Workout Split Guide

Push Pull Legs (PPL) Split

The most popular split in lifting: push muscles, pull muscles, then legs. Scales from 3 to 6 days.

Days / week3-6

LevelBeginner-Advanced

GoalHypertrophy + Strength

Push pull legs organizes training by movement pattern. Push day covers chest, shoulders, and triceps, the muscles that press. Pull day covers back, rear delts, and biceps, the muscles that row or pull. Leg day covers quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Muscles that work together get trained together, so nothing gets hit two days in a row and everything has time to recover.

Run once through, it's a 3-day week. Run twice, it's the classic 6-day version that hits every muscle twice a week, which is the frequency most hypertrophy research supports. That flexibility is why PPL has become the default split for serious lifters. It works for beginners and keeps working for advanced lifters.

The week at a glance

Day 1

Push

Day 2

Pull

Day 3

Legs

Day 4

Push

Day 5

Pull

Day 6

Legs

Day 7

Rest

Who this split is for

Lifters who want a split that scales from 3 to 6 days
Hypertrophy-focused training with 2× weekly muscle frequency
Intermediate lifters who've outgrown full-body routines
People who like clear, repeatable session structure

The workout plan

Day 1: Push

Chest, shoulders, triceps

Barbell bench press4 × 5-8
Overhead press3 × 6-10
Incline dumbbell press3 × 8-12
Lateral raise3 × 12-15
Cable triceps pushdown3 × 10-15
Overhead triceps extension2 × 10-15

Day 2: Pull

Back, rear delts, biceps

Deadlift or rack pull3 × 4-6
Pull-ups or lat pulldown4 × 6-10
Barbell or chest-supported row3 × 8-12
Face pull3 × 12-15
Barbell curl3 × 8-12
Hammer curl2 × 10-15

Day 3: Legs

Quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves

Back squat4 × 5-8
Romanian deadlift3 × 8-10
Leg press3 × 10-12
Leg curl3 × 10-15
Walking lunge2 × 10-12 per leg
Standing calf raise4 × 10-15

“ss.” means superset. Rest 2 to 3 minutes on compound lifts and 60 to 90 seconds on isolation work. Take most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure.

Strengths

Scales cleanly from 3 to 6 days per week
Hits every muscle 2× per week in the 6-day version
Movement-pattern grouping means no recovery conflicts between days
Easy to progress: same session structure repeats, so overload is obvious

Trade-offs

The 6-day version demands a real time commitment
Run only 3 days, each muscle is trained just once a week
Leg day can become a bottleneck if you under-recover
Less ideal for pure strength peaking than dedicated powerlifting programs

Run this split in Vora

Vora runs PPL adaptively: if your pull-day volume drops because you slept five hours, the next session auto-adjusts load and exercise order instead of repeating a plan you can't recover from.

App Store Google Play Read: Progressive overload

Frequently asked questions

Is push pull legs good for beginners?

Yes, with a caveat. The 3-day version (push, pull, legs, with rest days between) is a fine beginner structure. The 6-day version is better suited to lifters with at least a year of training, since the volume and recovery demand is significant. Most beginners progress faster on full-body or upper/lower first.

Can I do PPL 3, 4, or 5 days a week?

Yes. PPL is a rotation, not a calendar. Run it 3 days (one full cycle per week), 4-5 days (the cycle rolls over into the next week), or 6 days (two full cycles). The rolling version keeps frequency high without locking you to specific weekdays.

How many sets should I do on a PPL split?

A good starting point is 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle group per week. On 6-day PPL that's roughly 5 to 10 sets per muscle per session. Start at the low end, add sets only when progress stalls, and pull volume back during deload weeks.

Is PPL better than upper lower?

Neither is universally better. Upper/lower gets you 2× frequency in only 4 days, which suits busier schedules. PPL spreads volume across more, shorter sessions and gives each muscle group more focused work. Pick the one you can stick to each week.

More workout splits

2-4 days · Strength + Hypertrophy