Push Pull Legs — The Complete Guide
Push Pull Legs (PPL) is a training split that organizes your week into three workout types — pushing muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps), pulling muscles (back, biceps, rear delts) and legs — based on shared movement patterns. It is best for intermediate and advanced lifters training four to six days per week, and its core advantage is that it lets you train each muscle group twice weekly with plenty of volume while still giving each muscle full recovery between sessions.
What is Push Pull Legs?
PPL divides your training into three workout types grouped by how the muscles actually function together:
- Push — chest, shoulders and triceps. These muscles all contract to push weight away from your body (bench press, overhead press, lateral raises, triceps extensions).
- Pull — back, biceps and rear delts. These muscles all contract to pull weight toward your body (rows, pull-ups, lat pulldowns, curls, face pulls).
- Legs — quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. The entire lower body trained together (squats, deadlifts, leg press, leg curls, calf raises).
The beauty of this system is that it maps onto how your body is built. Almost every upper-body exercise is either a push or a pull, so the split keeps related muscles in the same session and lets the others rest. That is what makes PPL one of the most logical and repeatable ways to structure a training week.
Why PPL works
The PPL split groups muscles that already work together, which means less overlap between sessions and more genuine recovery time. When you bench press, your triceps and front delts are heavily involved as assistance muscles — so training chest, shoulders and triceps in the same workout makes biomechanical sense. Your pull muscles then recover while you push, and your push muscles recover while you pull.
The deeper reason PPL is so effective comes down to two research-backed principles: weekly volume and training frequency. A 2017 meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and Krieger found a clear dose-response relationship between the number of hard sets you perform per muscle per week and hypertrophy, with roughly 10 to 20 working sets per muscle per week being the productive range for most lifters. Separately, Schoenfeld's 2016 frequency meta-analysis showed that training a muscle at least twice per week produces more growth than hitting it just once, when volume is equated.
PPL is built to satisfy both. Run six days a week and every muscle is trained twice — the optimal frequency — with room for 10 to 20 sets spread across two sessions instead of being crammed into one punishing workout. That spread matters: research suggests there is a practical ceiling of around 8 to 12 hard sets per muscle in a single session before extra sets stop adding much. Splitting your volume across two days keeps every set productive.
How to schedule PPL by frequency
The number of days you can realistically train each week is the single biggest factor in how you should set up PPL. Here are concrete weekly schemes for the four most common frequencies.
6 days per week (Push / Pull / Legs / Push / Pull / Legs / Rest)
This is the classic and the gold standard for intermediate to advanced lifters. Each muscle is trained twice per week, which hits the optimal frequency and gives you plenty of room for high weekly volume.
| Day | Workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push A |
| Tuesday | Pull A |
| Wednesday | Legs A |
| Thursday | Push B |
| Friday | Pull B |
| Saturday | Legs B |
| Sunday | Rest |
Use the A and B sessions to vary your main lifts — for example, a flat barbell bench focus on Push A and an incline or overhead-press focus on Push B. This keeps each muscle stimulated through different angles and rep ranges.
5 days per week (rolling Push / Pull / Legs)
If six days is too much, a five-day rotation is an excellent compromise. You simply cycle Push, Pull, Legs continuously and take rest days whenever they fall, ignoring the calendar week. Over any 14-day block each muscle is trained roughly two to three times, landing close to the optimal frequency while building in extra recovery.
| Day | Workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push |
| Tuesday | Pull |
| Wednesday | Legs |
| Thursday | Rest |
| Friday | Push |
| Saturday | Pull |
| Sunday | Rest, then resume with Legs Monday |
4 days per week (rolling, or PPL + one extra)
Four days is the lowest frequency at which PPL still works reasonably well, but it requires a rolling rotation rather than a fixed weekly template. You run Push, Pull, Legs, Push — then continue the rotation into the following week (Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, and so on). Across two weeks each muscle is trained between two and three times, which keeps frequency acceptable.
| Day | Week 1 | Week 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Push | Pull |
| Tue | Pull | Legs |
| Wed | Rest | Rest |
| Thu | Legs | Push |
| Fri | Push | Pull |
| Sat/Sun | Rest | Rest |
Honestly, at exactly four days many lifters are better served by an Upper/Lower split, which guarantees every muscle is hit twice per week on a clean weekly schedule. PPL really shines once you reach five or six days.
3 days per week (Push / Pull / Legs / Rest …)
On three days a week each muscle is trained directly only once per week. That is below the twice-weekly frequency the research favors, so a three-day PPL is a suboptimal choice for maximizing growth. For lifters limited to three sessions — especially beginners — a full-body program three times a week is more efficient, because it trains each muscle three times instead of once. Use three-day PPL only if you specifically prefer the body-part feel and accept the trade-off.
| Day | Workout |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push |
| Wednesday | Pull |
| Friday | Legs |
| Tue / Thu / Weekend | Rest |
Exercise selection per day
Each session should open with one or two heavy compound lifts in lower rep ranges, then move to accessories and isolation work in higher rep ranges. The sets and reps below are a proven default. RIR means "reps in reserve" — how many more reps you could have done at the end of a set. Keep most working sets at 1 to 3 RIR (roughly RPE 7 to 9), which research by Helms, Refalo and colleagues (2024) identifies as the sweet spot for stimulating growth without burying yourself in fatigue. Rest 2 to 3 minutes on heavy compounds and 60 to 90 seconds on isolation work (Schoenfeld, 2016).
Push Day
- Bench Press (flat or incline) — 4 × 6–8, 2–3 RIR
- Overhead Press — 3 × 8–10, 2 RIR
- Incline Dumbbell Press — 3 × 10–12, 1–2 RIR
- Lateral Raises — 3 × 12–15, 0–1 RIR
- Triceps Pushdowns — 3 × 10–12, 1 RIR
- Overhead Triceps Extension — 2 × 12–15, 0–1 RIR
Pull Day
- Barbell Row or Weighted Pull-ups — 4 × 6–8, 2–3 RIR
- Lat Pulldown — 3 × 8–10, 2 RIR
- Seated Cable Row — 3 × 10–12, 1–2 RIR
- Face Pulls — 3 × 15–20, 0–1 RIR
- Barbell or EZ-Bar Curls — 3 × 10–12, 1 RIR
- Hammer Curls — 2 × 12–15, 0–1 RIR
Leg Day
- Back Squat — 4 × 6–8, 2–3 RIR
- Romanian Deadlift — 3 × 8–10, 2 RIR
- Leg Press — 3 × 10–12, 1–2 RIR
- Leg Curl — 3 × 10–12, 1 RIR
- Leg Extension — 2 × 12–15, 0–1 RIR
- Standing Calf Raises — 4 × 12–15, 0–1 RIR
Volume guidelines
Volume — your total number of hard working sets per muscle per week — is the primary driver of muscle growth, with the productive range sitting at roughly 10 to 20 sets per muscle per week (Schoenfeld & Krieger, 2017). Start at the lower end, then add sets over the coming weeks only as your recovery allows. The table below is a sensible starting point for a six-day PPL where the volume is split across two sessions.
| Muscle Group | Sets / Week | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chest | 10–16 | Split across 2 push days |
| Back | 10–18 | Split across 2 pull days |
| Shoulders (side/rear) | 8–14 | Front delts also get work from pressing |
| Quads | 8–14 | Squat + leg press covers most of it |
| Hamstrings | 6–12 | RDL + leg curls |
| Biceps | 6–12 | Also worked by rows and pull-ups |
| Triceps | 6–12 | Also worked by all pressing |
| Calves | 6–12 | Easy to under-train — be deliberate |
Not sure if you are hitting enough volume? reppd shows you weekly sets per muscle group automatically, so you can see exactly where you stand and where you are leaving gains on the table. Read our full breakdown of how many sets per muscle group you should do for the deeper science.
Common mistakes on PPL
- Running 3-day PPL as a beginner. One direct session per muscle per week is below the optimal frequency. New lifters grow faster on full-body training three times a week.
- Going to failure on everything. Most sets should sit at 1 to 3 RIR. Constant failure wrecks recovery and tanks the quality of your next session without adding much extra stimulus.
- Neglecting the second session. On a 6-day plan, Push B / Pull B / Legs B are not "optional bonus days." They are half of your weekly volume and frequency.
- Skipping legs. The most-skipped day is also where the biggest muscles live. Treat leg day as non-negotiable.
- Never progressing the load. The split is just structure. Without progressive overload, the same workout repeated forever produces no further growth.
- Cutting rest short. Rushing compounds to 60-second rest sacrifices the load you can handle. Give big lifts the full 2 to 3 minutes.
Progressive overload on PPL
The split is just the container — progressive overload is what actually drives results. Each session, aim to do slightly more than last time: add a little weight, squeeze out an extra rep at the same load, or add a set once a movement feels comfortable. The "double progression" method works well here — add reps within your target range first, then add weight and reset the reps once you hit the top of the range.
Tracking this by memory is where most people stall. Read our complete guide to progressive overload for the full method, and use the 1RM calculator to set accurate starting loads for your main lifts. With reppd you get automatic progression suggestions for every exercise, so you always know the exact next target weight and reps before you walk up to the bar.
Who should use PPL?
Great for: Intermediate to advanced lifters training five or six days per week who want high volume, twice-weekly frequency, and a structure that is easy to follow yet flexible in exercise choice.
Not ideal for: Complete beginners and anyone limited to two or three sessions per week — a full-body program is more efficient at low frequencies because it trains each muscle more often. At exactly four days, Upper/Lower is usually the cleaner fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PPL good for beginners?
Not the best choice. A classic beginner schedule is three training days, and at three days PPL trains each muscle only once a week — below the twice-weekly frequency that maximizes growth. Beginners gain more from full-body training three times a week, then graduate to PPL once they can commit to five or six sessions.
How many days per week should I do PPL?
Six days is the gold standard because it trains every muscle twice a week with room for full volume. Five days is an excellent compromise on a rolling rotation. Below five days, other splits usually serve you better.
Can I do PPL on 4 days?
Yes, but you have to run it as a rolling rotation (Push, Pull, Legs, Push, then continue into the next week) rather than a fixed weekly template, so frequency stays around two to three times per muscle over a fortnight. Many lifters at exactly four days are better served by an Upper/Lower split, which guarantees twice-weekly frequency on a clean schedule.
PPL vs Upper/Lower — which is better?
It depends on your training days. Upper/Lower is the stronger choice at four days because it cleanly hits each muscle twice a week. PPL pulls ahead at five and especially six days, where it lets you spread high volume across more sessions without overloading any single workout. Neither is universally "better" — match the split to your available frequency.
How much volume should each muscle get on PPL?
Aim for roughly 10 to 20 hard working sets per muscle per week (Schoenfeld & Krieger, 2017), starting at the lower end and adding sets only as recovery allows. Keep most sets at 1 to 3 RIR and avoid exceeding about 8 to 12 hard sets for one muscle in a single session.
How long should PPL workouts take?
Most well-designed PPL sessions of five to six exercises take 60 to 75 minutes, including 2 to 3 minutes of rest on compounds and 60 to 90 seconds on isolation work. If you are routinely over 90 minutes, you likely have too many sets per session and should redistribute volume.
Ready to start a PPL program? reppd comes with pre-built PPL plans, AI plan import to digitize any routine in seconds, exercise variants for whatever equipment you have, and automatic volume tracking per muscle group so you always know you are training in the productive range. Download reppd and start training smart.