Push pull legs is the most logical training split ever designed. You group muscles by what they do, not by what they're near. Push day: chest, shoulders, triceps. Pull day: back, biceps. Leg day: quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves. That's it. No overlap, no recovery conflicts, no wondering if your biceps are fresh enough to row hard.
I've run hundreds of clients through different splits over 13 years. The ones who understand WHY a program is designed a certain way stick to it. The ones who just follow instructions fall off when life gets complicated. So let me explain PPL properly, not just hand you a list of exercises.
Why Push Pull Legs Works
The logic behind PPL is antagonist muscle separation. On push day, your chest, shoulders, and triceps all work together to move weight away from your body. They're already synergists, meaning they assist each other during the same movements. Bench press works all three. Overhead press works all three. It makes sense to fatigue them together.
Pull day is the mirror image. Your back, rear delts, and biceps all pull weight toward your body. Rows, pull-ups, lat pulldowns, face pulls. They recover together too.
The result: you never walk into a workout with pre-fatigued supporting muscles. Your triceps are fully recovered when you bench. Your biceps are fresh when you row. This is one reason compound exercises hit harder on a PPL split than on a body part split where chest day leaves your triceps smoked for the rest of the week.
A 2016 meta-analysis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger) found that training each muscle group twice per week produced significantly greater hypertrophy than once per week, given equal total volume. The 6-day PPL hits every muscle group twice weekly. That's the science behind the frequency.
Who Should Run Push Pull Legs?
Not beginners. Straight talk: if you haven't been lifting consistently for at least 6 months, a full-body program 3 days a week will get you stronger faster. You're still learning to squat, deadlift, and press. Full-body workouts give you more practice reps per week on those movement patterns.
PPL is best for intermediate trainees. You've built a foundation of strength and movement quality. Your squat and deadlift form is solid. You can bench and row without coaching cues every set. At that point, your body needs more volume per muscle group to keep progressing, and PPL delivers it.
It's also good for people with 5-6 days per week to train. If you can only hit the gym 3 days, run the 3-day version. If you have 6 days, double it. Both work. The 6-day version wins for muscle growth because frequency matters.
The PPL Schedule: 3-Day vs 6-Day
| Version | Days | Frequency Per Muscle | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Day PPL | Mon / Wed / Fri | Once/week | Maintenance, busy schedules |
| 6-Day PPL | Mon-Sat, 1 rest | Twice/week | Muscle growth, fat loss, max results |
The 6-day version runs: Push / Pull / Legs / Push / Pull / Legs / Rest. Sunday is off. Simple. The second run through each day is typically slightly heavier or slightly different accessory selection to add variety without changing the structure.
How to Structure Each Day
Every PPL day at CoachCMFit follows the Anchor + Accessory System. One or two big compound movements anchor each session. Everything else is accessory work. The anchor gets the most volume and the heaviest weight. Accessories support it.
Anchor Movements (Stay for 12 weeks)
Push: Bench Press, Overhead Press. Pull: Barbell Row, Weighted Pull-Up. Legs: Squat, Romanian Deadlift. These are your standards. They don't rotate. You progressively overload them every single session.
Accessories rotate every 6 sessions. You're not doing the same cable flye for 12 weeks straight. But you're also not randomly picking new exercises every session, which is how people spin their wheels for years.
The Full 6-Day PPL Plan
Push Day A (Monday / Thursday)
- Barbell Bench Press: 4x6-10 (anchor)
- Overhead Press: 3x8-12
- Incline Dumbbell Press: 3x10-12
- Cable Lateral Raises: 3x12-15
- Tricep Pushdowns: 3x12-15
- Overhead Tricep Extension: 2x12-15
Pull Day B (Tuesday / Friday)
- Barbell Row: 4x6-10 (anchor)
- Weighted Pull-Up or Lat Pulldown: 3x8-12
- Seated Cable Row: 3x10-12
- Face Pull: 3x15-20
- Dumbbell Curl: 3x10-12
- Hammer Curl: 2x12-15
Leg Day C (Wednesday / Saturday)
- Barbell Back Squat: 4x6-10 (anchor)
- Romanian Deadlift: 3x8-12
- Leg Press: 3x10-15
- Walking Lunge: 3x12 per leg
- Leg Curl: 3x12-15
- Calf Raise: 4x15-20
Notice the rep ranges. They're not all the same. Your anchor moves live in the 6-10 range. Your accessories float between 10-20 depending on the muscle and the goal. Different rep ranges target different aspects of hypertrophy, and covering that spectrum in one workout is more complete than doing 4x10 on every single exercise.
Progressive Overload in PPL
The plan above is just exercises. Without progressive overload, it's a routine, not a program. There's a difference.
CoachCMFit's 6/6 Overload Rule: pick a weight you can complete all sets and reps with. Do that weight for 6 sessions. When you complete all 6 sessions successfully, add weight. Upper body: 5 lbs. Lower body: 10 lbs. Reset the counter. Repeat.
That's it. No complex periodization math for beginners. Just this simple rule. The beauty is it forces you to track your workouts, and most people don't. The ones who track progress and the ones who plateau are rarely the same people.
When to advance to wave loading: Once you've run two 12-week cycles with the 6/6 rule, consider wave loading for your anchor compounds: Week 1 at target reps, Week 2 drop 1 rep and add 5 lbs, Week 3 drop another rep and add 5 lbs, Week 4 restart at new baseline. This Eric Helms method keeps progress moving when the basic rule slows down.
PPL and the 12-Week Block System
PPL pairs perfectly with CoachCMFit's 12-Week Periodization System. The split stays the same. The intensity changes across blocks.
| Block | Weeks | Reps | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block 1: Foundation | 1-4 | 12-15 | Learn the movements, build habit |
| Block 2: Build | 5-8 | 8-12 | Progressive overload, body changes |
| Block 3: Challenge | 9-12 | 6-10 | Heaviest weights, peak performance |
In Block 1, you're learning the PPL structure. Don't add too much weight too fast. In Block 3, you're pushing toward personal records on your anchor compounds. That progression is what makes the split productive over 12 weeks, not just the first two.
Common PPL Mistakes
Running PPL on 3 hours of sleep and calling the results a workout program failure. Sleep is where muscles grow. Seven to nine hours is not optional recovery advice, it's part of the program.
Skipping leg day. Everyone does it. Leg day is brutal when you're new to squatting heavy. The solution isn't to skip it. The solution is to get better at squatting. Within 4-6 weeks, leg day stops feeling like punishment and starts feeling like the best session of the week.
Changing the program after two weeks because you're not seeing results. Muscle doesn't grow that fast. Strength adaptations take 4-6 weeks to show in the mirror, 8-12 weeks to show clearly. Run the program. Trust the process.
- Confirm you have at least 6 months of consistent training before starting
- Pick your schedule: 3-day or 6-day based on available time
- Test your starting weights this first session using loads you can complete all reps with good form
- Write down every set, rep, and weight from day one
- Apply the 6/6 Overload Rule starting in week 2
- Commit to 12 weeks minimum before evaluating