The Best 4-Days a Week Strength Training Split

If you can commit the time and energy to it, a 4-day strength training split is ideal for putting on lean muscle and getting stronger head to toe. This article discusses the benefits of a 4-day lifting week, and gives you a few different programming options.

If your goal is to:

• Gain strength
• Build lean, metabolically active muscle
• Ensure adequate recovery time
• And waste as little “life” time as possible…

You might find that 4-days a week is your ideal training split.

In this guide I’ll break down the benefits for you, and I’ll give you my favorite workout options for this kind of schedule.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the benefits of Resistance Training (and there are many), or your only have 3 days a week to workout, read this article.

The Benefits of a 4-Days a Week Strength Training Split

“Your body will be around a lot longer than that expensive handbag.
Invest in yourself.”

— Unknown

Invest the time. The sweat. And the effort. There aren’t a lot of things that are absolute, black-and-white fact in this industry but this is one of them.

The benefits of regular strength training are boundless.

• Balance. A 4-day split provides a good balance of intensity and recovery time. While it’s important to log your days in the gym, it’s just as important to make sure that you are giving your muscles and your nervous system sufficient time to recover and adapt.
  
  This kind of split also gives you ample time to do other types of exercise and cross-training that you might enjoy. This kind of exercise balance goes a long way in creating a balanced physical and physiological result.
  
• Goal Variety. 4-day a week splits can work for any exerciser and any goal. Power, hypertrophy, muscular endurance, max strength – you can focus on any of these goals without overdoing it.

The Best 4-Days a Week Strength Training Routines

There are a couple of ways to work a 4-day split into your week: the upper/lower split and the legs/pull/push/accessories split (or as I like to call it, the modified bro split). The best part is you can cycle through these variations and never get bored!

The Upper/Lower Split

This is a great way routine for you if you are a hard recoverer and could benefit for a bit more time in between muscle groups, but you still want to maximize your gains. While yes, you will overlap some exercise, in general you can design your workouts for variety. The Upper/Lower Split also allows for scheduling flexibility – you can shift your rest day around without worrying about missing a muscle group.

You get at least 2 full days of rest between like workouts. During that recovery time your body is going to heal and rebuild the muscles that you hit during your workout. It’s going to synthesize new proteins in order to build more muscle and strengthen the muscle you already have. And all of that leaves you ready to rock and roll – fully recovered and feeling strong – the next time you work those muscle groups.

The Push/Pull/Legs/Accessories

This split is terrific for hypertrophy and strength gains and it does allows for a ton of flexibility. That said, you only hit the big muscles once during the week so to reap the rewards you have to be prepared to dial in your focus and turn up the intensity. This also means that you’ll want to vary your workouts from week to week so that you cover a wider range of movements and exercises. For example one week your big leg exercise might be a barbell squat, and the next week you’ll want to work in deadlifts.

Some of my clients really like this. Rather than a weekly schedule that can get boring and less motivating over time, they’re always doing something new. And other clients don’t like it/can’t make it work because they either want set rest days (like the weekend), or they want to know “Monday is leg day, Wednesday is upper body”, etc. It’s totally up to you!

Tips Get the Best Results From Your 4-Day Strength Training Routine

1. The number of sets and reps that you do should reflect your overall training goal.
   If your goal is to build strength: 2-6 sets x 4-6 reps at 85% or more of your 1 rep max is ideal.
   If your goal is hypertrophy/to build lean muscle: 3-6 sets x 6-12 reps at 60-85% of your 1 rep max.
   If your goal is muscular endurance: 2-3 sets x 12-20 reps at less than 65% of your 1 rep max.
   
2. To figure out the weight that you should be lifting without knowing your 1 rep max will take some trial and error, and it will take some tracking. You want to choose a weight that is heavy enough that you can hit the bottom number in the rep range, but not so heavy that you can’t complete the top number of reps. For safety-sake, start low on the weight scale and work your way up.
   
3. Keeping a workout log is the best way to stay on track, and keep progressing week after week, year after year. Track the exercises you completed, the number of sets and reps you did and at what weight. Next time you do the workout check your log so that you know where to get started.
   
4. Don’t forget about nutrition. You cannot out-train a poor diet. If your goal is body composition changes, you’re going to need to stay within a certain calorie range, and consume enough protein to build muscle.

Need Help with Your Diet and Workouts?

I know this can feel overwhelming so please know, you don’t have to do this alone! I’m here to support you in any way. If you want help with…

• Nutrition and healthy eating I can help you develop a step-by-step, habit-based approach to better dieting and a healthier relationship with food. Click here for more information on Nutrition Coaching with Julia Hale Fitness.
  
• Fitting fitness into your life so that you can reach your goals, I coach women across the United States completely virtually and I can give you an action plan for success, and accountability and support to see it through.