Push Pull Legs program (6 days)

Run Push / Pull / Legs / rest / Push / Pull / Legs, or spread across the week with more rest if you recover more slowly. Each group is thus trained twice every seven days.

Since volume is high, keep one or two reps in reserve on most sets to recover well between sessions. This is not a program to start with.

With six sessions a week, recovery becomes the limiting factor even before exercise selection. Aim for eight hours of sleep, protein intake spread across the whole day, and proper hydration: without that foundation, PPL's high volume quickly turns into chronic fatigue rather than progress. Many advanced lifters actually consider stress and sleep management the real lever for progress once movement technique is already dialed in. A short daily mobility routine for the shoulders and hips also pays off fast, since those joints absorb a lot of repeated stress across six weekly sessions.

The six-session Push Pull Legs is aimed at confirmed intermediate and advanced lifters who can train nearly every day and recover well between sessions. It assumes solid technique on the basic lifts already, because high volume does not forgive repeated execution mistakes.

This is clearly not an entry point for a beginner: without a base of strength and technique, six weekly sessions more often lead to injury or burnout than to extra gains. A beginner will progress faster and more safely with a full-body or upper/lower program.

If you are torn between this format and a lighter version, start with the 3-day version covered in the FAQ: it will let you judge whether you recover well enough before considering the jump to six sessions.

As with any gym-based strength program, you will need a barbell, plates and a rack for bench press, squats and heavy rows, plus an adjustable bench for press variations.

The PPL format leans heavily on cables and guided machines, especially on push and pull days: plan on access to a high and low pulley station, press and row machines, and a good dumbbell selection for isolation work.

A pull-up bar and a dip station round out the equipment nicely, especially to vary push and pull exercises across weeks without getting stuck on the exact same movements.

The first, very common mistake is underestimating recovery: with six sessions, sleeping less than seven hours or eating too little protein quickly turns high volume into overtraining rather than muscle growth.

The second is ego lifting on already numerous sets: loading too heavy late in a session degrades technique, raises injury risk, and makes recovery even harder to manage across the week.

The third is staying on this format indefinitely without ever deloading: after several weeks of high volume, a lighter week helps you avoid accumulated fatigue and come back stronger.