monday, lower body on Tuesday, then take Wednesday off.

Thursday is another upper day, Friday is a lower day and you have the weekend off. Each group of muscles is trained twice a week.

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

The days that you train aren’t set in stone. If you miss a workout, you can move it to the following day. Skip the Friday lower body workout, for example, and you can just push it back to Saturday.

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

Or, if you prefer to train at the weekends, your week might look like this.

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

Here’s what each training day looks like. The numbers in brackets tell you how long to rest between each set.

Workout 1: Upper Body A

• Bench Press 3 sets x 5-8 reps [3 mins]
• Wide Grip Front Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Seated Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Incline Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps [90 seconds]
• Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 8-12 reps [90 seconds]

Workout 2: Lower Body A

• Squat 3 sets x 5-8 reps [3-5 mins]
• Romanian Deadlift 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2-3 mins]
• Leg Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps [90 seconds]
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps [2 mins]

Workout 3: Upper Body B

• Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins] *
• Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets x 12-15 reps [90 seconds]
• Dumbbell Row 3 sets x 5-8 reps [2 mins]
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps [90 seconds]
• Dumbbell Preacher Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps [90 seconds]
• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps [90 seconds]

Workout 4: Lower Body B

• Deadlift 3 sets x 5-8 reps [3-5 mins]
• Leg Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2-3 mins]
• Bulgarian Split Squat 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
• Lying/Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]
• Seated Calf Raise 4 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]

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 to Progress With Upper/Lower Workouts

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

For example, in the first upper body workout, the prescription for the bench press 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:

Upper Body Workout 1

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

Upper Body Workout 2

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 6 reps

Upper Body Workout 3

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

Upper Body Workout 4

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

Upper Body 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 workout give 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.

How and When to Change Your Workout Schedule

None of this means you should stick to the same exercises all the time, and do nothing but add weight and reps. 

In fact, one of the best ways to add variety to your training program without screwing up your progress is to use the same workout template and rotate some of the exercises on a semi-regular basis.

Most of the exercises you do can be put into one of these categories:

• Horizontal push (e.g. bench press, 30° incline bench press)
• Horizontal pull (e.g. dumbbell row, )
• Vertical pull (e.g. lat pulldown, pull-ups)
• Vertical push (e.g. barbell press, dumbbell shoulder press)
• Squat (e.g. back squat, leg press, lunges)
• Hip hinge (e.g. deadlift, stiff-leg deadlift)

Rotating exercises involves taking an exercise from one category and replacing it with another exercise from the very same category.

You might start out using the seated row as your main horizontal pulling exercise. Then you can switch to dumbbell rows, inverted bodyweight rows or any horizontal rowing movement that provides a sufficient level of resistance.

With the deadlift, you might begin with a regular deadlift. Then you switch to a Romaniean deadlift. Then you replace the Romanian deadlift with rack pulls. Although you’re still doing a deadlift, each variation will shift the emphasis to a different set of muscles.

The same principle holds true with the other primary exercises. Dumbbells can take the place of barbells in both the bench press and overhead press. The leg press, rear foot elevated split squat (or any suitable squat alternative) can replace the back squat.

For best results, there should be some kind of semi-regular variation in your selection of exercises.

Many of the training programs used by members of the Westside Barbell club, which has produced some of the biggest, strongest men on the planet, involve rotating exercises on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

This gives you the consistency of a structured plan but with enough variety to stop you getting bored.

Upper/Lower Split Variations

Upper/Lower Split for Strength

Powerlifters have long used upper/lower split routines to build strength, and they work very well for this purpose.

Pressing exercises (bench press and overhead press) are done on upper body days, as well as any assistance work for the upper back, shoulders and triceps.

On lower body days, it’s the deadlift and squat, along with any assistance exercises for the quads, hamstrings and abs.

Here’s what a 4 day workout split focused on building strength in the bench press, squat, press and deadlift might look like.

Monday

• Bench Press 5 sets x 3-5 reps [3-5 mins]
• Rack Press 4 sets x 6 reps [2-3 mins]
• + Assistance work for upper back/shoulders/triceps

Tuesday

• Squat 5 sets x 3-5 reps [3-5 mins]
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 6 reps [2-3 mins]
• + Assistance work for quads/hamstrings/abs

Thursday

• Press 5 sets x 3-5 reps [3-5 mins]
• Close-Grip Bench Press 4 sets x 6 reps [2-3 mins]
• + Assistance work for upper back/shoulders/triceps

Friday

• Deadlift 4 sets x 3-5 reps [3-5 mins]
• Front Squat 4 sets x 6 reps [2-3 mins]
• + Assistance work for quads/hamstrings/abs

RELATED: The PHUL Workout: Power, Hypertrophy, Upper, Lower

4-Day Upper/Lower Split: The Short Version

If you’re pushed for time, The Short Version of the 4 day workout split involves just three exercises in each workout. It’s the type of thing you should be able to get done in your lunch hour, or before you go to work in the morning.

There’s no direct arm work, as the biceps and triceps are involved when you train your back, chest and shoulders.

Your arms won’t grow as quickly had you trained them directly, but you should see some growth in the biceps and triceps nonetheless. You can throw in some work for the abs on your off days, or at the end of a workout if you have the time.

Upper Body Workout 1

A1 – Bench Press 5 sets x 5-8 reps [2-3 mins]
A2 – Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 5 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]
Overhead Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]

Lower Body Workout 1

Squat 5 sets x 5-8 reps [3-5 mins]
A1 – Lying/Seated Leg Curl 4 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]
A2 – Standing Calf Raise 4 sets x 5-8 reps [2 mins]

Upper Body Workout 2

A1 – Incline Dumbbell Press 5 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
A2 – Seated Cable Row 5 sets x 8-12 reps [2 mins]
Lateral Raise 3 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]

Lower Body Workout 2

Leg Press 5 sets x 8-12 reps [3-4 mins]
A1 – Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 8-12 reps [2-3 mins]
A2 – Seated Calf Raise 4 sets x 12-15 reps [2 mins]

You’ll notice that some of the exercises are labelled with A1 and A2. That means you have the option of pairing those exercises, which in turn saves you time in the gym.

One of the benefits of an upper/lower split is that it allows for agonist-antagonist supersets, where you perform two exercises back to back for opposing muscle groups, with a relatively short amount of rest between each exercise.

What does that mean exactly?

Normally when you’re lifting weights, you do a set… rest for a couple of minutes or so… do the next set… rest for a couple of minutes… do the next set…. rest… and so on.

But with paired sets, also known as supersets, instead of resting between sets, you do an exercise for another set of muscles.

For example, you’d do an exercise for your chest (like the Incline Dumbbell Press), rest for 30-60 seconds, do an exercise for your back (like the Seated Row), rest for 30-60 seconds, then go back to the Incline Dumbbell Press again, and so on.

Here’s an example of how it might look:

Set 1: Incline Dumbbell Press
Rest for 30-60 seconds
Set 1: Seated Row
Rest for 30-60 seconds
Set 2: Incline Dumbbell Press
Rest for 30-60 seconds
Set 2: Seated Row

And so on.

You don’t need to rush from one exercise to the other. Give yourself a bit of time to catch your breath and set yourself up properly.

If you end up resting longer between sets than the prescribed amount, that’s fine. In most cases, you’re better off with longer rest periods between sets, rather than not getting enough.

Pairing seated rows and incline dumbbell presses is a great example of an agonist-antagonist superset.

As well as saving time, antagonistic paired sets do have the potential to enhance your performance in the gym. In one study, a group of trained men was able to do significantly more reps on the leg extension when they did the leg curl beforehand [10].

In fact, the men were able to crank out, on average, three additional reps on the leg extension machine when they did leg curls immediately, 30 seconds or 60 seconds earlier.

Some body part groupings that work well together include:

• Chest/Back
• Biceps/Triceps
• Quadriceps/Hamstrings

Quadriceps and hamstrings can be paired together, depending on the exercises you’re doing for each muscle group. Exercises like the leg extension and leg curl work fine, because you’re isolating the quadriceps and hamstrings.

However, exercises like the squat and Romanian deadlift wouldn’t be good candidates for an agonist-antagonist superset, mainly because there’s an overlap in terms of the muscles being worked.

That is, the two exercises involve both the spinal erectors and the glutes.

Fatigue from one exercise is going to bleed into the other, which is going to impair rather than improve your performance.

Upper Lower Split Advanced

Newbies typically see their muscles grow relatively quickly when they start lifting weights, even with a relatively small amount of weight training.

But over time, those gains will tend to slow down.

Getting the message to your muscles that they need to keep on growing will often require more volume in the gym. And by more volume, I’m talking about an increase in the number of sets you do.

Advanced lifters who want to increase their training volume while still following an upper/lower split have a couple of options.

The first is to increase the number of training days. That is, rather than training four days a week, you add a fifth or even a sixth training day.

But not everyone has the time to spend longer in the gym, or train more often. For a lot of people, it’s just not practical.

If your schedule means that you’re not able to train more often than 4 days a week, you can use short specialization cycles to keep your muscles growing.

The idea behind a specialization cycle is that you focus on improving 2-3 areas of the body at a time, hitting those muscles with more total sets. 

Training volume for the rest of the body is reduced, with the aim of simply maintaining size and strength in those areas (it takes fewer sets to maintain muscle mass than it does to build it in the first place).

The muscles you’re focused on during a particular specialization cycle are trained first in the workout when you’re fresh. They also get the most volume relative to everything else.

As an example, you might spend 3-4 weeks specializing on your chest and shoulders, while the back and arms get less work.

For example, here’s what an upper body workout with a focus on the chest and shoulders might look like:

• Bench Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Lat Pulldown 2 sets x 12-15 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Cable Row 2 sets x 8-12 reps
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Incline Curl 1 set x 8-12 reps
• Triceps Pressdown 1 set x 8-12 reps

In total, you’re doing 16 sets for the chest and shoulders, with only 4 sets for the back and 2 sets for the arms (although the biceps and triceps do get worked from the pushing and pulling movements).

For the next 3-4 weeks, the back gets the extra volume, while everything else is put on maintenance mode.

You repeat the process for the lower body, focusing on the quadriceps first, followed by the hamstrings and finally the calves.

Upper/Lower Split Arms Focus

If you want to give your biceps and triceps some extra attention, you also have the option of training arms on leg day.

That is, you train your upper body as normal twice a week, but leave out any direct arm work. Then, on both lower body days, you add some isolation work for your arms.

Here’s what it looks like:

• Monday: Upper Body
• Tuesday: Lower Body + Arms
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Upper Body
• Friday: Lower Body + Arms
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

During your lower body workout, you might do a set of leg presses, squats or deadlifts, before resting for a minute or so. 

Then, you crank out a set for your biceps or triceps.

Rinse and repeat until you’ve done a total of 6-8 sets for your biceps and 6-8 sets for your triceps.

This allows you to do some extra specialization work for your arms without spending too much longer in the gym. 

You’re effectively training the arms four days a week. They get some work during the various pushing and pulling movements you do for your upper body, and then they’re trained directly alongside your legs.

Upper Body Lower Body Split: The Benefits

Flexible training program

One of the reasons I like the upper body lower body split so much is its flexibility

You can set up your training week in various different ways, depending on your goals and the time you have available to train.

For example, on a typical 4-day upper lower split, you can train:

• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
• Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday

Maybe you have a demanding job that involves working lots of hours, and doesn’t leave you with much time and energy to train in the week. 

If so, you could crank out a couple of shorter, less demanding workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, and leave the longer, more taxing training sessions for the weekend.

You can also insert an extra recovery day in the week if you feel unusually frazzled after your first lower body workout of the week, and feel like you need an extra day of rest. 

That is, instead of doing your second upper body and lower body days on Thursday and Friday respectively, you do them on Friday and Saturday instead.

With a workout routine that involves training 5-6 days per week, you don’t have the same degree of flexibility to move a scheduled training session to another day.

The end result being that workouts are either missed altogether, or bleed into the following week. This has the knock-on effect of messing around with training frequency.

The occasional skipped training session here or there isn’t going to put the brakes on your progress. But if you’re missing workouts on a regular basis, your muscles aren’t going to grow as quickly as they otherwise would have done.

An effective training frequency for most lifters

On a standard 4 day upper lower split routine, you’ve got two upper days, and two lower days. This means each muscle group is hit twice every seven days, which tends to work well for muscle growth.

Training a muscle once a week can and will make that muscle bigger. However, for most people at least, it’s probably the least effective way to train.

The majority of research out there shows that the major muscles should be trained at least twice a week in order to maximize growth [1].

Why does training a muscle twice a week or more work better than training it once a week?

The key driving force behind muscle growth is muscle protein synthesis, which refers to the creation of new muscle protein. And it’s the gradual accumulation of these proteins that makes your muscles bigger [2].

After you train, your body gets busy synthesizing new muscle protein. However, this process doesn’t continue indefinitely, and the rate of protein synthesis soon drops back to normal [3].

More interesting still, the rise in protein synthesis after a workout peaks earlier and returns to normal more quickly the longer you’ve been training [4]. That’s one reason why working a muscle just once a week becomes less effective over time.

In other words, a muscle might spend a day or so “growing” after a workout. But leaving a full seven days before you train that muscle again (which is often what happens with a body part split routine) means that several additional opportunities to stimulate hypertrophy have passed you by.

Assuming you’re not overdoing it in the gym, eating the right food and recovering properly, your muscles don’t need a full week before they’re ready for action again.

Effective for beginner, intermediate and advanced lifters

It’s also effective for lifters of all levels, and can be adjusted based on how long you’ve been training.

Beginners will often see impressive results lifting weights three times a week, as their muscles can be made to grow with a relatively small amount of work.

But as you accumulate more training miles on the clock, you’ll likely need a larger stimulus to spark continued growth. 

And by a larger stimulus, I’m talking about the total number of work sets you do for each muscle group over the course of a week. 

In most cases, that’s going to require more than three weekly workouts. Intermediate and advanced lifters will typically benefit from some kind of split routine that involves training 4, 5 or even 6 times a week.

The workouts are more enjoyable and satisfying

A lot of people prefer splitting their body into different areas, where they focus on 3-5 muscle groups in a given workout. 

Training your upper and lower body separately means you can do more total sets for each muscle group. This gives you much more of a pump – your muscles blow up and feel full, your skin feels tight, and you look a whole lot bigger than you actually are. 

The pump is relatively short-lived, and getting one isn’t essential for muscle growth. But it certainly feels good while it’s happening.

A higher volume of training also tends to generate more delayed-onset muscle soreness. 

Just like getting a pump, experiencing a degree of muscle soreness the day after a workout is no guarantee that muscle is going to be built any faster. But it’s an oddly satisfying sensation nevertheless.

Compared to full-body workouts, some folks find that an upper/lower split is just a more enjoyable and satisfying way to train, which is a major benefit. If you enjoy a particular training program, you’re far more likely to stick with it than one you don’t.

Focus and energy distributed across fewer muscle groups

While full-body workouts can be an effective way to train, especially when you’re just getting started, one of the downsides is that you’re working your entire body – chest, back, legs, shoulders and arms – in every workout.

Some people will run out of steam towards the end of a full-body training session. The muscles being trained towards the end of a workout receive less effort than the ones trained at the start. As a result, they’re not going to grow as fast.

Working your upper and lower body separately means that your energy and focus is distributed across fewer muscle groups, which should translate into faster gains.

Upper Lower Split For Fat Loss

Is an upper/lower split good for fat loss?

If you want to improve your body composition by losing fat while simultaneously replacing some of that lost fat with muscle, a 4-day upper/lower split is one of the best ways to go about doing so.

The four weekly workouts will burn extra calories, not just during the workout itself, but in the hours that follow.

Depending on how long it lasts and how hard you’re working, a single bout of resistance training can burn upwards of several hundred calories, making a significant contribution to the calorie deficit required to lose fat.

What’s more, that same bout of resistance training will set in motion a series of muscular adaptations requiring even more energy.

Damaged muscle fibers need to be repaired, new muscle protein needs to be synthesized and laid down, while depleted glycogen stores need to be restocked. All of these metabolic processes have an energy cost associated with them.

So you’re burning calories not only during the workout itself, but after it’s finished as well.

And because you’re lifting weights four days a week, you’re able to hit all the major muscle groups with a sufficient level of volume to stimulate growth.

Upper/Lower Split Template

If you want to set up your own upper/lower workout schedule, here’s the basic template to use.

Upper Body Workout Template

Here’s what a typical upper body workout might look like:

• Chest: 2 exercises (e.g bench press, incline dumbbell press)
• Back: 2 exercises (e.g. pull up, barbell row)
• Shoulders: 1-2 exercises (e.g. overhead press, lateral raise)
• Biceps: 1-2 exercises (e.g. incline curl, hammer curl)
• Triceps: 1-2 exercises (e.g. pressdown, overhead triceps extension)

Lower Body Workout Template

Here’s what a typical lower body workout might involve:

• Quadriceps: 2 exercises (e.g. parallel squat, leg extension)
• Hamstrings: 2 exercises (e.g. Romanian deadlift, leg curls)
• Calves: 1-2 exercises (e.g. standing calf raise, seated calf raise)
• Abs: 1-2 exercises (e.g. rollouts, weighted crunch)

Exercises like squats, leg presses and split squats will hit the glutes as well as the quads. As such, it’s not strictly necessary to do additional exercises for the glutes.

But if you do want to train the glutes directly, an exercise like the barbell or banded hip thrust will do the job.

Upper Body Exercises

The upper body workouts involve mainly pressing exercises, such as the bench press (both flat and incline) and overhead press (both barbell and dumbbell), pulling exercises like pulldowns and rows, along with some isolation exercises for the biceps and triceps.

• Bench Press
• Incline Dumbbell Press
• Dumbbell Flyes
• Lat Pulldown
• Pull-Ups
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
• T-Bar Row
• Overhead Dumbbell Press
• Lateral Raise
• Triceps Pressdown
• Overhead Triceps Extension
• Incline Curl
• Cross Body Hammer Curl

Lower Body Exercises

The lower body workouts involve exercises like the squat, leg press, leg extension, Bulgarian split squat, leg curl, Romanian deadlift and calf raise. You can throw in ab work whenever you want, normally I like to do it on lower body days.

• Back Squat
• Hack Squat
• Leg Press
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Leg Extension
• Deadlift
• Romanian Deadlift
• Lying Leg Curl
• Seated Leg Curl
• Standing Calf Raise

Optimal Training Volume on an Upper/Lower Workout Schedule

It is possible to build muscle with a relatively small number of sets. For some, as little as five sets per muscle group per week is enough to make your muscles grow [8].

However, if you want to maximize your rate of muscle growth, chances are you’re going to see better results with 10-20 sets per muscle group per week.

By “muscle group,” I’m not talking about an area of the body like the arms or the legs. Specifically, I’m talking about groups of muscles that work together to create movement at a joint, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, biceps, triceps and so on.

For example, if you do four sets of squats, three sets of leg presses and three sets of leg curls over the course of a week, you’ve performed a total of 10 sets for the legs. But most of the work has been done by the quadriceps (the muscles on the front of your thigh).

Although the hamstrings are doing some work during the squat, for instance, it’s not equivalent to the work done by the quadriceps. That is, 10 sets of back squats per week wouldn’t count as 10 sets for the quadriceps and 10 sets for the hamstrings.

As far as reps are concerned, anywhere between 5 and 30 reps will get the job done. You can go higher or lower and still build muscle, but I don’t think there’s much point in doing so.

Go too low and it can leave your joints sore and tender. On the flip side, high rep sets tend to last longer and be more painful than lower rep sets. But they haven’t been shown to deliver any additional benefits in the muscle growth department.

With the upper lower split, you can rotate between two different workouts for each set of muscles, rather than just repeat the same workout each time.

For example, the first upper body workout might be a heavy day, where you focus on compound exercises and heavy weights in the 5-8 rep range.

The second upper body workout might involve lighter weights, higher reps, fewer compound lifts and more single-joint exercises.

There’s some interesting research out there to show that this type of approach leads to a (slightly) faster rate of muscle growth compared to sticking with the same weight and reps [9].

The differences between the groups weren’t dramatic – a little extra muscle here and there. But, this study only lasted eight weeks. Over months and years, those small differences may well add up.

You can also alternate between different exercises for each muscle group. For example, if you do deadlifts in your first lower body workout, do something less taxing like leg curls in the second.

Upper Lower Split Alternatives

Upper Lower Split vs Full Body

With a full-body workout routine, you train all the major body parts — chest, back, shoulders, arms and legs — in a single workout.

Most training programs that use full body workouts are done 2-3 times a week, with each workout separated by at least one full day of rest.

Here’s what a typical 3-day full-body workout routine might look like:

• Monday: Full-Body Workout
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Full-Body Workout
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Full-Body Workout
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

Full-body workouts are well-suited to beginners, who typically don’t need as many sets as intermediate and advanced lifters to stimulate growth.

However, there’ll come a point when the gains slow down, or even grind to a halt completely. Once you get to that point, it’s my experience that you’ll need to ramp up the amount of training you’re doing to continue making progress.

Gaining more mass will typically require a higher volume of training, which usually entails the addition of additional training days.

Full-body workouts do have their benefits, especially if you have a limited amount of time to train and can only make it to the gym 2-3 days a week. But if you’re able to lift weights at least four days a week, I’d go with an upper/lower split.

Upper Lower Split vs Push Pull Legs (PPL)

A push/pull/legs (PPL) routine is a training program that devotes one day to upper body pushing movements (chest, shoulders and triceps), a second day to upper body pulling movements (back and biceps), and a third day to leg exercises (quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves). 

Here’s what a 6-day PPL split looks like:

• Monday: Push
• Tuesday: Pull
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Push
• Friday: Pull
• Saturday: Legs
• Sunday: Off

In general, an  upper/lower split is a better choice if you’re relatively new to lifting weights, and can train 4 times a week, while a PPL routine is better suited to a more advanced lifter who’s able to train 5-6 days a week.

Upper Lower Split vs Push Pull

A push/pull routine involves training the major muscle groups in two different workouts, a push workout and a pull workout.

The push workout hits the chest, shoulders, triceps and quadriceps, while the pull workout works the back, biceps and hamstrings.

Here’s what a 4-day push/pull routine looks like:

• Monday: Push
• Tuesday: Pull
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Push
• Friday: Pull
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

A push/pull split is ideal for people who don’t like leg days. Rather than devote an entire workout to your lower body, you do a little bit of leg work every time you train.

That is, the push day workouts involve some exercises that focus on your quads, such as the squat or leg press, while the pull day workouts will include some work for your hamstrings, like the leg curl or Romanian deadlift.

More Upper/Lower Split Routines

• 3 Day Upper/Lower Split
• 3-Day Upper/Lower/Full Body
• 5-Day Upper/Lower Split
• 6-Day Upper/Lower Split
• Arnold x Upper Lower Split
• nSuns 5/3/1 Program

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should you follow an upper lower split?

There’s no fixed length of time that you should follow an upper/lower split for. As long as you’re making gains, then keep doing what you’re doing. Are you gaining muscular body weight? Are your numbers in the gym improving? If so, there’s no need to change your program just for the sake of it.

Should I do upper body then lower body?

You can do it either way. There’s nothing to stop you switching the order of the workouts so that you train your lower body first, turning it into a lower/upper split.

In fact, I prefer doing my lower body workouts first. Training the legs is hard work, much harder than training the upper body. I like coming into a lower body workout fresh from a day or two of complete rest.

Is the upper/lower workout split good for beginners?

The upper/lower split is a great choice for beginners wanting to build muscle and get stronger.

In one Baylor University study, a group of beginners gained 12 pounds (5.6 kilograms) of muscle in just 10 weeks using a 4 day upper lower split routine [7]. That’s an impressive rate of progress, even taking into account the fact they were beginners.

You’re not necessarily going to see the same kind of dramatic gains in muscle mass, especially if you’re not an untrained beginner in your late teens or early twenties.

However, the results do show that a simple upper lower split workout routine can be used by beginners to achieve some impressive gains in muscle mass.

Which is better, a push/pull or upper/lower workout split?

Both the push/pull and upper/lower split do have a number of things in common. The default version of both routines involve training four days a week, with each muscle group being trained twice a week.

Where they differ is the way you split your body up. With the push/pull split, you have two different workouts: a push workout and a pull workout.

The push workout revolves around pushing movements for the upper body, which involve the chest, shoulders and triceps. The pull workout centers on pulling movements for the upper body, which involve the back and biceps.

In addition, the push workouts also involve exercises that focus on your quads, while the pull day workouts will include some work for your hamstrings.

This makes the push/pull split ideal if you don’t like leg days. Rather than devote an entire workout to your lower body, you do a little bit of leg work every time you train.

Both are also ideal for intermediate lifters looking to move on from a full-body workout done three days a week.

What splits do bodybuilders use?

While there’s no single training split used by all bodybuilders all of the time, most of their training programs do have a few things in common.

In a survey of competitive bodybuilders published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, results showed that most respondents trained 4–7 times per week, hitting the major muscles twice a week, with each workout lasting 60–90 minutes.

Off-season training sessions mostly comprised of targeting 2–3 muscle groups, 2–3 exercises per muscle group, 3–4 sets per exercise, 7–12 reps per set, and 1-3 minutes of recovery between sets and exercises.

Are upper/lower splits good for bodybuilding?

An upper/lower split can certainly be used to make your muscles grow, which is one of the main goals of bodybuilding. However, a 4-day upper/lower split is likely not going to be enough if you want to step on stage in a bodybuilding contest.

Bodybuilders need a relatively high volume of training to ensure that every muscle is developed to its full potential, hence the popularity of the so-called bro split in bodybuilding circles.

But it’s difficult to do that if you’re working the whole of your upper body and lower body in a single workout.

It might be doable with a 6-day upper/lower split, where each workout is focused on a different set of muscles. For example, the first upper body workout might focus on the chest and shoulders, the second on the back and the third on the arms.

You’re still training the upper body three days a week, but each workout focuses more on certain regions with less work for the others.

You’d take the same approach to training your lower body. The first workout would focus on the quads, the second on the hamstrings, and the third on the calves.

Again, you’d still hit the whole of the lower body three times a week, but each workout would be different, with more sets and exercises for some muscles and fewer sets and exercises for others.

How many exercises should I do for each muscle group on an upper/lower split?

As a general rule, I’d suggest doing 2-3 exercises for the chest, back, quadriceps, and hamstrings in each workout. Muscles like the shoulders, biceps, and triceps don’t need quite as much work. In most cases, 1-2 exercises should be sufficient.

Can you do an upper/lower workout split 6 days a week?

Yes, an upper/lower split can be done six days a week. If you want results as fast as humanly possible, and you’ve got the discipline and mental grit to make sure that your training, nutrition and recovery are consistently on target, a 6-day upper/lower split is a viable option.

What’s the best time to do cardio on an upper/lower split?

The best time to do cardio on an upper/lower split depends on how intense that cardio is. If all you’re doing is going for a brisk walk outside, you can do it when you like.

Low-intensity steady state cardio (LISS), such as walking, has only a minor impact on your muscle-building efforts in the gym. As a result, it can be done on a much more regular basis – daily, if that’s what you want to do.

But with high-intensity cardio, such as HIIT, you need to be a lot more careful about how much you do and when you do it. That’s because HIIT has a much greater potential to interfere with your ability to recover from and adapt to your weight training sessions.

The best time to do more intense cardio on an upper/lower split would be on the days you’re not lifting weights. For example, if you trained your upper body on Monday and your lower body on Tuesday, you’d do some cardio on the Wednesday, and then again on the Saturday.

How much volume should you do per muscle group in a 4-day upper/lower split to experience growth when bulking?

Aim for 10-20 weekly sets for the major muscles – chest, back, quads and hamstrings – divided across two workouts. The shoulders and arms are worked alongside the chest and back, so won’t require as much work to stimulate growth.

Would an upper/lower split be better for fat loss than a full body workout?

Neither one is inherently better than the other when it comes to losing fat. What matters most when it comes to fat loss is making sure your diet is set up properly. For an identical volume of training, most people will see similar results with both training programs, and should pick the one they’re most likely to stay consistent with.

Is a 3-day upper/lower split effective?

It’s certainly effective in the sense that it will lead to muscle being gained. But overall, it’s going to be less effective than the 4 day upper lower split, mainly because you’re only hitting each muscle group 1.5 times per week instead of twice.

Which is better, a full body or upper/lower split?

A lot depends on how often can train, and how much volume your muscles need to grow. If you’re only able to hit the gym 3 times a week, and relatively new to weight training, where volume requirements are typically on the low side, go with a full-body workout performed three days a week.

But if you’ve moved past the novice phase of training, and need more weekly sets to keep the gains coming, you’ll likely see faster muscle growth with an upper lower split workout.

Where would ab workouts go in an upper/lower split?

Wherever you can fit them in. You can do them with the upper body workout, the lower body workout, or even on your rest days.

How long should I rest between sets?

For best results, take at least two minutes of rest between sets. Without enough rest from one set to the other, you won’t be able to do as many reps. And it’s this reduction in volume load which has the knock on effect of reducing the stimulus for growth [11].

The majority of studies show that rest periods in the region of 2-3 minutes promote greater gains in size and strength than shorter rest periods lasting 1 minute or less [12].