This upper lower split workout is geared towards women and helping them to gain strength while working out at home. This 4-day workout routine splits your workouts into two different areas. By splitting your workout like this, you’re better able to focus on the muscle groups of that day.
This helps you increase your workout volume and your results. Though there are a variety of ways to break down a workout routine, this upper lower split workout plan was designed to help you strengthen and build muscle at home.
"I just finished my first four-day split and whew! What a workout. I definitely feel it, and I love that it didn't take too much time. Definitely going to keep this up for another four weeks. I'm feeling it!" -Christy
A Quick Look At The Workout
- 💭Equipment: All you need is dumbbells and a mini band
- ⏲️Duration: 20 minutes
- 📖 Warm up: You can grab an upper body warm up or use one of your own
- 📋Intensity: All the exercises are low-impact and okay for beginners
- 📖 Frequency: If you want to increase strength, do this workout 2 times per week
- ⭐ Muscles used: You'll be working off of upper body and lower body days so that all muscles are hit throughout the week.
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON
This 4-day upper and lower split workout is designed for women who train at home using dumbbells and a mini loop, perfect for building strength, toning up, and fitting into a busy schedule.
The exercises vary but are loosely based around compound exercises and functional strength training to make the best use of your time.
Jump To
- A Quick Look At The Workout
- What Is An Upper Lower Split Workout Plan?
- Benefits Of The Workout Routine
- Equipment You Need
- Warming Up
- Your Workout Plan
- Lower Body Workout #2
- Upper Body Workout #2
- Lower Body Workout #2
- Dumbbell Upper Lower Workout Plan PDF
- How to Progress the Upper Lower Split Plan
- Strength Training & Cardio: Which Is Better For Fat Loss & Toning
- More Fitness Tips To Help You Smash Goals
- 4-Day Split Workouts For Women FAQs
What Is An Upper Lower Split Workout Plan?
An upper lower split routine is exactly what it sounds like: when you split your training days into two groups: upper body workouts and lower body workouts.
This is what I commonly use in the SMASH At Home Workout Plan because it works so well.
On upper body days, you’ll focus on the lats, chest, arms, and shoulder muscle groups.
On lower body days, you’ll be working on the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
Both days can have some elements of abs and core work thrown in.
Benefits Of The Workout Routine
Upper/lower splits let you focus on one area at a time, making it easier to hit all major muscle groups and build that lean, “toned” look many women want. Moms in the SMASH home workout program love that it allows back-to-back training with enough recovery time between sessions.
- More focused workouts = better muscle gains
- Faster sessions with less fatigue
- Easy to train 4x/week without overtraining
- Lower risk of injury thanks to recovery built in
Equipment You Need
For this 4-day upper/lower split workout plan, all you need is a set of dumbbells and a mini loop.
Start with 15–20 lb dumbbells for most movements, and scale as needed. For smaller exercises, lighter options like water bottles work just fine. Learn why 15-pound dumbbells are great to start. It's what I recommend for my 6 Weeks to STRONG program.
Warming Up
As with any strength training routine, warming up is a crucial component for this upper-lower split for women (learn how to warm up before lifting weights).
Make sure you focus on dynamic mobility drills to really get the joints happy before diving into anything strength-based. Just hopping on the treadmill won’t do it. Use the 5-minute warm-up videos below because your workouts
Your Workout Plan
You can schedule your workouts any way you like. However, I recommend not placing your upper body days back to back or your lower body days back to back.
A sample workout schedule could look like this:
Monday: Dumbbell upper body #1
Tuesday: Dumbbell lower Body #1
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Dumbbell upper body #2
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Dumbbell lower Body #2
Sunday: Rest
Upper Body Workout #1
| Exercise | Repetitions and Sets |
| 1 Arm Dumbbell Row | 10 reps per arm |
| Inverted Pike Press | 8 |
| Rest | 45 seconds x 3 sets |
| Push Ups | 3x max reps |
| Superman Row | 10 |
| Rear Delt Fly | 12 |
| Rest | 30 seconds rest x3 sets |
| Around The World | 20 seconds per leg |
| Tricep Extensions | 12 reps |
| Rest | 30 seconds rest x2 sets |
How to perform it:
- Perform the first two exercises back to back without rest.
- Take 45 seconds to recover and perform them again for a total of three rounds.
- Move on to the next three exercises, performing them back to back without rest.
- Recover for 45 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
- Finally, move on to the last two exercises for two rounds with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Note: "max reps" means performing as many push-ups as possible until your form breaks down. Learn how to perform push-ups if you're a beginner.
Lower Body Workout #2
| Exercise | Repetitions and Sets |
| Staggered Single Leg RDL | 10/leg |
| Duck Walks | 30 seconds |
| Rest | 45 seconds x3sets |
| Banded Goblet Squats | 12 reps |
| Single Leg Elevated Bridge | 12 reps per leg |
| Side Plank With Hip Dips | 30 seconds per side x3sets |
| Rest | 30 seconds |
| Isometric Mini Band Squat | 30 seconds |
| Sumo Walks | 30 seconds |
| Rest | 20 seconds x 2 sets |
How to perform the workout:
- Perform the first two exercises back to back without rest.
- Take 45 seconds to recover and perform them again for a total of three rounds.
- Move on to the next three exercises, performing them back to back without rest.
- Recover for 45 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
- Finally, move on to the last two exercises and perform them for only two sets with 30 seconds of rest between them.
Note: for the front squats, you want to pause for three full seconds in the bottom position. Learn more about pause reps and why they'll get you mega strong.
Upper Body Workout #2
| Exercises | Repetitions and Sets |
| Eccentric Push Ups | x 6 reps |
| Mini Loop Pulldown | x 12 reps per arm |
| Rest | 45 seconds x3 sets |
| Plank Row | x 8 reps per arm |
| Mini Loop Lateral Raise | x 12 reps per arm |
| Hollow Body Hold | x 20 seconds |
| Rest | 30 seconds x 3 sets |
| Single Arm Dumbbell Floor Press | x 10 reps per arm |
| Floor Bow | x 30 seconds |
| Rest | 30 seconds x 2sets |
How to perform it:
- Perform the first two exercises back to back without rest.
- Take 45 seconds to recover and perform them again for a total of three rounds.
- Move on to the next three exercises, performing them back to back without rest.
- Recover for 45 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
- Finally, move on to the last two exercises for two rounds with 30 seconds of rest between sets.
Lower Body Workout #2
| Exercises | Repetitions and Sets |
| Deficit Lunge | x8 per leg |
| Wallsit With Abductions | x 30 seconds |
| Rest | 45 seconds x3 sets |
| Staggered Goblet Squat | x 8 per leg |
| 1 ¼ Hip Thrust With Dumbbell | x 12 reps |
| Deadbug | x 40 seconds |
| Rest | 30 seconds x 3 sets |
| Reverse Squats | x 30 seconds |
| Quadruped Abductions | x 30 seconds |
| Rest | 20 seconds x2 sets |
How to perform it:
- Perform the first two exercises back to back without rest.
- Take 45 seconds to recover and perform them again for a total of three rounds.
- Move on to the next three exercises, performing them back to back without rest.
- Recover for 45 seconds and repeat for a total of three rounds.
- Finally, move on to the last two exercises and perform them back-to-back for two sets with 30 seconds between sets.
Dumbbell Upper Lower Workout Plan PDF
Below is a PDF of the workouts for you to download (click the image). Here, you can record your weights and any notes.
Mark down the workouts and then as you go through them week by week strive to progress them by upping your weight, improving your form, or getting through the sets faster.
How to Progress the Upper Lower Split Plan
To keep building strength and seeing results, your workouts need to get just a little harder over time. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself as you get stronger. You can do this by:
- Shortening your rest periods
- Adding pause reps to increase time under tension
- Bumping up your weights
- Doing fewer reps with heavier loads.
Hack: learn how to make workouts more intense at home so that you're always seeing results!
Strength Training & Cardio: Which Is Better For Fat Loss & Toning
And yet, so many women shy away from a heavy lifting workout routine not realizing that building muscle is what tones! Learn more about beginner tips for strength training.
4-Day Split Workouts For Women FAQs
When using an upper lower split workout you can either complete your cardio after your strength training workouts or on your active recovery days. If you find that your legs become sore from your cardio workouts, make sure not to pair your cardio days back to back with lower body workouts or you’ll risk maximum results from your strength workouts (and injury).
There are multiple ways to schedule your workouts with four days of training time. You can do an upper lower split, a muscle group split (glutes/hams, chest/quads/back), or a strength/HIIT split (upper/lower/total body strength/total body HIIT). All of them can be effective. It depends on your personal goals, which muscle groups you want to focus on, and your preferences.
Follow the 4-day workout routine for at least five weeks before progressing your next workout.
Though there are subtle differences in regards to training for men and women. However, unless you are at an elite level, both men and women can have pretty similar training sessions when the goals are building muscle mass or weight loss.
This answer varies depending on your goals. However, you'll start to feel stronger within a few short weeks (roughly 3). When it comes to weight loss, much of that depends on your calories and overall expenditure (walking, movement, etc).
Nope, it's perfect! Because you're splitting up your muscle groups, each area has lots of time to recover while still getting the benefits of multiple workouts per week.
Christy says
I just finished my first four-day split and whew! What a workout. I definitely feel it, and I love that it didn't take too much time. Definitely going to keep this up for another four weeks. I'm feeling it!
fitasamamabear says
Glad to hear it!