4 Day Split Critique - Upper/Lower

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Let me preface by saying I am not a noob to training by a long shot. I have been training for over 10 years so I have a lot of experience. I have tried every routine out there just about. I am 5’10", 235lb, 14%bf, Bench 405, Squat 425, Deadlift 495.

Based on my past experience, research, advice, etc. I have created a 4 day split routine that I am about to start, but can’t quite figure out if I like the volume (frequency) per muscle on my upper body days. My main goal for this cycle is cutting while maintaining as much mass as possible (hypertrophy).

I was wondering if I could get some advice from those that may be more experienced than I am. it will look like this, with some exercise variations here and there. My main concern is am I training each upper body muscle frequently enough. I designed this with the thought that I will be hitting each muscle once per week as the primary, and once per week as a secondary.

Monday (Upper)

Delts:
Military Press (4 sets 6-12 reps)
Upright Row SS Lateral raise (3 sets 8-12 reps)
Reverse fly SS bent over lateral raise (3 sets 8-12 reps)

Triceps:
Weighted Dips (4 sets 8-14 reps)
Skull Crushers SS close grip press (3 sets 6-12 reps)
Push Down (3 drop sets 10/8/6)

Biceps:
Chin Ups reverse grip (4 sets max)
incline bench dunbell curl (3 sets 6-12 reps)
Preacher Curl SS Concentration Curl (2-3 sets 8-12 reps)

Abs

Tuesday (Lower quads):

Squats
Lunges
Extensions
Calves

Thursday (Upper Chest/Back)

Chest (Triceps Secondary):

Dunbell Flat Bench (4 sets 6-12 reps)
Barbell Decline (3 sets 6-12 reps)
Dunbell Incline SS Incline flyes (2 sets 6-12 reps)

Back (Biceps Secondary):

Chest Supported Rows (4 sets 6-12 reps)
Wide Pulldown SS Close Pulldown (3 sets 6-12 reps)
Bent over row reverse grip (3 sets 6-12 reps)

Abs

Friday (Hamstrings / Lower Back)

Squats
Dead Lift
Hyper Extension
Leg Curls

I didn’t put the specifics on my leg days because I feel that my lower body workouts are on point. Just mostly want to effectively maximize my upper body days.

Any advice is welcome. Even if it’s to tell me this program sucks.

2

I’d say switch Monday with Thursday. Performing chest and back 3 days after hitting your delts and arms with that volume might leave you sore on chest and back day. This will also assure that your not working out back before your deadlift day on Friday. Maybe try setting up each workout so that it starts with the heaviest exercise and moves to an exercise that does not require moving heavy weights. Maybe something like this:

Incline (or flat or decline)Barbell Bench Press - 3 x 6-8
Flat (or incline or decline)Dumbbell Bench Press - 3 x 8-10
Flat (or incline or decline) Dumbbell Flies - 3 x 10-12

This way you cover all meaningful rep ranges (for hypertrophy purposes) starting with an exercise you can use a lot of weight with and finishing with a good stretching/pumping low weight exercise. One last change I’d make to the program is lowering the volume of biceps and triceps to 6 or 7 sets each. I think it seems pretty solid in all other aspects though!

3

Thanks Bro. All of your advice is spot on. I was originally going to put chest/back on Monday and Arms/Delts on Thursday, but initially thought that I would hit delts/arms on Monday so I am fresh and can hit them hard. But your advice is definitely right on about switching them…I am going to do so next week.

Also your suggestion on breaking down the exercises heavy to light is a good one that I will definitely use.

Arms 6-7 sets each makes sense also. I have always destroyed my arms which may be why I condier them my “lagging” muscle group. I am probably over doing it.

Thanks again for the great advice.