4-Day Upper/Lower Split: A Repeatable Gym Workout Plan

A 4-day upper/lower split divides the week into two upper-body sessions and two lower-body sessions. A straightforward schedule is upper on Monday and Thursday, lower on Tuesday and Friday, with Wednesday and the weekend off from this plan. You can repeat the same two workouts; four training days do not require four different exercise lists.

The template below is for generally healthy adults who already know the basic lifts and can reliably get to a gym four times a week. It aims to build muscle and general strength, not prepare you for a powerlifting meet or maximize every muscle’s growth. If you are still learning gym equipment or can usually train only three days, start with the simpler three-day full-body plan.

Your weekly schedule

These time estimates include warm-up, rest and equipment changes, not just lifting. A busy gym or unfamiliar setup can take longer. You need dumbbells, a flat bench and a seated-press bench, a squat rack and barbell, a cable station, a leg-curl machine, a standing calf-raise machine and floor space. Alternatives appear below.

Keep the same exercises and order on both upper days, and on both lower days, so you can compare sessions fairly. The gap between sessions for the same body region is three or four days in this schedule. That is planned recovery time, not a guarantee that every person will be ready.

Upper-body workout: Monday and Thursday

The sets below are working sets, not warm-up sets. Complete an exercise’s sets before moving on; this is not a circuit.

For the bench press, use a flat bench and learn how to get the dumbbells into and out of position. For the seated shoulder press, use palms facing forward and a stable seated setup. Row with palms facing down; use a wide overhand grip for pulldowns and bring the bar in front of your head toward your upper chest. Do not turn the pulling exercises into backward body swings.

Perform lateral raises standing, without heaving the dumbbells upward. Curl both dumbbells together with palms facing up, keeping the upper arms reasonably still. Use the V-shaped attachment for pushdowns with elbows near your sides. The linked exercise pages identify the intended variations; unfamiliar movements deserve instruction before challenging loads.

Lower-body workout: Tuesday and Friday

Use a back-squat setup with the bar on your upper back and properly positioned rack safeties. Have someone qualified show you the setup and how to end a set safely. Squat only as deep as you can control without losing your balance. If you have not learned the barbell squat, choose a familiar option from the substitution table instead of treating this workout as your first lesson.

For the Romanian deadlift, start standing, keep a small knee bend and move your hips back with the dumbbells close to your legs. End the descent where you can maintain control; reaching the floor is not the goal. For leg curls, adjust the machine to fit and keep your hips against its pad. On calf raises, move through a comfortable range without bouncing. Hold the plank on forearms and toes, breathing normally, and stop before your hips sag or your position breaks down.

Stop an exercise that causes pain. Changing equipment is not a way to train through pain; persistent or concerning symptoms need appropriate professional assessment.

Starting loads, effort and warm-up

Start with several minutes of easy movement. Then rehearse the first lift with a very light load and take a few progressively heavier warm-up sets as needed. Before each new loaded movement, use an easy practice set or two to check its setup. Warm-up sets should prepare you, not become extra hard work.

Choose a working load that lets you reach the bottom of the listed rep range while estimating that two or three more controlled reps would still be possible. This is a repetitions-in-reserve estimate, not a demand to test your limit. If you cannot reach the lower end without grinding or changing technique, reduce the load for the next set. If it is very easy, make a small adjustment rather than jumping toward a maximum.

The 2026 ACSM position stand supports challenging resistance training without requiring every set to reach failure. It discusses a two-to-three-rep buffer but also notes that exact effort targets are not settled. Here, that buffer is a practical starting rule, not a uniquely proven optimum. For the plank, judge position and breathing rather than trying to estimate extra repetitions.

Rest long enough to repeat the exercise with control. Take longer than the table suggests if you are still too breathless or fatigued to set up well. The rest-between-sets guide explains how to use a timer without letting it dictate readiness.

When moving from a lower-volume routine: begin with two working sets for every rep-based exercise and keep the two plank holds. Only move the bench press, row, squat and Romanian deadlift to three sets once this workload feels manageable and you are recovering between sessions. If even the reduced version is a large increase from your current training, keep your existing routine or get help making a smaller transition. Four days is an option, not the next level you must unlock.

How to progress without changing the workout

Use the same load for an exercise’s working sets while building repetitions within its range. The sets do not need to match. Keep technique, range of motion, rest and exercise order reasonably consistent.

When every working set reaches the top of the range with the intended effort buffer on two consecutive comparable sessions, try the smallest practical load increase at the next session. After the increase, return toward the lower end of the range. If you cannot reach that lower end with controlled reps and a buffer, the jump was too large: return to the previous load or find a smaller increment.

This two-session check is a conservative rule for this template, not a threshold established by a trial. Increase each exercise independently. You do not need to make every lift heavier each week.

Worked example: compare upper day with upper day

Suppose your bench press uses three sets of 8–12. Loads below are per dumbbell. The kilogram and pound examples illustrate separate equipment options, not exact conversions; these sessions are not a promised progress timeline.

Twelve reps followed by two sets of eight is not yet the increase signal. Neither is reaching all the numbers by using shorter repetitions or help from a spotter. For large dumbbell jumps and uneven sets, see the double-progression guide.

For planks, add a few seconds only while you maintain position and normal breathing. Once both holds reach 40 seconds comfortably, maintain that dose; seek instruction before adopting a harder variation rather than chasing longer holds indefinitely.

Record the exercise, load, actual reps or seconds, and a brief effort note. Specify per hand for dumbbells and total including the bar for barbell loads. Log the machine and its settings too: a stack number is not interchangeable with another machine’s number.

Equipment substitutions that keep the plan recognizable

Choose a substitute you can perform comfortably and set its load afresh. Keep the original exercise’s working-set count, rep range and effort target. A change of equipment starts a new performance comparison; do not copy the old load across.

If a station is briefly occupied, wait or change exercise order rather than inventing a replacement. Note the changed order in your log. If there is no familiar option for the Romanian deadlift, omit it that day and arrange instruction or a suitable alternative; adding more leg curls would not replace its hip-hinge role. An occasional omitted exercise is preferable to rushing an unfamiliar movement.

Repeated equipment problems are a reason to adapt the routine deliberately. Keep your chosen versions stable rather than swapping them at every visit.

How much work does this add up to?

At the full table dose, each upper session has 16 working sets and each lower session has 12, for 56 across the week. The introductory two-set version has 14 upper and 10 lower sets, or 48 weekly. These are whole-session totals, not sets for each muscle.

The full version includes six weekly bench-press sets, six rows, four overhead presses, four pulldowns, four lateral raises, four curls and four pushdowns. Lower-body work adds six squats, six Romanian deadlifts, four leg curls, four calf raises and four plank holds. Arms and shoulders also contribute to presses and pulls; do not count each compound set as a full direct set for every involved muscle.

The plan is deliberately a starting template, not a claim to maximize hypertrophy everywhere. The ACSM overview found that higher weekly set volume can enhance muscle growth, while emphasizing that making progress and optimizing results are different goals. Six direct chest or squat sets here may be enough to make progress for some lifters, but they are not a universal ideal. Do not automatically add work to reach a generic set target before seeing how you respond.

Missed days, recovery and stalls

Missed Tuesday’s lower workout? Continue the upper/lower sequence rather than skipping legs and restarting with upper on Monday. For example: Monday upper, Thursday lower, Saturday upper, then Monday lower and Wednesday upper. Allow at least a day without training that same body region between its sessions, and insert additional rest when needed. Resume a regular four-day week when practical. Do not double the sets to make up a missed visit.

Regularly managing only two or three days? Choose a full-body schedule that matches your actual week. Constantly compressing four planned sessions is not a requirement for progress.

Still unusually fatigued at the next session? Delay it or use a lighter, shorter session. If the workload repeatedly disrupts the next visit, return to the two-set version or reduce the schedule and reassess. Persistent pain or a loss of normal movement is not an ordinary progression problem to solve by pushing harder.

Stuck for several comparable sessions? First check rest time, technique, equipment, sleep and other training demands. If a load repeatedly puts you below the range, reduce it and rebuild. If recovery is poor, adding sets is unlikely to be the first useful experiment. If recovery is good but one goal has stalled, seek individual guidance on that goal rather than increasing every exercise at once.

After a longer break, choose starting loads again instead of assuming your old numbers still fit. Keep the routine while it remains comfortable, repeatable and useful; there is no mandatory expiry date.

Is upper/lower better than full body?

Not inherently. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found similar average strength and muscle-growth outcomes for split and full-body routines when weekly volume was matched. That does not make every program interchangeable: the work performed and whether you can keep attending still matter.

A more specific 12-week randomized trial compared four upper/lower sessions with two full-body sessions in previously untrained women. With the exercises and weekly work matched, it found no significant between-group differences in strength or measured muscle mass. The trial was mostly supervised and measured muscle mass using bioelectrical impedance; it does not establish the best schedule for experienced lifters or validate this template. Some split-group participants also withdrew for time-related reasons.

Choose upper/lower because you prefer separating leg sessions from upper-body work and can sustain four visits—not because an extra gym day guarantees faster gains. If your current full-body routine is progressing and fits your life, you do not need to replace it.

Sources and scope

This is general training guidance, not individualized coaching or a clinically tested program. The exercise selection, set allocation, rest ranges, transition rule and progression example are editorial programming choices. The research supports the broader principles, not this exact routine. No personal training results or expert endorsement are claimed.

• Ramos-Campo and colleagues, 2024: Efficacy of Split Versus Full-Body Resistance Training on Strength and Muscle Growth: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004774. Abstract consulted; pooled matched-volume findings are not a guarantee for every individual.
• Pedersen and colleagues, 2022: A randomized trial on the efficacy of split-body versus full-body resistance training in non-resistance trained women. DOI: 10.1186/s13102-022-00481-7. Full text consulted, including methods, results and limitations; the population and supervised setting limit generalization.
• ACSM, 2026: Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003897. Full-text strength, hypertrophy and discussion sections consulted; exact effort targets and individual volume needs remain uncertain.