The upper lower split: a four-day training structure that works

An upper/lower split alternates upper-body and lower-body sessions. Four training days let you spread weekly work across two exposures per muscle without making each visit excessively long. That frequency is useful for organising quality work; it is not magic on its own.

A practical four-day week

• Monday — Upper A: bench press, row, shoulder press, lat pulldown, triceps and biceps.
• Tuesday — Lower A: squat, Romanian deadlift, leg extension, leg curl and calves.
• Thursday — Upper B: incline dumbbell press, pull-up, chest-supported row, lateral raise and arms.
• Friday — Lower B: deadlift or hip thrust, leg press, Bulgarian split squat, leg curl and core.

The A and B days can emphasise different lifts, but they should still cover the same broad muscle groups. Most exercises need two or three hard working sets; warm-up sets do not count toward that total.

Example Upper A session

1. 01Bench press — 3 × 5–8, leaving 2 reps in reserve.
2. 02Chest-supported row — 3 × 6–10.
3. 03Dumbbell shoulder press — 2 × 8–12.
4. 04Lat pulldown — 2 × 8–12.
5. 05Lateral raise, cable curl and tricep pushdown — 2 × 10–15 each.

How much work do you need?

Begin near the lower end: roughly 8–12 challenging weekly sets for a large muscle group is enough for many people to progress. Add sets only when lifts are improving slowly despite good sleep and food—not simply because the session feels short.

If you only have three days

Rotate Upper, Lower, Upper in week one, then Lower, Upper, Lower in week two. Do not squeeze a four-day plan into three longer sessions; alternating preserves the balance over time.

Common mistakes

• Packing every upper-body exercise into both days and turning them into two-hour sessions.
• Using two lower days that are both dominated by squats, with little hamstring or hip work.
• Training hard on four consecutive days instead of placing recovery between pairs of sessions.
• Changing the main lifts before giving a progression method six to eight weeks to work.

Upper/Lower FAQs