Push Pull Legs for Beginners: A Simple 3-Day Split

A push pull legs split organizes your training by movement: push days work chest, shoulders and triceps, pull days work back and biceps, and leg days cover quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. For beginners, the simplest version is three days a week, for example push on Monday, pull on Wednesday and legs on Friday, with a rest day between each session.

It's popular because it's easy to understand, easy to schedule and easy to grow into a longer program. Below is a complete beginner plan, how to progress it, and the mistakes that stall most people in the first few months.

Is push pull legs good for beginners?

Yes, as long as you keep it simple. The upside of PPL is clarity: every day has one job, and the muscles you trained are getting a few days to recover before you hit them again.

The trade-off is frequency. On a three-day PPL, each muscle group gets trained once a week. Many coaches start beginners on full-body workouts so they practise the big lifts more often, and that's a solid choice too. If you like the structure of PPL and you'll actually show up for it, it's a good place to start. The best program is the one you follow.

	3-day PPL	3-day full body
Sessions per week	3	3
Each muscle trained	1x per week	3x per week
Session focus	One movement pattern	Whole body
Easy to expand later	Yes, to 6 days	Yes, to upper/lower
Best for	People who like clear, focused days	Practising lifts more often

The 3-day beginner PPL program

Do these on non-consecutive days (Mon/Wed/Fri, or Tue/Thu/Sat). Rest about 1–2 minutes between sets on smaller exercises and 2–3 minutes on the big compound lifts.

Day 1: Push (chest, shoulders, triceps)

1. Bench press (barbell or dumbbell): 3 sets of 6–10
2. Overhead press (barbell or dumbbell): 3 sets of 8–10
3. Incline dumbbell press: 3 sets of 8–12
4. Lateral raise: 3 sets of 12–15
5. Triceps pushdown: 3 sets of 10–15

Day 2: Pull (back, biceps)

1. Lat pulldown or assisted pull-up: 3 sets of 8–12
2. Barbell or chest-supported row: 3 sets of 8–10
3. Seated cable row: 3 sets of 10–12
4. Face pull: 3 sets of 12–15
5. Dumbbell curl: 3 sets of 10–12

Day 3: Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves)

1. Squat (back squat, goblet squat or leg press): 3 sets of 6–10
2. Romanian deadlift: 3 sets of 8–10
3. Walking lunge or split squat: 3 sets of 8–10 per leg
4. Leg curl: 3 sets of 10–12
5. Standing calf raise: 3 sets of 12–15

Start every session with 5–10 minutes of easy cardio and a few lighter warm-up sets of your first exercise.

How to progress: double progression

Beginners don't need complicated periodization. Use double progression:

1. Pick a weight you can lift for the bottom of the rep range with good form (for example, 8 reps on an 8–12 exercise).
2. Each session, try to add a rep or two at the same weight.
3. When you hit the top of the range on all sets (12, 12, 12), add a small amount of weight next time and work back up.

Keep one or two reps in the tank on most sets. You should finish a set feeling like you could have done a little more with clean form. Grinding every set to failure makes recovery harder and form worse.

Write everything down. If you're guessing what you lifted last week, you can't beat it. Our free 4-week training tracker gives you a simple log for exactly this.

When to move to a 6-day PPL

Once you've run the 3-day version consistently for a few months, recover well between sessions and want more training, you can run the cycle twice a week: push, pull, legs, push, pull, legs, rest.

Don't rush it. Six days is a big jump in workload and time. Plenty of lifters make great progress on three or four days a week for years. A middle option is four days: rotate through push, pull and legs continuously, so the order shifts each week.

Common beginner mistakes on PPL

• Too many exercises. Five movements per session is plenty. Adding a sixth and seventh mostly adds fatigue.
• Skipping leg day. It's the hardest session, so it's the easiest to skip. Put it on a day you're least likely to miss.
• Changing the program every two weeks. Progress comes from adding reps and weight to the same lifts over time. Give a program at least 8–12 weeks.
• Ego lifting. Learn the movement first. If a lift looks or feels wrong, lower the weight. If something hurts (not just muscle effort), stop and get it checked by a qualified professional such as a physical therapist or doctor before you train through it.
• Ignoring recovery. Sleep, food and rest days are when you actually get stronger. Showing up tired every session catches up with you.

Struggling with the showing-up part? Read How to Stay Consistent at the Gym When Motivation Runs Out.

What to wear on push, pull and leg days

You don't need special gear, but a few things help:

• Push and pull days: a shirt that doesn't restrict your shoulders. A boxy heavyweight tee gives you room on presses and rows.
• Leg days: shorts or joggers that let you squat to depth without pulling at the knees, and flat, stable shoes.
• Cold gym: start in a hoodie for warm-ups and take it off once your working sets begin.

The bottom line

A 3-day push pull legs split is a simple, effective way to start lifting: three focused sessions, five exercises each, and a clear way to progress. Learn the lifts, add reps before weight, write it all down and stay consistent for months, not weeks.

Grab the free training tracker to log your first block, and shop training tees built for heavy days →

Related: Deload Week Explained: When You Need One and How to Do It

Related: Progressive Overload for Beginners: How to Keep Getting Stronger