The Complete PPL Workout Guide: Push Pull Legs Explained
What Is the Push Pull Legs Split?
Push Pull Legs — commonly written as PPL — divides your training week into three types of sessions based on movement patterns rather than individual muscles. Push sessions train your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pull sessions focus on your back and biceps. Leg sessions cover quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
This structure makes intuitive sense: the muscles you push with (pressing, extending) and the muscles you pull with (rowing, curling) rarely compete for recovery. By grouping them this way, you can train with high intensity each session while giving antagonist muscles time to recover.
The classic setup runs 6 days per week — Push / Pull / Legs repeated twice — giving each muscle group two dedicated sessions. A 3-day version (Push / Pull / Legs once) works well during maintenance phases or for lifters who cannot train 6 days.
Who Should Use a PPL Split?
PPL is best suited to intermediate and advanced lifters who have built a solid foundation over at least six months of consistent training. Beginners typically benefit more from full-body routines that develop movement patterns across the whole body every session. Once you've progressed past beginner gains and need higher weekly volume per muscle to keep growing, PPL becomes a compelling option.
The 6-day schedule requires genuine commitment. If your schedule or recovery capacity doesn't support six sessions reliably, you're better served by a 4-day Upper/Lower split or even a 3-day full-body program done consistently. The best split is always the one you actually complete week after week.
PPL is especially effective for lifters who want to maximise hypertrophy (muscle size). The higher training frequency per muscle group — hitting each twice per week on a 6-day schedule — is consistently supported by research as a superior approach to building muscle compared to once-weekly body-part splits.
Benefits of the Push Pull Legs Program
High training frequency. On the 6-day PPL, each major muscle group is trained twice per week. Current evidence strongly suggests that training a muscle 2–3 times per week produces greater hypertrophy than training it once, when total volume is matched.
Balanced volume distribution. The three-way split makes it easy to apply similar total sets to push, pull, and leg muscles. Body-part bro splits often lead to overdeveloped chest and underdeveloped back. PPL avoids this by design.
Recovery-friendly structure. Because antagonist muscle groups don't share sessions, each muscle has roughly 48 hours of recovery before its next direct session (on a 6-day run). This allows you to train hard without accumulating excessive systemic fatigue.
Scalable volume and intensity. As you advance, you can add sets, add exercises, or increase load within each session. The structure accommodates progressive overload without needing to redesign your entire program.
How to Structure a PPL Week
The most common 6-day template looks like this: Monday Push, Tuesday Pull, Wednesday Legs, Thursday Push, Friday Pull, Saturday Legs, Sunday rest. Some lifters prefer a rolling schedule (not tied to specific weekdays) to maintain equal spacing between sessions.
Within each session, prioritise compound movements first when you're freshest. On Push day, start with Barbell Bench Press or Overhead Press before moving to lateral raises and tricep isolation work. On Pull day, open with Deadlifts or Barbell Rows before cable work and curls. On Leg day, Squats or Romanian Deadlifts come first, followed by leg press, leg curls, and calf raises.
Aim for 10–20 sets per muscle group per week across both sessions. For most natural lifters, 12–16 total weekly sets per muscle group is a solid starting point. Keep track of your sets, and if you're consistently not progressing, volume is the first variable to adjust.
Common PPL Mistakes to Avoid
Skipping leg days. It sounds obvious, but leg sessions are genuinely harder and more draining than push or pull sessions. Prioritise them — don't let them become optional.
Too much volume too soon. Adding 25+ sets per muscle group in week one will crush your recovery. Start conservatively (10–12 sets) and build over weeks.
Ignoring rear delts and external rotators. Push-heavy splits can create shoulder imbalances. Face pulls, rear delt flies, and external rotation work belong on every Pull day.
No progressive overload tracking. PPL without a log is just random training. Track your weights and reps. If you're not adding load or reps over time, something needs to change.
How to Use the PPL Generator
The My Buddy Workout PPL generator builds a customised Push Pull Legs program in seconds. Select 3 or 6 training days, choose your available equipment (full gym, barbell and dumbbells, or bodyweight), and set your session duration. The generator handles exercise selection, intelligently prioritising compound movements in the Strength section and accessory work in the Build section.
After generating, you can edit any exercise, adjust sets and reps inline, and export your finished plan as a PNG image or CSV file — no account required. Use the PPL workout builder page for more detail on the split and its variations.