Push, pull, legs: a 6-day workout plan
Push (chest, shoulders, triceps), pull (back, biceps) and legs, each twice a week. Six workouts of 75 minutes for someone who trains regularly and has the days for it.
Most exercises get three working sets close to failure, so every muscle gets many hard sets a week; the table under the plan shows how many. The A and B days use different exercises, and Liftava suggests the next weights and reps every workout.
- workouts a week
- 6
- minutes a workout
- 75
- exercises
- 42
- sets a week
- 118
- MonPush
- TuePull
- WedLegs
- ThuPush
- FriPull
- SatLegs
- SunRest
A week as an example. Train on any days: the plan goes on in its order.
Push A
- Barbell Bench Press3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Dumbbell Overhead Press3 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Machine Incline Chest Press2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Pec Deck Fly3 × 10–12
- Cable Lateral Raise3 × 12–15
- Triceps Pushdown2 × 10–12
Pull A
- Lat Pulldown3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Seated Cable Row (V Grip)3 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Reverse Pec Deck3 × 12–15
- Dumbbell Bicep Curl3 × 10–12
- Straight Arm Pulldown3 × 10–12
- Machine Lateral Raise3 × 12–15
- Cable Crunch3 × 12–15
Legs A
- Barbell Back Squat3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Barbell Romanian Deadlift3 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Horizontal Leg Press2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Leg Extension3 × 10–12
- Lying Leg Curl3 × 10–12
- Machine Standing Calf Raise3 × 12–15
- Hip Abduction Machine3 × 12–15
- Hanging Leg Raise3 × 8–12
Push B
- Dumbbell Incline Bench Press3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Machine Shoulder Press3 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Machine Chest Press2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Cable Crossover Fly3 × 10–12
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise3 × 12–15
- Cable Overhead Triceps Extension2 × 10–12
Pull B
- Chest Supported T-Bar Row3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Pull Up3 × 4–8
- Cable Rear Delt Fly3 × 12–15
- Bayesian Curl3 × 10–12
- Machine Pullover3 × 10–12
- Cable Y Raise3 × 12–15
- Ab Crunch Machine3 × 12–15
Legs B
- Leg Press3 × 6–8+ 2 warm-up
- Barbell Hip Thrust2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Hack Squat2 × 8–10+ 1 warm-up
- Seated Leg Curl3 × 10–12
- Single Leg Extension3 × 10–12
- Leg Press Calf Raise3 × 12–15
- Cable Hip Abduction2 × 12–15
- Hanging Knee Raise3 × 15–25
Rest after a set: 3 min after the day’s first exercise, 2.5 min after the other big ones, 1.5 min after the rest.
Hard sets a week
Sets close to failure each muscle gets in a week: a working set counts whole for each muscle the exercise mainly trains, half for one that helps.
Weeks with fewer than six workouts
The days go in this order: Push A, Pull A, Legs A, Push B, Pull B, Legs B. Liftava starts each workout with the day after the last one you trained, whatever the date. In a week with five workouts, the next week simply starts with the day where the plan stopped.
Where the 75 minutes go
The time counts 5 minutes of general warm-up, 1 minute to set up each exercise, 1 minute for each warm-up set and every working set with its rest: 3 minutes after the first exercise of the day, 2 to 2.5 minutes after the other compound lifts and 1.5 minutes after the smaller exercises. With three working sets on most exercises that adds up quickly. A day ends when its sets are done, which can be before 75 minutes.
How the plan is built
- With two days a week or more, every split trains each muscle at least twice a week.
- A day starts with the big movements (a squat or leg press, a press, a row, a hinge) and ends with smaller exercises for shoulders, arms, calves and abs, as many as fit the time you chose.
- Each movement has a list of exercises from the best to the furthest alternative. The main lifts keep to the best one or two all week, so a beginner learns their lifts; the smaller exercises take the next one each time, so two days do not repeat each other.
- Every exercise starts with two working sets close to failure. A workout longer than an hour adds a third, and once you train regularly so does an hour in a gym three days a week or more, for the exercises of the big muscles. A muscle you want to bring up gets a set more.
- Extra exercises and sets stop at a weekly ceiling for each muscle: 14 hard sets for a beginner, 18 for regular training, 20 when experienced (4 more for a muscle you bring up), counting what the presses and pulls give it too. The table under the plan shows how many each gets.