Upper lower workout routines

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Upper/lower splits the body in two and alternates: one upper-body day, one lower-body day. On four days that leaves each group trained twice a week, the frequency with the most support for hypertrophy — the same weekly volume split across two sessions does more than concentrated in one. It is the structure the engine assigns when you say you can train four days, whatever your level.

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Do you need more than four training days? Three versus six sessions with the same volume

The four-day upper/lower routine already trains each group twice a week. The natural temptation is to think more days would bring more results, and one trial compared exactly that while holding constant the one thing that must not change: total volume.

Saric, Lisica, Orlic, Grgic, Krieger, Vuk and Schoenfeld published a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2019 with twenty-seven trained men over six weeks: one group spread volume over three weekly sessions and the other over six. They measured maximal strength, muscular endurance and ultrasound muscle thickness at four sites.

Three versus six weekly sessions with volume equated, in the study by Saric et al. (2019) with twenty-seven trained men over six weeks.
Measure	Result in both groups
Upper-body strength	Around +4-6%
Lower-body strength	Around +18-22%
Triceps thickness	Around +11-14%
Rectus femoris thickness	Around +5-6%
Vastus intermedius thickness	Around +10-11%
Elbow flexor thickness	+7% only with three sessions

Both groups finished almost exactly the same: similar upper- and lower-body strength and similar thickness increases in the triceps, rectus femoris and vastus intermedius. The only notable difference favoured the group with fewer sessions, which increased elbow flexor thickness.

For anyone following an upper/lower routine the reading is reassuring: with volume equated, doubling the days adds nothing, so four well-used days are enough. Better to sustain four sessions for months than to squeeze out six and quit.

References

Saric J, Lisica D, Orlic I, Grgic J, Krieger JW, Vuk S, Schoenfeld BJ. Resistance training frequencies of 3 and 6 times per week produce similar muscular adaptations in resistance-trained men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2019;33 Suppl 1:S122-S129.

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Upper/Lower split: the 4-day structure explained

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