2-to-6 Day Splits for Mass Gain

The push pull legs routine isn’t new, nevertheless it’s endured for many years for one easy motive: it’s a implausible break up for gaining mass.

By organizing exercises round motion patterns as an alternative of muscle teams, the “PPL” break up means that you can prepare effectively, get well successfully, and construct muscle and power sooner than most different routines.

On this information, you’ll study every part it’s essential know concerning the push pull legs routine, together with find out how to construction your exercises, why it really works so effectively, and the perfect methods to adapt it to your objectives 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” muscle groups (pecs, shoulders, triceps), “pulling” muscle groups (again and biceps), or legs.
A well-designed push pull legs routine prioritizes compound workouts, permitting you to coach a number of muscle groups directly, carry heavy weights safely, and make constant progress.
A key good thing about the push pull legs break up is that it permits you loads of relaxation between exercises, so you possibly can prepare onerous whereas avoiding burnout.
The PPL break up is very versatile, permitting you to adapt your coaching to your objectives 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 break up or PPL break 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 muscle groups that push issues away out of your torso, comparable 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 embody isolation workouts on your triceps, just like the triceps pushdown, overhead triceps extension, and skullcrusher.

Pull Exercises

A pull day exercise trains all of the muscle groups 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.

Effectively-designed push pull legs break ups may even embody isolation workouts on your biceps, just like the biceps curl, hammer curl, and preacher curl.

Legs Exercises

A leg day exercise trains all of the lower-body muscle groups, such because the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. In contrast to push and pull exercises, these exercises usually don’t revolve round particular “motion patterns.”

As an alternative, they usually comprise workouts that prepare your complete decrease physique, comparable to the front and back squat, lunge, and leg press.

Advantages of Push Pull Legs Exercise Routines?

push pull legs split

Push pull legs routines are in style as a result of they emphasize compound weightlifting, permit for loads of relaxation, and might adapt to any schedule.

Let’s discover every of those advantages in additional element.

Emphasize Compound Workouts

Push pull legs routines are a staple coaching technique amongst bodybuilders and powerlifters as a result of they emphasize compound workouts.

A compound train is any train that targets a number of muscle teams directly, 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 can help you prepare dozens of muscle groups concurrently, carry heavy weights safely, and progress frequently, all of which makes them ultimate 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 plenty of vitality for exercises and plenty of time to get well afterward.

That’s why PPL has you break 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 permits your muscle groups loads of relaxation days between exercises, permitting you to carry out higher over the long run.

Extremely Adaptable

One other main good thing about the push pull legs routine is you possibly can simply customise it to suit your wants and circumstances.

With simply three primary exercises to select from, it’s simple to know and modify as wanted. For instance, essentially the most primary PPL break up seems like this:

Monday: Push
Wednesday: Pull
Friday: Legs

And you would do one thing like this in the event you want to coach simply twice per week:

Monday: Push and Pull
Thursday: Legs

Or, you would 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

ppl workout

Earlier than hitting the health club, the very first thing to resolve is what number of days per week you need to prepare.

You probably have ample time and need to maximize muscle and power good points, I like to recommend coaching 4-to-6 days per week.

For those who’re brief on time or don’t need to prepare that always, you possibly can 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 just a few PPL instance routines to select from.

Let’s begin with the exercises themselves, after which we’ll see find out how to mix them into routines.

The Push Pull Legs Exercises

You may create an infinite number of push pull legs routines, however listed below are just a few of my favorites.

As you’ll see, they contain plenty of heavy, compound weightlifting, supplemented with reasonably heavy accent work.

(For those who’re not sure find out how to carry out any of the workouts, click on on their names for an in depth information on secure and efficient method.)

Push Exercise #1

Push Exercise #2

Pull Exercise #1

Pull Exercise #2

Leg Exercise #1

Leg Exercise #2

Now, let’s see find out how to flip them into exercise routines.

The two-Day Push Pull Legs Routine

As I discussed earlier, you are able to do effectively coaching simply twice per week.

Extra can be higher in the event you’re making an attempt to realize mass and power as rapidly as doable. However, when circumstances don’t permit for extra health club time, this can be a stable 2-day PPL routine that you would be able to all the time fall again on to at the least preserve what you’ve bought:

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 essentially the most primary option to arrange a PPL break up. It’s additionally my favourite break up for coaching 3 days per week.

Once more, extra coaching is greatest for maximizing mass good points, however this 3-day PPL break up is a time-proven program for gaining measurement and power:

Monday: Push Exercise #1
Tuesday: Relaxation
Wednesday: Pull Exercise #1
Thursday: Relaxation
Friday: Leg Exercise #1
Saturday: Relaxation
Sunday: Relaxation

ppl split

The 4-Day Push Pull Legs Routines

Including a fourth day means that you can 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 well-liked push pull legs break up as a result of it means that you can push the boundaries of quantity and depth 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 break up accommodates about as a lot quantity as most pure weightlifters can handle earlier than they compromise restoration and subsequent progress.

As such, you need to solely try this push pull legs routine in the event you’re an skilled weightlifter who would profit from the additional quantity, in a lean bulking section, recovering effectively from coaching (e.g., no stress, aches and pains, or sleep points), and feeling as much as the problem.

For those who don’t meet these stipulations, select a much less demanding push pull legs break 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 Ideas for Extra Efficient Push Pull Legs Exercises

push pull legs workout

1. Finish each set 1-to-3 reps shy of muscle failure.

As I clarify in my health books for males and ladies, to maximise your outcomes, you will 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 might I’ve completed with good type?”

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.

For those who 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 method to each train in your push pull legs routine, aiming so as to add both weight or reps each session.

3. Take the suitable dietary supplements.

These dietary supplements might help you optimize your efficiency and good points whereas following a push pull legs exercise routine:

Protein powder: Protein powder, comparable to whey or casein, supplies your physique with the vitamins wanted to construct muscle tissue and get well from exercises.
Creatine: Creatine dietary supplements, comparable to creatine monohydrate powder and gummies, increase muscle and power acquire, 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 power 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 power. It emphasizes compound workouts, which make progressively overloading your muscle groups simple. This issues as a result of lifting heavier weights over time is the first driver of muscle progress.

The PPL break up additionally ensures you get loads of restoration, permitting you to coach onerous with out burning out, and it’s simple to adapt to totally different schedules and health objectives.

Regardless of these advantages, the push pull legs break up has not too long ago are available for criticism, primarily as a result of some assume it doesn’t prepare your muscle groups steadily sufficient to supply optimum good points.

I disagree.

The PPL routine is extremely versatile—you possibly can modify it to swimsuit any objective or schedule.

You may learn extra about my ideas on this subject right here:

Is the Push Pull Legs Break up “Lifeless?”

FAQ #2: What bodybuilders use the push pull legs break up?

Bodybuilders frequently change their routines, so it’s difficult to pinpoint who’s at the moment following a PPL break up.

Nonetheless, it’s been a go-to for a lot of prime athletes, together with six-time Mr. Olympia Chris Bumstead. Famend pure bodybuilder and coach Eric Helms additionally used a modified PPL break up as the idea for one of many routines in his ebook The Muscle and Power Pyramid: Coaching.

RELATED: An Knowledgeable Information to Eric Helms’s Novice Bodybuilding Program

FAQ #3: Push pull legs vs. Completely different muscle teams: Which is best?

Neither is best or worse than the opposite. Which you select is dependent upon your objectives and preferences.

The push pull legs break up presents extra scheduling flexibility and, when programmed accurately (or utilizing one of many routines above), ensures you prepare every muscle group steadily and with sufficient units to construct mass and power successfully.

In distinction, a routine that focuses on coaching totally different muscle groups on separate days—generally often known as the “bro break 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.

Nonetheless, most bro splits don’t prepare every muscle group typically sufficient to maximise muscle progress, making PPL a more sensible choice for these seeking to maximize mass and power good points normally.

RELATED: What Is a Bro Break up Exercise Routine?

FAQ #4: Push pull legs vs. Higher decrease: Which is best?

Each the push pull legs and higher decrease splits are wonderful routines, and neither is inherently higher or worse.

Each are extremely versatile and, when programmed accurately, make sure you prepare your muscle groups steadily and with sufficient quantity to maximise progress and power good points.

The first distinction is how upper-body coaching is organized. The higher decrease break up teams all upper-body workouts into “higher days,” whereas the PPL break up separates them into pushing and pulling exercises.

In observe, the outcomes from both method are almost an identical, so in the event you’re deciding between them, select the one which higher fits your preferences.

RELATED: The Greatest 3-, 4- & 5-Day Higher Decrease Exercise Splits for Mass