This was originally written for and inspired by my wife. Her goals are to prioritize her lower body over upper body. In her words, she wants to have: “HUGE glutes, quads and hams like an Olympic Sprinter”. For upper body she wants big delts, and a defined/strong looking back emphasizing a “v-taper” with, much less focus on chest, upper traps, and arms. If your goals are similar, this program is for you!
This program is great for those that can train 3-4 days per week. If you can only train 3 days, just skip the whatever 3rd day is the least important (skip upper if you want more lower focus, lower if you want more upper focus)
For this program, you may want to likely train 1-2RIR, based on how much frequency the program has, but same as for every program, feel free to adjust variables slightly as needed. The base metric of “1 REP” is not well established in “research”, and can vary largely from individual to individual. So feel free to make slight adjustments to the program’s prescribed: Rep ranges, Number of working sets, and Proximity to Failure (RIR). Anyone that argues any of these variables down to the single metric of measure as definitively “the best”, has spent too much time on social media, and too little time applying training to actual humans. In addition, every individual brings large differences to the table as far as “outside the gym” variables: nutrition, sleep, stress, etc. So while I’m confident this program provides epic guidelines and a great place to start, you are ultimately your own study of 1. So feel free to experiment a bit.
Also, with exercise selection I always follow one of my main, guiding training principles of: As little as possible to produce maximal results. That said, there is no exact cut off point for the number of exercises per workout. So if you want to add an exercise or even two to any given workout, same as the advice I give above… try it out, measure progress and adjust accordingly. Lastly, exercise selection is based on what I feel has the most evidence for being effective long-term, but for any single exercise on the program, there are always other options that can accomplish the same goal similarly. So feel free to swap exercises based on preference, or if you need a recommendation get in the forums.
Rest: 90 seconds – 3 minutes before working sets
RIR: 0-2
Suggested split structure
Monday – Total body A
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Total body B
Thursday – Off
Friday – Lower body
Saturday – Upper body
Sunday – Off
*This is still just a suggestion. There is no right or wrong option here. You can also make this work with any schedule. Whenever you train, just pick right up on the next session. Hypothetically, if you’re ever sick, rundown, excessively busy, stressed or just have a moment of laziness and train less days than the suggested split, no worries at all just pick back up right where you left off. At the same time if you are recovering like a robot, or just absolutely love training more often than the suggested split, have added it. Don’t let anyone, myself included, limit how much you love the train, or make you feel guilty for missing a session. Long-term consistency and adherence are.
The exercises are recommended to be supersetted with the goal of saving time. You can absolutely do them as straight sets, as I know super-sets can be impossible at times in busy gyms.
Total body A
A1 Barbell to a Box Squats
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
A2 lying cuff laterals
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B1 barbell Thrusts
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
Set 3 – 8-12 reps
B2 military press standing
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C1 walking lunges
Set 1 – 20 steps total
Set 2 – 20 steps total
Set 3 – 20 steps total
C2 push-ups
Set 1 – 10-12 reps
Set 2 – 10-12 reps
D1 hanging leg raises
Set 1 – BW AMRAP
Set 2 – BW AMRAP
Total body B
A1 front squats
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 6-8 reps
A2 neutral grip pull ups
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B1 step-ups
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B2 chest supported DB rows (upper back focused)
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C1 rear foot elevated split squats
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C2 rack chins – 10-12 reps
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
D1 Hip loaded calf raises
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
Lower body
A1 Banded RDL
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B1 Glute cable kickback
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C1 barbell thrusts
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
D1 lying leg curls
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
D2 leg extensions
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
Upper body
A1 lying cuff lateral raises
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
A2 neutral grip pull ups
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B1 cable rear delts
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
B2 single-arm DB rows – 10-12 reps (per arm)
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C1 incline DB curls
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
C2 lying triceps extensions
D1 Ab mat crunches
Set 1 – BW AMRAP
Set 2 – BW AMRAP
D2 hip loaded calf raises
Set 1 – 6-8 reps
Set 2 – 8-12 reps
