Written by Hamza J
A four day upper/lower hypertrophy program built around the equipment a budget gym actually has, with some minor adaptations.
No barbell back squat, no bench press with a spotter, no deadlift platform. Every movement here is a machine, a cable or a pair of dumbbells, and every one of them progresses by double progression. It is written for the gym most people can actually walk into.
This program is for anyone training in a gym without free-weight barbell facilities, which describes Planet Fitness and a large share of hotel, apartment and budget gyms.
It suits:
It does not suit someone whose goal is a bigger squat, bench and deadlift. You cannot train the competition lifts on equipment that does not exist, and a Smith machine squat is not a back squat.
For building muscle, the thing that matters is taking a hard set close to failure with enough total volume across the week. A machine does that as well as a barbell and is easier to do alone: no spotter, no bailing out of a failed rep, and less setup fatigue between sets.
Where machines lose is skill transfer and maximal strength, which are not what this program is for.
Each muscle group is trained twice a week, once in the A session and once in the B session, with a different angle or machine each time.
A typical week is Upper A, Lower A, rest, Upper B, Lower B, rest, rest. Any layout with at least one rest day between the two upper sessions works.
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rep Range | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Bench Press | 3 × 8 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| Lat Pulldown | 3 × 8 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| Machine Shoulder Press | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 60 s |
| Cable Seated Row | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 60 s |
| Cable Triceps Pushdown | 2 × 10 | 10-15 | 60 s |
| Cable Bicep Curl | 2 × 10 | 10-15 | 60 s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rep Range | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg Press | 4 × 8 | 8-12 | 90 s |
| Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 90 s |
| Hack Squat | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 60 s |
| Lying Leg Curl | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Standing Calf Raise | 3 × 12 | 12-20 | 60 s |
| Cable Crunch | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rep Range | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Machine Chest Press | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 90 s |
| Machine Seated Row | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 90 s |
| Dumbbell Incline Bench Press | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 60 s |
| Machine Lateral Raise | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Dumbbell Hammer Curl | 2 × 10 | 10-15 | 60 s |
| Cable Triceps Extension | 2 × 10 | 10-15 | 60 s |
| Exercise | Sets × Reps | Rep Range | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith Machine Squat | 4 × 10 | 10-12 | 90 s |
| Cable Pull Through | 3 × 10 | 10-12 | 60 s |
| Leg Extension | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Seated Leg Curl | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Seated Hip Abduction | 3 × 12 | 12-15 | 60 s |
| Seated Calf Raise | 3 × 12 | 12-20 | 60 s |
Upper sessions run about 40 to 45 minutes. Lower sessions run about 50 to 55.
Every exercise in this program runs on double progression and there are no exceptions.
The rule:
The increments:
| Exercise | Increment |
|---|---|
| Leg Press and Hack Squat | 5 kg / 10 lbs |
| Everything else | 2.5 kg / 5 lbs |
Example, dumbbell bench press in the 8 to 12 range:
Session 1: 3 × 8 @ 16 kg / 35 lbs
Session 2: 3 × 9 @ 16 kg / 35 lbs
Session 3: 3 × 10 @ 16 kg / 35 lbs
Session 4: 3 × 11 @ 16 kg / 35 lbs
Session 5: 3 × 12 @ 16 kg / 35 lbs <- top of the range on every set
Session 6: 3 × 8 @ 18 kg / 40 lbs <- add weight, back to the bottom
That is the whole progression model. There is no percentage, no training max and no weekly wave, because a hypertrophy program does not need one: the reps go up until the weight can, and then the weight goes up.
A miss holds. If you do not complete the prescribed reps on every set, repeat the same prescription next time rather than dropping back. There is nowhere else to go in double progression, which is exactly what makes it forgiving.
Everything below assumes your form is already solid. Finding your working weight, adding weight, chasing reps, all of it only works if you can perform the lift correctly. While your form is not locked in, that is your only job. Make good form the goal of every set, not the weight on the bar. Drilling the movement with an empty bar beats loading plates onto a lift you cannot control yet.
To learn, don't hesitate to search Google and YouTube (there is a lot of good free material) and record yourself from the side to compare against a proper demonstration. In general, good form means a full controlled range of motion, a braced neutral spine, no bouncing or momentum, a consistent setup every rep, and ending the set when technique breaks down rather than grinding sloppy reps.
Pick a weight you could do for three or four more reps than the bottom of the range, on every set.
That sounds too light and it is meant to. The bottom of the range is where the progression starts, not where it lives: within four or five sessions you will be at the top of the range on the same weight, and within six you will have added to it.
How to find it in one session:
If you have to guess, guess low. A first week that is too light costs you one week. A first week that is too heavy means you stall in week two with nowhere to go and no data on why.
Machines and cables need far less warming up than a barbell, because there is no bar path to rehearse and nothing to bail out of.
| Situation | Warm-up |
|---|---|
| First exercise of an upper session | 1 set of 10 at roughly half the working weight |
| First exercise of a lower session | 2 sets: 10 at roughly 40%, 5 at roughly 70% |
| Every exercise after the first | 1 light set, or none if the muscle is already warm |
| Calves, abs, abduction | None |
Five to ten minutes of walking or cycling before a lower session is worth more than extra warm-up sets.
| Exercise type | Rest Period |
|---|---|
| Leg Press, Smith Squat, first two upper exercises | 90 seconds |
| Everything else | 60 seconds |
The rest times in this program are short by strength-training standards, and that is deliberate: nothing here is near a maximal effort, so 60 seconds is enough to complete the next set with good form. If it is not, the weight is too heavy for the range.
Stalling means failing to add a rep for three sessions in a row on the same exercise.
Do not add extra sets to break a stall. This program is at the top of the volume most people recover from at four sessions a week, and the answer to a stall is almost never more work.
The program runs as long as double progression keeps working, which for most people is three to six months on the first pass.
There is no fixed end date and no built-in deload week. Take one when you need it: a week at two thirds of the weight, same sessions, every eight to twelve weeks or whenever two or three exercises stall at once.
When most of the program stops moving even after a light week, swap the A and B exercises for their alternatives, or move to a program with barbell work if you have found a gym with a rack.
Enter your starting weight for each machine once and Virtus Athlete runs the double progression for all twenty four exercises: it adds the rep, it tells you when the range has topped out, and it makes the jump for you at the right increment. Every set logged, rest timers per exercise, and a chart per machine so you can see which ones are actually still moving.
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