4-day workout split: three ways to set up your week

Four days a week is a sweet spot: enough sessions to train each muscle twice with plenty of sets, and still three days off. There are a few good ways to split it. Here are three, and who each one suits.

1. Upper/lower (the classic)

Upper body on Monday and Thursday, lower body on Tuesday and Friday. Every muscle gets trained twice a week, and each session is focused enough to keep short. It's the most popular 4-day split for good reason. Full details in our upper/lower split guide.

• Upper A: bench press, barbell row, overhead press, lat pulldown, curls and triceps
• Lower A: back squat, Romanian deadlift, leg extension, calf raise
• Upper B: overhead press, pull-up, incline bench press, cable row, lateral raise
• Lower B: deadlift, leg press, lying leg curl, walking lunge, core

• Barbell bench pressChest
• Barbell rowUpper back, Lats
• Back squatQuads, Glutes
• Romanian deadliftHamstrings, Glutes
• Incline barbell pressChest, Front delts
• Pull-upLats
• DeadliftHamstrings, Glutes, Lower back
• Leg pressQuads, Glutes

2. Push, pull, legs, then full body

Run push/pull/legs once, then finish the week with a full-body session that hits everything again. It gives you PPL's focused days while still training each muscle twice. Good if you like PPL but only have four days.

3. Full body, four times

Four shorter full-body sessions, alternating two workouts. Each session has fewer sets per muscle, but each muscle is worked four times. It suits people who like short sessions (35 to 45 minutes) and anyone whose recovery is better with smaller doses.

Which to pick

• Want the simplest plan? Upper/lower.
• Like long sessions for one area? Push, pull, legs plus full body.
• Want short sessions? Full body four times.

Whichever you pick, the weekly sets per muscle matter more than the label. Aim for about 10 to 20 hard sets a week for the muscles you want to grow, spread over two or more days.

Or skip the split

If you set four days a week in Liftsmith, Pro doesn't follow a fixed split at all: each workout trains the muscles that have recovered and still need sets that week, so a missed day doesn't throw the week out. If you'd rather follow a fixed plan, the upper/lower program (Pro) runs it for you, with every weight worked out.