Best 4-Day Workout Split: A Complete Upper/Lower Plan

If you can train four days a week, use two upper-body sessions and two lower-body sessions. You get a repeatable plan, a rest day between the two halves of each week, and enough room for the exercises a three-day full-body plan has to leave out.

This is a complete starting program for a regular gym. It uses mostly machines, cables, and a smith machine because they are easy to set up and easy to compare from week to week. A barbell is fine if you prefer it. The point is to keep the movements consistent.

• Monday: Upper A
• Tuesday: Lower A
• Wednesday: Rest or easy cardio
• Thursday: Upper B
• Friday: Lower B
• Saturday and Sunday: Rest, walking, or easy cardio

Each major muscle gets trained on two days. That matches the practical starting point in the 2026 ACSM resistance-training guidance. It also splits the work into sessions you can finish without trying to squat, press, pull, and train arms every time you enter the gym.

Four days is a schedule choice, not a claim that upper/lower builds more muscle than full body. A 2024 meta-analysis found similar strength and muscle gains from split and full-body routines when training volume was matched. A frequency meta-analysis likewise found no meaningful hypertrophy advantage from more frequent sessions when weekly volume was equal. Choose the arrangement you can complete and recover from.

• Machine chest press: 3 sets of 6–10 reps
• Lat pulldown: 3 sets of 8–12 reps
• Seated cable row: 2 sets of 8–12 reps
• Incline smith press: 2 sets of 8–12 reps
• Cable lateral raise: 2 sets of 12–20 reps
• Cable curl: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Triceps pushdown: 2 sets of 10–15 reps

• Hack squat or leg press: 3 sets of 6–10 reps
• Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 8–10 reps
• Seated leg curl: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Leg extension: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Standing calf raise: 3 sets of 10–15 reps

• Incline machine chest press: 3 sets of 8–12 reps
• Chest-supported row: 3 sets of 8–12 reps
• Neutral-grip lat pulldown: 2 sets of 8–12 reps
• Pec fly machine or cable fly: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Cable lateral raise: 2 sets of 12–20 reps
• Overhead cable triceps extension: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Cable curl: 2 sets of 10–15 reps

• Leg press: 3 sets of 10–15 reps
• Smith machine split squat: 2 sets of 8–12 reps per leg
• Hip thrust or 45-degree back extension: 3 sets of 8–12 reps
• Lying leg curl: 2 sets of 10–15 reps
• Seated calf raise: 3 sets of 10–15 reps

Warm up with a few easy sets before the first heavy press or leg exercise. The listed sets are working sets. Rest about two to three minutes after hard presses, rows, squats, and hinges; one to two minutes is usually enough for smaller movements. Aim to finish most sets with one to three clean reps left. Stop sooner if your form changes.

The plan has more upper-body exercises than lower-body exercises because upper sessions need to cover pressing, pulling, shoulders, and arms. The lower sessions cover a knee-dominant movement, hip-dominant work, hamstrings, and calves. You can add a brief core exercise after either lower day if you want one.

Use the same exercises for eight weeks. Suppose the chest press says 3 sets of 6–10. Pick a weight you can lift for at least six controlled reps on all three sets. Add reps over the next sessions. When all three sets reach ten clean reps, increase the load by the smallest available increment and work back up from the low end of the range.

Record the weight and reps for every working set. If you miss a session, do the missed workout next and continue the order; there is no need to double up. If the same exercise stalls for two or three weeks, check sleep, food, rest time, and technique before adding more sets. Progressive overload is the test of whether your plan is moving forward.

If four days only happen on a good week, use the three-day plan instead. Three completed full-body workouts are more useful than an upper/lower schedule that regularly loses a lower day. If you have four reliable days but want to change the exercise selection, keep the upper/lower structure and read the broader upper/lower guide.

You do not need to earn this split by reaching a certain strength level. Start with loads you can control, use the full range of motion you can perform comfortably, and make the first eight weeks about showing up and recording honest sets.

Save Upper A, Lower A, Upper B, and Lower B as four workouts in GainsLog. When each session comes around again, your previous weights and reps are there to compare. The program is the schedule above; the log tells you when it is time to add a rep or a little weight.