About this workout
The 4 day upper/lower is the best split for most people who are past their first year and have a life. Four training days means you can miss one and still get every muscle twice a week. It trains upper and lower body two times each, with a heavy day and a volume day for both, so you build strength and size without picking one. This is the split I put most intermediate lifters on when six days is not realistic.
Who This Program Is For
- You have trained consistently for a year or more and can hit a real set of 8.
- You have four days a week — and, honestly, the flexibility that if life eats one, the other three still cover you.
- You want size and strength together, not one at the expense of the other.
- You have full gym access: barbell, dumbbells, cables, a pull-up bar.
Who this is NOT for: true beginners. If you are under a year in, three full body days will out-build this — run the 3 Day Full Body Workout for Beginners and come back stronger. It is also not for someone chasing a single powerlifting total; this is a muscle-and-strength split, not a peaking program.
What You'll Need
- Barbell, rack and bench
- Dumbbells to a working weight for pressing and rowing
- Cable station and a lat pulldown
- Pull-up bar
- Leg press or hack squat, or a willingness to substitute
- A training log. You cannot progressively overload what you do not write down — this is the whole game past the beginner stage.
The Program
Four days: Upper (Heavy), Lower (Heavy), Upper (Volume), Lower (Volume). Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday works, or any layout with a rest day between the two heavy days and the two volume days. Rest periods are prescriptions, not suggestions — cutting rest on a heavy squat turns strength work into conditioning.
| Day 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper (Heavy) | |||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 5-7 | 3 min |
| Bent Over Row | 4 | 6-8 | 3 min |
| Seated Barbell Shoulder Press | 3 | 6-8 | 2-3 min |
| Lat Pulldown | 3 | 8-10 | 2 min |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raise | 3 | 12-15 | 60 sec |
| Barbell Curl | 3 | 8-10 | 60 sec |
| Tricep Pushdown | 3 | 10-12 | 60 sec |
| Day 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower (Heavy) | |||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| Barbell Squat | 4 | 5-7 | 3 min |
| Romanian Deadlift | 3 | 6-8 | 2-3 min |
| Leg Press | 3 | 10-12 | 2 min |
| Lying Leg Curl | 3 | 10-12 | 90 sec |
| Standing Calf Raise | 4 | 10-12 | 60 sec |
| Hanging Leg Raise | 3 | 10-15 | 60 sec |
| Day 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper (Volume) | |||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| Incline Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-10 | 2 min |
| Seated Cable Rows | 4 | 10-12 | 90 sec |
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 3 | 10-12 | 90 sec |
| Face Pulls | 3 | 15-20 | 60 sec |
| Incline Dumbbell Curls | 3 | 10-12 | 60 sec |
| Overhead Tricep Extension | 3 | 12-15 | 60 sec |
| Day 4 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower (Volume) | |||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
| Barbell Front Squat | 3 | 8-10 | 2-3 min |
| Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 10-12 each leg | 90 sec |
| Hip Thrust (Weighted Hip Extension) | 3 | 10-12 | 2 min |
| Lying Leg Curl | 3 | 12-15 | 90 sec |
| Leg Extension | 3 | 12-15 | 60 sec |
| Seated Calf Raise | 4 | 12-15 | 60 sec |
How to Progress
Ten weeks, and the progression is the reason it works when the last four splits you tried did not.
Weeks 1-3 — establish. Pick loads where the last rep of your top set is hard but clean, one in the tank. Write down every weight. This is your baseline, not your peak.
Weeks 4-6 — add. On the first exercise of each day, when you hit the top of the rep range on all sets, add weight next session: 5-10 lbs on lower body, 5 lbs on upper. On everything else, add reps first, then weight when you top the range on every set.
Weeks 7-9 — push. Take the top set of each day's first two exercises to one rep short of failure. Not to failure. Keep adding weight where the rule says to.
Week 10 — deload. This program runs longer than 8 weeks, so the deload is mandatory, not optional. Same exercises, half the sets, 60% of your week 9 weights. It feels like a wasted week. It is the week that lets the next block start higher than this one did.
Then run it again heavier, or step up to PHUL Workout: 4 Day Power Hypertrophy Split.
Warm-Up and Recovery Notes
Ramp the first heavy lift each day: 40% x 5, 60% x 3, 80% x 1, then your first work set. One feeder set at most for the second exercise. Nothing after that needs a formal warm-up.
Five minutes of general movement to raise your temperature before you touch a bar. Skip the long mobility video — it is not what is adding muscle.
Because this is a 10 week program, do not white-knuckle through accumulating fatigue. If strength drops two sessions in a row, or sleep and joints are going backwards, pull the deload forward a week. Nothing is lost.
Nutrition and Supplementation
You build muscle in a slight surplus and you build strength best when you are not in an aggressive deficit. Eat at or slightly above maintenance, 0.8-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, and let the numbers on the bar tell you if it is enough.
Supplements supplement — they do not replace the food or the training. On a split like this the three with real evidence are protein powder to hit your intake, creatine monohydrate at 5g a day, and a pre-workout if you train when your energy is lowest. The rest is optional.
FAQ
Can I run this three days a week? Not as written — you would only train each half of the body every 8-9 days, which is too infrequent to progress well. Drop to the 3 Day Full Body Workout for Beginners structure instead.
What if I miss a day? That is the point of this split — you can. Just run the four days in order across whatever days you get, and keep one rest day between heavy sessions.
No leg press? Substitute hack squat or add a set to Bulgarian split squats. Substitute accessory work freely; do not substitute the first exercise of any day, because that is what you track.
Heavy and volume days — can I swap which comes first? Yes. If your schedule puts more recovery before one day, make that your heavy day. Keep upper and lower alternating.
Can women run this unchanged? Yes. The programming does not care about your gender.