4 Day Upper Lower Split: Beginner, Build Muscle
A 4-day program for beginners, aimed at building muscle.
- 4 days a week
- Upper/lower
- Full gym
- about 40–45 min
- No cardio
- You’ll need: barbell and rack, bench press station, incline bench press station, adjustable bench, dumbbells, cable row, lat pulldown, 6 weight machines
Each week
Upper A (Flat Chest Focus)
- Barbell Bench Press — 3 × 8–10
- Pec Deck / Machine Fly — 3 × 10–12
- Seated Cable Row — 3 × 8–12
- Lat Pulldown (Wide Grip) — 3 × 8–12
- Overhead Press (OHP) — 3 × 8–10
- Dumbbell Curl — 3 × 10–12
- Cable Tricep Pushdown — 3 × 10–12
Lower A (Squat & Hamstring Focus)
- Barbell Back Squat — 3 sets
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL) — 3 sets
- Leg Extension — 3 sets
- Lying Leg Curl — 3 sets
- Standing Calf Raise — 3 sets
- Plank — 3 sets
Upper B (Incline Chest Focus)
- Incline Barbell Bench Press — 3 × 8–10
- Lat Pulldown (Wide Grip) — 3 × 8–12
- Pec Deck / Machine Fly — 3 × 10–12
- Chest Supported Dumbbell Row — 3 × 8–12
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise — 3 × 12–15
- Incline Dumbbell Curl — 3 × 10–12
- Cable Tricep Pushdown — 3 × 10–12
Lower B (Leg Press & Unilateral Focus)
- Leg Press — 3 × 10–12
- Romanian Deadlift (RDL) — 3 × 8–10
- Dumbbell Reverse Lunge — 3 × 10–12
- Lying Leg Curl — 3 × 10–12
- Leg Press Calf Raise — 3 × 12–15
- Captains Chair Leg Raise — 3 × 10–15
Report card
- Weekly volume — on target. All 8 scored muscle groups sit in the 7–22 sets/week range.
- Movement patterns — on target. Every movement pattern this goal cares about is covered.
- Training frequency — on target. Every high-volume muscle is trained 2x/week or more.
- Rep ranges — on target. The intensity mix fits this goal.
- Structural balance — on target. Push:pull and quad:hinge ratios are balanced.
- Recovery spacing — on target. Hard sessions for each muscle are spaced at least a day apart.
- Session workload — on target. No session is overloaded — the weekly work is sensibly distributed.
- Rest & session time — not assessed. Estimated session times — rest periods aren't stated, so pacing wasn't judged.
- Conditioning — on target. No conditioning — fine for this goal, though 1–2 easy sessions a week would cost nothing and buy health.
- Progression plan — not assessed. A written program doesn't show how loads should move week to week — progression gets assessed once the program is being tracked.
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