Who PPL is for
PPL suits lifters with at least a year of regular gym training who want clearly more weekly volume than three full-body sessions can hold. In the six-day version every muscle group is trained twice a week and the week holds 15-20 working sets for the large muscle groups without any single session running long.
The rolling three-day version is the same program on a slower cycle: you always do the next workout on the list, so each muscle group is trained about once every five days. It works when time is limited but you want the clarity of the PPL structure.
Who this is not for
- First-year lifters: full body three times a week progresses faster.
- If you cannot recover from six gym days: sleep and food decide, and a four-day upper-lower is better then.
- If sessions get skipped often: six-day PPL punishes absences because some muscle group easily ends up with a single weekly session.
The fixed three-day version of the push-pull-legs split has its own page: 3-day workout program.
Push, pull and legs as tables
Three workouts that repeat in rotation. In the six-day version each workout is done twice a week; on the second pass you can swap the main lift for a variant (for example dumbbell bench press) to keep the week varied.
Push: chest, shoulders and triceps
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | RPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 | 5-8 | 3 min | 8 |
| Seated dumbbell press | 3 | 8-12 | 2 min | 8 |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 | 8-12 | 2 min | 8 |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 | 12-20 | 60 s | 9 |
| Cable rope pushdown | 3 | 10-15 | 60-90 s | 9 |
Pull: back, rear delts and biceps
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | RPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell deadlift | 3 | 4-6 | 3 min | 8 |
| Wide-grip lat pulldown | 3 | 8-12 | 2 min | 8 |
| Seated cable row | 3 | 10-12 | 2 min | 8 |
| Face pull | 3 | 12-20 | 60 s | 9 |
| Dumbbell biceps curl | 3 | 10-15 | 60-90 s | 9 |
Legs: quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | RPE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell back squat | 4 | 5-8 | 3 min | 8 |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 | 8-10 | 2-3 min | 8 |
| Leg press | 3 | 10-15 | 2 min | 8 |
| Lying leg curl | 3 | 10-15 | 90 s | 9 |
| Standing calf raise | 4 | 10-15 | 60 s | 9 |
Exercise techniques and animations are in the exercise library: browse all exercises · RPE 7 = about 3 reps in reserve, RPE 8 = 2, RPE 9 = 1.
Weekly calendar: 6-day version
Six workouts and one rest day. In the rolling three-day version you do the next workout on the list on Monday, Wednesday and Friday: week 1 is push, pull, legs and week 2 starts again with push, so the rotation stays the same.
- MonPush
- TuePull
- WedLegs
- ThuPush
- FriPull
- SatLegs
- SunRest
Progression over weeks 1-8
In the six-day version weekly volume is already high, so the block progresses by load, not sets. In the three-day version a fourth set can be added to the main lifts from week 3.
| Weeks | Sets | Load | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-2 | 3 sets per exercise | RPE 7 | Find your working weights, leave 3 reps in reserve in every set. |
| Weeks 3-4 | 3-4 sets | RPE 8 | A fourth set on the main lifts. Add load when the range is filled. |
| Weeks 5-7 | 4 sets on the main lifts, 3 on the rest | RPE 8-9 | Isolation work close to failure on the last set. Main lifts +2.5 kg once the range is filled. |
| Week 8 | 2 sets per exercise (deload) | About 15-20 % lighter | In the six-day version also drop to three sessions. Then a new block from your week 7 weights. |
How the program works
Push day covers chest, shoulders and triceps; pull day the back, rear delts and biceps; leg day the whole lower body. Splitting by movement direction means yesterday's session does not fatigue today's main muscle groups, even when training six days in a row.
In the six-day version every muscle group gets two stimuli a week, which beats one (Schoenfeld et al. 2016). Weekly volume lands at 15-20 working sets for the large muscle groups, the upper end of the dose-response curve (Schoenfeld et al. 2017). That is why sets are not added: load is what goes up.
Do the main lifts first while fresh and isolation work last. Stop main-lift sets 2 reps short of failure; on isolation work you can go closer on the last set. If a week comes up short, continue with the next workout on the list and do not do two sessions in one day.
Sources
- Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger 2016, Sports Medicine: training a muscle group at least twice a week produced more hypertrophy than once a week at equal weekly volume.
- Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger 2017, Journal of Sports Sciences: weekly set count per muscle group has a dose-response relationship with hypertrophy; more than 10 weekly sets produced more than fewer.
- Helms et al. 2016, Strength and Conditioning Journal: a reps-in-reserve based RPE scale for regulating load in resistance training.
Free workout program by SisuLift. https://www.sisulift.app/en/workout-programs/push-pull-legs-program
