Upper Lower

Program Description

Please at least skim the description if you're going to run this program, and thanks for checking it out. This program is a 4 day per week upper lower. I personally enjoy and can recover from higher volume back work, this can be adjusted as needed. In addition to the schedules below you can also run a non-standard asynchronous schedule if you have an unpredictable schedule outside of the gym (like me) and sometimes need to put 3 days in a row for example, just do what you can. If you're really short on time drop the number of sets from isolations first, then compounds, and at worst just do the big compound lifts and leave. It's a long game, missing arms in a workout will not kill your future gains. Aim to complete a 'week' within 7-10 days and don't stress about a perfect schedule. Once again, fitness is a long game, consistently get your workouts done, in whatever way you need to, and it's all good. Standard Schedule: Day 1 - Upper 1 Day 2 - Lower 1 Day 3 - Rest Day 4 - Upper 2 Day 5 - Lower 2 Day 6 - Rest Day 7 - Rest This program could also be run on a day on / day off schedule, inserting rest days between each workout - particularly if the back needs more recovery time. Day on/Day off Schedule: Day 1 - Upper 1 Day 2 - Rest Day 3 - Lower 1 Day 4 -Rest Day 5 -Upper 2 Day 6 - Rest Day 7 - Lower 2 Rest Periods: Each exercise has an suggested rest time of 2-3 minutes, with supersets using 1-2 minutes rest periods. Feel free to rest more or less (especially less on supersets where one muscle is resting while the other is working, think curls vs pushdowns) than this as needed, the times are just guidance and not strict. Swap out exercises as needed based on equipment availability or preference, as long as you're hitting the target muscle group with a similar movement pattern. The difference between lat pulldown grips, triceps pushdown attachments, chest supported rows instead of barbell rows, cable lateral raises instead of dumbbells, et cetera (you get the idea) is personal preference and will all get you where you want to be with time. Try them all or rotate variations every program cycle to find what's best for your joints, works your target muscles best, and just whatever your enjoy most. Triple progression (per Bald Omni-Man) is just a double progression with rep quality as a metric. Simply put, you hit 3x12 but some reps are a bit sloppy, clean up the reps then increase weight and start again at 3x8 at that new weight as normal. RPE is a guidance here, 3 or less reps of failure you're golden. That said pushing closer to failure is fine as long as you're doing so safely (with safeties or a spotter), on compounds lifts. This is less of an issue on isolation exercises and more about if you can recover from that intensity properly before your next workout. Finally, personal preference here, but a controlled eccentric with a slight pause in the stretched position of all exercises is what I prefer, do whatever works for you.

Program Overview