Upper / Lower Program
The typical bro-split or bodybuilder split is fine for the gym-goers who want to chase a pump and train every muscle a total of once per week. But studies show that training frequency is the highest contributing factor for muscle response. Meaning it matters less about how hard you train a muscle in a day and more how often you train that muscle throughout the week.
An upper/lower body program would refer to your body's Transverse Plane. Basically we are cutting your body in half. Not hot dog style, but hamburger style.
If we apply a 2 day split across 4 workouts per week, we will have trained your entire body with twice as much frequency compared to a "Bro-Split"
IN DEPTH
"Is this workout best for me?"
Great question! The short answer: I don't know. But if you experience weakness on one half of your body more so than the other, we could cut you across the transverse plane to train the weaker half all in one day. In my experience, if someone is going to be weaker either on their upper or lower half, men are typically weaker on their lower body and women on their upper. Again, this is just the average turn out. Where we are individually weak or tight is entirely up to our day-to-day occupations, past injuries, and genetics.
"What other benefits will I get from this?"
The program is set up to last 4 weeks. Each week is devoted to accomplishing a specific response from the body, all while gaining strength and mobility for your problem areas.
Let me explain:
Week 1: Asymmetric imbalance/Stability.
This week's sets and reps are a simple 3x10 for all exercises. Simple is to be taken lightly though, because every exercise is unilateral, meaning one sided exercises. This will demand more form your weaker sides as well as improve all-around stability and balance.
Week 2: Hypertrophy/Body basics.
Hypertrophy (by definition) is muscle growth. Weeks 2 and 3 will reap the most hypertrophy benefits due to their higher rep ranges. With week 4 covering strength reps through the 7 Most Functional lifts. Week 2 will also use these lifts but to build your efficiency in these exercises so that a strength week isn't a risk for injury.
Week 3: Endurance/Body basics.
More hypertrophy through the general movement planes of the Functional 7, alongside isolation exercises too. But higher reps to build a tolerance and work capacity.
Week 4: Strength/Power
(In my opinion) the fun week. The week you put everything to the test. Have the past 3 weeks of diligence paid off? Are you stronger than you were a month ago? I promise, if you challenged yourself in this program and stayed consistent on your workout days, high protein diet, and recovery, you will be stronger with better stability and efficiency.
DON'T WORRY, this program doesn't have a 1 rep max approach. the least number of reps you'll be doing is 4 and ony for the compound lifts. This will reduce chance of injury and (hopefully) guarantee you don't ego lift and ruin your form.
"Only 4 weeks?"
Yes, but ideally you would repeat this program at least once more (for weeks 5-8) to help challenge yourself and do better than your original 4 weeks.
Are you ready?
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