The push pull legs routine isn’t new, however it’s endured for many years for one easy motive: it’s a incredible cut up for gaining mass.
By organizing exercises round motion patterns as a substitute of muscle teams, the “PPL” cut up permits you to prepare effectively, get well successfully, and construct muscle and energy quicker than most different routines.
On this information, you’ll study the whole lot it’s worthwhile to know in regards to the push pull legs routine, together with the right way to construction your exercises, why it really works so nicely, and the very best methods to adapt it to your targets and schedule.
Key Takeaways
- The push pull legs routine is a weightlifting program that organizes exercises based mostly on whether or not you’re coaching your “pushing” muscular tissues (pecs, shoulders, triceps), “pulling” muscular tissues (again and biceps), or legs.
- A well-designed push pull legs routine prioritizes compound workouts, permitting you to coach a number of muscular tissues without delay, raise heavy weights safely, and make constant progress.
- A key advantage of the push pull legs cut up is that it permits you loads of relaxation between exercises, so you may prepare onerous whereas avoiding burnout.
- The PPL cut up is very versatile, permitting you to adapt your coaching to your targets and schedule, whether or not you need to prepare 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 days per week.
What Is the Push Pull Legs (PPL) Break up?
The push pull legs routine, also referred to as the push/pull/legs exercise cut up or PPL cut up, is a weightlifting program involving three sorts of exercises:
- Push exercises
- Pull exercises
- Legs exercises
Push Exercises
A push exercise trains all of the upper-body muscular tissues that push issues away out of your torso, equivalent to your chest, shoulders, and triceps. These exercises revolve round workouts, such because the bench press, overhead press, and close-grip bench press.
They could additionally embrace isolation workouts in your triceps, just like the triceps pushdown, overhead triceps extension, and skullcrusher.
Pull Exercises
A pull day exercise trains all of the muscular tissues concerned in pulling issues off the ground or towards your torso. These exercises revolve round workouts just like the deadlift, barbell, dumbbell, and cable row and lat pulldown.
Properly-designed push pull legs cut ups may even embrace isolation workouts in your biceps, just like the biceps curl, hammer curl, and preacher curl.
Legs Exercises
A leg day exercise trains all of the lower-body muscular tissues, such because the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Not like push and pull exercises, these exercises usually don’t revolve round particular “motion patterns.”
As a substitute, they sometimes comprise workouts that prepare your whole decrease physique, equivalent to the front and back squat, lunge, and leg press.
Advantages of Push Pull Legs Exercise Routines?
Push pull legs routines are widespread as a result of they emphasize compound weightlifting, enable for loads of relaxation, and may adapt to any schedule.
Let’s discover every of those advantages in additional element.
Emphasize Compound Workout routines
Push pull legs routines are a staple coaching methodology amongst bodybuilders and powerlifters as a result of they emphasize compound exercises.
A compound train is any train that targets a number of muscle teams without delay, such because the squat, deadlift, bench press, and overhead press.
These workouts ought to make up the lion’s share of any well-designed weightlifting program as a result of they let you prepare dozens of muscular tissues concurrently, raise heavy weights safely, and progress commonly, all of which makes them perfect for gaining mass.
Enable for Loads of Relaxation
The one draw back to compound weightlifting is that it’s extremely demanding in your physique—you want a variety of vitality for exercises and a variety of time to get well afterward.
That’s why PPL has you cut up your higher physique exercises into two separate coaching days and limits the quantity of decrease physique coaching you do every week (which tends to be extra taxing).
Organizing your PPL routine like this enables your muscular tissues loads of relaxation days between exercises, permitting you to carry out higher over the long run.
Extremely Adaptable
One other main advantage of the push pull legs routine is you may simply customise it to suit your wants and circumstances.
With simply three primary exercises to select from, it’s simple to understand and modify as wanted. For instance, probably the most primary PPL cut up seems to be like this:
- Monday: Push
- Wednesday: Pull
- Friday: Legs
And you can do one thing like this should you desire to coach simply twice per week:
- Monday: Push and Pull
- Thursday: Legs
Or, you can do a six-day routine like this to push your self to the restrict:
- Monday: Push
- Tuesday: Pull
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Push
- Friday: Pull
- Saturday: Legs
The Greatest Push Pull Legs Exercise Routines for Mass Acquire
Earlier than hitting the health club, the very first thing to determine is what number of days per week you need to prepare.
When you have ample time and need to maximize muscle and energy good points, I like to recommend coaching 4-to-6 days per week.
If you happen to’re quick on time or don’t need to prepare that always, you may nonetheless do nice with 2-to-3 weekly exercises.
With that determined, the subsequent step is creating a selected routine.
There are numerous methods of organizing PPL exercises, however I’m going to maintain it easy and offer you a couple of PPL instance routines to select from.
Let’s begin with the exercises themselves, after which we’ll see the right way to mix them into routines.
The Push Pull Legs Exercises
You’ll be able to create an infinite number of push pull legs routines, however listed below are a couple of of my favorites.
As you’ll see, they contain a variety of heavy, compound weightlifting, supplemented with reasonably heavy accent work.
(If you happen to’re uncertain the right way to carry out any of the workouts, click on on their names for an in depth information on protected and efficient method.)
Push Exercise #1
Push Exercise #2
Pull Exercise #1
Pull Exercise #2
- Barbell Row: 3 units | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min relaxation
- Chin-up: 3 units | 4-to-6 reps | 3-to-5 min relaxation
- Cable Row: 3 units | 6-to-8 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Hammer Curl: 3 units | 6-to-8 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
Leg Exercise #1
Leg Exercise #2
Now, let’s see the right way to flip them into exercise routines.
The two-Day Push Pull Legs Routine
As I discussed earlier, you are able to do nicely coaching simply twice per week.
Extra could be higher should you’re attempting to achieve mass and energy as rapidly as attainable. However, when circumstances don’t enable for extra health club time, this can be a stable 2-day PPL routine you could all the time fall again on to no less than preserve what you’ve acquired:
- Monday: Push Exercise #1 + Pull Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Relaxation
- Wednesday: Relaxation
- Thursday: Leg Exercise #1
- Friday: Relaxation
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
The three-Day Push Pull Legs Routine
This 3-day PPL exercise routine is probably the most primary solution to arrange a PPL cut up. It’s additionally my favourite cut up for coaching 3 days per week.
Once more, extra coaching is greatest for maximizing mass good points, however this 3-day PPL cut up is a time-proven program for gaining dimension and energy:
- Monday: Push Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Relaxation
- Wednesday: Pull Exercise #1
- Thursday: Relaxation
- Friday: Leg Exercise #1
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
The 4-Day Push Pull Legs Routines
Including a fourth day permits you to work extra on whichever main muscle teams are most lagging otherwise you need to develop rapidly.
Thus, I’m going to offer two 4-day PPL routines: one for individuals who need to focus extra on their higher our bodies and one for focusing extra on the decrease physique.
4-Day Push Pull Legs Routine: Higher Physique Focus
- Monday: Push Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Pull Exercise #1
- Wednesday: Relaxation
- Thursday: Leg Exercise #1
- Friday: Push Exercise #2 or Pull Exercise #2
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
4-Day Push Pull Legs Routine: Decrease Physique Focus
- Monday: Push Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Leg Exercise #1
- Wednesday: Relaxation
- Thursday: Pull Exercise #1
- Friday: Leg Exercise #2
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
The 5-Day Push Pull Legs Routines
That is my most popular push pull legs cut up as a result of it permits you to push the boundaries of volume and intensity whereas permitting a few days for restoration.
Once more, I’m going to offer two routines: one for emphasizing the higher physique and one for the decrease physique.
5-Day Push Pull Legs Routine: Decrease Physique Focus
- Monday: Push Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Pull Exercise #1
- Wednesday: Leg Exercise #1
- Thursday: Push Exercise #2
- Friday: Pull Exercise #2
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
5-Day Push Pull Legs Routine: Decrease Physique Focus
- Monday: Leg Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Push Exercise #1
- Wednesday: Pull Exercise #1
- Thursday: Leg Exercise #2
- Friday: Push Exercise #2
- Saturday: Relaxation
- Sunday: Relaxation
The 6-Day Push Pull Legs Routine
A 6-day PPL cut up incorporates about as a lot quantity as most natural weightlifters can handle earlier than they compromise restoration and subsequent progress.
As such, it’s best to solely try this push pull legs routine should you’re an skilled weightlifter who would profit from the additional quantity, in a lean bulking section, recovering nicely from coaching (e.g., no stress, aches and pains, or sleep points), and feeling as much as the problem.
If you happen to don’t meet these conditions, select a much less demanding push pull legs cut up from above.
Right here’s the 6-day PPL routine:
- Monday: Push Exercise #1
- Tuesday: Pull Exercise #1
- Wednesday: Leg Exercise #1
- Thursday: Push Exercise #2
- Friday: Pull Exercise #2
- Saturday: Leg Exercise #2
- Sunday: Relaxation
3 Suggestions for Extra Efficient Push Pull Legs Exercises
1. Finish each set 1-to-3 reps shy of muscle failure.
As I clarify in my health books for men and women, to maximise your outcomes, you need to take a lot of the units in your push pull legs exercises to inside a rep or two of failure.
To gauge whether or not you’re reaching this level, ask your self on the finish of every set: “If I needed to, what number of extra reps may I’ve accomplished with good kind?”
If the reply is greater than three, improve the burden or reps in your subsequent set to make it more difficult.
2. When you hit the highest of your rep vary for a set, transfer up in weight.
In case your push pull legs exercise requires 4-to-6 reps of the deadlift and also you get 6 reps for a set, add 10 kilos to your subsequent set.
If you happen to do 3 reps or fewer in subsequent units, scale back the load by 5 kilos to remain within the 4-to-6 rep vary.
Apply this approach to each train in your push pull legs routine, aiming so as to add both weight or reps each session.
3. Take the proper dietary supplements.
These dietary supplements may also help you optimize your efficiency and good points whereas following a push pull legs exercise routine:
- Protein powder: Protein powder, equivalent to whey or casein, offers your physique with the vitamins needed to construct muscle tissue and get well from exercises.
- Creatine: Creatine dietary supplements, equivalent to creatine monohydrate powder and gummies, enhance muscle and energy achieve, enhance anaerobic endurance, and scale back muscle harm and soreness out of your exercises.
- Pre-workout: A high-quality pre-workout enhances vitality, temper, and focus, will increase energy and endurance, and reduces fatigue.
FAQ #1: Is push pull legs efficient?
Sure, the push pull legs routine is very efficient for constructing muscle and energy. It emphasizes compound workouts, which make progressively overloading your muscular tissues simple. This issues as a result of lifting heavier weights over time is the first driver of muscle progress.
The PPL cut up additionally ensures you get loads of restoration, permitting you to coach onerous with out burning out, and it’s simple to adapt to completely different schedules and health targets.
Regardless of these advantages, the push pull legs cut up has not too long ago are available for criticism, primarily as a result of some suppose it doesn’t prepare your muscular tissues ceaselessly sufficient to provide optimum good points.
I disagree.
The PPL routine is extremely versatile—you may alter it to go well with any aim or schedule.
You’ll be able to learn extra about my ideas on this subject right here:
Is the Push Pull Legs Split “Dead?”
FAQ #2: What bodybuilders use the push pull legs cut up?
Bodybuilders commonly change their routines, so it’s difficult to pinpoint who’s at the moment following a PPL cut up.
Nevertheless, it’s been a go-to for a lot of high athletes, together with six-time Mr. Olympia Chris Bumstead. Famend pure bodybuilder and coach Eric Helms additionally used a modified PPL cut up as the idea for one of many routines in his e-book The Muscle and Power Pyramid: Coaching.
RELATED: An Expert Guide to Eric Helms’s Novice Bodybuilding Program
FAQ #3: Push pull legs vs. Completely different muscle teams: Which is healthier?
Neither is healthier or worse than the opposite. Which you select will depend on your targets and preferences.
The push pull legs cut up provides extra scheduling flexibility and, when programmed appropriately (or utilizing one of many routines above), ensures you prepare every muscle group ceaselessly and with sufficient units to construct mass and energy successfully.
In distinction, a routine that focuses on coaching completely different muscular tissues on separate days—generally often known as the “bro cut up”—permits for much more restoration time for particular person muscle teams.
Many gymgoers additionally take pleasure in bro splits as a result of they allow you to prepare every muscle group to exhaustion, which ends up in the satisfying “pumped” feeling after a exercise.
Nevertheless, most bro splits don’t prepare every muscle group usually sufficient to maximise muscle progress, making PPL a better option for these seeking to maximize mass and energy good points usually.
RELATED: What Is a Bro Split Workout Routine?
FAQ #4: Push pull legs vs. Higher decrease: Which is healthier?
Each the push pull legs and higher decrease splits are glorious routines, and neither is inherently higher or worse.
Each are extremely versatile and, when programmed appropriately, make sure you prepare your muscular tissues ceaselessly and with sufficient quantity to maximise progress and energy good points.
The first distinction is how upper-body coaching is organized. The higher decrease cut up teams all upper-body workouts into “higher days,” whereas the PPL cut up separates them into pushing and pulling exercises.
In follow, the outcomes from both strategy are almost an identical, so should you’re deciding between them, select the one which higher fits your preferences.
RELATED: The Best 3-, 4- & 5-Day Upper Lower Workout Splits for Mass
FAQ #5: Are you able to do a push pull legs calisthenics routine?
Sure you are able to do a push pull legs calisthenics routine. Right here’s how I’d program it:
Calisthenics Push Exercise:
- Dip: 3 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Handstand Push-up: 3 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Decline Push-up: 3 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Body weight Triceps Extension: 3 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
Calisthenics Pull Exercise:
- Pull-up: 4 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Chin-up: 4 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Inverted Row: 4 units | 10-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
Calisthenics Leg Exercise:
- Pistol Squat: 4 units | 5-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Sissy Squat: 4 units | 5-to-20 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
- Nordic Leg Curl: 4 units | 5-to-15 reps | 2-to-3 min relaxation
RELATED: The Best Bodyweight Workouts and Exercises You Can Do
