Push Pull Legs (PPL): A 3-Day or 6-Day Split for Building Muscle

If you have trained full body for a few months and now want to spend more days in the gym, you have probably heard of the Push Pull Legs split, or PPL. It is one of the most popular ways to organise training: simple, logical and flexible enough to run three days a week or six.

This guide explains what PPL is, who it suits, how the 3-day and 6-day versions differ and how to keep progressing on it.

What does Push Pull Legs mean?

PPL groups exercises by movement pattern:

• Push: movements where you push weight away from your body. The main muscles are chest, shoulders and triceps, for example the barbell bench press and overhead press.
• Pull: movements where you pull weight toward your body. The main muscles are the back, rear delts and biceps, for example the pull-up and rows.
• Legs: the whole lower body: quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves, with squats and Romanian deadlifts as the backbone.

The big advantage is that muscles which work together in a movement are trained on the same day and rest on the same days. Your triceps and front delts help on the bench press, so once push day is done they get to recover until the next push session, and they are not already tired when pull day comes around.

Who is PPL for?

The split works best for people who:

• have at least a few months of consistent training and know the basic lifts such as squats, presses and rows;
• can reliably get to the gym three or six times a week;
• mainly want to build muscle and strength.

If you are brand new, a three-day full-body routine is usually a better start because each muscle is trained more often and you learn the lifts faster. See our beginner gym program. And if you only have four days a week, an upper/lower split tends to fit better.

The 3-day version: each muscle once a week

You train each of the three days once, with a rest day in between, for example Monday push, Wednesday pull, Friday legs.

• Upside: it takes less time and suits busy people or anyone who recovers slowly.
• Downside: each muscle is only trained once a week, so you need a few more sets in that single session to reach a useful weekly volume.

The 6-day version: each muscle twice a week

Here you run the push, pull, legs cycle twice in a row and take one full rest day: push, pull, legs, push, pull, legs, rest.

• Upside: every muscle is stimulated twice a week, which is usually better for growth once you are past the beginner stage.
• Downside: it demands good sleep, enough food and plenty of time. If you feel constantly drained after two or three weeks, it is too much for you right now.

There is a middle ground too: five days a week on a rolling cycle. Keep the push, pull, legs order but take a rest day after every three or four sessions, so your training days shift slightly from week to week.

A sample plan for each day

This plan is written for intermediate lifters. If you are coming straight from a full-body routine, start at the lower number of sets.

Push day (chest, shoulders, triceps)

1. Barbell or dumbbell bench press: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10 reps
2. Dumbbell shoulder press: 3 sets of 8 to 12
3. Incline dumbbell press: 3 sets of 8 to 12
4. Dumbbell lateral raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15
5. Cable triceps pushdown: 3 sets of 10 to 15

Pull day (back, rear delts, biceps)

1. Pull-ups or lat pulldowns: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10
2. Seated cable row or barbell row: 3 sets of 8 to 12
3. One-arm dumbbell row: 3 sets of 10 to 12 per arm
4. Face pull: 3 sets of 12 to 15
5. Barbell or dumbbell curl: 3 sets of 10 to 12

Leg day (thighs, glutes, calves, core)

1. Barbell squat or goblet squat: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 10
2. Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 8 to 10
3. Leg press: 3 sets of 10 to 12
4. Lying leg curl: 3 sets of 10 to 15
5. Standing calf raise: 3 sets of 12 to 15
6. Plank: 3 holds of 30 to 45 seconds

On the 6-day version, use a few different exercises in the second half of the week. For instance, start the second push day with the incline press, use a close-grip pulldown on the second pull day and hip thrusts and lunges on the second leg day. The variety spreads the stress across your joints and keeps training fresh.

How many sets and reps?

For most people roughly 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle per week is a good growth range. The 3-day version usually lands near the bottom of that range and the 6-day version more comfortably in the middle. Our article on weekly training volume goes into more detail.

• Finish most sets with 1 to 3 reps still in the tank.
• Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets of heavy compound lifts and about 60 to 90 seconds on isolation exercises.
• Begin every session with 5 to 10 minutes of warm-up and one or two light sets of the first exercise.

How to keep progressing

The simplest method is double progression. Give each exercise a rep range, say 8 to 12. First add reps until you hit 12 on every set, then add a little weight and drop back to 8. That is progressive overload, the foundation of all progress.

Log your weights and reps every session. When you log workouts in ProGym you can see the history of each exercise and know what to lift next time. Every 6 to 8 weeks, or whenever fatigue builds up, take a deload week.

Common mistakes

• Too many exercises: eight or nine exercises in one session usually means sloppy final sets. Five or six is plenty.
• Skipping leg day: it is the hardest day and the easiest to dodge. Without it the program is incomplete.
• Jumping to six days too soon: if you trained three days a week until now, try four or five first.
• Neglecting the rear delts: push days load the front of the shoulder heavily, so take face pulls and reverse flyes seriously on pull days.
• Ignoring sleep: high training frequency without enough sleep slows progress.

Safety notes

Good form always beats heavier weight. Stop any exercise that causes sharp joint pain, back pain or numbness, and have persistent or severe pain checked by a doctor or physiotherapist. If you have heart disease, high blood pressure or a joint problem, talk to your doctor before moving to a more demanding program.

Bottom line: PPL splits your training into three logical days: pushing, pulling and legs. The 3-day version suits busy people, and the 6-day version suits those with the time and recovery to support it. Five or six exercises per session, 10 to 20 weekly sets per muscle and steady increases in load are the skeleton of a successful PPL.

Frequently asked questions