Push Pull Legs (PPL) – The Ultimate Workout Program Guide

What is The Push Pull Legs Training Program?

If you’re looking for a practical way to program your training, you’ve undoubtedly come across the famous Push Pull Legs split. This training method has been around for a while, and many people today swear by its efficacy and usefulness. The Push-Pull Legs split is a way of organizing your weekly workouts by dividing your training into three categories: push exercises, pull exercises, and legs exercises.

With this split, you combine different muscle groups with similar functions and train them together. Instead of training them separately, you can bundle them together, work them hard, and then give them sufficient time to recover before training them again. Below you can see what muscle groups each training day includes.

For example, your chest, shoulders, and triceps are all involved in pushing exercises (1, 2). By training them in the same workout, you stimulate them sufficiently and then allow them to recuperate while doing pull and legs training or resting.

Aside from push workouts, this split also has you do pull and leg training. Your pull workouts involve your back, biceps, and rear deltoids, as these muscles work together on pulling and rowing exercises (3). 

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Your leg training is similar to lower-body training on the upper/lower split and leg training on a bro split. The goal here is to train your entire lower body – your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. This way of splitting your weekly training can be quite beneficial on numerous fronts. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Designing a Push Pull Legs Workout Split

Let’s get a bit more practical. Here are three possible ways to schedule a Push Pull Legs split:

The 3-day split will work best for most people because it offers a consistent schedule, and you have a fair amount of flexibility to move your workouts around when life happens. Training three days per week is also enough to optimize hypertrophy for most people because it allows for a fair amount of training volume. This training frequency is also incredibly sustainable for most people, and you don’t have to be in the gym over the weekend.

A 4-day split is also a viable option, but it carries some significant drawbacks. Namely, you have a different training schedule every week, and you have far less flexibility to move around workouts. Can it deliver superior results? Well, possibly. One extra training day per week can help boost hypertrophy gains a bit. But is the potential benefit worth the drawbacks? It likely isn’t.

The 6-day split, like the Arnold split, is also similar to the 3-day one and offers some of the same benefits. But, because this is such a demanding split, you should only consider it if you’re quite advanced and need to do a lot of training volume to keep growing optimally. 

The Push Pull Legs – 3 Day Training Plan

Let’s take what we’ve learned so far and put together an effective 3-day Push Pull Legs plan:

Push Workout

• Bench Press (Barbell) – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• Incline Press (Dumbbell) – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• Seated Shoulder Press (Dumbbell) – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• Lateral Raise (Dumbbell) – 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps
• Skullcrushers (Dumbbell) – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
• Tricep Rope Pushdown – 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps

Pull Workout

• Pull Up or Chin Up – 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps
• Bent Over Row (Barbell) – 3 sets of 6 to 12 reps
• Seated Cable Row – Wide Grip – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
• Dumbbell Row – 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps
• Bicep Curl (Barbell) – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• Preacher Curl (Machine) – 2 sets of 12 to 20 reps
• Face Pull – 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 25 reps

Legs Workout

• Squat (Barbell) – 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps
• Romanian Deadlift (Barbell) – 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps
• Bulgarian Split Squat – 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps
• Glute Ham Raise – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
• Standing Calf Raise (Machine) – 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps

This is a typical 3-day intermediate-level Push Pull Legs workout. The exercises are standard, and you can substitute them for other alternatives, depending on your preferences and available equipment. For example, you can replace the dumbbell bench press version with a barbell if you wish. Our app has an extensive exercise library, and you can pick from many movements. 

The repetition ranges we’ve assigned to the individual movements are also not set in stone, and you can modify them to some degree. For example, if you prefer doing more repetitions on an exercise like the standing calf raise, you can do 12 to 25 or 15 to 30 instead of our prescribed 8 to 15 reps.

As a whole, almost everything within this program is subject to change, and nothing is set in stone.Depending on your primary goals, preferences, and available equipment, you can make some changes to make the program better suited for you.

As far as recovery days go, you have four each week, and it’s a good idea to give yourself one-day in-between workouts for adequate recovery. For example, you can train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

The Science Behind the Push Pull Legs plan

Besides the many benefits of scheduling and flexibility, the Push-Pull Legs plan is backed by some decent research.

The Push Pull Legs split is well suited for a higher training frequency. Meaning, we can use it to train our muscles more than once per week. According to the most recent literature, training our muscles twice per week is better than once if hypertrophy is the main goal (13). 

If you typically train three times per week and can’t make it more often, then make sure to do enough training volume to grow. According to research, that would mean at least 10 sets per muscle group per week seem to deliver superior results (14). For larger muscles such as your chest, back, and quads, you can aim for 12 to 16 weekly sets. For smaller muscles like your biceps, triceps, and shoulders, you can aim for 6 to 10 weekly sets.

For example, you can achieve a twice-weekly frequency for all muscle groups by training six times per week. Like so:

Monday – Push
Tuesday – Pull
Wednesday – Legs
Thursday – Push
Friday – Pull
Saturday – Legs
Sunday – Off

Earlier in this guide, we said that this frequency is most likely better for more advanced individuals. And, of course, if you’re highly advanced and you need to do more work to keep growing, then you should consider it. But, we can also make an argument for less experienced lifters using this frequency.

For example, if you can’t spend much time in the gym but can make it every day, then using a higher frequency can be a great way to spread your weekly volume into more frequent but shorter sessions. For example, instead of having three 20-set workouts, you can have six 10-set ones. That way, you can do all of your weekly work and enjoy shorter and less demanding workouts. Plus, you get to train all muscle groups twice per week, which can be beneficial.

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There is also the idea of volume overlap. You see, organizing our weekly training is a bit more nuanced than most people imagine. For example, if you follow a typical bro split where you train one muscle group per day, the risk of overlap is much higher. This is because multiple muscles often work together on different exercises.

Take the bench press: This movement primarily trains your chest, but it also involves your triceps and shoulders (1, 2). By bundling these muscles in a single workout – as is the case in this split – you essentially ‘get them out of the way,’ and they have enough time to recover before they have to work again.

Main Push Exercises

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective push exercises you can use for mass and strength:

1. Bench Press

The flat bench press is among the best chest-building movements out there. Over the years, countless people have used the dumbbell and barbell variations of the movement to build impressive pecs. Research also suggests that the flat press causes significant EMG activity (1). If you’re unfamiliar, EMG (Electromyography) is a procedure that records and evaluates the electrical activity of our muscles. 

What’s more, the flat press has a fantastic overloading potential, which makes it one of the best exercises you can use as the foundation of your chest training. This is a fantastic chest exercise for women and men alike.

2. Incline Bench Press

Despite what some experts suggest, the flat press is not sufficient to cause even development in the entire pec, and this is why adding an incline press variation is so valuable. According to research, pressing at an angle of about 45 degrees leads to significantly higher activation of the chest’s clavicular portion (2, 4). It’s important to experiment with several settings to see what angle works best for your chest.

3. Overhead Press

We can’t have a complete push workout without a movement that directly works our shoulders, and this is where the overhead press comes to play. The overhead press is one of the best movements we can use to train the front and lateral side of the shoulder, and, much like the other variations, it offers a fantastic overloading potential.

According to some research, performing the overhead press from a standing position seems best (5). But, you can do it seated if you prefer, and the difference shouldn’t be much.

4. Floor Press (Barbell)

The floor press is much less popular than the other exercises on the list, but it appears quite effective. Although the floor press lacks a good stretch of the pecs, studies suggest that it still offers good EMG activity. According to research carried out by Bret Contreras, the floor press is a fantastic pec activator. So much so that it ranks as one of the top exercises for mind-chest activation. 

Main Pull Exercises

Let’s take a look at four of the most effective pull exercises:

1. Bent Over Row (Barbell)

The barbell row is a horizontal pulling exercise that does a great job of developing the entire back. Thanks to the great overloading potential and biomechanics, bent over rows develop the mid-back, traps, and lats. This helps bring out the thickness, as well as width in the back. What’s more, because you have to keep your torso rigid, the bent over row also develops the lower back.

The two most important things you need to keep in mind are to keep your torso as parallel to the floor as possible and row the barbell through the full range of motion without using momentum or jerking.

2. Pull Up And Chin Up

Pull ups and chin ups are two of the best bodyweight movements you can use for back strength and width. In an experiment done by the American Council of Exercise, pull-ups and chin-ups came out as the top two for lat activation. The chin-up offers a slightly better bicep activation due to the grip, but both are fantastic back-builders.

3. Seated Cable Row – Wide Grip

This is one of the best movements for back development because it offers a greater range of motion.

To perform it effectively, add a wide attachment to the rowing machine and sit down. The goal is to row the weight through the full range of motion and allow a great stretch of the lats at the start and a strong contraction in the end portion.

4. Bicep Curl (Barbell)

The barbell curl is one of the best bicep movements because it allows you to overload your muscles with a lot of weight, and it offers a good range of motion.

If you find that the barbell curl bothers your wrists due to the awkward angle, you can substitute this movement for dumbbell hammer curls or a preacher curl (machine).

To perform it well, always use a full range of motion and do each repetition slowly and with control.

Main Legs Exercises

Let’s now take a look at some of the best lower body movements:

1. Squat (Barbell)

Barbell squats are one of the best knee-dominant exercises you can use to develop your outer/inner thighs, quads and glutes (8). In fact, some research suggests that back squats could be more effective for glute growth than hip thrusts (9). According to research, the front and back squats activate our lower body musculature similarly, and you should use the one you prefer (10). 

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2. Bulgarian Split Squat

Bulgarian split squats are a fantastic exercise you can use to strengthen your glutes, hamstrings, outer/inner thighs and quads. Training one leg at a time also helps improve your balance, stability, and side-to-side development.

To do these properly, always prioritize proper technique and a full range of motion over the amount of weight you’re squatting.

3. Romanian Deadlift (Barbell)

Romanian deadlifts are one of the best exercises you can do to train your posterior chain and annihilate your hamstrings (11). Our hamstrings cross two joints – the hip and the knee. Hip hinge movements heavily depend on our hamstrings thanks to their ability to store elastic energy and contribute to hip extension.

To train your hamstrings well, you need to maintain a neutral back and lower the weight as much as possible before your lower back begins to round.

4. Glute Ham Raise

Along with Romanian deadlifts, glute-ham raises appear to be the best hamstring movement out there (11).

Interestingly, the glute-ham raise heavily emphasizes the hamstrings’ eccentric contraction, and research suggests that this could be quite beneficial (12). More specifically, this training type could produce neuromuscular adaptations that might help with movement proficiency and injury prevention.

The Benefits Of The Push Pull Legs

People from all over the world swear by Push Pull Legs training. The question is, what makes it so effective? Here are some of its most pronounced benefits:

1. It’s a Simple And Convenient Way to Organize Your Training

While it may seem a bit complicated, structuring your training with the Push Pull Legs principles is relatively easy. All you need to do is split your muscles into three categories – pull, push, and legs. From there, pick your weekly frequency and go about structuring your different workouts.

Your push workout should include direct work for your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pull training will involve work for your back, biceps, and rear deltoids. You can also do some direct trap work on pull day. Leg day is quite simple, too, and you’ve probably had to program such workouts before.

2. There Is No Overlap in Muscle Groups

Most splits out there can work for you. Their primary issue comes from the overlapping volume. Take, for example, the bench press:

This movement primarily trains your chest, but it also works your triceps and shoulders (1, 2). If you do this exercise on Monday and then go in on Tuesday for tricep or shoulder work, you can see how that might lead to recovery issues. Specifically, your triceps and shoulders will be fatigued from the bench press on Monday, and you won’t be able to train them as productively.

With some thought, you can overcome this issue. For example, you can schedule your shoulder and tricep work for later in the week, so they have more time to recover well. But, this creates a couple of issues:

1. Having a dedicated workout for each muscle group means that you have to do more weekly workouts, which can be unsustainable for some people.

2. You need to be a lot more mindful of which muscle groups are involved (and when) and sequence them well to prevent training them in a fatigued state.

The Push-Pull Legs split is incredibly effective precisely because it solves this issue. You get to train all of the involved muscles in a single workout and train them again several days later, thus making sure that they are fully recovered.

3. It Offers A Fair Bit of Scheduling Flexibility

As we’ll see in the next point, the Push-Pull Legs split offers excellent scheduling flexibility. Unlike many rigid splits out there, the Push-Pull Legs allow us to switch up our workouts and make them fit our lives better.

For example, the 3-day Push Pull Legs split is a favorite of many precisely because you can arrange your workouts in numerous ways. If you want to skip chest day (Monday), you can start your training week on Tuesday or begin your week with a pull day instead of a push.

If you can’t make it to the gym one day, you can go on the day after and simply push your remaining workouts by a day. Perhaps you’re freer on the weekend and can train then? No problem – have two of your workouts on Saturday and Sunday.

4. It Works For Lifters Of All Levels

One of the best benefits of the Push-Pull Legs split is that you can make it useful for yourself no matter your fitness level. 

If you’re just starting with training, you can use the 3-day version for years. Then, as you become late-intermediate, you can switch to a 4-day split. Eventually, once you’re advanced, you can work up to the final level – the 6 or 7-day Push Pull Legs split.

Who Is The Push Pull Legs Workout Program For?

You’re probably wondering, “This Push Pull Legs split looks great, but will it work for me?” In most cases, yes – this program is fantastic because it offers a lot of flexibility and can work for all sorts of trainees. 

So long as you stay consistent and push yourself, you can use the Push-Pull Legs program to make fantastic progress for many years. You can easily track your progress with Hevy, creating your own routines and logging your workouts. For example, if you’re a complete beginner or have limited training experience, you can start with the 3-day program. It’s great because it allows you to accumulate enough training volume each week, but it’s not too much that you feel overwhelmed. All you have to do is go to the gym three times, train for 40-55 minutes, and call it a week.

If you want to start even slower only working out twice a week, then perhaps read into the 5×5 workout or the Upper / Lower split. Since they both only have two routines in the plan, it’s easier to schedule them in a week in order to workout your whole body in any given week.

As you become an intermediate and notice that you’re not progressing well with three weekly workouts, you can bump your training frequency to four times per week or try a PHUL training program. That way, you can do more volume and kickstart the progress.

Eventually, as you become more advanced, you can even bump the frequency higher – to six days per week. This is a great way to do a lot of training every week and push for consistent and reliable progress.

Rest Days On the Push Pull Legs

A great benefit of the Push-Pull Legs split is that you can schedule it in several ways depending on your experience, preferences, and ability to train. 

For example, the 3-day split is fantastic because you can schedule it in numerous ways. Say that you want to skip the Monday rush to the gym. No problem. Here’s an example:

Monday – Off
Tuesday – Push
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Pull
Friday – Off
Saturday – Legs
Sunday – Off

Or what if you can’t make it to the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. No problem:

Monday – Push
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Off
Thursday – Off
Friday – Pull
Saturday – Legs
Sunday – Off

If you want, you can even train three consecutive days, and then take four days off. While this may not be the best way to go about it, you can make it work:

Monday – Pull
Tuesday – Push
Wednesday – Legs
Thursday – Off
Friday – Off
Saturday – Off
Sunday – Off

The 4-day split is also somewhat flexible as you have some room to switch around workouts if you have to.

The only exception here is the 6-day split, as it doesn’t offer much flexibility. Then again, advanced lifters will typically use this split, and they will be reasonably used to making it to the gym at least five times per week.

What Are The Pros And Cons of Push Pull Legs?

Let’s take a look at four of the most pronounced benefits of this split:

Pros

• Among the most notable benefits of the Push Pull Legs split is that it allows us to ‘bundle’ muscle groups that typically work together. For example, the biceps contribute to pulling movements, and training both muscle groups in the same workout is an efficient way to cause a stimulus.
• Because we bundle muscle groups that work well together, we effectively prevent overlap, and the risk of training muscle groups in a fatigued state is much lower. For example, if you train your chest, shoulders, and triceps on Monday, you will have several days to recover before you have to train them again, no matter what training frequency you follow.
• The Push Pull Legs split is fantastic for the average trainee because it offers great scheduling flexibility. For example, if you follow the 3-day split, you can arrange your weekly training in numerous ways depending on your schedule, life stressors, and availability to train. What if you can’t start your training week on Monday? No problem, you can begin Tuesday or even Wednesday.
• The Push Pull Legs split works for lifters of all levels, and you can use it to make great progress for many years. For example, as you first start training, you can follow the 3-day split. Then, as you advance, you can jump on a 4-day a week frequency and eventually work up to training six days per week. No matter what your goals and fitness level are, you can make it work.

Cons

Before moving on, however, here are some of the potential cons you should be aware of:

• Focusing on every muscle group can be quite challenging. For example, if you start your push workouts with chest training, your triceps and shoulders will have to come in as second and third. Because of that, it might be a good idea to alternate the movement you start your workouts with. If you begin one workout with a chest exercise, you may want to start the next one with a shoulder movement.
• The traditional Push Pull Legs split isn’t your best option for attacking weak points and bringing them up. For example, say that your arms are a weak point and grow slowly. The problem is, you always train your biceps and triceps in a fatigued state after back and chest. This prevents you from giving them your full attention and training them in a recovered state. One solution would be to include more work for lagging body parts strategically. In the case of arm training, you could add a separate arm day in addition to your push and pull training.
• It’s challenging to establish a consistent training schedule with the Push Pull Legs split if you want to train four or five times per week. For example, training three and six days per week allows you to have a consistent schedule. Having a workout tracker with a built-in calendar like Hevy will definitely help. But, if you want to train four or five days per week (as many intermediates do), your plan will change from week to week.

Comparison With Other Training Plans

Let’s see how the Push Pull Legs split stacks up against other popular options:

Push Pull Legs vs. 3-Day Split

The 3-day full body split is one that allows you to train your entire body three days per week. It’s great for beginners because it allows them to improve their skills of lifting weights more quickly. For example, a beginner would become proficient with the squat a lot quicker if they train it three times per week instead of once.

The 3-day Push Pull Legs split is also great, but it may fall short for complete beginners precisely because learning the different exercises takes much longer. For this reason, complete beginners would be better off with a 3-day full-body split. Once they gain some training experience and improve their skills of lifting weights, they can transition to a 3-day Push Pull Legs program.

After a while, lifters can increase the frequency to four or six days.

Overall, the 3-day full-body program is better suited for complete beginners, but lifters should then transition to something like a Push-Pull Legs split to keep making great progress.

Push Pull Legs vs. Upper Lower Split

The Push-Pull Legs and upper-lower splits are perhaps the two most popular ways of organizing our weekly training. For the longest time, we’ve had a debate going on: Which of the two is better?

It’s difficult to say because both splits offer their unique benefits and drawbacks, and both are more similar than most people imagine. In truth, the upper-lower split is almost the same as the Push-Pull Legs. The primary difference is that you combine your push and pull workouts into a single upper day.

As far as their benefits go, the Push-Pull Legs split is simple to program but scheduling it can be challenging, especially if you want to train four days per week. You won’t have a consistent schedule from week to week, which can be disheartening for some people. 

On the other hand, the 4-day upper-lower split is fantastic for intermediate-level lifters and allows them to make significant progress for years. However, the upper-lower split is a bit more challenging to program because you have more muscle groups to worry about on your upper days. Knowing how to sequence the exercises and avoid doing too much work can be difficult. 

You won’t go wrong with either of the two splits, and it’s worth trying them out to see which one you prefer. With consistency, good nutrition, and plenty of sleep, both of these splits would be fantastic for you. A huge part of staying consistent is tracking your workouts, for which you can use Hevy for free.

Push Pull Legs vs. Bro Split

The 3-day versions of the Push-Pull Legs and bro splits are more similar than most people imagine. In truth, a 3-day Push Pull Legs program is a slightly modified bro split. Here is how it looks:

Day 1 – chest, shoulders, and triceps (push)
Day 2 – back and biceps (pull)
Day 3 – legs

As a whole, this is a fun way to train and works well because you focus on a handful of muscles, train them hard, and then give them lots of time to recover. At a higher frequency, the bro split becomes even more engaging because you have to train one or two muscle groups per workout, which allows you to do lots of exercises.

The primary downside of the bro split is the low training frequency. According to research, training our muscles twice per week should result in greater hypertrophy (13). This is where a high-frequency Push-Pull Legs split might deliver better results. For example, a 6-day version:

Day 1 – Push
Day 2 – Pull
Day 3 – Legs
Day 4 – Push
Day 5 – Pull
Day 6 – Legs
Day 7 – Rest

While more demanding, this split allows you to accumulate a lot of training volume and train each muscle group twice per week. What’s more, it enables you to do most exercises more frequently, which could benefit strength gains.

Conclusion

The Push-Pull Legs split is one of the best ways to organize your weekly training. The split is quite similar to the upper-lower program and works great for two primary reasons:

• It offers fantastic scheduling flexibility. No matter how often you can make it to the gym, you can make the Push Pull Legs split work for you.
• It works great for lifters of all levels. As we discussed above, the 3-day full body split tends to work better for complete beginners. But after that point, you can use it for many years and make fantastic gains.

Of course, like many other training approaches, the Push-Pull Legs split also carries some drawbacks. The most apparent one is the fact that establishing a consistent training schedule can be a bit difficult. Still, with a bit of thought and smart programming, you can make it work incredibly well for yourself.

If you’re an advanced lifter and are looking for a great split, the 6-day Push Pull Legs version is one of your best choices. It offers a consistent weekly schedule, you have more than enough opportunities to accumulate enough weekly training volume, and you get to train each muscle group twice per week.

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In case you’re wondering between the Push-Pull Legs and upper-lower split, it mostly comes down to personal preference and your schedule. If you want to train four days per week and follow the same plan from week to week, the upper-lower split might be a great alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most frequently asked questions about the Push-Pull Legs routine: