Masheen

Planning a week

Push pull legs

Also called PPL, push/pull/legs, PPL split, push pull legs split

Push pull legs is a split with three kinds of day: one for the muscles that push, one for the ones that pull, and one for the legs.

PushMonPullTueLegsWedThuPushFriPullSatLegsSun
Sunday: Legs. 6 training days so far. Monday push, Tuesday pull, Wednesday legs, Thursday rest, then push, pull and legs again. Six sessions; every muscle trained twice.

In plain words

Push pull legs, written PPL, sorts your lifts into three days by what the muscles do. Push day covers chest, shoulders and triceps: the bench press and the overhead press live here. Pull day covers back and biceps: rows and pull-ups. Leg day covers the legs, with squats and deadlifts. People run it two ways: three days a week, each day once, or six days a week, each day twice. Six days gives each muscle a frequency of two. A 2024 meta-analysis found split and full-body routines produced similar strength and muscle gains at equal volume, and a 2016 meta-analysis found training a muscle twice a week beat once a week for growth at equal volume.

An example

A six-day week reads: Monday push, Tuesday pull, Wednesday legs, Thursday rest, then push, pull and legs again on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That is six sessions, and every muscle is trained twice. The three-day version is the same list with one round instead of two, and rest days between.

Often confused with

Upper lower split Upper / lower divides the body in two; push pull legs divides it in three, splitting the upper body into pushing and pulling.
Split A split is the way a training week is divided up: which muscles or movements you train on which day.
Upper lower split An upper lower split divides training into two kinds of day: upper-body days and lower-body days, taking turns through the week.
Full body workout A full body workout trains every major muscle group in one session: at the least the legs, a push and a pull.
Frequency Frequency is how often you train in a week: either how many sessions you do, or how many times each muscle gets trained.
Compound lift A compound lift is an exercise that bends and straightens more than one joint at once, so several muscles share the work.

Go deeper

Beginner strength programs compared Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5×5, GZCLP and 5/3/1 for Beginners in one table. Days, lifts, sets and reps, how the weight goes up, and what to do on a miss. Updated

Sources

  1. Ramos-Campo et al. 2024. Efficacy of split versus full-body resistance training on strength and muscle growth. J Strength Cond Res 38(7):1330–1340 Read
  2. Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger 2016. Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy. Sports Med 46(11):1689–1697 Read

Updated . How these pages are researched and corrected: editorial policy. Every term in the glossary.