The push, pull, legs split: a 3-day and a 6-day plan
Push, pull, legs is popular because it is hard to get wrong. Every exercise goes in one of three groups, nothing gets trained twice by accident, and missing a day does not ruin the week. Here is the plan, plus the version for weeks when you only have three evenings.
What goes in each group
The split sorts exercises by what your body is doing, not by the muscle you are thinking about. Muscles that work together get trained together, then rest together.
| Day | What it covers | Main lifts |
|---|---|---|
| Push | Chest, shoulders, triceps | Bench press, overhead press, dips |
| Pull | Back, rear delts, biceps | Rows, pull-ups, pulldowns, curls |
| Legs | Quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves | Squats, Romanian deadlifts, lunges |
Look at where the triceps sit. They work on every press, so they belong on push day. Do a triceps session on Thursday and bench on Friday and you have made your own plan worse.
The three-day version
One round a week, on whichever three evenings you can protect. Each muscle gets trained once every seven days. That is not ideal for growth, and it is much better than a four-day plan you drop in two weeks.
Push day
- Barbell bench press 4 × 6, rest 2 minutes
- Barbell seated overhead press 3 × 8, rest 2 minutes
- Dumbbell incline bench press 3 × 10
- Dumbbell lateral raise 3 × 15
- Cable rope triceps pushdown 3 × 12
Barbell Seated Overhead Press
- Target
- deltoids
- Sets and reps
- 4 × 6
- Rest
- 120s
Push the bar slightly back as you press. Finish with it stacked over your ears, not in front of your face.
Cable Rope Triceps Pushdown
- Target
- triceps
- Sets and reps
- 3 × 12
- Rest
- 60s
Keep elbows tucked and spread the rope apart at the bottom to fully lock out the triceps.
Pull day
- Barbell bent over row 4 × 8, rest 2 minutes
- Lat pulldown 3 × 10, or pull-ups if you can do them
- Cable seated row 3 × 12
- Dumbbell rear lateral raise 3 × 15
- Barbell curl 3 × 10
Barbell Bent Over Row
- Target
- upper back
- Sets and reps
- 4 × 6
- Rest
- 120s
Keep your torso at roughly 45° and row toward your lower chest. Don't jerk with your lower back.
Barbell Curl
- Target
- biceps
- Sets and reps
- 3 × 12
- Rest
- 60s
Keep your elbows pinned to your sides. Squeeze hard at the top and lower slowly on the way down.
Leg day
- Barbell squat 4 × 5, rest 3 minutes
- Barbell Romanian deadlift 3 × 8
- Bulgarian split squat 3 × 10 each side
- Leg extension 3 × 12
- Standing calf raise 4 × 15
Three minutes between heavy squat sets feels like forever, and it is not optional. Cut it to 90 seconds and you are doing cardio with a bar on your back. Panko starts the rest timer as soon as you log a set, so you are not counting in your head.
The six-day version
Push, pull, legs, push, pull, legs, rest. Every muscle gets trained twice in seven days, which is where the research lands. Two sessions a week beats one, and three is not reliably better than two.
Six days is a real commitment. Miss two and you are running a four-day plan with six days of work in it, which mostly makes you tired. Before you pick it, look at how often you actually went to the gym in the last two months.
There is a middle option. Run push, pull, legs, rest, and repeat. That is about nine sessions a fortnight and hits each muscle every fifth day. It moves around the calendar, so leg day will land on a Saturday sooner or later.
On six days, do not repeat the same session twice. Make the first push day heavy at 5 to 6 reps and the second one lighter at 10 to 12. Same for pull and legs.
How much work per session
Ten to twenty hard sets per muscle per week is the range most people grow in. Below ten you are holding steady. Much above twenty and the extra sets are not worth what they cost you in recovery.
On three days that means five or six sets of chest in one go. On six days it is three sets, twice. Three sets is easier to recover from and easier to do well. That is the real reason to train more often: same work, spread out.
When the week goes wrong
- Missed one day? Push everything back a day. Do not skip a session to get back on schedule.
- Missed a week? Come back at 90% of your last weights for one session, then carry on.
- Only have 40 minutes? Do the first two exercises properly and go home.
The best plan is the one you are still doing in March.
Panko keeps the rotation for you, so you always know which day is next. It shows last time's weight and reps on every set, and runs the rest timer. If your gym does not have a machine, search 1,300 exercises by muscle or equipment and swap it out.
The short version
- Push is chest, shoulders and triceps. Pull is back and biceps. Legs is everything below the belt.
- Three days hits each muscle once a week. Six days hits each one twice.
- Aim for 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle per week, across however many days you can manage.
- On six days, make the second round lighter and higher rep instead of repeating the first.
- Miss a day and shift the whole week rather than skipping a session to catch up.
Questions
Is push pull legs better than upper lower?
For four days a week, upper lower fits better. For three or six days, push pull legs divides more evenly. Both work, and the gap between them is much smaller than the gap between going four times a week and going twice.
Where do abs and calves go?
Calves on leg day, at the end, while they are already warm. Abs wherever you will actually do them, which for most people is the last five minutes of any session.
Can a beginner run push pull legs?
Yes, on three days. Skip the six-day version for your first six months. A beginner recovers fast but is also learning five new movements at once, and doing that six times a week is how form goes bad.
Should deadlifts go on pull day or leg day?
Either. On pull day they compete with your rows. On leg day they compete with your squats. Most people do best with conventional deadlifts on pull day and Romanian deadlifts on leg day, which is what the plans above do.
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Let Panko keep score
Last time's weight on every set. A rest timer that starts on its own. Meals logged from a photo or a sentence. And a chart that shows you whether it is working.