Push pull legs (PPL) 6-day workout plan
Push, pull, legs, twice a week: a high-volume program for experienced lifters.
Who this program is for
For advanced lifters who have trained for several years and whose progress slows on lighter programs. Volume is high: 12 to 18 sets a week for most major muscle groups.
Weekly schedule
Six sessions a week: push, pull, legs, push, pull, legs, then a rest day. That is more than the 4 to 5 sessions a week the ACSM recommends for advanced lifters. If it is too much for your recovery or your schedule, run the cycle over three days and then take a rest day: about five sessions a week, for roughly 12% less volume. At similar volume, frequency makes little difference to muscle growth (Schoenfeld, 2019).
The workouts
Push
18 sets in total| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Bench press | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Standing overhead press | 3 × 6–10 | 2–3 min |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Lateral raises | 3 × 10–12 | 1–2 min |
| Cable fly | 2 × 10–12 | 1–2 min |
| Cable triceps pushdown | 3 × 8–12 | 1–2 min |
Pull
17 sets in total| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-ups | 3 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Barbell row | 3 × 6–10 | 2–3 min |
| Seated cable row | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Face pull | 3 × 10–12 | 1–2 min |
| Barbell curl | 3 × 8–12 | 1–2 min |
| Hammer curl | 2 × 8–12 | 1–2 min |
Legs
20 sets in total| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Back squat | 4 × 5–8 | 3 min |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 × 6–10 | 2–3 min |
| Leg press | 3 × 8–12 | 2 min |
| Leg curl | 3 × 8–12 | 1–2 min |
| Standing calf raise | 4 × 8–12 | 1–2 min |
| Cable crunch | 3 × 8–12 | 1 min |
Volume per muscle per week
The table is calculated from the program itself: it counts the sets where the muscle is the main target. Compound lifts work other muscles too, such as the triceps and front delts on presses and the biceps on rows and pulldowns. In 2017, Brad Schoenfeld's meta-analysis showed a dose-response relationship between volume and muscle growth: more sets, more muscle, with a trend favouring 10 or more sets per muscle per week.
Chest, back and shoulders get 18 sets a week, legs 12 to 14. That is high volume, meant for lifters who have already progressed on less: if your weights drop from one week to the next, cut the number of sets first.
| Muscle | Direct sets |
|---|---|
| Chest | 18 |
| Back | 18 |
| Shoulders | 18 |
| Biceps | 10 |
| Triceps | 6 |
| Quads | 14 |
| Hamstrings | 12 |
| Glutes | 14 |
| Calves | 8 |
| Abs | 6 |
How to progress
Each exercise has a rep range. Keep the same weight until you reach the top of the range on every set. Once you beat it by one or two reps, add weight: the ACSM recommends a 2 to 10% increase.
For example, on the bench press at 3 × 8 to 12: you start at 60 kg, add reps session after session until you complete 3 sets of 12 or 13, then move to 62.5 kg and work back up from the bottom of the range.
How hard to push each set
Stop most sets 1 to 3 reps short of failure: the last rep should feel genuinely hard. Martin Refalo's meta-analysis (2023) found no evidence that going all the way to muscle failure builds more muscle. Read our article on training to failure.
Rest times
The ACSM recommends 1 to 2 minutes of rest for muscle growth, and 3 to 5 minutes for very heavy loads. On compound lifts, Brad Schoenfeld's 2016 study got better results with 3 minutes than with 1 minute in trained lifters: don't cut rest short on the big lifts. Read our article on rest time.
Adapting the program
- The first exercise of each session is heavy, 5 to 8 reps: rest 3 minutes between sets.
- If you can't do 5 strict pull-ups, swap them for lat pulldowns; if you can easily do more than 8, add weight.
- Machine taken or missing? Swap the exercise for another one that targets the same muscle, with the same sets and reps.
- If you stall, feel constantly tired or have achy joints, a lighter week can help you get going again. Read our article on deloading.
Running this program in Loaden
- Create one routine per workout in the program builder, picking exercises from the library sorted by muscle, and set the rest time for each exercise.
- You can also ask the AI coach to generate an equivalent program, telling it about your equipment or injuries.
- During the session, the rest timer starts on every completed set, you can swap exercises on the fly, and the app suggests the weight for your next session.
Sources
- American College of Sports Medicine, "Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults", Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009.
- Schoenfeld B.J. et al., "Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis", Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017.
- Schoenfeld B.J. et al., "How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency", Journal of Sports Sciences, 2019.
- Schoenfeld B.J. et al., "Longer Interset Rest Periods Enhance Muscle Strength and Hypertrophy in Resistance-Trained Men", Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2016.
- Refalo M.C. et al., "Influence of Resistance Training Proximity-to-Failure on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis", Sports Medicine, 2023.
Start this program at your next session
Loaden logs every set, starts your rest timer and tells you what to lift next time.
