4 day split phul workout program for beginners

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Kevin Mangelschots

Today, we’ll be checking out our 4-day split PHUL workout program for novices.

It’s an incredible simple program, while simultaneously being easily adjustable. It’s no big deal if you miss a training session, since you can simply perform it on another day.

Even if you decide to skip that session entirely, then it’s still not such a big deal since you will be training those muscle groups in another workout that same week regardless.

The 4 day phul workout program

Day

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Day 1 – upper power

Bench press

Barbell rows

3

3

 

5

5

 

Day 2 – lower power

Squat

Sit ups

3

1

5

Rest

/

/

/

Day 4 – upper power

Shoulder press

Lat pulldowns

3

3

5

5

Day 5 – lower power

Deadlift

Sit ups

3

1

5

Rest

/

/

/

Rest

/

/

/

The 4 day PHUL workout program for beginners explained

  • Strength days

    Image of a man performing a back squat with a barbell.
    Image of a man performing a back squat with a barbell.

    You’ll be performing two consecutive strength days with our PHUL workout program. One for the upper body, and one for the lower body. Then you’ll get a day off to recharge your batteries before you perform two strength days once again.

    This is the most popular way of programming a 4-day upper/lower body split training system. It’s also possible to do upper strength day, rest, lower strength day, rest, upper strength day, rest, and finally, lower strength day once again. It’s a flexible way of training since you can program your workouts yourself.

    The amount of sets and reps you perform will be lower than if you would be performing a strict hypertrophy program. That’s because strength training is more neurologically taxing, which means they’re harder to recover from.

  • Exercise selection

    This training program will have you execute movements that are considered compound exercises. Think of activities such as squatting, bench pressing, shoulder pressing, and performing barbell rows.

    This means they hit a variety of large muscle groups at the same time with just one movement. This way, you can lift heavier weights, while inducing more strength and hypertrophy gains as a result.

  • Starting weight

    Image of a man grabbing two fixed dumbbells from a weight rack.

    There’s no minimum requirement for weights being lifted.

    This means both novices and intermediate weight lifters can effectively perform this program.

    However, intermediate trainees have to be wary of increasing the weights they lift each workout. Since 4 hard strength days with heavy weights will be very taxing on the body and, more so, the neurological system.

    4 heavy strength days will most likely overload the neurological system of the intermediate trainee, leading to them getting weaker rather than stronger due to overtraining.

    So in my opinion, this system is much more suited for people just starting out their weightlifting journey. This is due to the fact that you’re training specifically to increase your strength as fast as possible and the weights being lifted aren’t yet that heavy. That means that your body can still totally recover between every full body workout session.

  • How much weight should you add

    Image of multiple weight plates of different weight.

    How much weight you should add depends on your level of training.

    If you are a beginner, you can probably get away with adding around 1-2 kg on each exercise every strength day. When you are at a more intermediate training level, you might be looking to add 1 kg each week.

    Remember that slow progression is still better than no advancement at all. As long as you keep adding weight to the bar over time, you’re good to go.

  • Sets

    You’ll be performing at least 2 warm up sets for both your first chest and back muscle group on every upper body strength day. Then, you’ll be executing 3 working sets for each upper body exercise.

    For upper strength day, this would look like the following: 2 warm up sets for bench press, 3 working sets for bench press. Next, 2 warm up sets for barbell rows, 3 working sets for barbell rows.

  • Reps

    On strength days, you’ll be performing 5 reps for each working set. Your working sets are the “heavy” and “real” training sets. Your warm-up sets serve the purpose of getting your body ready to physically exert itself. I recommend doing at least 5 reps per warm up set, but a higher amount is also fine if you feel you need to do more to warm up properly.

    The reason the reps are on the lower side of the spectrum is because a lower amount of reps with heavier weights generally leads to more strength gains than doing more reps with lighter weights.

  • Rest

    Picture of a man on armchair resting on balcony, fall season during day.The phul workout program allows for three rest days per week.

    This should be ample time for your body to recover adequately between the workouts. What you do on these rest days is up to you. You can choose to do nothing, but you can also choose to do a bit of cardio or other activities you enjoy.

    Use this time to clear your mind and to recharge your batteries. As long as you stay away from lifting heavy, or performing intense cardio that hampers your recovery on these off days.

    As for the rest between your working sets, aim for between 3–5 minutes of rest on strength days. If 5 minutes of rest is not enough, then chances are that you are lifting weights that are too heavy for you.

    These are the best rep ranges, sets, and rest times depending on the goals of your training.

Who can benefit from the 4 day phul workout program?

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In my opinion, the PHUL program is  a perfect fit for novices who are looking to gain strength as quickly as possible.

It’s also a welcome change from performing the popular full body workouts all the time.

That’s not to say that intermediate lifters can’t make progress on this program. However, they will have to be more conservative with the weight increments and will benefit from performing lighter training days to recover better instead of performing 4 heavy strength days.

All being said and done, this training program is easy to understand, easy to adjust, and will aid to build a solid strength base. Regardless of what your next weightlifting goal will be.