Upper/Lower Workout Plan: Muscle Preservation on a Deficit
4 sessions per week · each muscle group trained twice · compound free-weight lifts
Schedule: Monday Upper A · Tuesday Lower A · Thursday Upper B · Friday Lower B · Rest Wednesday and weekends
Monday: Upper A
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 × 5–7 | |
| Barbell bent-over row | 4 × 6–8 | |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 × 8–10 | |
| Assisted chin-ups | 3 × 6–10 | Machine or band; use less assistance once you hit 10 |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 × 12–20 | Lift to shoulder height without swinging |
| Dumbbell curl + overhead triceps extension | 2 × 10–12 | Optional superset |
| Behind-the-back barbell finger curl | 2 × 12–15 | Optional; let the bar roll down to your fingertips on each rep |
Swap option: If you don’t have an assisted pull-up machine or bands, use underhand, shoulder-width lat pulldowns (3 × 6–10) instead of the assisted chin-ups.
Tuesday: Lower A
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Back squat | 4 × 5–7 | |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 × 8–10 | |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 × 8–10 | Per leg |
| Standing calf raise | 3 × 10–15 |
Thursday: Upper B
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Standing barbell overhead press | 4 × 5–7 | |
| One-arm dumbbell row | 3 × 6–8 | Per side |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 × 8–10 | |
| Assisted pull-ups | 3 × 6–10 | Machine or band; use less assistance once you hit 10 |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 × 12–20 | Lift to shoulder height without swinging |
| Barbell curl + skull crusher | 2 × 10–12 | Optional superset |
| Behind-the-back barbell finger curl | 2 × 12–15 | Optional; let the bar roll down to your fingertips on each rep |
Swap option: If you don’t have an assisted pull-up machine or bands, use overhand lat pulldowns with a grip slightly wider than your shoulders (3 × 6–10) instead of the assisted pull-ups.
Friday: Lower B
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deadlift | 3 × 4–6 | |
| Paused back squat | 3 × 6–8 | 2-second pause at the bottom; lighter than Tuesday’s squats |
| Dumbbell walking lunge | 3 × 8–10 | Per leg |
| Standing calf raise | 3 × 10–15 |
The paused squat keeps your quads trained heavy twice a week, and the lunges add glute and quad work.
Swap option: If you’d rather not do barbell squats twice a week, use heavy goblet squats (3 × 8–12) instead of the paused back squat.
Running it on a deficit
- Keep the weights heavy. Heavy load is the main signal for keeping muscle, so don’t switch to light “toning” work. Holding your strength through a cut counts as a win.
- Stop most sets 1–3 reps short of failure. Grinding heavy lifts to failure uses up recovery you’re short on while dieting.
- Progress when you can. Once you hit the top of the rep range on every set, add the smallest weight jump available.
- Cut volume before load. If your lifts drop two weeks in a row, cut one set per exercise before you cut the weight.
- Rest 2–3 minutes on the first two lifts of each day and 1.5–2 minutes on the rest.
- Outside the gym, aim for roughly 1.6–2.2 g of protein per kg of bodyweight daily (0.7–1 g/lb) and a loss of about 0.5–1% of bodyweight per week. Losing faster or sleeping too little both make you lose more muscle.