The upper/lower split: 4-day schedule and how to add running

The upper/lower split does exactly what it says. Upper body one day, lower body the next, and repeat, so each half of you gets trained twice a week in four sessions. No clever naming, no bro-science. Upper and lower, done.

It's the default four-day split for a reason: shorter sessions than full body, more frequency than a body-part split, and for anyone who also runs, the leg fatigue lives on two known days instead of being smeared across the week. That last bit is why runners who lift tend to end up here, and why it's the split a lifting app that knows you also run reaches for first.

Below: the 4 day upper lower split, sample workouts, how to set the volume, and how to slot running around it. For how it stacks up against the other options, start with our guide to workout splits explained.

What is an upper lower split?

Upper lower split training divides your lifting into two session types:

• ›Upper: chest, back, shoulders and arms. Pressing and pulling, horizontal and vertical.
• ›Lower: quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, plus most of the trunk work. Squats, hinges, lunges.

Run each twice a week and you get four sessions. Most versions make one upper and one lower day heavier (lower reps, longer rest) and the other pair higher-rep. That's not mandatory, but it gives each week some variety and covers both strength and size.

Four days is the sweet spot, and it's what most versions of a 3- or 4-day split you can copy are built around. With three days, each muscle gets trained one and a half times a week on average, so at three days a 3-day full body workout is usually the better choice.

Why the upper lower split works

Three reasons, in order of how much they matter.

Frequency without long sessions. Each muscle gets two sessions a week. For muscle growth that's mostly about convenience: a meta-analysis found similar hypertrophy across training frequencies when weekly volume was matched (Schoenfeld et al., 2019). For strength it helps a bit more. A large set of meta-regressions found strength gains rose with frequency, with diminishing returns (Pelland et al., 2026). Twice a week is where most of that benefit lives.

Room for volume. With only half the body to train, each session can give each muscle 4 to 8 hard sets without dragging past an hour.

Predictable fatigue. You know exactly which two days will leave your legs tired. If you run, that's the whole game.

It's not magic for results, though. A 2024 meta-analysis comparing split routines with full-body routines found similar strength and muscle gains when total volume was matched (Ramos-Campo et al., 2024). The split is a delivery system. The sets and the consistency are the product.

The 4-day upper lower split workout, and how to run it

Effort targets use RPE: RPE 8 means about two reps left in the tank.

Upper A (heavy)

Lower A (heavy)

Upper B (volume)

Lower B (lighter)

Count the weekly sets and most muscles land around 10 to 14, which sits right in the intermediate range in this breakdown of how many sets per workout. Beginners can drop a set from each exercise and be fine.

The upper lower 4 day split schedule (no running)

If lifting is your only training, the classic layout is:

Two on, one off, two on. Simple. Swap days freely; just avoid three lifting days in a row if you can.

How to add running to an upper lower split

Here's where the split shines. The rule from our hybrid training guide is to keep hard leg sessions and hard runs on different days and let easy runs fill the gaps. With only two leg days, that's easy to do.

What's going on:

• ›Heavy lower lands on an easy run day, a day after intervals, with a non-leg day after it. The tempo run is two days away.
• ›Upper days pair with easy runs or nothing. Upper-body lifting barely touches your running legs.
• ›Lower B is light and optional. In a running-priority block, it's the first session to shrink or drop. In a strength block, move it to Friday and make the tempo run easy.
• ›No heavy legs the day before the long run. The long run is a hard day. Plan it like one.

Why bother separating them? A 2022 meta-analysis found that adding aerobic training to strength training didn't meaningfully blunt maximal strength or muscle growth overall, but reduced explosive strength gains, more so when both were done in the same session than when they were separated by at least three hours (Schumann et al., 2022). On days with both, run in the morning and lift later if you can, or put the priority session first.

Cutting leg volume when you run

Running is leg training, just not the kind that builds much strength. If you run three or four times a week, start your lower days at the low end: around 6 to 10 weekly hard sets for quads, hamstrings and glutes. Upper-body volume can stay close to normal.

Upper lower split vs the alternatives

• ›Full body: better for two or three days a week and for beginners who want to practice each lift often.
• ›Push pull legs: better for five or six days when lifting is the main sport. As our guide to push pull legs shows, it's the hardest split to pair with frequent running.
• ›Upper/lower vs full body at four days: both work. Upper/lower gives shorter sessions and cleaner leg-day placement; full body gives more practice per lift. That's the whole upper/lower vs full body debate in two sentences.

If you want a strength focus on one pair of days and a size focus on the other, formalized, that's PHUL: power hypertrophy upper/lower, the same four days with the intent split between heavy and higher-rep sessions.

Common upper/lower mistakes

Making lower days an afterthought. Plenty of people run two great upper days and two lower days of leg press and a phone break. If legs matter to your goal, the heavy lower day comes first in the week, not last.

Too many exercises. Five or six exercises per session is plenty. The best compound exercises for full body workout plans are the same ones that anchor each upper and lower day: squat, hinge, press, row, pull-up.

Heavy lower day after intervals with no gap, then a long run the day after. One of those three needs to move.

Treating 4 days as a minimum. If a bad week only allows three, do upper, lower, upper and start the next week with lower. The split rotates. It doesn't break.

How exrsz handles the upper/lower split

exrsz builds your upper and lower days and your running into one periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment. It puts heavy lower sessions where they don't collide with hard runs, adapts each week to how you actually trained, and reshuffles missed sessions instead of stacking them.

FAQ

Is an upper lower split good for beginners?

Yes, if you can lift four days a week. If you can only manage two or three, full body is usually the better start because it trains everything each session.

Is a 4 day upper lower split enough to build muscle?

Yes. It trains each muscle twice a week with room for 10 or more weekly sets, and split and full-body routines produce similar muscle growth when volume is matched (Ramos-Campo et al., 2024).

Can I run on an upper lower split?

Yes, and it's one of the easiest splits to run with. Put heavy lower days on easy-run days, keep them away from intervals and the long run, and pair upper days with easy runs.

Should upper and lower days alternate?

Mostly. Upper, lower, rest, upper, lower is the classic. With running in the week, the exact order matters less than keeping heavy legs away from hard runs.

How long should an upper lower workout take?

About 45 to 70 minutes for five or six exercises with sensible rest. If it's routinely past 90 minutes, there are too many exercises in it.