Whether you’re a competitive athlete, tactical professional, or coach designing programs, a structured 4-day split maximizes strength, power, speed, and conditioning while minimizing injury risk. 

Though it may not seem like enough days, athlete bodies are a lot different than your average gym goer. Unlike traditional bodybuilding routines designed to maximize muscle mass, athletic training emphasizes impulse, mobility, and targeted performance making smart programming essential.

Our team at Peak Strength is going to provide a proven 4-day workout split for athletes, tips for progression, and an example 4-day workout split for athletes pulled directly from Peak Strength. 

Why a 4-Day Workout Split Is Perfect for Athletes

For most athletes, training in the weight room should be a supplement to sport training. And that’s why a 4-day workout split works so well. It can be implemented in-season and especially in the offseason. 

Although we usually recommend strength training only 2-3 times a week during in-season cycles, some sports can benefit from 4 days of in-season training. Athletes that play football and wrestling can follow a 4-day split that incorporates an athlete or speed day as one of the days instead of a full blown lift. 

A 4-day split works best because it:

• Allows high-intensity training as a supplement to sport specific practices.

• Prioritizes strength, explosive power, and physical adaptations for specific sports.

• Provides adequate recovery between heavy lifts.

• Easily customizable to accommodate both in-season and off-season schedules. 

This split is ideal for athletes who are required to have explosive strength and stamina, while still needing to find time to complete sport-specific practice. 

The Best 4-Day Workout Split for Athletic Performance

Below is a sample structure for a 4-day workout split. This sample split follows the program principles used in Peak Strength. 

Each day includes 4 main components:

• Technical Coordination: Dynamic movements, often Olympic lifts, used to prepare the body for strength work and develop explosive power. 

• Absolute Strength: Compound exercises, usually done at a high intensity, to develop maximal strength in the upper or lower body. 

• Accessory Exercises: Movements to supplement or isolate specific parts of the body to improve common weaknesses and encourage hypertrophy

• Mobility: A combination of dynamic and static stretches to help encourage recovery post-workout 

If you are looking to build your own 4-day workout split, we recommend following these instructions: 

• Select 1 technical coordination exercise

• Select 1-2 absolute strength exercises

• Select 3-4 accessory movements and create contrasting super sets. 

• Select 4-5 mobility drills or stretches that can be done in 10-15 minutes post-workout

Day 1: Lower Body Strength and Power

Goal: To develop full-body explosiveness and lower-body strength.

Technical Coordination (Pick 1 exercise)

• Clean

• Power clean

• Low hang snatch

• Dumbbell squat jumps

• Trap bar jumps

Absolute Strength (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Back squat

• Front squat

• Single leg squat

• Box Squat

• Leg Press

Hamstring Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Hamstring curl

• Back extensions

• Nordic curls

• Dumbbell RDLs

• Kettlebell swings

Core Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• V ups

• Ab roller

• Hanging leg raises

• Pass the plate

• Ironklad abs

Mobility (Pick 4-5 exercises)

• Frog stretch

• Hamstring stretch

• Quad pull stretch

• Hip 90/90s

• Pigeon pose

Day 2: Upper Body Strength and Power

Goal: Build usable upper-body strength in the back, shoulders, and chest.

Technical Coordination (Pick 1 exercise)

• Power jerk

• Lineback jerk

• Push press

• Medball bench press

• Clap push ups

Absolute Strength (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Bench Press

• Incline Bench Press

• Seated shoulder press

• Z press

• Decline bench press

Back/Bicep Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• T bar row

• Neutral grip pull ups

• Hater rows

• Drag curls

• Horst Pulls

Shoulder/Tricep Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Telle extensions

• Arnold press

• Lateral raises

• PA press

• Diamond push-ups

Mobility (Pick 4-5 exercises)

• Standing pec stretch

• Roll out lats

• Preacher stretch

• Snatch press in hole

• Behind the head tricep stretch

Day 3: Explosiveness / Impulse

Goal: Convert strength gains into on-field performance with plyometrics, jumps, and speed work. Incorporate balance, core strength and plyometrics.

Technical Coordination (Pick 1 exercise)

• Power clean

• Block snatch

• Tuck jumps

• Box jumps

• Hurdle hops

Absolute Strength (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Single leg squat

• Double-bounce squat

• Unbroken squats

• Walking lunges

• Sumo deadlift

Bilateral Plyometric Accessory (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Vertical jump

• Broad jump

• Stair jumps

• Tuck Jumps

• Knee jumps

Unilateral Plyometric Accessory (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Single leg bounds

• Skater squats

• Banded side hops

• Jump lunges

• Jan jump series

Mobility (Pick 4-5 exercises)

• Bretzel

• Butterfly stretch

• Calf stretch

• Foam roll hamstrings

• Figure 4

Day 4: Upper Body Hypertrophy

Goal: Build muscle, size, and get a fat pump at the end of the week with a hypertrophy workout. 

Technical Coordination (Pick 1 exercise)

• Snatch

• Power clean

• Power jerk

• Gorilla push-ups

• Push-ups to box

Absolute Strength (Pick 1-2 exercises) Typically at 50-70% go unbroken or focus on speed and quality of reps

• Bench press

• Neutral grip dumbbell bench

• Chest supported rows

• Snatch pull to target

• Close-grip bench press

Biceps Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Hammer curls

• Homers

• Zottman curls

• Fat grip bicep curls

• Preacher curls

Triceps Accessories (Pick 1-2 exercises)

• Miracle Gros

• Triple trize

• Tricep cable extensions

• Skull crushers

• Dips

Mobility (Pick 4-5 exercises)

• Rack twists

• Forearm stretch

• Dumbbell angels

• Crossover stretch

• Tread the needle

This program does not have to be the one that you follow; however, it gives you an idea of what an athletic 4-day program can look like. 

When to Add Speed Training to Your 4-Day Split

For athletes who need specific speed work, such as acceleration, top-end speed, and change of direction training, it’s important to implement it properly. 

We recommend adding speed workouts as supplements to your primary lifts as shown above. The best days to implement a quick 30-minute speed session would be at the start of your training week and during your impulse/explosiveness day. 

Here is an example schedule for your 4-day workout split:

• Sunday: Rest

• Monday: Speed + Lower Body Strength

• Tuesday: Upper Body Strength

• Wednesday: Rest

• Thursday: Speed + Explosiveness

• Friday: Upper Body Hypertrophy

• Saturday: Rest

This is what a speed workout should look like: 

Speed workouts can be added to any training plan inside peak strength using the “Add a Bonus Workout” feature

Peak Strength: Elite Programming for Athletes & Coaches

Putting together a workout plan can be difficult. Especially when you’re building it for yourself, it’s important not to go overboard. If you want to skip the guesswork of figuring out which exercises to choose for your sport, try a Peak Strength training plan. 

Peak Strength training plans help with:

• Personalized training plans for your sport or goal with sets, reps, and weight recommendations for every workout

• Exercise selections based on your experience level and equipment options

• All-encompassing training for strength, power, speed, and endurance

• In-season and off-season training cycles

• Progress tracking and regular testing

Final Thoughts

A 4-day workout split for athletes is one of the most efficient ways to improve performance while still being dedicated to your sport. By combining lower-body power, upper-body strength, speed & agility, and full-body hypertrophy, this split addresses all aspects of athletic development.

For athletes who want measurable progress and coaches seeking scalable, high-performance programs, Peak Strength provides the expertise, tools, and data-driven programming to turn training into results with the best 4-day workout split for your goals.