Yoked
Set up the week before choosing exercises
A four-day routine works best when four gym visits are genuinely available. Place the appointments in your calendar and include the time needed to travel, warm up, and finish. If you can reliably train only three days, a different split may be more effective in practice than repeatedly missing the fourth session.
A common upper/lower arrangement is Monday upper, Tuesday lower, Thursday upper, and Friday lower. Wednesday separates the first and second pair of sessions, and the weekend provides flexibility. You can shift the days to suit work and family commitments. The structure matters more than the names of the weekdays.
The two upper sessions do not need to be identical, and neither do the two lower sessions. You can use different exercise variations while keeping the same broad movement coverage. Keep enough consistency to learn the exercises and compare performance. Four completely unrelated workouts are harder to progress than a small set of repeatable movements.
| Day | Plan | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Upper A | Practice a press and a row |
| Tuesday | Lower A | Knee-dominant emphasis |
| Wednesday | Rest or comfortable activity | Recovery and schedule buffer |
| Thursday | Upper B | Second upper-body practice |
| Friday | Lower B | Hip-dominant emphasis |
| Weekend | Rest or other manageable activity | Prepare for the next week |
For the days between lifting sessions, use the rest-day planning guide.
Use the templates as a starting point
The following sessions are editorial examples for generally healthy adults who can perform the selected exercises comfortably. They are not individualized prescriptions. Working sets do not include warm-ups. Start with the lower end of any set range, use conservative loads, and leave room to learn rather than turning the first week into a test of your limits.
Prepare for each session with easy movement and progressively heavier practice sets for the main exercises. A warm-up should make you more ready for the work, not exhaust you before it starts. You may need more preparation for a demanding lower-body movement than for a small accessory exercise. Adjust based on the movement and how you feel that day.
Choose familiar alternatives when necessary. A machine chest press can replace a dumbbell press, and a leg press can fill a knee-dominant role when it is more suitable than a squat variation. Similar roles do not mean identical resistance or technique, so record the substitution and establish an appropriate starting load.
Treat the lower set counts as an introductory workload. ACSM’s 2026 guidance points to higher weekly volume, around ten sets per muscle group, for hypertrophy. That is a planning reference rather than a mandatory starting quota. Build toward more work only if recovery and technique support it; the sample week intentionally starts below that level for some muscle groups.
Evidence: ACSM (2026): Updated resistance training guidelines
Upper A: establish the basic movements
Begin with the press or row you most want to practice while you are fresh. Follow it with the complementary movement, then add a vertical pull and a modest amount of accessory work. This gives the session a clear structure without requiring several variations for every muscle group.
Use a range you can control and avoid chasing the load used by another person. Rest enough that the next set is limited mainly by the exercise rather than by rushing. If the session runs long, reduce an optional accessory before cutting every rest period. The main movements should still receive your attention.
| Exercise | Working sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell or machine press | 2–3 | 8–12 |
| Supported row | 2–3 | 8–12 |
| Lat pulldown | 2 | 8–12 |
| Lateral raise | 1–2 | 10–15 |
| Optional curl or press-down | 1–2 | 10–15 |
Lower A: prioritize a knee-dominant exercise
Start with a comfortable squat variation or leg press. Follow it with a hip-dominant movement that you have learned to perform safely, then use a leg curl or calf raise if it fits the session. You do not need to perform every available lower-body machine to make the workout useful.
Lower-body exercises can create substantial fatigue, especially when they are new. Start conservatively and avoid adding sets just because the first few feel easy. Evaluate how you recover and how the second lower session goes before increasing the workload. Difficulty walking normally for days is not a necessary goal or a useful standard for judging the program.
| Exercise | Working sets | Repetitions |
|---|---|---|
| Goblet squat or leg press | 2–3 | 8–12 |
| Learned Romanian deadlift or suitable alternative | 2 | 8–12 |
| Leg curl | 2 | 10–15 |
| Calf raise | 1–2 | 10–15 |
| Optional controlled trunk exercise | 1–2 | Comfortable repetitions |
Upper B and Lower B: repeat the roles with modest variation
For Upper B, the example uses an incline press, a supported row, and a pulldown. A comfortable shoulder press can replace the incline press if overhead pressing is your priority; it need not be added on top of every other press. Repeating familiar variations from Upper A is also reasonable. Keep direct arm work modest because pressing and pulling already involve the arms.
For Lower B, place the hip-dominant movement earlier if that is the emphasis you want. Add a comfortable knee-dominant exercise, then smaller movements as needed. A supported split squat can be useful for some people, while others may prefer a machine. Balance, equipment, and movement confidence should influence the choice.
Do not interpret the different emphasis as permission to make both sessions maximal. The week needs to be repeatable. If the second lower session is consistently much worse because you remain exhausted from the first, reduce the earlier session's workload or change its placement.
| Session | Exercise | Working sets × repetitions |
|---|---|---|
| Upper B | Incline dumbbell or machine press | 2 × 8–12 |
| Upper B | Supported row | 2 × 8–12 |
| Upper B | Lat pulldown | 2 × 8–12 |
| Upper B | Optional lateral raise or arm exercise | 1–2 × 10–15 |
| Lower B | Learned Romanian deadlift or suitable hip-hinge alternative | 2 × 8–12 |
| Lower B | Leg press or supported split squat | 2 × 8–12 (each leg for split squats) |
| Lower B | Leg curl | 1–2 × 10–15 |
| Lower B | Calf raise | 1–2 × 10–15 |
Give every exercise a progression rule
Use a repetition range rather than a single mandatory number. For an exercise prescribed for two sets of eight to twelve, keep the load while you build toward twelve controlled repetitions on both sets. Then consider a small increase. The new load may bring repetitions back toward eight; that is a normal part of the process.
Do not add weight merely because a new week has started. If the previous sets were outside your intended technique or effort, repeat or reduce the prescription. If the available weight jump is too large, use smaller increments where possible or continue practicing with the current load. Keep the comparison consistent enough to learn from it.
Review the whole week before adding more sets. If attendance is good and exercises are progressing, the plan may already be doing what you need. Additional work should solve a clear problem, not satisfy a feeling that a longer workout must be better. Yoked can keep the planned sessions and completed sets together so those decisions are easier to check.
Allow roughly two minutes between demanding sets as a starting point, and take longer when breathing or performance needs it. Aim to finish most learning sets with a few controlled repetitions still possible. A short accessory exercise may need less rest. Adjust these choices to preserve the quality of the next set, rather than treating a timer as an instruction to rush.
For a worked example of this decision process, read progressive overload explained.
Make the routine resilient
Prepare a short version of each workout for busy days: the main press and pull for upper body, or the main knee-dominant and hip-dominant movements for lower body. Use fewer optional accessories while preserving controlled work and reasonable rest. A preplanned shorter session is easier to manage than improvising under time pressure.
When you miss a session, continue the sequence when practical rather than doubling the next workout. If you repeatedly miss the same day, move it or choose a three-day structure. A routine should fit your life well enough that missed sessions are occasional exceptions rather than the defining feature of the plan.
After several weeks, review attendance, session length, exercise progress, and recovery together. Keep what works and change the specific friction point. Persistent pain or unusual symptoms call for appropriate professional guidance. For ordinary scheduling problems, start with simpler fixes: fewer accessories, a more convenient training day, or an exercise that is reliably available at your gym.
If four days are difficult to sustain, compare alternatives in the workout split comparison.
To support the routine with practical meal planning, read the protein planning guide.
Sources & editorial notes
Written by Yoked with AI assistance. Examples are starting points for generally healthy adults, not individualized medical or rehabilitation advice.
- Ramos-Campo et al. (2024): Split versus full-body resistance training — Review comparing training structures when training volume is matched; it does not establish a universal best schedule.
- Currier et al. (2023): Resistance training prescription for strength and hypertrophy — Evidence synthesis on load, sets, and frequency in healthy adults; the sample routines here are editorial examples.
- ACSM (2026): Updated resistance training guidelines — Current ACSM summary: train major muscle groups at least twice weekly, individualize workload, and build gradually. The routines here are editorial examples, not ACSM-prescribed programs.