Push/Pull/Legs Split (PPL): 3-6 Day Workout Routine

There are very few workout splits that are perfectly designed in terms of effectiveness, balance, frequency, and scheduling options. Full body and upper/lower would be two good examples of this.

The push/pull/legs split would definitely be another.

Push/pull/legs (PPL) has been around for decades and has become one of the most popular and proven workout splits of all time, particularly for intermediate and advanced trainees with the goal of building muscle.

In this article, I’m going to show you 4 different versions of this split (ranging from 3-6 workouts per week), explain the pros and cons of each, help you figure out which version will work best for you, and provide a full sample workout routine for you to use.

Let’s start with the basics…

What Is The Push/Pull/Legs Split?

The push/pull/legs split is a workout schedule that divides the body up into three groups: upper body pushing muscles, upper body pulling muscles, and legs.

Each group is then trained separately on its own day, like this…

The “Push” Workout

The “push” workout involves training all of the upper body muscles that are involved in “pushing” exercises. This includes:

• Chest
• Shoulders
• Triceps

The “Pull” Workout

The “pull” workout involves training all of the upper body muscles that are involved in “pulling” exercises. This includes:

• Back
• Biceps
• Rear Delts

The “Legs” Workout

The “legs” workout involves training all of the lower body muscles involved in “leg” exercises (shocking, right?). This includes:

• Quads
• Hamstrings
• Glutes
• Calves

Abs are often trained along with legs, but they can really be trained on whichever day you prefer. I usually recommend putting abs at the end of whichever workout is the shortest.

The Benefits Of Pull/Pull/Legs

The main benefit to grouping body parts this way is that it keeps all related muscle groups together in the same workout, which is fantastic for preventing the type of overlap issues that are so common with less-intelligent splits.

For example, compound chest exercises like the bench press, incline press, push-ups, and various chest pressing machines will train the shoulders and triceps in addition to the chest.

Which means if you were using a split that trained chest one day, shoulders on another day, and triceps on some other day, you become a lot more likely to eventually run into problems with insufficient recovery and/or overuse injuries.

However, by pairing up all of the muscle groups that get trained during the same types of exercises, the push/pull/legs split does a damn fine job of minimizing the potential for those types of problems.

Now let’s take a look at the different ways this split can be scheduled.

Version #1: The 3-Day Push/Pull/Legs Split

This first version of the split is what I consider to be the “classic” version, as it’s the oldest and most well known of the bunch. But does that make it the best? Let’s find out…

The Good

As you can see, there are 3 total weight training workouts per week done in an every-other-day format with 2 days off at the end.

With just 3 total workouts that fall on the same days every week, plus the ability to have the weekend off, this version of the split is by far the most convenient and easy-to-schedule for the majority of people, and it’s the least likely to cause any recovery related issues.

However, there is one major downside to this sort of schedule.

The Bad

In this version of the split, every body part is trained just once per week, and we have plenty of research (sources here and here) and real world experience at this point to know that this is usually the least effective workout frequency for someone trying to build muscle or gain strength.

That’s not to say it doesn’t work or it can’t work. It’s just that, with all else being equal, training each body part 2-3 times per week works best.

For this reason alone, I don’t recommend this version of the push/pull/legs split to anyone looking to gain muscle or strength.

But what if I can only work out 3 days per week?

In that case, I’d suggest going with the full body split if you’re a beginner, the 3-day upper/lower split if you’re an intermediate or advanced trainee, or one of the other 3-day options I cover here: The Best 3-Day Workout Splits

Is a once-per-week frequency ideal for any goal?

Ideal? Probably not. Sufficient? Sometimes.

Specifically, if your primary goal at the moment is to simply maintain the amount of muscle and strength you currently have rather than making additional progress, training each muscle group once per week will usually be sufficient for that purpose (sources here and here).

And in that case, this version of the split is a potential option to consider using.

The Verdict

This version of the push/pull/legs split is the best in terms of convenience and scheduling, but it’s the worst in terms of actual effectiveness due to its suboptimal once-per-week training frequency. I don’t recommend it.

Version #2: The 4-5 Day Push/Pull/Legs Split

This second version of the split is one that I often refer to as the “rotating” version.

Why?

Because unlike the previous version which had 3 workouts over a 7-day cycle (which all fell on the same 3 days each week), this version has 3 workouts that take place over a 5-day cycle, and the days they fall on rotate each week.

What I mean is…

• The previous version was push/off/pull/off/legs/off/off and then repeat from the beginning.
• This version is push/pull/off/legs/off and then repeat from the beginning.

For this reason, you end up with 4 total workouts per week most of the time (see weeks 2-4 above), but then 5 total workouts per week (see week #1) every time the “cycle” comes back around to the beginning (this occurs every 6th week).

Now let’s take a look at the pros and cons of doing PPL this way…

The Good

There is one major benefit to scheduling the workouts over a rotating 5-day cycle like this, and it’s all about increasing the training frequency.

The first version of the split trained each body part every 7th day (once per week), which is the least effective frequency for most people. But in this version, each body part is being trained every 5th day (so three times every two weeks).

And while this still isn’t exactly twice per week, it’s a significant improvement over the low frequency of Version 1, which makes this version of the split more effective for most people’s goals. I’ve seen people do quite well with it, in fact.

However, yet again, there are some major downsides to this sort of schedule.

The Bad

This version will be inconvenient for a lot of people.

Aside from the fact that you end up having to train on the weekends (some people aren’t able to do that), the “rotating” nature of it means your training days and rest days will vary from week to week.

So some weeks you’ll be training on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Some weeks Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Other weeks Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. And some weeks there are 4 total workouts. Other weeks, there are 5.

And this sort of variance will be problematic for many people from a scheduling standpoint.

So while this version of the push/pull/legs split makes a beneficial improvement in terms of training frequency, you’ll need a fairly flexible schedule in order to make it work and actually get those benefits.

The Verdict

If you have a schedule that will allow you to put this version into action consistently and without any problems, then I highly recommend it.

But if not, or if attempting to make it work would just lead to you eventually missing workouts because it’s too inconvenient for you, then I don’t recommend it. Instead, I’d suggest sticking with a more static 4-day split, such as upper/lower.