Push Pull Legs: The Complete Guide

Push Pull Legs (PPL) is the most popular training split in the world for a simple reason: it organizes your training around how your body actually moves, scales from 3 to 6 days per week, and leaves almost nothing out.

This guide covers how the split works, who it's for, how to program it at every frequency, and a complete template you can start running today.

What is the Push Pull Legs split?

PPL divides training into three session types by movement pattern:

• Push — chest, shoulders, and triceps. Every pressing movement.

• Pull — back, rear delts, and biceps. Every rowing and pulling movement.

• Legs — quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.

Because each session groups muscles that work together, nothing gets trained on back-to-back days by accident. Your pressing muscles rest while you pull, and everything upper-body rests while you squat.

Why PPL works

It respects recovery windows. Muscle protein synthesis stays elevated roughly 24–48 hours after training. A 6-day PPL hits every muscle twice per week — right in the sweet spot the frequency research supports — without ever training a sore muscle.

Overlap is handled by design. On a body-part split, a Monday chest day quietly fatigues your triceps and front delts before their "own" day arrives. PPL groups those overlapping muscles into the same session, so fatigue lands where it's supposed to.

It scales. Three days a week? Run one full cycle. Six days? Run it twice. The structure doesn't change — only the frequency does.

Who PPL is for

PPL suits intermediate lifters best. Complete beginners often progress faster on 3-day full-body programs (more practice on the big lifts per week), and very advanced lifters often need more specialized splits. If you've been training six months to a few years and want a structure that just works, PPL is hard to beat.

The classic 6-day PPL template

Push A

• Bench Press: 4×5–8

• Overhead Press: 3×8–10

• Incline Dumbbell Press: 3×10–12

• Lateral Raise: 3×12–15

• Overhead Triceps Extension: 3×12–15

Pull A

• Barbell Row: 4×6–8

• Pull-Ups: 3×6–10

• Face Pull: 3×15–20

• Barbell Curl: 3×8–12

• Hammer Curl: 3×10–12

Legs A

• Squat: 4×5–8

• Romanian Deadlift: 3×8–10

• Leg Press: 3×10–12

• Seated Leg Curl: 3×10–12

• Standing Calf Raise: 4×12–15

Push B

• Overhead Press: 4×5–8

• Incline Bench Press: 3×8–10

• Dip: 3×8–12

• Cable Fly: 3×12–15

• Lateral Raise: 3×15–20

Pull B

• Deadlift: 3×4–6

• Chest-Supported Row: 3×8–10

• Lat Pulldown: 3×10–12

• Rear Delt Fly: 3×15–20

• Incline Dumbbell Curl: 3×10–12

Legs B

• Front Squat or Hack Squat: 4×6–8

• Hip Thrust: 3×8–10

• Bulgarian Split Squat: 3×8–10 per leg

• Leg Extension: 3×12–15

• Seated Calf Raise: 4×15–20

Running PPL at different frequencies

3 days/week: Push / Pull / Legs, one rest day between sessions. Each muscle 1x/week — fine for maintenance or busy periods, suboptimal for growth.

4–5 days/week: Run the cycle continuously (P-P-L-rest-P-P...) rather than fixing sessions to weekdays. Each muscle lands roughly every 5 days.

6 days/week: The classic. P-P-L-P-P-L-rest. Every muscle 2x/week. This is where PPL earns its reputation — but it demands your recovery basics (sleep, food) be in order.

Progression: the part most people skip

A split is just a container. Progress comes from doing more over time — more weight, more reps, or more sets. Two simple rules:

1. Double progression. Work within a rep range (say 8–12). When you hit the top of the range on all sets, add weight and start again at the bottom.

2. Track everything. You cannot progressively overload what you don't measure. Log every set — weight, reps, and ideally RPE — so next session you know exactly what beating last week looks like.

Common PPL mistakes

• Turning every session into arms day. The compound lifts come first, always. Isolation work is dessert.

• Ignoring the legs day. Half of PPL's reputation problem is people running Push Pull Skip.

• No deload. Every 4–6 weeks, take a lighter week. Fatigue masks fitness — shedding it is how progress shows up.

• Program hopping. PPL works if you run it for months, not weeks. Pick the template, track your lifts, and let double progression do its job.

FAQ

Can I run PPL as a beginner? You can, but a 3-day full-body program will likely progress you faster in year one.

Is 3-day PPL enough to grow? It's enough to grow slowly. If growth is the goal and recovery allows, 5–6 days beats 3.

Where do arms fit? Triceps live on push day, biceps on pull day. If arms lag, add a set or two there — don't bolt on a seventh session.

PPL or upper/lower? Upper/lower fits 4-day schedules better; PPL fits 5–6. Both work. Consistency decides.

Let your AI handle the bookkeeping

Double progression only works if you actually track it — and nobody wants to re-type their program, last week's numbers, and their rep targets into a chat window every single session.

That's the gap Swole Protocol fills. It holds your PPL program and your full training history — every set, rep, and RPE — and feeds that context to whatever AI you already use (Claude, ChatGPT, any MCP client). Ask "what do I need to beat on Push A?" and your AI already knows, because it can see last week. You bring the AI; Swole Protocol makes sure it knows your training.

Connect your AI at swoleprotocol.com.