For Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Lifters: The Push-Pull-Legs Split Technique
Regardless of past lifting expertise, creating a push-pull-legs programme from the ground up requires some forethought and technique. Fortunately, the push-pull-legs exercise programme is rather simple and easy to follow for just about any gym goer, athlete, or bodybuilder who wants to gain strength and muscular growth(Exercises Technique).
This article will go through a variety of complex exercises you can use into your push-pull-legs split to effectively target the key muscular groups. By the time you’re done, you’ll be equipped to design any other exercise split you find appealing in addition to a solid push-pull-legs regimen. If you decide to try a different exercise regimen in the future, like this power building programme, this will be helpful.
What precisely is the push-pull-legs exercise? To understand more about this well-known weight-training split, keep reading.
The Push-Pull-Legs Routine: What is it?
Muscle groups are divided into two fundamental functional categories in the push-pull-legs (PPL) exercise routine: muscular groups for pulling and pushing weight. From the perspective of biomechanics, these are the two main functions of muscles; they either flex or extend, hence reducing or increasing joint angles.
When you lift weights, the resulting force from your muscles contracting pushes or pulls things towards or away from your body. The exception is static/isometric force, although it is unimportant in this context.
Pulling a door close, which requires using your biceps and latissimus dorsi (lats), is a common example. In the context of gym activities, the barbell bench press is the most straightforward illustration of a push exercise since it calls for you to flex your triceps and pectorals (chest muscles) in order to push the weight off your chest.
As a result, PPL exercises are divided into push days, pull days, and leg days. Your legs are technically used in both pulling and pushing motions.
One ‘push exercise’ is the barbell squat, which requires you to drive through your heels in order to shove your body forward and bring the bar off the ground. On the other hand, leg curls are a “pulling exercise.”
Your core muscles (such as your abdominals, obliques, and spinal erectors) are often trained on leg days in a PPL split because they are employed in both pushing and pulling movements.
PPL Workouts’ Muscle Work
The push-pull-legs exercise is a whole-body split that works every major muscle group at least once a week. You’ll frequently work out a muscle group twice a week. Although you don’t directly target every significant lower- and upper-body muscle group during a single training session, PPL isn’t a real “full-body” workout.
Instead, you will work out your muscles in accordance with their biomechanical role of pushing or pulling. The pecs (chest), triceps, and shoulders are the main muscles exercised on push day since push activities include muscles that transmit force outward.
PUSH-PULL-LEGS SPLIT ESSENTIALS. HOW MANY WORKOUTS PER WEEK?
Starting with a push exercise that emphasizes all of the pushing muscles in the upper body, a push-pull-legs training split follows, as the name suggests. All the upper-body muscles that pull are used in the next pull session. After the push and pull exercises, the PPL “cycle” is finished with a lower-body exercise before returning to the push exercise.
A push-pull-legs 3-day split would resemble this if you begin training on Monday:
- Push Day Workout on Monday
- Tuesday is a day off.
- Workout on Wednesday for Pull Day
- Rest Day on Thursday
- Workout for Leg Day on Friday
- Rest Days on Saturday and Sunday
As you can see, it’s rather easy and gives you lots of leisure to rest in between exercises. On the other hand, more experienced lifters could train four, five, or even six days per week using a PPL split, working each muscle group many times.
Although there are a number of methods to divide a push-pull-legs routine exercise, the most popular strategy for novice and intermediate lifters is to train three or four days a week. If they can bear the rigors of working out the same muscle group so often, advanced trainees may visit the gym six days each week.
However, to increase muscle mass and guarantee continuous improvement on a push-pull-legs programme, rest and recuperation are crucial. Therefore, don’t intend to lift every day of the week. When you’re not working out at the gym, your muscles hypertrophy (grow). Ironically, overtraining can result in poor performance and performance declines.
Pay attention to your body’s signals of overtraining and pay attention to them. Instead of training five or six days a week and dragging every time you go to the gym. It is preferable to lift weights four days a week while feeling powerful and renewed after each session.
Keep in mind that it’s not only how much time you put in that counts; It’s also how you use that time. By lifting just three or four times a week for 45 to 60 minutes, many gym users achieve fantastic results. Your time doesn’t have to be completely consumed by a push-pull-legs split. If anything, you shouldn’t need more than two hours to finish each PPL session. Especially if you’re working out five or six days a week.
And if you feel like you need a little boost before working out. Don’t discount the value of a scientifically dosed pre-workout supplement like Transparent Labs BULK. (There is a reason why “The Mountain,” Hazor Jus Björnsson, can depend on BULK before every workout.)
How to Design a Push-Pull Legs Exercise for Building Muscle and Increasing Whole-Body Strength
Having a better understanding of the PPL split, let’s discuss the various exercises to include in push sessions, pull workouts, and leg workouts. Compound free-weight workouts are the fundamental motions on any given day. These movements work several different muscle groups, making them the foundation of any fitness programme.
Compound exercises are the best way to start your PPL workouts because they provide you the full-body strength needed to lift larger weights. Lifting bigger weights over time results in increased mechanical overload and, thus, muscular development.
Compound exercises use many muscle groups. So you shouldn’t worry too much about “feeling” your muscles contract. Pay close attention to good form, weight management, and the basic movement patterns involved.
Each muscle participating in a complex lift may be compared to an instrument in an orchestra. For the music to sound as intended, everything must be exactly timed. The barbell squat, deadlift, and bench press are examples of exercises that fit this description. Increasing the weight on the bar is a fantastic way to challenge yourself, but not if doing so compromises your form or causes you to lose balance.
You may approach each muscle group as a guitar solo during isolation workouts. By promoting blood flow to the targeted muscle part, these exercises help you focus on the aforementioned “mind-muscle connection” and give your muscles a good pump. Therefore, it’s better to reserve isolation exercises until the end of your workout. When your muscles are already worn out.
In light of this, the following are the best exercises for each session of a push-pull-legs routine:
PUSH WORKOUT EXERCISES
Your chest, shoulders. And triceps will be mostly worked out during push workouts. Choose three to four compound movements to begin your push sessions, and two to three isolation exercises to close each session, depending on your degree of skill. Try to stay with your workout choices for at least six weeks. Before making changes, you want to allow yourself time to observe improvement in the lifts you chose.
You may incorporate the following push exercises into your “push day” workout:
Exercises for Compound Push
- Bench press with dumbbells: flat, incline, or decline
- Bench press with a barbell: flat, incline, or decline
- Dumbbell shoulder press while seated
- military press when standing
- Shoulder press Arnold
- Push-ups Dips
Exercises for Isolation Push
Crushers of skulls (French press)
extended triceps
Trench presses
Fly’s using a dumbbell. Cable, or a pec deck machine Lifting a dumbbell laterally Although technically a pulling activity. This matches push day better.
- Crushers of skulls (French press)
- extended triceps
- Trench presses
- Fly’s using a dumbbell, a cable, or a pec deck machine
- lateral dumbbell lift
Technically a pulling motion, however it works better on a day when you push.
PULL DAY ACTIVITIES
Push workouts contrast sharply with pull exercises. Pull exercises, which target your biceps, back muscles (such as the lats, traps, and rhomboids), and shoulders (primarily the rear delts), involve pulling the weight towards you. For four to six weeks select two to three isolation exercises and three to four complex exercises to undertake, then switch up your pull exercises a little to keep things interesting.
Pull-Compound Exercises
- Pull-ups and chin-ups, barbell deadlift, and barbell row
- Row Pendley
- Barbell row
- a cable rows
- a T-bar rows
- standing row
- lateral rise
Although it is technically a pushing motion, pull exercises are more common.
Pull-and-Isolation Exercises
- Dumbbell hoodies
- face slacks
- Reverse pec deck or bent-over rear delt lateral lift
- (Barbell or dumbbell) bicep curls
- Weighted hammer curls
- Dumbbell or barbell sighs
LIGATURE WORKOUTS FOR PPL ROUTINE
When choosing exercises for the leg day of your PPL regimen, keep in mind that a leg exercise can, from a biomechanics perspective, either be a push or a pull. Instead, emphasize diversity in your workouts to train all of your lower-body muscles, including your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. Pick five to seven exercises, starting once more with complex motions.
The greatest way to get the most out of your leg day is to start it off with a squat exercise. Save the leg curls and extensions until the finish of your exercise when your muscles are completely drained.
Compound Leg Workouts
- Squats with a barbell (front and back)
- Deadlifts with tense legs to highlight the glutes and hamstrings
- Dumbbell or barbell lunges
- split squats in Bulgaria
- Weighted hip thrust
- Leg lift
- Jump squats
Leg exercises for isolation
- Raise your glute-ham
- tummy kickbacks
- hyperextension in reverse
- Leg elongations
- Knee bends
- raising calves
- Machine for hip adduction and abduction
PRIMARY EXERCISES
You are free to train your core muscles anyway you choose on a PPL regimen because they are used in both pushing and pulling actions. Most of the time, folks choose to include a few core exercises in their leg workouts.
Good core exercises to incorporate into push-pull-leg routines are as follows:
- Planks
- Raising a dangling leg
- Rollouts and ab wheels
- Hyperextensions
- twists a medicine ball
PPL is a fantastic full-body split; Therefore, A lot of indirect core muscle work comes from movements like squats, rows, deadlifts, and standing overhead presses.
Example Splits for Push-Pull Legs Routines in Workouts
We’ve developed various templates for a range of skill levels to provide you with some insight on PPL exercise regimens. It’s advisable to start with the basic 3-day regimen and stay with it for at least a few months if you’re new to strength training. Moving to a four- or five-day split is acceptable after you are confident in your workout technique and have a solid base of muscle mass.
You are free to change the number of sets and reps for each activity. To encourage strength and muscular growth, the ranges employed in the routines below are a healthy combination of high-reps (e.g., 10-15 each set) and low-reps (e.g., 3-6 per set).
Note: Note the number of sets does not include warm-up sets. On the first exercise of each session, complete three to four warm-up sets with a reasonably modest weight. Your muscles should be relaxed to increase blood flow, foam rolling and dynamic stretching may also be advisable.
Use a weight for working sets such that after you finish the required number of repetitions, you are just one rep away from ultimate failure. For sets with smaller rep ranges (e.g., 6 reps or less), rest for 90 to 120 seconds, and for the remaining sets, rest for 60 to 90 seconds.
3 Day Beginner Push-Pull Leg Split
Beginners can’t go wrong with a simple 3-day push-pull-legs split to gain strength and muscle. It concentrates on the “big 3” exercises—the bench press, squat, and deadlift—and is straightforward and simple to follow. It also provides for plenty of recuperation time in between workouts.
Training schedule illustration
- Push Day Workout on Monday
- Tuesday is a day off.
- Workout on Wednesday for Pull Day
- Rest Day on Thursday; Leg Day Workout on Friday.
- Rest Days on Saturday and Sunday
5-DAY SPLIT PUSH-PULL-LEGS (INTERMEDIATE OR ADVANCED LIFTERS)
For intermediate and experienced lifters who prefer a 3-on, 1-off, 2-on, 1-off training regimen, this exercise is appropriate. There will be one PPL session that “carries over” into the next week because you’ll be lifting five days a week (see example below).
Training schedule illustration
First Week
- (Push Workout A) on Monday
- (Pull Workout A) on Tuesday
- Wednesday (A Leg Day)
- Thursday (a day off)
- (Push Workout B) on Friday
- (Pull Workout B) on Saturday
- (Sunday (Rest Day)
Week 2
- (Monday, Leg Exercise B)
- (Push Workout A) on Tuesday
- a pull workout on Wednesday
- Thursday (a day off)
- (Leg Workout A) on Friday
- The Push Workout B on Saturday
- Sunday, a day of rest
Week 3
- (Pull Workout B) on Monday
- (Leg Workout B) on Tuesday
- a push workout on Wednesday
- Thursday (a day off)
- (Pull Workout A) on Friday
- (Saturday, Leg Exercise A)
- (Sunday, a day of rest)
6 Day Advanced Push Pull Leg Split
This 6-day split is the most punishing there is for serious bodybuilders and powerlifters (in a good manner, of course). The trick here is to keep an eye on your training volume every exercise to prevent rapid fatigue. It will be important to pay attention to your body. So don’t be afraid to take a few extra days off sometimes if you’re feeling exhausted or gassed.
Training schedule illustration
- (Push Workout A) on Monday
- (Pull Workout A) on Tuesday
- Wednesday (A Leg Day)
- The Push Workout B on Thursday
- (Pull Workout B) on Friday
- (Saturday, Leg Exercise B)
- Sunday, a day of rest
Regular Notes:
- As Many Reps as Possible, or AMRAP
- Drop Set for AMRAP: After finishing your last set, take a 10-second break. Then, drop the load by 25% to 30% and perform the AMRAP with the less weight.
How to Advance. Training Volume and Frequency.
Gaining strength and gaining muscle are sometimes perceived as being highly difficult tasks. It might be challenging for lifters to understand the wider picture since there are so many exercises and publications out there that assert to have the “best” techniques. Let’s keep the muscle-building process straightforward by discussing the fundamental ideas that underpin consistent improvement in any exercise programme.
Progressive overload, which calls for higher weights and/or more sets and repetitions than before, stimulates the development of muscles [1]. This is because of muscular adaptation; as your muscles become more resilient to training stressors (like volume). more stress is required to maintain them there.
The number of sessions you complete each week is a crucial component of your exercise regimen [2]. Going from a 3-day split to a 4-day split is an illustration of increased training frequency.
Beginners often do better with a three-days-per-week training schedule that emphasizes the entire body. It may be wise to increase your exercise frequency to a 4- or 5-day split that concentrates on your upper-body and lower-body muscles twice per week as you gain strength and muscle.
WHO IS THE TRAINING VOLUME FOR.
Rep additions at the set level signal the start of progression. When you can complete a good number of reps each set. You must eventually increase weight to make the set harder. All of this leads to training volume, which is determined by multiplying the quantity of sets you complete by the number of repetitions you complete by the weight you lift: Total training volume equals sets times repetitions times load (in kg or lbs.).
The total training volume for the bench press, for instance, would be 4,050 lbs. if you performed 3 sets of 10 reps with 135 lbs. Watch what happens if you return the next week and perform 4 sets of 8 repetitions using 135 pounds: 8, times 135 pounds, is 4,320 pounds. Boom! You simply upped the amount of training you do.
Take note of how even little adjustments to your set and rep patterns can result in a substantial increase in training volume. As a result, when using a PPL plan. You should continually aim to improve upon your prior exercises. In some cases (especially if you’re new to lifting). This will simply include weekly weight increases on the bar; in other cases, it can entail performing an additional set of an exercise. Your muscles will continue to adapt as long as you keep moving forward and, in some way, increase the amount of your workout.
The problem with progress is that it grows tougher with time, creating a logarithmic curve in which time is on the X-axis and “progress” is on the Y-axis.
As a result, advancement is only linear in the early stages of a lifter’s career. Building muscle and gaining strength takes longer as you gain experience and get closer to your genetic potential (see chart below).
No of their degree of expertise, weightlifters and athletes should keep tabs on their development. Nobody who has a sizable amount of muscle is weak. And the opposite is usually also true. You won’t see much in the way of increases in strength and muscle size if you don’t advance, or gradually increase your workout load.
