Push Pull Legs Split: The Complete PPL Guide With Workouts
Push pull legs (PPL) splits your training into three days: push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back, biceps), and legs. Run it 3 days per week as a beginner or 6 days as an intermediate for 2x weekly frequency per muscle, which produces roughly 63% more growth than training each muscle once per week.
Maciej Glowacki
A push pull legs (PPL) split divides your week into three workout types. Push days train chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pull days train back and biceps. Leg days train quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Every pressing muscle works together, every pulling muscle works together, and legs get a full day to themselves.
Run PPL once through per week (3 days) as a beginner, or twice through (6 days) once you need more volume. At 6 days, each muscle gets trained twice per week. A 2016 meta-analysis by Schoenfeld et al. found that training each muscle twice per week produced roughly 63% more growth than once per week when sets were not equated.
Key takeaways:
- PPL groups muscles that work together: push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back, biceps), legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves).
- 3-day PPL suits beginners. 6-day PPL suits intermediates who need 10-20 sets per muscle per week.
- When weekly volume is equal, PPL grows muscle just as well as upper/lower or full body (2024 meta-analysis).
- The main risk of 3-day PPL: each muscle is trained only once per week. Add reps or weight every session to keep progressing.
- Track weekly sets per muscle so no muscle group silently falls behind.
What is a push pull legs split?
PPL is built on movement patterns, not body parts. Every exercise where you press a weight away from you lands on push day. Every exercise where you row or pull a weight toward you lands on pull day. Everything lower body lands on leg day.
This grouping has a practical benefit: overlapping muscles recover together. Your triceps work in every press, your biceps in every row. A bro split that puts chest on Monday and triceps on Thursday ends up training triceps hard twice a week without planning it. PPL keeps that overlap inside one session, so recovery days are truly recovery days.
| Day | Muscles | Core lifts |
|---|---|---|
| Push | Chest, shoulders, triceps | Bench press, overhead press, incline press, lateral raises, triceps extensions |
| Pull | Back, rear delts, biceps | Rows, pull-ups or pulldowns, face pulls, curls |
| Legs | Quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves | Squats, Romanian deadlifts, leg press, leg curls, calf raises |
How many days per week should you run PPL?
3 days per week works when you are newer to training or time-limited. Each muscle gets hit once per week, hard. This is enough to grow for your first 6-12 months, but the single weekly session per muscle means you must progress weight or reps every session.
6 days per week is the classic PPL: push, pull, legs, repeat, one rest day. Each muscle gets trained twice per week, and you can comfortably fit 10-20 weekly sets per muscle, the range research supports for hypertrophy (Schoenfeld et al., 2017).
5 days per week also works: run push, pull, legs on a rolling basis and let the schedule float across the week. The downside is your training days shift week to week, which some schedules cannot absorb.
A 2025 meta-regression by Pelland et al. covering 67 studies confirmed that total weekly volume, not the split itself, is the strongest predictor of growth. Pick the version whose schedule you can actually keep.
The 3-day PPL workout
One cycle per week, roughly 60 minutes per session, 15-20 working sets per day.
Push day
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 x 6-10 |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 x 8-12 |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 x 8-12 |
| Lateral raises | 3 x 12-15 |
| Triceps rope pushdown | 3 x 10-15 |
Pull day
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|---|
| Bent-over row | 4 x 6-10 |
| Lat pulldown or pull-ups | 3 x 8-12 |
| Seated cable row | 3 x 8-12 |
| Face pulls | 3 x 12-15 |
| Dumbbell curls | 3 x 10-15 |
Leg day
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|---|
| Barbell squats | 4 x 6-10 |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 x 8-12 |
| Leg press | 3 x 10-12 |
| Leg curls | 3 x 10-15 |
| Standing calf raises | 4 x 10-15 |
Take every working set within 1-3 reps of failure. Rest 2-3 minutes on compound lifts, 60-90 seconds on isolation work (rest period guide).
The 6-day PPL schedule
Run the same three days twice: push, pull, legs, push, pull, legs, rest. Vary the second cycle slightly. A common approach is to make the first cycle heavy (6-10 reps) and the second volume-focused (10-15 reps).
| Day | Session |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push (heavy) |
| Tuesday | Pull (heavy) |
| Wednesday | Legs (heavy) |
| Thursday | Push (volume) |
| Friday | Pull (volume) |
| Saturday | Legs (volume) |
| Sunday | Rest |
Weekly volume lands around 12-20 sets per major muscle group, inside the research-supported range. If six days is one day too many, drop the second leg day and run 5 days.
PPL vs upper/lower: which should you pick?
When weekly volume is matched, a 2024 meta-analysis of 14 studies found no significant difference in muscle growth between split types. The decision is practical:
- Train 4 days per week? Upper/lower fits perfectly. PPL does not divide evenly into 4 days.
- Train 5-6 days per week? PPL fits perfectly and spreads volume across more, shorter sessions.
- Train 3 days per week? Both work. Full body gives higher frequency per muscle, PPL gives more focus per session.
Use the weekly sets calculator to set per-muscle targets for whichever split you choose, then verify your plan actually hits them. For a full comparison of every split type by training days, see the best workout split guide.
Hypro has ready-made PPL plans with sets, reps, and progression targets calculated for you. Log your workouts and watch your weekly volume per muscle fill up.
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Maciej Glowacki
Founder and CEO of Hypro. Built the platform from the ground up with years of hands-on lifting experience.
