Push/Pull/Legs Split – Everything You Need to Know

As far as organizing our training goes, we don’t have that many options.

Sure, there are many splits out there, but the effective ones are just a handful. Today, we’ll be talking about one of them – the push/pull/legs split.

Below, we’ll go over absolutely everything you’ve ever wanted to know about it – from its overall design to the smallest of details.

What Is The Push/Pull/Legs Split?

The push/pull/legs routine is a way of organizing your training by splitting up your workouts into three distinct groups – upper body push work, upper body pull work, and leg training. Each of these groups has its workout within each week. Like so:

Push Workout

In a typical push workout, you train the muscles involved in pushing movements—namely, your chest, shoulders, and triceps.

Pull Workout

In a pull workout, you train the muscles that, you guessed it, work in pulling motions—namely, the back, biceps, and rear deltoids.

Leg Workout

In a leg workout, you train your entire lower body—namely, your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.

Now, you might be thinking:

“But my biceps aren’t pulling muscles; they work on elbow flexion. Likewise, my triceps extend my elbows. What gives?”

The PPL program pairs these muscles with larger ones because they contribute to these compound movements. While the bicep primarily bends the elbow (for example, on a bicep curl), it also helps the back muscles pull weights on exercises like rows. The tricep is also similar in that regard as it assists our chest and shoulders for pressing movements.

What Benefits Does A Push/Pull/Legs Split Offer?

The most apparent benefit of the push/pull/legs split is that it allows us to pair up muscles that like to work together. For example, our chest, shoulders, and triceps work together on pushing exercises, so it makes sense to train them in the same workout. This helps prevent overlap and gives our muscles ample time to recover before they have to work again.

Another benefit of the push/pull/legs routine is that you have great scheduling flexibility. With a bit of tweaking, you can make the PPL program work for you (or for a client) no matter what your fitness level is. You can train as little as three days per week or as many as six. For example, if you can train every day, but you don’t have much longer than 30 minutes, you can split your training volume across six training days:

While it may seem too much, each workout can be shorter, allowing you to be in and out of the gym in half the time.

Next up, we have the frequency. According to research, training our muscles more than once per week should be more beneficial for muscle growth. The push/pull/legs split allows us to achieve that thanks to the scheduling options, which we’ll look at next.

And finally, designing such a split tends to be easier for most people, as your primary concern - unintentionally training a muscle too often - is mostly taken care of.

Push/Pull/Legs - Examples of Different Routines

One of the greatest benefits of the push/pull/legs split is that it offers fantastic scheduling flexibility. No matter what frequency you prefer, you can almost always make it happen.

Example #1 - Training Three Days Per Week

This is your classic PPL program, and it is where most people get started. Here’s an example:

The great thing about this split is that it can work great for beginners or those coming back to the gym after a long break. Plus, because you only train three times per week, you can schedule your workouts in numerous ways.

The bad thing about it is, you only get to train your muscles once per week, which might not be enough to optimize hypertrophy. Plus, at some point, you will have to start cramming a lot of training volume into each workout, and that will inevitably make them quite long and draining.

This might be an okay training strategy for beginners, people who haven’t trained in a while, and those who simply want to maintain their results.

Example #2 - Alternating Between Four and Five Weekly Workouts

This is where training volume and frequency ramp up a bit. Here’s an example:

Week 1

Week 2

As you can see, this split spans across two weeks, and you get to train each muscle group once or twice per week, or an average of 1.5 times per week. Instead of training your muscles once every seven days, you train them once every five. 

The great thing about this split is that you can dip your toe in a higher training frequency without committing fully. And while it may not seem like much, it adds up. For example, instead of training each muscle group 24 times in the next 24 weeks, you get to train them 36 times.

With that said, this split offers some drawbacks. One such is the fact that you won’t have a consistent training schedule from week to week. This can make it tough for you to make plans. You will also have to train on the weekend, which might not be ideal for you.

Example #3 - Training Five Days Per Week

Unlike the previous example, here we train with a consistent schedule and have five weekly workouts. Here is one example of how you can do it:

This is an interesting way to split the volume of six workouts into five training days. The bad news is, your last two workouts will have to be a bit longer and more demanding.

You also get to train every muscle group twice per week, which might be better for muscle growth than once. Plus, unlike the previous version, this offers a consistent training schedule.

I recommend having your pull workout before the push to help minimize the interference between your back and leg training, seeing as there’s no day off for recovery. Another thing to consider here is the recovery aspect. You have three consecutive workouts, which can feel a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re not used to it.

Example #4 - Training Six Days Per Week

We’re in the advanced territory now. This is a high volume split, and you should only go for it if you’re advanced, and your schedule allows for it. It’s also a good idea to start with six relatively short workouts to gauge your recovery and slowly add volume over time. Here it is:

As far as frequency and volume are concerned, this split is fantastic. It would be incredibly difficult for you to undertrain with it.  But, as I stated above, you should only try it if you’re advanced and even then, start with less volume per workout, see how you recover, and then add sets here and there.

I don’t recommend it because the little benefit you can potentially get from the frequency likely won’t be worth the downside of having to train every day. It might not seem like much, but it will beat you up - both physically, as well as psychologically.

Example Push/Pull/Legs Training Week

Let’s look at the most basic push/pull/legs split we can set up. For our example, we’ll use the 3-day routine:

How to Set Up An Effective Push/Pull/Legs Program

Now that we have a basic understanding of the PPL program, you’re probably wondering, “But Phil, how do I set up one of these for myself?”

Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Determine your weekly training frequency and schedule.
2. Determine your weekly training volume for each muscle group.
3. Pick exercises and design your push, pull, and legs workouts.

Let’s take a more in-depth look at each of the steps:

1. Determine Your Training Frequency and Schedule

This is the most apparent step because it makes up the skeleton of our training routine. 

First, what does your schedule allow? Can you train five days per week or only three? This is something you need to ask yourself, and you need to be honest here - there is no point in setting up an unsustainable plan.

I recommend starting with the three-day split to gain momentum. After a while, you can move to the split where you alternate between four and five days.

2. Determine Your Starting Volume For Each Muscle Group

General guidelines suggest that we should do anywhere from ten to twenty weekly sets for each muscle group. But, other factors play a role:

Plus, it’s also better to start conservatively and only add more volume when progression stalls. So, if you can make fantastic progress on ten sets per week, what’s the point in doing 16?

As a rule of thumb, you should start with the following:

It’s also a good idea to do at least three to five weekly sets for your hamstrings. You can also include several sets of direct work for your abs, glutes (and lower back), traps, and forearms.

3. Pick Exercises And Design Your Push, Pull, and Legs Workouts

This is by far the most challenging step because you have to combine everything into a sustainable and productive training plan. Besides the schedule and volume, you will also have to consider exercise selection and order, repetition ranges, and starting weights.

But, if we take it one step at a time, it’s not as overwhelming or confusing. So, here goes:

a) The schedule.

Let’s begin with the traditional 3-day PPL split:

b) The Push workout.

The objectives:

Optional: include some work for your abs and forearms.

Example:

Optional: 3-4 sets of direct ab work and 3-4 sets of direct forearm work

c) The Pull workout.

The objectives:

Optional: include some trap and lower back work.

Example:

d) The Legs workout.

The objectives:

Optional: include some direct work for your glutes and lower back.

Example:

Below, we’ll go into much more depth surrounding the fundamental principles involved in building a solid training program for yourself or clients. Let’s see.

An Overview of 4 Key Training Principles And Factors

Now that we’ve gone over how to design a good push/pull/legs split, it’s time to take a look at other training-related details and how each fits into the bigger picture.

1. What Repetition Ranges Should You Train With

In general, we should use various repetition ranges - anywhere from 5 to 20 reps per set. This is important because it allows us to impose different physical stress types on our muscles and cause mechanical tension and metabolic stress.

When designing your training, it’s a good idea to prescribe the heavier sets onto the compound exercises such as squats and bench press. That way, you can use heavier weights more safely and impose mechanical tension on your muscles. Then, as your workout progresses, you can start introducing lighter weights with higher repetition ranges on accessory and isolation exercises.

For example:

2. How to Pick Your Starting Weights

If you’ve been training consistently for months or years, you probably have a reasonably good idea of what weights you can lift for a given number of reps. But, in case you’re a bit puzzled, here’s a simple framework that works:

a) Determine repetition ranges for various exercises. Don’t think too hard about this one, but make general outlines for the individual exercises. As a rule of thumb, you should do your compound movements in the 5-8 range, your accessory exercises in the 8 to 12 range, and your isolation movements in the 12-20 range.

b) Pick weights that you feel you can lift within these repetition ranges while still leaving at least one or two repetitions in the tank. It’s better to start conservatively here.

c) Based on your performance, make the necessary adjustments for the following week:

For example, say that you want to do high-bar back squats in the 6 to 10 range for four sets. You’ve picked 225 pounds as your starting weight, and your sets go as follows:

Set 1: 6 reps - near failure
Set 2: 5 reps - near failure
Set 3: 5 reps - near failure
Set 4: 4 rep - near failure

In that case, it would be better to drop the weight to 215 for the next workout and see how it goes.

3. How Long to Rest Between Sets

As a rule of thumb, you should rest for as long as you need to so you can maintain your performance and technique from set to set. Say, for example, that you get eight reps on the first set on the bench press. Ideally, you should rest for as long as you need to, so you can get seven to eight reps across all sets.

Consider this example:

Flat barbell bench press - 4 sets w/ 225 pounds
Set 1: 8 reps
Set 2: 6 reps
Set 3: 4 reps
Set 4: 3 reps

This is not ideal because you’re entering each set too fatigued, and you’re unable to do enough repetitions. You’re taking each set to failure, or you’re resting too little.

A better scenario would be this:

Flat barbell bench press - 4 sets w/ 225 pounds
Set 1: 6 reps
Set 2: 6 reps
Set 3: 6 reps
Set 4: 6 reps

In this case, you’re doing more total reps, and you’re not taking sets to failure. Systemic fatigue is lower, your technique remains solid, and post-workout recovery isn’t unnecessarily slowed down.

As a rule of thumb, you should rest for:

4. How Much Effort to Put Into Each Set

As we saw in the previous point, training too close to failure is not ideal because it hinders your ability to do productive work. Even if you manage to get more repetitions on the first set, your performance will drop exponentially on subsequent sets.

As a rule of thumb, you should do most of your sets in the 7 to 9 RPE (1 to 3 RIR). Meaning, you should always leave somewhere between one and three reps in the tank. You can push harder on isolation exercises, prescribed AMRAP sets, and at the end of your workouts, during the last few sets.

Who Is The Push/Pull/Legs Split Best Suited For?

The push/pull/legs split can work for everyone, no matter what your experience is. 

I don’t typically recommend it for beginners as I feel a more hybrid approach or full-body training to be better. For example, a beginner will likely benefit from a full-body program much more because it helps with skill acquisition, it allows them to train all of their muscles at least twice per week, and it’s easy to set up.

But, once you’re past that stage and into the intermediate territory, you can go on a push/pull/legs program and make fantastic progress for many years. For example, you can begin with the 4.5-day split and eventually work up to training six days per week as you become highly advanced.

Conclusion

We can organize our weekly training volume in numerous ways, and there certainly is no shortage of splits.

The push/pull/legs split offers many advantages to trainees, it’s easy to set up, and it offers a fair bit of scheduling flexibility.

So, if you’ve been wondering how to organize your training, give the PPL program a try. I’ve put together a handy PDF to help you get started: