The Four-Day Upper/Lower Week
Two upper and two lower sessions in a Mon/Tue–Thu/Fri split, each pattern trained twice a week at hypertrophy volumes.
- GOAL
- Hypertrophy
- LEVEL
- Intermediate
- LENGTH
- 1 week
- SESSIONS
- 4 per week
Four sessions split upper, lower, upper, lower, with the two blocks separated by a full day in the middle of the week. Every muscle group is trained twice, which is where most intermediate lifters find their volume sweet spot. The first upper and lower days lead with horizontal pressing and squatting; the second pair lead with vertical pressing and hinging, so the same tissue gets a different angle rather than a repeat. Working sets sit in the 6–12 range and stop one to two reps short of failure. Volume, not intensity, is the driver here — the loads are moderate on purpose.
- →Six months or more of consistent lifting behind them
- →Wants more volume per muscle group than a three-day full-body week allows
- →Can commit to four sessions of about an hour
- →Recovering well enough to train two days back to back
- →Can squat, hinge, press and row with a loaded barbell using sound technique
- →Has trained at least three days a week for three consecutive months
- →Knows what one to two reps in reserve actually feels like
Hit every major muscle group twice with enough total working sets to drive growth, without putting two lower-body days next to each other.
- MondayUpper Body A — Horizontal Press and PullLead with the press. Rows matched set for set with pressing.
- TuesdayLower Body A — Squat FocusSquat first at two reps in reserve, then accessories to one.
- WednesdayRest, or an easy 30 min walkThe gap in the middle of the week is deliberate. Do not move a session into it.
- ThursdayUpper Body B — Vertical Press and PullOverhead press and chin-ups lead. Lighter than Monday on absolute load.
- FridayLower Body B — Hinge FocusRomanian deadlift or equivalent leads. Do not chase a top single here.
- SaturdayEasy 30–45 min walk or bike
- SundayRest
PROGRESSIONTake the last set of each accessory exercise to one rep in reserve; keep main lifts at two. Log load and reps on every set — the week only progresses if the log does.
- →Run this week again next week with the same exercises. The split does not change; the numbers in it do.
- →Add one set to two accessory exercises per session each week, up to a ceiling of four weeks of adding, then reset to the starting set count.
- →On main lifts, add load when all working sets hit the top of the rep range: 2.5 kg upper body, 5 kg lower body. Otherwise repeat the load and add a rep.
- →If a session's total reps drop below the previous week at the same load on two lifts, that is the signal to deload — not to push harder.
- →Every fifth week, run the same four days at two-thirds of the working sets and 80 percent of the loads, then start adding again.
- →Never move Wednesday's rest to make room for a missed session. Drop the session instead and resume the pattern.
- →5-rep max on back squat and bench press
- →Maximum strict chin-ups
- →Total working sets completed across the week at target reps
- →Bodyweight and one waist measurement, taken on the same morning each week