The 4-day upper/lower split

A complete upper/lower program with exercises, sets, rep ranges, and weekly volume per muscle.

Upper/lower is the best value split in training. Four sessions a week is enough to hit every muscle twice, which is the frequency most of the research supports, while leaving three days off for recovery and the rest of your life. For most lifters who aren't willing to train six days a week, this is the correct answer.

Below is the full program. To change the exercises, volume, or progression and get a week-by-week spreadsheet out of it, you can build this program in the builder and export it as a CSV.

Who this split is for

Upper/lower works for a wider range of people than any other split:

Anyone from a few months in through several years of training.
Anyone who wants meaningful progress without organising their week around the gym.
Anyone returning after a layoff who wants frequency without a six-day commitment.

If you can genuinely train six days a week, the 6-day PPL split lets you spread the same volume over more sessions. If four days is a stretch, the 3-day full body routine still hits everything with room to spare.

Scheduling options

The only real rule is that you don't run all four sessions back to back. Two common layouts:

Layout	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Two on, one off	Upper A	Lower A	Rest	Upper B	Lower B	Rest	Rest
Spread out	Upper A	Rest	Lower A	Rest	Upper B	Lower B	Rest

The first is easier to remember and keeps the weekend clear. The second spreads fatigue a little more evenly. Pick whichever you'll actually follow.

The program

Because you only get four sessions, each one is dense — expect 60–75 minutes. Take working sets to roughly 1–3 reps in reserve. The A days lean heavier and the B days lean toward higher reps, so every muscle gets both stimuli across the week.

Upper A — heavier

Exercise	Sets × reps	Rest
Barbell bench press	4 × 5–8	3 min
Barbell row	4 × 6–10	3 min
Overhead press	3 × 6–10	2–3 min
Lat pulldown	3 × 8–12	2 min
Dumbbell lateral raise	3 × 12–20	60–90 s
EZ bar curl	3 × 8–12	90 s
Triceps pushdown	3 × 10–15	60–90 s

Lower A — quad bias

Exercise	Sets × reps	Rest
Back squat	4 × 5–8	3 min
Romanian deadlift	3 × 8–12	2–3 min
Leg press	3 × 10–15	2 min
Seated leg curl	3 × 10–15	90 s
Standing calf raise	4 × 8–12	90 s

Upper B — higher rep

Exercise	Sets × reps	Rest
Incline dumbbell press	4 × 8–12	2–3 min
Pull-up or weighted pull-up	4 × 6–10	2–3 min
Seated cable row	3 × 10–12	2 min
Cable fly	3 × 12–15	90 s
Cable lateral raise	3 × 15–20	60 s
Hammer curl	3 × 10–12	90 s
Overhead cable triceps extension	3 × 10–15	60–90 s

Lower B — posterior bias

Exercise	Sets × reps	Rest
Conventional or trap bar deadlift	3 × 4–6	3–4 min
Bulgarian split squat	3 × 8–12	2 min
Leg extension	3 × 12–15	90 s
Lying leg curl	3 × 10–15	90 s
Seated calf raise	4 × 10–15	90 s

Weekly volume per muscle

The usual evidence-based target is roughly 10–20 hard sets per muscle group per week. Counting direct sets, this program lands here:

Muscle	Weekly sets	Notes
Chest	11	Plus pressing carryover
Back	14
Side delts	6 direct	Plus overhead pressing
Quads	13
Hamstrings	12
Biceps	6 direct	Plus heavy rows and pull-ups
Triceps	6 direct	Plus all pressing
Calves	8

Arms sit lower here than on a six-day split, which is the honest tradeoff of only having four sessions. They still get substantial indirect work from every press and row. If arms are a priority, add two or three sets of curls and pushdowns to either upper day before you add anything else.

How to progress each lift

Exercises and sets are just the container. Growth comes from doing more over time, and the most reliable method is double progression:

Take your rep range — say 8–12 on incline dumbbell press.
Keep the weight the same until you hit the top of the range on every set: 12, 12, 12, 12.
Then add the smallest jump available and fall back to the bottom: 8, 8, 8, 8.
Climb again and repeat.

Use 2.5 kg / 5 lb jumps upstairs and 5 kg / 10 lb downstairs. On squats and deadlifts you may prefer a fixed weekly increase while it still works, then switch to double progression when it stops. The program guide covers choosing between them.

Deload weeks

Four hard sessions a week is sustainable for a long time, but not indefinitely. Plan a lighter week roughly every fifth or sixth week: same exercises, about 7–10% off the bar, and one fewer set per exercise. It should feel easy. The point is to clear accumulated fatigue while keeping the movement patterns, so you come back into the next block stronger rather than merely recovered.

Turning this into 3 or 5 days

Upper/lower scales in both directions, which is part of why it's so useful:

Three days: run Upper, Lower, Full Body on a rotation, or simply alternate Upper/Lower continuously so the sessions drift across the week.
Five days: add a fifth day targeting whatever lags — usually arms and side delts, sometimes a second posterior chain session.

Common mistakes

Making both upper days identical. The heavy/high-rep contrast is what gives you both stimuli in only four sessions.
Letting upper days run 90+ minutes. If you're fading by the last exercise, those sets aren't doing much — cut an exercise rather than junk-repping through it.
Neglecting lower B. Deadlift day is the one people skip, and hamstrings pay for it.
Chasing weight over reps. Adding 10 kg and losing four reps is not progress.

Build this program

Set this up in the builder in a few minutes: pick the upper/lower template, mark your four training days, assign the exercises above, and give each lift a rep range and progression rule. Mark weeks 5 and 10 as deloads, then export the block as a CSV with target weight and reps for every set.

Build this upper/lower program →