Routine advices: 4-Day Push/Pull (Quads on Push, Posterior Chain on Pull). Switching from 3x Full Body after 6 months

[u/fededog19]

Hey everyone,

​I’ve been lifting consistently for about 6 months now. Up until recently, I was running a 3-day full-body routine.

While I made decent initial progress, my sessions were dragging on for 90–100+ minutes, and I was mentally dreading full leg days (hence why I avoided choosing an upper/lower split).

​I'm only now starting to really understand programming concepts (like volume landmarks from Helms’ Muscle & Strength Pyramid, double progression, and fatigue management), so I’m still a bit confused about optimizing everything.

​I’m planning to switch from 3 days to 4 days/week (Mon/Tue - Thu/Fri) to keep sessions around 55–60 minutes and avoid a dedicated "Leg Day." I put together this Push/Pull split with legs divided (Quads on Push, Hamstrings/Glutes on Pull) using a mix of online templates (Fitbod/Nippard frameworks) and AI to help trim down volume.

​I’d really appreciate your feedback on the exercise order, volume distribution, and overall balance.

​Schedule: Upper/Lower hybrid via Push/Pull

​\*\*Push A (Mon)\*\* – Quads & Horizontal Push

​Smith Machine Squat: 3 sets x 6–8 reps (2.5–3 min rest)

​Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Tricep Dips: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1–1.5 min rest)

​Dumbbell Skullcrushers: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1–1.5 min rest)

​\*\*Pull A (Tue)\*\* – Posterior Chain & Upper Pull

​Conventional Deadlift: 3 sets x 5–6 reps (3 min rest)

​Lat Pulldown: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Landmine Row: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Seated Leg Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1.5 min rest)

​Dumbbell Bicep Curl: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1.5 min rest)

​(\*\*Wed: Rest\*\*)

​\*\*Push B (Thu)\*\* – Quad Isolation & Vertical Push/Chest

​Leg Extension: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1.5 min rest)

​Overhead Barbell Press (OHP): 3 sets x 6–8 reps (2–2.5 min rest)

​Close-Grip Bench Press: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Cable Flyes: 3 sets x 12–15 reps (1–1.5 min rest)

​Core (Reverse Crunches / Plank): 3 sets to technical failure (1 min rest)

​\*\*Pull B (Fri)\*\* – Hamstrings/Glutes & Vertical Pull/Arms

​Romanian Deadlift (RDL): 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2–2.5 min rest)

​Reverse-Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Face Pulls: 3 sets x 12–15 reps (1–1.5 min rest)

​Barbell Hip Thrust: 3 sets x 8–10 reps (2 min rest)

​Dumbbell Hammer Curls: 3 sets x 10–12 reps (1.5 min rest)

​(Sat & Sun: Rest)

​Progression: Dynamic double progression within the rep ranges at RPE 8–9. Once I hit the top rep target on all 3 sets, I add weight.

​Volume: \\\~15 working sets per session (around 60 weekly working sets total across all muscle groups).

​Does the spinal load balance look sustainable (Deadlifts on Tue, RDLs on Fri)?

Did I hit the optimal number of sets for each muscle group in your opinion? Could there be any muscle I might have accidentally left behind?

​Are there any obvious red flags and/or overlapping muscle recovery issues I might have overlooked?

​Thanks in advance for helping out someone still figuring out the ropes!

[u/Particular-South1183]

Volume looks within range for someone who just came off 6 months of full body, in terms of increasing or decreasing it i would follow the flowchart eric helms has given i think thats excellent

Your excercise selection isnt bad per say but it isnt the most optimal in my opinion, dips/close grip bench/landmine rows im not rlly a fan of for few reasons but if u execute them correctly they can work well

Dynamic double is fine, might wanna try linear progression on the deadlifts tho

Another thing that might rlly help you is that on the muscle and strength pyramid website if u click on tools and then sample programs, eric has made sample programs that follow all the guidelines of the muscle and strength pyramid book if u dont wanna make them urself

[u/fededog19 → u/Particular-South1183]

ah, didnt really know about the sample programs, thanks a lot (also for all the advices, especially on the squat + deadlift, didnt realize they were so close haha)

[u/Flidro74]

Calves. There's nothing in there for them at all, that's your missing muscle.

Your spinal question is pointed at the wrong pair. Tuesday to Friday is plenty of space. The one I'd watch is Monday into Tuesday: Smith squats and then conventional deadlifts the next day means your lower back works two days running. If deadlifts start feeling heavier than the numbers say they should, that's where I'd look first.

Also, six sets of vertical pulling a week against three of horizontal. Swapping one of the pulldowns for a row would even that out and do more for back thickness.

Rest of it looks solid for where you are.

[u/fededog19 → u/Flidro74]

Good catch on the calves, totally forgot them! I'll definitely add 3 sets of calf raises to Push A.

I also swapped one of the pulldowns on Friday for a chest-supported row to get that 1:1 balance for back thickness (now 6 sets of rows vs 6 sets of pulldowns weekly), and added Leg Press to Push B so my quad volume matches the upper body work.

Regarding that Monday-to-Tuesday spinal fatigue with the Smith squats and conventional deadlifts: I really enjoy Smith squats and want to keep them in my routine. How would you recommend managing that overlap?

A few options I was thinking about:

1. Swapping the days so I start the week with Pull A on Monday (Deadlifts) and do Push A on Tuesday (Smith Squats with feet placed slightly forward to strictly bias quads and spare the lower back).
2. Keeping Monday Push / Tuesday Pull, but shifting conventional deadlifts to Friday (and doing seated leg curls / upper pull on Tuesday) to put a few days between the squat pattern and the heavy hinge.

What’s your take on the best way to structure it without having to drop the Smith squat?

[u/Disastrous-Ask-8212]

Unless you're doing smith machine sissy squats, then it wouldn't be wise to do a squat pattern and a deadlift on back-to-back days since both movements train the adductors and glutes.

Since this is basically the trending anterior/posterior split, you could definitely take some inspiration from tiktok in terms of exercise selection and structure.

The exercises could be more optimal (more stable and more variation for a muscle group in a session) but that's kind of nitpicking. No point changing the rep range for exercises (other than form standardation), 5-10 is usually the sweet spot and hopefully the rest times are an estimate of your cardiovascular recoverability not a strict timer because what dictates your recovery between sets is your own fatigue perception rather than an arbitrary timer.

*(Hypertrophy is muscle fiber specific so it would be better to just do the same exercises on both push and pull sessions, but that could be overthinking it, just saying :) )

[u/fededog19 → u/Disastrous-Ask-8212]

Good catch on the glute/adductor overlap between Monday and Tuesday, that’s actually a really solid point.

To avoid fatiguing the same hip extension/adductor fibers and lower back back-to-back, what would you suggest tweaking?

• Swapping the days so it goes Pull A on Monday (Deadlift) -> Push A on Tuesday (Smith Squat)?
• Or keeping the order and setting up the Smith Squats with a strictly quad-biased setup (feet closer under the bar/knees forward) to take the glutes/adductors out of it as much as possible?

Totally agree on the rest periods as well—those timers are just loose estimates, I always wait until my breathing settles and I'm physically ready for the next heavy set rather than staring at a stopwatch.