The 6-day push/pull/legs split
Push/pull/legs is the most popular high-frequency split for a reason: it groups muscles that already work together, so every session has a clear job and nothing gets trained the day after it was hammered. Run twice per week, it hits every muscle group two times every seven days — which is where most of the research on training frequency lands.
This page gives you the full program. If you'd rather adjust the exercises, sets, or progression and get a week-by-week spreadsheet out the other end, you can build this program in the builder and export it as a CSV.
Who this split is for
Six training days a week is a real commitment, and it is the wrong answer for a lot of people. This split fits you if:
- You can train six days most weeks without it wrecking your sleep, job, or sanity.
- You have at least six months to a year of consistent lifting behind you.
- You have reliable gym access and roughly 60–75 minutes per session.
If you can only train three or four days, you will get better results from a split built for that — see the 4-day upper/lower split or the 3-day full body routine. A 4-day program you actually finish beats a 6-day program you abandon in week three.
The weekly schedule
| Day | Session | Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Push A | Chest focus |
| Tuesday | Pull A | Back thickness |
| Wednesday | Legs A | Quad focus |
| Thursday | Push B | Shoulder focus |
| Friday | Pull B | Back width |
| Saturday | Legs B | Posterior chain |
| Sunday | Rest | — |
The A and B sessions are not the same workout twice. Each pair shifts emphasis and rep range so you get heavier work and higher-rep work for every muscle across the week, rather than grinding the identical session on repeat.
The program
Rep ranges are given as a range because you are meant to move within them — see progression below. Take every working set to roughly 1–3 reps in reserve: the point where you could manage one to three more clean reps if you had to.
Push A — chest focus
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Cable lateral raise | 3 × 12–20 | 60–90 s |
| Overhead cable triceps extension | 3 × 10–15 | 60–90 s |
| Triceps pushdown | 2 × 12–15 | 60 s |
Pull A — back thickness
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell row | 4 × 6–10 | 3 min |
| Lat pulldown | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Chest-supported row | 3 × 10–12 | 2 min |
| Face pull | 3 × 15–20 | 60 s |
| EZ bar curl | 3 × 8–12 | 90 s |
| Incline dumbbell curl | 2 × 12–15 | 60 s |
Legs A — quad focus
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Back squat | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 × 8–12 | 2–3 min |
| Leg press | 3 × 10–15 | 2 min |
| Lying leg curl | 3 × 10–15 | 90 s |
| Standing calf raise | 4 × 8–12 | 90 s |
Push B — shoulder focus
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Overhead press | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Flat dumbbell press | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Cable fly | 3 × 12–15 | 90 s |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 3 × 12–20 | 60–90 s |
| Dips (weighted if possible) | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Skull crushers | 3 × 10–12 | 90 s |
Pull B — back width
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-up (weighted if possible) | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Seated cable row | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Single-arm dumbbell row | 3 × 10–12 | 90 s |
| Reverse pec deck | 3 × 15–20 | 60 s |
| Hammer curl | 3 × 10–12 | 90 s |
| Cable curl | 2 × 12–15 | 60 s |
Legs B — posterior chain
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Conventional or trap bar deadlift | 3 × 4–6 | 3–4 min |
| Hack squat or front squat | 3 × 8–12 | 2–3 min |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 × 10–12 | 2 min |
| Seated leg curl | 3 × 12–15 | 90 s |
| Leg extension | 3 × 12–15 | 90 s |
| Seated calf raise | 4 × 10–15 | 90 s |
Weekly volume per muscle
Volume is the main driver of growth, and the usual evidence-based target is roughly 10–20 hard sets per muscle group per week. Here is where this program actually lands, counting direct sets:
| Muscle | Weekly sets | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chest | 13 | Plus indirect work from dips and pressing |
| Back | 20 | Top of the range — back tolerates it well |
| Side delts | 6 direct | Plus heavy pressing; raise if shoulders lag |
| Quads | 16 | |
| Hamstrings | 12 | |
| Biceps | 10 | Plus heavy rowing and pull-ups |
| Triceps | 11 | Plus all pressing |
| Calves | 8 | Raise to 12+ if they're a weak point |
If you are coming off a lower-volume program, start at the bottom of these numbers by cutting one set from each exercise for the first two weeks. Volume you can recover from beats volume on paper.
How to progress each lift
The program above is a starting point, not the actual training stimulus. What makes you grow is doing measurably more over time. The simplest reliable method is double progression:
- Pick your rep range — say 8–12 on incline dumbbell press.
- Stay at the same weight until you hit the top of the range on every set. So 12, 12, 12.
- Next session, add the smallest available jump and drop back to the bottom of the range: 8, 8, 8.
- Climb again. Repeat.
Use small jumps — 2.5 kg / 5 lb on upper-body lifts and 5 kg / 10 lb on lower-body lifts. Bigger jumps stall you faster than they advance you. For your heaviest compounds you can instead use fixed weekly increases or estimated-1RM progression; the program guide covers when each makes sense.
Deload weeks
Fatigue accumulates faster on a six-day split than most people expect. Plan a lighter week roughly every fourth to sixth week rather than waiting until your joints or your motivation force one on you. A deload week keeps the same exercises but drops roughly 7–10% off the weight and removes about a set per exercise. You are not detraining — you are letting accumulated fatigue clear so the next block starts from a higher floor.
The 5-day variant
Six sessions is a lot of weeks to protect. A rolling five-day version keeps the same sequence but does not tie sessions to fixed weekdays — you just run Push, Pull, Legs, Push, Pull, Legs continuously with a rest day whenever you need one. Each muscle then gets trained roughly every fifth day instead of every seventh, which usually works out to slightly more weekly volume, not less.
The tradeoff is that your training days drift across the calendar, so "leg day" lands on a different weekday each week. If you need fixed days, run the six-day version above and simply accept the occasional missed session.
Common mistakes
- Treating A and B as identical. If both push days are the same session, you lose the heavy/light variation that makes the split work.
- Adding weight before earning it. Double progression only works if you hit the top of the range on every set first.
- Skipping legs B. It's the most commonly dropped session and the reason so many PPL lifters have no posterior chain.
- Never deloading. Six days a week without planned recovery reliably ends in a stall or a tweak.
- Not tracking. If you don't write down last week's numbers, you can't know whether you progressed.
Build this program
You can set this up in the builder in a few minutes: choose the push/pull/legs template, label your six training days, assign the exercises above, and set a rep range and progression rule per lift. Mark weeks 4, 8, and 12 as deloads and export the whole block as a CSV with target weight and reps for every set, every week.
Build this PPL program →Related: 4-day upper/lower split · 3-day full body routine · how to build a hypertrophy program · FAQ