Upper/lower split: a 4-day workout plan for 10 weeks

The main lifts are loaded from your estimated max. Coachh works out each lift's estimated one-rep max from your best set last time, read through a reps-in-reserve chart when you rated how it felt. Today's weight is set for the bottom of the rep range: that max times the chart's share for those reps plus the reps in reserve. In the volume phase, 6 reps with 2 in reserve is 8 reps to failure, about 79% of your max; in the strength phase, 3 with 2 in reserve is 5 to failure, about 86%. With a 250 lb estimated squat, that's about 195 lb and then 215 lb, rounded to plates you can load. Every rep you get past the bottom of the range raises the estimate, and the next session's weight with it. No session asks for more than 10% over your heaviest set last time.

Accessories use double progression. Stay at a weight until every set reaches the top of the range, then add one step: 10 lb on the leg press, Romanian deadlift and hip thrust, 5 lb on everything else.

Sets stay put; the weight does the work. The set counts are already where an intermediate lifter's week should be (the table above counts them per muscle), so adding more would only add fatigue. Week 4 and week 10 are lighter: about half the sets at about 90% of the weight, with no weight jumps. The week after a lighter week picks up where the last full week left off.

On a split, a bad night lands on one session, not your whole body. If it's a lower day, Coachh keeps the squat or deadlift (that's the session's point) and changes how hard it is: after a rough night the main lift is about 5% lighter, accessories lose a set, nothing goes up in weight, and sets stop around RPE 8. After a really bad night, every lift loses a set and comes down 10%.

If your lower back is sore from Friday's deadlifts, say so: Coachh goes easy on it today, which on a lower day means no Romanian deadlifts or rows that day and a supported leg press or split squats instead. A tight hip gets less depth and load; a sore shoulder gets neutral-grip and machine pressing instead of the bar overhead.

Miss Tuesday and Coachh picks Lower A up on Wednesday; Thursday's upper day stays where it is. If the week goes sideways and you only get three sessions in, nothing is owed: the next week starts clean.

A rough night after time off counts once: Coachh takes the more cautious of the two changes, never both.

Why four days instead of three?

Because once your lifts stop climbing every week, more work per muscle is the usual next step, and four sessions fit more work without making each one long. The American College of Sports Medicine's progression position stand recommends 3 to 4 training days a week for intermediate lifters, against 2 to 3 for novices (ACSM, 2009). In a meta-analysis of 15 studies, muscle growth rose step by step with weekly sets: each extra set per week added a little more (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2017).

Why train each muscle twice a week?

Twice a week beat once a week for muscle growth when the total work was the same (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2016). For strength, more frequent training helped mainly because it added volume; with volume matched, frequency on its own made no clear difference (Grgic and colleagues, 2018). An upper/lower split gets you both: two sessions per muscle, and room for enough sets.

Why a heavier block after the volume block?

Heavy loads build maximal strength best, while muscle size responds to a wide range of loads when sets are taken to failure (Lopez and colleagues, 2021). So the plan builds muscle first with moderate weights and more sets, then spends four weeks turning it into strength at 3 to 6 reps. ACSM's stand describes the same shape for intermediates: a wider range of loads over time, with eventual emphasis on heavy sets of 1 to 6 and 3 to 5 minutes of rest.

Why such long rests on the main lifts?

Because the main lifts are what you're trying to move, and short rests make the next set worse. In a study of trained men, 3-minute rests built more strength and more thigh muscle than 1-minute rests over 8 weeks (Schoenfeld and colleagues, 2016). Supersets on the small accessories keep the session near an hour anyway.

After week 10 you have two good options: run the plan again from week 1 with the estimated maxes you've built (the weights will be higher everywhere), or take what you've learned into a push/pull/legs split if you want more volume and have six days. In Coachh, the strength phase carries on after week 10 until you ask for the next block.