This push pull legs workout plan trains each muscle twice a week over 6 sessions. Push days cover chest, shoulders and triceps. Pull days cover back and biceps. Leg days cover everything below the waist. Below you get the week, every exercise with sets and reps, how to add weight and what to do when a lift stalls.
Who push pull legs is for
PPL suits lifters with a few months of steady training behind them who can recover from 6 sessions a week. Each muscle gets trained every 3 or 4 days, which is a good rhythm for building muscle.
The split groups exercises by what the muscles do. On push days you press weight away from you: bench, overhead press, triceps work. On pull days you pull it towards you: pull-ups, rows, curls. Leg days cover the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
If 6 days is too many, run the cycle once a week as a 3-day plan, with a rest day after each session.
How the week looks
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push A (chest focus) |
| Tuesday | Pull A (back width) |
| Wednesday | Legs A (quad focus) |
| Thursday | Push B (shoulder focus) |
| Friday | Pull B (back thickness) |
| Saturday | Legs B (hamstring focus) |
| Sunday | Rest |
The workouts
Push A and Push B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 | 6-8 |
| Overhead press | 3 | 8-10 |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 | 8-12 |
| Lateral raise | 3 | 12-15 |
| Cable triceps pushdown | 3 | 10-12 |
| Overhead triceps extension | 2 | 12-15 |
Push B changes the main lift. Start with the overhead press for 4 sets of 6 to 8, then bench for 3 sets of 8 to 10. The 2 push days train the same muscles from a different angle.
Pull A and Pull B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-up or lat pulldown | 4 | 6-10 |
| Barbell row | 4 | 6-8 |
| Seated cable row | 3 | 8-12 |
| Face pull | 3 | 15-20 |
| Barbell or dumbbell curl | 3 | 8-12 |
| Hammer curl | 2 | 10-12 |
On Pull B, start with the barbell row, which builds back thickness, then move to the lat pulldown.
Legs A and Legs B
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell back squat | 4 | 5-8 |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 | 8-10 |
| Leg press | 3 | 10-12 |
| Leg curl | 3 | 10-15 |
| Standing calf raise | 4 | 12-15 |
On Legs B, swap the back squat for a front squat or hack squat, and start with the Romanian deadlift. That shifts more of the work to the hamstrings and glutes.
How to add weight
Use double progression. Stay at the same weight until you hit the top of the rep range on every set with good form. Then add weight next session and work back up from the bottom of the range.
Say you bench 60 kg for 4 sets of 6 to 8. The day you get 8, 8, 8 and 8, put 62.5 kg on the bar next time and aim for 6s.
Add the smallest jump the gym allows: 1 to 2.5 kg on upper-body lifts and 2.5 to 5 kg on lower-body lifts. Leave 1 to 3 reps in reserve on most working sets. Reps in reserve means how many more clean reps you could have done. That keeps your technique clean and 6 sessions a week recoverable.
Take a lighter week every 6 to 8 weeks
Plan a deload after every 6 to 8 weeks of training. A deload is a lighter week that lets fatigue drop. Keep the same weights and cut the number of sets to about 60% for one week, so 4 sets of bench become 2 or 3.
Some lifters cut the weight by about 10% instead. Fewer sets at the same weight works better for most people: you keep practising the lifts while the fatigue clears.
Run this plan in Trackist
Trackist asks 14 questions about your goal, experience, equipment, joints, schedule, session length and age. Ask for 6 training days and it writes a plan around them, with every exercise, set, rep target and rest chosen. A plan of 6 weeks or more ends with a deload week at about 60% of the sets.
At the gym, you log weight, reps and RPE for each set. RPE is how hard the set felt, on a scale of 1 to 10. Last session’s numbers sit under the sets you did then, and from your second session of an exercise, a line above it suggests what to try today. The rest timer keeps counting on the Lock Screen.
Say the sessions are too hard and Trackist notes it. Report it again in a later week and Trackist rewrites the day or rebuilds the rest of the plan. If your shoulder hurts on the bench, Trackist swaps in another exercise, usually one that trains the same muscle. The body weight and measurement charts show whether it is working. More programming guides are on the Trackist blog.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is push pull legs good for beginners?
It can work, but a 3-day full-body plan usually builds the basics faster. You practise each lift more often, with less total work. If you are new, start with full body and move to a 6-day PPL after a few months of steady training and solid technique.
How many days a week is the PPL split?
This version runs 6 days a week and trains each muscle twice. If you cannot recover from 6 sessions, run the cycle once a week as a 3-day plan, with rest days in between.
How long does a PPL workout take?
Most sessions in this plan take 50 to 75 minutes, depending on your rest. Rest 2 to 3 minutes after heavy compound lifts like the squat or bench, and 60 to 90 seconds after isolation work like curls and raises.
Can Trackist build a PPL plan?
Yes. Ask for 6 training days and a muscle-building goal, and Trackist writes the plan. You can edit every exercise, set and rep target, so you can lay it out as push, pull and legs. The suggested weight follows what you log, and the coach changes the plan when you report the same problem again in a later week.
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Let Trackist write your plan
Answer 14 questions and Trackist writes a plan around your gym and your week, ready for a first session today. Log your sets, and the next session suggests the weight to lift. On the App Store now. Android is coming.
