DR.

SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

Copyright © 2020 by Bill Wong

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uses permitted by copyright law.

This book is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as
a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice.
Use of the information herein is at the sole choice and risk of the reader. The
author will not assume liability for any direct or indirect losses or damages
that may result.

Design Specialist: Nao Takahashi

Cover Photographer: Alison Saya Helton

First Edition – May 2020

DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

ABOUT DR. SWOLE ............................................................................. 1

PREFACE ............................................................................................ 2

WHAT IS EVIDENCE-BASED BODYBUILDING? ................................... 4

DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................. 6

DR. SWOLE’S STAIRCASE OF TRAINING PRIORITIES ........................ 8

CONSISTENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY .......................................... 9

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD .......................................................... 10

LINEAR PROGRESSION ........................................................... 13

DOUBLE PROGRESSION ......................................................... 15

TRIPLE PROGRESSION ........................................................... 18

WAVE-LOADING PROGRESSION ............................................... 19

VOLUME ...................................................................................... 23

FREQUENCY ................................................................................ 27

INTENSITY AND REP RANGES..................................................... 28

EXERCISE SELECTION ................................................................. 34

HOW TO USE THESE PROGRAMS ...................................................... 42

BEGINNER LOW VOLUME PROGRAM ................................................ 46

DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

SAMPLE MESOCYCLE ........................................................................ 53

INTERMEDIATE LEG-FOCUSED PROGRAM ........................................ 62

INTERMEDIATE MODIFIED PROGRAM ............................................. 67

QUADS, BACK, AND DELT-FOCUSED PROGRAM ................................ 72

WARMING UP ................................................................................... 79

REST PERIODS ................................................................................. 83

ORDER OF EXERCISES...................................................................... 85

DELOADING ..................................................................................... 88

PROS AND CONS OF THE UPPER LOWER SPLIT ............................... 91

YOUR BODY IS A LABORATORY ....................................................... 93

TROUBLESHOOTING......................................................................... 96

ABS, TRAPS, AND POSTERIOR DELTS ............................................ 100

AFTERWORD .................................................................................. 102

REFERENCES .................................................................................. 103

DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

Bill Wong is a medical doctor and natural men’s physique athlete

based in Vancouver, Canada.

He completed his MD at the University of British Columbia and is

currently training to specialize in radiology. As the first author on multiple

peer-reviewed publications and internationally-presented scientific posters,

he has extensive experience with publishing and interpreting research. His

medical background and passion for the scientific method provides him with

a unique, cutting-edge perspective on bodybuilding.

He runs a YouTube channel (Ask Dr. Swole) and a podcast (Swole

Radio), which provide evidence-based recommendations to help people lose

fat and gain muscle. His content is tailored to the intelligent athlete who

wants to improve their physique using current scientific research.

Dr. Swole’s YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/AskDrSwole

Dr. Swole’s Website: www.askdrswole.com

ABOUT DR. SWOLE 1

DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

Issues surrounding exercise selection and substitution are perhaps the

most common questions I get asked about my programs. You should use the

following criteria to choose exercises:

1. The intended muscle should be the limiting factor. This is a measure of

how specific an exercise is to a certain muscle group. If the intended

muscle is not fatigued first, you won’t get an optimal stimulus for it.

For example, in a close-grip bench press, the triceps will likely fatigue

and cause you to fail before the pecs do. Thus, a close-grip bench

press would be a good triceps exercise but not the best chest exercise.

2. The exercise should allow you to load the target muscle through its

entire ROM. Greater hypertrophy has been demonstrated with training

with full ROM19,20. Muscles contracting at greater length (in a “stretch”)

show more activation and receive more stress21. Furthermore, you’ll

produce less systemic fatigue with the lighter loads used. It follows

that, for instance, squatting to full depth (or at least parallel) is

superior for bodybuilders than squatting to partial depth.

3. The exercise should be amenable to progressive overload. A good

proxy question for this is: can I microload this movement over time,

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

and eventually reach heavy loads in the 6-12 rep range? Examples of

where this fails would include calisthenics and any exercise without a

stable base of support. While push-ups might produce a great stimulus

for you, you can’t easily add small increments of load to accommodate

improvements over time. Furthermore, you will eventually get strong

enough to do 30, 40, 60 reps… And you’ll get outside of our intensity

recommendation of > 30% 1RM. Another example of this would be the

single-arm reverse cable pressdown; these might be difficult to safely

execute heavier loads with. Such exercises can serve specific

purposes, but they shouldn’t be the focus of your program.

4. You should have a good mind-muscle connection during the

movement. There is some early data showing a link between this type

of internal of focus and hypertrophy22. Most people find that different

movements allow them to “feel” their muscles contracting better than

others: this is individual-specific and will require you to experiment to

see what feels best for you.

Beyond these general criteria, the specific exercise you choose doesn’t

matter a whole lot. You will still be able to grow great quads using hack

squats as your primary overloading movement, versus barbell squats.

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

At a more advanced level, you should thinking about exercises

producing a certain amount of hypertrophic stimulus and also a certain

amount of fatigue. Note, however, that the amount of stimulus and fatigue a

certain movement produces varies by individual, depending on technique

and anatomy.

As a conceptual model, I like to think of exercises as falling into 3

tiers:

TIER 1 EXERCISES

These are heavy, free-weight movements that are most amenable to

progressive overload. For larger muscle groups, such as quads,

hamstrings/glutes, chest, back, these are also compound movements. They

tend to produce a high amount of stimulus and are staples for bodybuilders.

They also target a large amount of muscle mass due to their compound

nature, which makes them very efficient options. I would suggest that

beginners and people curbing their volume (i.e. < 10 sets per week)

because they’re short on time should focus on these movements. I separate

these from Tier 2 movements since my opinion is that heavy free-weight

movements tend to produce more stimulus overall. I’m not saying that they

are necessarily better, though. Tier 1 movements also tend to be the most

fatiguing exercises, and may impede your ability to perform large amounts

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

of volume. Start your workouts with these since they take the greatest

amount of coordination and mental effort to perform.

TIER 2 EXERCISES

These are more machine-type movements, usually still involving

multiple joints for larger muscle groups. These are great for adding in

volume without a whole lot of fatigue. Perform these after your Tier 1

movements.

TIER 3 EXERCISES

These are isolation movements. They are useful for adding in volume

for a minimal amount of associated systemic fatigue. Perform these last in

your workout.

My 3 tier model is a very loose categorization but may be helpful to

you as a framework for exercise selection. You can look at any exercise in

my training programs and substitute for another exercise in the same tier.

Note that the way you map exercises to certain muscle groups may depend

on how you perform them (lunges can be done to emphasize quads more

than glutes) – this list reflects my personal convention.

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

QUADS

1. Squat (narrow stance, sumo, back, front), Bulgarian split squat

(barbell, dumbbell), goblet squat

2. Leg press, hack squat, smith machine hack squat

3. Leg extension

HAMSTRINGS/GLUTES

1. Deadlift (conventional, sumo), Romanian deadlift (barbell, dumbbell),

barbell good morning, lunge (forward, backward, walking, barbell,

dumbbell), step-up (barbell, dumbbell), barbell hip thrust

2. Back hyperextension (barbell, dumbbell), glute-ham raise

3. Leg curl (lying, seated), cable pull-through, glute kickback

CHEST

1. Bench press (incline, flat, decline, barbell, dumbbell), weighted dips

(chest variation)

2. Smith-machine bench press, machine bench press, close-grip bench

press (I count these for both chest and triceps volume)

3. Flyes (cable, dumbbell, machine)

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

ANTERIOR DELTS

1. Overhead press (standing, seated, barbell, dumbbell)

2. Machine overhead press, Arnold press, smith machine overhead press

3. Front raises (barbell, dumbbell, cable)

BACK

1. Row (barbell, dumbbell), weighted chin-ups (supinated or pronated),

Meadow’s row, T-bar row, single-arm dumbbell row

2. Machine row, machine pulldown, cable lat pulldown, cable row, chest-

supported row, seal row (barbell, dumbbell)

3. Straight arm pulldown, dumbbell pullover, single-arm cable row,

single-arm cable pulldown

BICEPS

1. Barbell curl, EZ bar curl, dumbbell curl, incline curl, lying curl, hammer

curl, pin-wheel curl, preacher curl, concentration curl, spider curl

2. Cable curl (bar, rope), machine curls

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

TRICEPS

1. Close-grip bench press (barbell, dumbbell), floor press (barbell,

dumbbell), board press, pin press, weighted dips (triceps variation)

2. Skullcrushers (barbell, EZ-bar, dumbbell), cable pressdowns (bar,

rope), overhead cable extensions, cable kickbacks, machine extensions

SIDE DELTS

1. Upright row (barbell, dumbbell, cable), lateral raise (dumbbell, cable),

machine lateral raises

CALVES

1. Standing single-leg calf raise, leg press calf raise, standing machine

calf raise, donkey calf raises

2. Bent-leg calf raises

ABS

1. Weighted hanging leg raise, weighted crunch, weighted toe touch,

weighted V-up, ab machine crunch, cable crunch

2. Ab wheel rollout, Swiss ball rollout, leg raise, reverse crunch, Russian

twists, bicycle crunch, weighted plank

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DR. SWOLE’S GUIDE TO UPPER LOWER SPLITS

SAMPLE AB TRISETS

Perform one movement after the other with minimal rest between

exercises, and 1.5-2 min between trisets.

➢ Hanging leg raise, weighted crunch, bicycle crunch

➢ Ab wheel rollout, cable crunch, weighted toe touch

➢ Swiss ball rollout, weighted plank, weighted V-up

EXERCISE SELECTION 41