Push pull legs routine: the complete PPL workout plan

What is a push pull legs split?

A push pull legs split groups exercises by the movement they share. Every pressing movement goes on one day, every pulling movement on another, and the lower body gets a day of its own. Muscles that work together are trained together, so the triceps that help on the bench press are finished off on the same day instead of being tired again tomorrow.

That grouping is the whole appeal. Each day has a clear job, the muscles you trained get at least 48 hours before they are hit again, and the routine scales from three days to six without changing a single exercise.

The push pull legs routine

Here is the full program. Switch between the three workouts with the tabs, flip between the 3 day and 6 day week, and hover or tap any exercise to watch it. The figure beside the list shows every muscle that session works.

Every workout follows the same order: one heavy compound lift while you are fresh, a second compound or a lighter variation, then isolation work for the smaller muscles. Do the exercises in the order listed. Moving the bench press to the end of push day would cost you more weight on it than any accessory gains back.

3 day vs 6 day push pull legs

The exercises do not change between versions. What changes is how often each workout comes around, and with it how many hard sets each muscle gets per week.

The research leans toward training each muscle at least twice a week. A meta-analysis of ten studies found higher frequencies produced larger gains in muscle size than once a week (effect size 0.49 vs 0.30), and its authors recommend training major muscles at least twice a week (Schoenfeld et al., 2016).

The twist came three years later. A larger review of 25 studies found that when total weekly volume is the same, frequency makes no meaningful difference to growth (Schoenfeld et al., 2019). So the 6 day version is not magic. It wins because it doubles your weekly sets, and more sets tend to mean more growth: each extra weekly set was linked to a small, steady increase in muscle gained (Schoenfeld et al., 2017).

Sets, reps and rest times

How heavy should each set be?

Pick a weight you can lift for the bottom of the rep range with clean form. Each set should end with one to three reps left in the tank. That is RPE 7 to 9, the effort scale explained in our guide to RPE. If you cannot judge it yet, film a set: when the bar or dumbbells slow down sharply, you are about two reps from failure.

Working sets come after warm-ups. Do two or three lighter ramp-up sets before the first exercise of each day, and use the warm-up calculator to get the exact weights. Warm-up sets do not count toward the numbers in the plan.

How long to rest between sets

Rest longer than feels necessary on the big lifts. In a study of trained men doing 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps, resting 3 minutes between sets produced more strength on the squat and bench press and more thigh growth than resting 1 minute (Schoenfeld et al., 2016). Short rest makes you lift less on the next set, and lifting less is the opposite of the point.

How to progress on push pull legs

A routine only works if the numbers go up. The simplest way to make that happen is double progression: keep the weight the same and add reps until you hit the top of the range on every set, then add weight and start again at the bottom.

Write every set down. Double progression needs last week's numbers in front of you, and memory is not reliable after six workouts. A training log app that shows your previous sets beside the current ones makes this automatic.

PPL for beginners, and without a full gym

Push pull legs works for beginners, but run the 3 day version and keep the first two exercises of each day the focus. If six exercises feel like too much, drop the last one from each workout for the first month. New lifters progress quickly on very little volume, so there is no reason to start with the maximum.

With only dumbbells and a bench, the structure stays the same and the exercises change. Every swap below trains the same muscles through the same movement.

Push pull legs vs other splits

PPL is one of four common ways to organize a week. None is best for everyone. The right one is the one that fits the days you can actually train.

Because weekly volume matters more than how it is divided, any of these works when the total sets are similar (Schoenfeld et al., 2019). PPL's advantage is that it handles both a 3 day and a 6 day week with the same three workouts, so a busy month does not mean starting a new program.

Common push pull legs mistakes

• Starting on 6 days. Six sessions with no lifting background is a fast route to sore joints and skipped workouts. Earn the sixth day.
• Skipping leg day. It is the hardest of the three and the easiest to miss. If a session has to go, move it, do not drop it.
• Adding more exercises. Twelve chest exercises on push day is not a better program. Add a set to what is there before adding a new movement.
• Training to failure on every set. Ending compound sets with a rep or two in reserve keeps form clean and lets you recover for the next session.
• Not tracking the weights. Without last week's numbers, double progression is guesswork.