Workouts
The Push Pull Legs Routine, 6 Days or 3
Six sessions a week, each muscle trained twice, no session much past 70 minutes. Below is the whole program, a 3-day version for weeks that cannot hold six, and a straight list of who should not run it. It sits near the end of our workout splits and programs pillar on purpose: push/pull/legs is where most lifters arrive after full body and upper/lower, not where they start.
| Day | Session | Exercises, sets × reps |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Push A | Barbell bench press 4 × 5–8 · Seated dumbbell shoulder press 3 × 8–12 · Incline dumbbell press 3 × 8–12 · Cable lateral raise 3 × 12–15 · Rope pushdown 3 × 10–15 · Overhead cable triceps extension 2 × 10–15 |
| Tue | Pull A | Barbell row 4 × 6–8 · Lat pulldown 3 × 8–12 · Seated cable row 3 × 10–12 · Face pull 3 × 12–15 · EZ-bar curl 3 × 8–12 · Hammer curl 2 × 10–12 |
| Wed | Legs A | Back squat 4 × 5–8 · Romanian deadlift 3 × 8–10 · Leg press 3 × 10–12 · Lying leg curl 3 × 10–12 · Standing calf raise 4 × 8–12 |
| Thu | Push B | Standing overhead press 4 × 5–8 · Incline barbell press 3 × 8–10 · Machine chest press 3 × 10–12 · Dumbbell lateral raise 4 × 12–20 · EZ-bar skull crusher 3 × 8–12 |
| Fri | Pull B | Pull-up 4 × 5–8 · Chest-supported dumbbell row 3 × 8–12 · Straight-arm cable pulldown 3 × 12–15 · Rear delt fly 3 × 12–20 · Incline dumbbell curl 3 × 10–12 |
| Sat | Legs B | Deadlift 3 × 4–6 · Hack squat 3 × 8–10 · Bulgarian split squat 3 × 8–10 each leg · Seated leg curl 3 × 10–15 · Seated calf raise 4 × 12–15 |
| Sun | Rest | Walk if you like. No lifting. |
How the week is built
The order is push, pull, legs, twice, then one rest day. Each muscle gets two sessions a week with at least 72 hours between them: chest is trained Monday and Thursday, back Tuesday and Friday, legs Wednesday and Saturday. If Sunday does not suit you as the rest day, put it anywhere, as long as the six sessions stay in sequence.
The A and B days are not copies. A days put the heavy horizontal work first (bench press, barbell row) and the squat. B days put the vertical work first (overhead press, pull-up) and the deadlift. Over a week, every main movement pattern gets one session as the first, fresh, heaviest lift.
Two placement choices are deliberate. The deadlift lives on Legs B, not on a pull day, because a pull day always comes right before a leg day: deadlift Friday and squat Saturday, and your lower back gets no break. And Pull B uses a chest-supported row instead of a barbell row because it falls the day before deadlifts. The heaviest lower-back day, Legs B, sits between a chest-supported row and the rest day. Pull A's barbell row does load the lower back the day before squats and Romanian deadlifts, which is why Legs A keeps the hinge at moderate weight and 8–10 reps. If your lower back feels tired going into Legs A, swap the barbell row for the chest-supported row too.
Each session is 16 to 18 hard sets. With the rest periods above, that is about 55 to 70 minutes including a warm-up. Warm up with 5 minutes of easy cardio, then ramp into the first lift: empty bar for 10 reps, about 50% of your working weight for 5, 70% for 3, 85% for 1 or 2. Later exercises need one lighter set at most.
Why these exercises, and what to swap
Every session opens with a compound lift in a lower rep range (4–8), moves to a second compound at 8–12, and ends with isolation work at 10–20 reps. Heavy, low-rep work goes first while you are fresh; small muscles that recover fast take the high-rep sets at the end. Lateral raises are there because pressing does little for the side of the shoulder, and rear delt flies because rows train the rear delts only partly.
The exercises are a default, not a requirement. Swap freely within the same movement, keep the sets and reps, and keep the swap for at least a full progression cycle so the numbers stay comparable.
| Written exercise | If the equipment is busy | If it bothers a joint |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | Dumbbell bench press | Machine chest press, or a neutral-grip dumbbell press |
| Standing overhead press | Seated dumbbell press | Landmine press |
| Barbell row | One-arm dumbbell row | Chest-supported row (takes the lower back out) |
| Pull-up | Lat pulldown | Neutral-grip pulldown |
| Back squat | Hack squat or leg press | Goblet squat or box squat to a set depth |
| Romanian deadlift | Dumbbell Romanian deadlift | 45° back extension, hips as the hinge |
| Deadlift | Trap bar deadlift | Trap bar from blocks, or a second Romanian deadlift |
| Skull crusher | Dumbbell overhead extension | Overhead cable extension, reps 12–15 |
| Face pull | Band pull-apart | Reverse pec deck |
If you cannot do 5 strict pull-ups yet, start Pull B with lat pulldowns at 4 × 6–10 and add 2 sets of the hardest pull-up variation you can manage (negatives or band-assisted) at the end of Pull A.
Weekly volume per muscle
Counting each hard set once for the muscle it mainly trains, the 6-day program lands here. Smaller muscles also get indirect work from the big lifts, which is why their direct numbers look low.
| Muscle | Direct hard sets a week | Indirect work on top |
|---|---|---|
| Chest | 13 | Shoulder presses |
| Back (lats and mid-back) | 20 | Deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts |
| Front shoulders | 7 | All 13 chest sets |
| Side shoulders | 7 | Overhead pressing |
| Rear shoulders | 6 | All rows |
| Triceps | 8 | All 20 pressing sets |
| Biceps | 8 | All rows and pulldowns |
| Quads | 13 | Deadlifts |
| Hamstrings | 12 | Squats and split squats, lightly |
| Glutes | 0 isolated | 19 sets of squats, leg presses, hinges and split squats |
| Calves | 8 | None worth counting |
Most muscles sit between 10 and 20 weekly sets once indirect work is counted, which is the range the volume research supports for people past the beginner stage. Back is at the top because it is a large group trained from two angles. How many sets per muscle you need explains how to count indirect sets and when to move a number up or down.
To bias the program, move sets rather than add them. Want more glute work: replace the leg press on Legs A with a hip thrust at 3 × 8–12. Want more arms: add one set to each arm exercise and drop the straight-arm pulldown. Adding sets everywhere is how a 65-minute session becomes 95.
How to progress: the first eight weeks
Every exercise uses double progression: stay at one weight and add reps until every set reaches the top of the range, then add weight and drop back to the bottom. How progressive overload works covers the method in full. Here is how it plays out on this program.
| Week | Sets | Effort | What you are doing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One fewer per exercise | 3 reps left | Learning six sessions, finding weights |
| 2 | One fewer per exercise | 2–3 reps left | Same weights, add 1–2 reps per set |
| 3 | As written | 1–2 reps left | Full volume starts |
| 4–7 | As written | 1–2 main, 0–2 isolation | Add reps each week, add weight when the range is full |
| 8 | Half | 3–4 reps left | Deload: same weights, half the sets |
A worked example, bench press on Push A at 4 × 5–8. Bench is trained once a week here, so each line is one session. Week 3: 60 kg (about 135 lb) for 6, 6, 5, 5. Week 4: 60 kg for 7, 6, 6, 6. Week 5: 60 kg for 8, 7, 7, 6. Week 6: 60 kg for 8, 8, 8, 7. Week 7: 60 kg for 8, 8, 8, 8. All four sets at the top of the range earn the jump. Week 8 is the deload, so you stay at 60 kg for two sets, and the first Push A of the next cycle goes to 62.5 kg (about 140 lb) and starts again around 6, 6, 6, 5.
Weight jumps: 2.5 kg on bench press, overhead press and rows (in a US gym, a 5 lb jump using 2.5 lb plates); 5 kg (10 lb) on squats and deadlifts while they still move that fast; the next dumbbell or the next pin on machines and cables.
Small muscles break the rule because the jumps are too big. Going from an 8 kg to a 10 kg dumbbell (about 17.5 to 22.5 lb) on lateral raises is a 25% increase, and you might drop from 15 reps to 9. If the next weight puts you below the range, use it on the first set only and keep the old weight on the rest, then move one more set over each week.
After week 8, start the next cycle from the weights you ended on, with full sets. Deload every 6 to 10 weeks, or sooner if the signs below show up. How to run a deload week has the details.
The 3-day push pull legs version
For weeks with three training days, run each session once: push Monday, pull Wednesday, legs Friday. Each muscle is trained once a week, so every weekly set for that muscle has to fit in one session. The sessions are longer and the progression is weekly.
| Session | Exercises, sets × reps |
|---|---|
| Push | Barbell bench press 4 × 5–8 · Standing overhead press 3 × 6–10 · Incline dumbbell press 4 × 8–12 · Dumbbell lateral raise 4 × 12–20 · Rope pushdown 3 × 10–15 · Overhead cable triceps extension 2 × 10–15 |
| Pull | Pull-up or lat pulldown 4 × 6–10 · Barbell row 4 × 6–10 · Seated cable row 3 × 10–12 · Face pull 3 × 12–15 · EZ-bar curl 3 × 8–12 · Hammer curl 2 × 10–12 |
| Legs | Back squat 4 × 5–8 · Romanian deadlift 3 × 6–10 · Leg press 3 × 10–12 · Bulgarian split squat 3 × 8–10 each leg · Lying leg curl 3 × 10–12 · Standing calf raise 4 × 10–15 |
That gives 8 direct sets for chest, 11 for back, 10 for quads and 6 for hamstrings, each packed into one session and at or below the low end of the useful range. Each session runs 19 to 20 sets, so expect 75 to 90 minutes. It works, and it is easy to schedule. But at three days, full body trains every muscle three times a week instead of once, and for most people it is the better use of the same hours. The three 3-day splits compared sets this version against full body and upper/lower/full, with weekly sets for each.
The 3-day version earns its place in two cases: as a fallback during a busy month on the 6-day program, so you keep the same exercises and numbers, or for someone who prefers fewer, longer sessions and accepts slower progress.
Who should not run six days
The 6-day program is good training and a hard schedule. Recovery has to fit in one rest day a week, and every missed session pushes the whole rotation. Pick something else if one of these describes you.
| If this is you | Run this instead |
|---|---|
| Lifting for less than about 6 months | Three full-body days. You learn the lifts faster practicing them three times a week. The 4-week beginner gym plan is that program. |
| Fewer than six days you can count on in a bad week | Four days of upper/lower. The 4-day upper/lower program trains every muscle twice with two rest days. |
| Regularly sleeping under 7 hours, or a physically hard job | Four days, same exercises. Recovery is the limit, not the plan. |
| Also training for a run, ride or sport 3+ times a week | Three or four lifting days, leg sessions away from your hardest cardio. |
| Sessions are only possible in 40-minute windows | Run the 6-day program but cut the last two exercises each day and rest 2 minutes on the first lift, or move to upper/lower. |
| Coming back from an injury or a long break | Four weeks of full body first, then decide. If a medical condition or recent surgery is involved, check with your doctor before ramping up training days. |
For the head-to-head on frequency, missed days and desk-job recovery, see upper/lower vs push/pull/legs.
When it goes wrong: fixes
- A main lift has not moved for three weeks. Check sleep and food first. If both are fine, drop that lift 10% and rebuild over three weeks with the same double progression, aiming to pass the old number around week four. If it stalls again at the same spot, swap to a close variation for one cycle.
- Most lifts are down for two weeks running, joints ache, you dread the gym. Deload now, not at week 8. Then restart with one set fewer per exercise for two weeks.
- Sessions keep running past 75 minutes. Time your rest. If it is already 90 seconds, pair the last two isolation moves as a superset (lateral raise with pushdown, rear delt fly with curl) and rest 60 seconds between rounds.
- Elbows hurt on skull crushers or curls. Swap to cables, keep reps at 12–15, and stop each set 2 reps short for three weeks.
- Front of the shoulder aches on pressing days. Move to dumbbells or a neutral grip, and shorten the range for a few weeks with a floor press in place of the bench press. If it persists past two weeks, get it looked at.
- You missed a day. Do the next session in the sequence. Do not stack two sessions into one day to catch up.
- Some weeks you only get five days. Keep rotating anyway: push, pull, legs, push, pull, and the following week opens with legs. Each muscle still lands close to twice a week.
Recovery: sleep and protein
Six sessions only pay off if you recover from them. Aim for 7 or more hours of sleep, and eat enough protein to support the work: about 1.6 grams per kilogram of bodyweight a day, which is where the Morton 2018 meta-analysis found the benefit for muscle leveled off. For an 80 kg (176 lb) lifter that is about 128 grams a day, or four meals of 30–35 grams. How much protein you need breaks it down by bodyweight and goal.
Calories matter as much. If you are eating well below maintenance, six days of hard training is harder to recover from; many lifters find four days fits a calorie deficit better. If you have kidney disease or another condition that limits protein, check with your doctor before raising your intake.
Questions people ask
Is push pull legs good for beginners?
It works, but it is not the best start. A beginner improves fastest by practicing the main lifts often, and full body three days a week does that. Most people do better switching to push/pull/legs after six to twelve months.
Is PPL better three or six days a week?
Six, if you can recover and keep the schedule, because each muscle gets two sessions instead of one. Three days is fine as a fallback or a preference, but it is the weaker version of the split.
Can I run push pull legs five days a week?
Yes, as a rotation: push, pull, legs, push, pull one week, then legs, push, pull, legs, push the next. Muscles get trained about 1.7 times a week on average. It is a solid middle ground if six days is too many.
Where do abs go?
At the end of any two sessions: 3 sets of hanging knee or leg raises at 10–15 reps, or cable crunches at 10–15. Leg days already work the trunk hard through squats and deadlifts.
Where do deadlifts go in push pull legs?
On a leg day, as here, so the heaviest lower-back lift of the week never follows a barbell row or precedes heavy squats. If you put them on a pull day, take squats out of the leg day that follows and lead with leg press instead.
Is there a push pull legs routine PDF?
Use the Print the card button at the bottom of this page and choose Save as PDF in the print dialog. It prints the answer card at the top: the full 6-day table with every set and rep, plus the rest and effort rules. Copy the 3-day table from this page by hand if you need it.
Can I do cardio on a 6-day PPL?
Walking any day is fine. For harder cardio, 2 sessions of 20–30 minutes fit, ideally after upper-body days or on the rest day, and not in the hours before a leg session.
How long should I run it before changing?
As long as the numbers move. Many lifters run the same push/pull/legs structure for a year or more, changing individual exercises every 8 to 16 weeks when one stalls or gets boring.
Where these numbers come from
- American College of Sports Medicine position stand, Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009): heavier, lower-rep work early in a session, rest of 2–3 minutes on core lifts, and more training days as lifters advance.
- Schoenfeld and colleagues, Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass (Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017): the basis for counting weekly hard sets per muscle and landing most of them at 10 or more.
- Schoenfeld and colleagues, Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy (Sports Medicine, 2016): training a muscle twice a week rather than once.
- Morton and colleagues, protein supplementation and resistance training meta-analysis (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018): the 1.6 g/kg a day figure.
- International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise: 1.4–2.0 g/kg a day for people who train, spread across meals.
Take the plan to the gym