The Best Upper Lower Workout Split for Building Muscle

It is a 4 day workout split, meaning you will have 3 days a week that are dedicated to rest and recovery, which is where growth truly happens. Regardless of which split you choose, the total volume you accumulate across the week matters more than how you slice it up. A systematic review of training volume and hypertrophy found that 12 to 20 working sets per muscle group per week is a solid range for trained lifters looking to grow.

DIET & RECOVERY:

Think about it, these muscles are working day in and day out even when you aren’t lifting, so they need more volume to grow. Basically, you want to be well-rounded and give your muscles the best potential for strength and hypertrophy, so you should play around in all rep ranges (which we will do in our U/L splits). You can switch them up every month or so (or even weekly) if you wanted, but for the purpose of simplicity, we keep the same accessory exercises throughout our upper lower workout plans.

Lower Body Exercises

• Now that we have a clear understanding of what an upper lower split is and reviewed the actual plans, let’s discuss exercise selection and exercise hierarchy.
• Yes, upper/lower splits are highly effective for muscle growth, or hypertrophy.
• Making alterations to upper lower splits prevents training plateaus and boredom, which can hinder long-term progress.
• A comprehensive workout program should include a variety of main and assistance exercises to ensure balanced training for full-body strength.
• Four off days per week give you plenty of time to recover, even between high-volume workouts.
• Changes can include variations in your primary lifts, swapping barbells for dumbbells, or adjusting your tempo.

This split offers a solid foundation, but you should always listen to your body and make adjustments as required to sustain progress and minimize burnout. The second tip was to rest long enough between sets so that you can perform at your best. As long as you do these two things, and handle recovery well outside the gym (good nutrition, hydration, and sleep), you should see steady performance improvements. Since you have complete freedom to pick and swap exercises, consider what weights feel best for you. Just like with the previous versions, the actual days you choose doesn’t matter at all as long as that same structure is kept intact.

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The trade-off is that each muscle only gets trained once, maybe twice, per week. This means there are longer gaps where MPS isn’t elevated for that specific muscle. Picking a workout structure can feel like a huge commitment, but it’s really just about finding what fits your life and your goals. By working your entire body two or three times a week, you’re consistently stimulating muscle protein synthesis across the board—a key driver for building strength and torching calories. For higher-volume routines that aim to maximize intensity, separating overlapping muscle groups allows each to be trained effectively.

No hype, no fillers—just pure creatine monohydrate, the gold standard for strength, endurance, and recovery. It powers every lift, sprint, and explosive move by recycling your body’s ATP for more energy, faster recovery, and lean muscle growth. Beyond the gym, it supports focus and clarity under stress or fatigue.

Day Upper/Lower Split: The Workouts

If time is a factor, you can reduce your rest intervals to a minute. That’s not an optimal approach, and you’ll have to adjust your training loads accordingly, but how long you rest between sets is not the single factor determining your progress and results. The push training sessions also include some exercises for your quads, while the pull workouts include some work for your hamstrings.

Day Upper Lower Workout Split

Although you can choose any exercises you like, we highly recommend that you build your upper lower split around several big compound lifts. However, the number of weekly training days that’s best for you will depend on your schedule and fitness level. We can’t determine what the best schedule is for you, so you will have to decide on that for yourself (and remember, you can unimeal app review play around with the rest days and working days). As with the previous upper lower frequency options, you can alter the working days, but it’s best to have a rest day between the first upper and lower workouts and the second.

How Many Times a Week Should I Do Upper-Lower Splits?

These big compound exercises will provide you the biggest bang for your buck. They are the best for building overall strength, muscle mass, burning calories, and boosting androgenic hormones. You will be focusing on the best and most productive exercises, as if you didn’t, you’d be in the gym for hours on end, being that you need to hit multiple muscle groups each workout. So, the workout plan below is bi-weekly, which will start back at week 1 every two weeks. This is not technically a 6 day split, as it is based on 8 days, but for all intents and purposes, it is.

Focus on the big compound lifts and master your form.If you are Intermediate, move to a 4-day Upper/Lower split. This introduces more volume while keeping your recovery manageable.If you are Advanced, look into a 5- or 6-day Push/Pull/Legs routine. This is the peak of bodybuilding frequency and volume for most people.

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But putting that aside, I consider all of the 4-day versions of upper/lower to be equally effective and really just slightly different variations of the exact same thing. As you can also see, the structure of this split involves having 1 day off between each workout, and then two days off at the end (so… 1 on/1 off/1 on/1 off/1 on/2 off). Don’t get me wrong, a 2-day upper/lower split can still work to some degree.

Consider allocating abs to lower-body days to balance workload across the week. For example, add planks or hanging leg raises after your lower-body exercises. On the right, training muscles three times a week corresponds to greater increases in muscle strength and lower perceived exertion during each workout. With the total body workout split, you train all of your muscles during each workout mainly through the use of compound exercises.

Understanding the Upper Lower Split Workout Plan

With the ability to cater to different training goals and preferences, individuals can find adaptability in their workout routine, leading to consistent progress and improved overall fitness. When following an upper lower split workout plan, specific muscle groups are targeted, aiding in muscle gain and strength training. This approach also allows for adequate recovery time for each muscle group, reducing the risk of injury and overtraining. It’s important to customize the upper lower split workout plan to align with individual fitness goals and needs.

We provided a variety of exercises with effective methods that work. If you trained with enough intensity during the barbell bench press, then you shouldn’t be able to do endless reps of either of these exercises. Although, the pike push-up or decline push-up is much more difficult than a basic push-up. But we wanted to include these variations to hit the upper chest area.

Workout Guidelines

Download the StrengthLog workout log app to see the % of 1RM, number of sets, and reps of of StrengthLog’s 5 Day Workout Split. However, our more advanced programs (such as this one) are for premium users only. Lifting heavier is another of the fundamental principles of gaining muscle.

Incorporating different training volumes helps in preventing workout plateaus. It’s important to find the right balance and adjust according to individual goals and capabilities. Understanding specific NLP terms such as day split, bench press, and different exercises can greatly assist in tailoring the workout routine to achieve the desired results. Utilizing the upper lower split routine long-term ensures optimized training volume and recovery time for sustained muscle growth. This type of workout routine maximizes training frequency and volume, leading to long-term efficiency for muscle building.