What is a push, pull, legs workout and should I be doing it?

When it comes to working out, it can be hard to know what you’re supposed to do. There’s a plethora of advice published online, with new videos, blogs, and posts coming out by the minute, and finding a routine to follow that is beginner-friendly and targets each of your muscle groups effectively is a bit of a challenge. Amongst all of these things though, there is a workout split that is generally well accepted by the fitness community, and that is the push, pull, legs workout (or PPL as it is sometimes called).

This type of workout is very simple to follow and effectively splits your body into three parts to target different muscle groups on different days. This makes it very accessible and useful for beginners and seasoned gym-goers alike. In this blog, we’ll take you through exactly what it means and how to incorporate it into your physical fitness journey.

What is push, pull, legs?

As mentioned, a PPL workout is split into three parts. These can be summarised very simply:

Push - you train your upper body by doing push based exercises. This targets muscles like the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Example exercises include bench press and lateral raises.
Pull - you train the upper body using only pull based exercises to target back, traps, and biceps. Example exercises include pull ups and barbell curls.
Legs - you train your legs, glutes, and abs with targeted exercises. Example exercises include squats and leg press.

Of course, as with all workouts, the example exercises act as just that. They should be tailored to your ability and we’d recommend consulting a PT or gym instructor if you’re unsure what exercises to try or how to use the machines. With that being said, we’ll give some examples below.

Push day workout

On push days, we’re targeting the chest, shoulders and triceps. You may find that your glutes and abs get a small workout as well as a byproduct of this - though we’re not specifically targeting those muscle groups. We can’t recommend a workout plan as you’ll have to pick exercises and weights that you know you can do, but we can suggest some good exercises for your push day workout:

Bench press - Lie flat on a bench, grab a barbell and lower it to your chest. Push it back up with fully extended arms.
Overhead shoulder press - Stand with a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height. Push the weights overhead until your arms are straight, then lower them back to the starting position at your shoulders.
Push ups - Get into a plank position with your hands just a little bit wider than shoulder-width. Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the ground, then push back up. You can do this on your knees if you need to.
Dumbbell lateral raises - Stand with a dumbbell in each hand and start with your hands at your sides. Bring the weights out to the sides until they are at shoulder level, then lower them back down.
Chest flys - With either a bench or the floor, lie flat on your back with a dumbbell in each hand, fully extend your arms above your chest and then lower the weights out to the sides in an arc shape and bring them back together above your chest.

Pull day workout

As with the above list, you’ll need to adapt these to your ability, or have someone spot you to ensure correct form and help with weights if you go too heavy.

Deadlifts - These are a little bit tricky to get your form right, so we’d recommend getting a gym instructor to help you learn how to do this properly. However, the basic movement is one where, keeping your legs slightly bent and your back flat, you bend over to pick up your barbell from the floor, raise it to hip height, and lower it back down to the floor slowly.
Pull-ups - There should be a machine in the gym where you can practice pull ups. Of course, this is not something that many beginners do, in which case your gym may also provide an assisted pull up machine which we’d recommend using. If they do not have this machine, skip this exercise until you’ve built enough upper body strength to start with pull-ups.
Bent-over rows - You can use a barbell or dumbbells to perform a bent-over row. Hinge at your hips, keeping your back straight and knees slightly bent, until your torso is almost parallel to the floor for proper form. Once in this position, pull your weight to your waist/hip area in a rowing motion, before dropping back down to reset and repeat.
Hamstring curls - You’ll need to use the dedicated machine in the gym for this. It’s quite straightforward to use so it's good for beginners. Just make sure that you have enough weight that you’re working the muscles without too little resistance, which results in the bar lifting up too quickly.
Bicep curls - Start by holding a dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging by your sides, with your elbows close to your torso. Keeping your upper arms in position, curl the weights up to your shoulders, rotating your wrists outwards, and lower the weight back down, then repeat.

Leg day workout

Lastly, here are some ideas for your leg day workout:

Barbell squats - Stand with a barbell resting across your shoulders, feet shoulder-width apart, then bend your knees and hips to lower into a squat, keeping your chest up and back straight, and push through your heels to return to standing.
Romanian deadlifts - Hold a barbell or dumbbells in front of your thighs with a slight bend in your knees, then hinge at your hips to lower the weight down your legs while keeping your back flat, and return to standing by engaging your glutes and hamstrings.
Walking lunges - Hold dumbbells by your sides, take a big step forward with one leg, lower your body until both knees are bent at 90 degrees, then push off the back foot and step forward into the next lunge.
Leg press - Sit in the leg press machine with your feet shoulder-width apart on the platform, then press the platform away by extending your legs fully (without locking your knees), and slowly return to the start position.
Bulgarian split squats - Stand a few feet in front of a bench and place one foot behind you on it, then lower your body into a lunge by bending the front knee, keeping your torso upright, and push through your front heel to rise back up.

Is a PPL workout suitable for everyone?

The PPL workout is straightforward and accessible to anyone at any level, making it a great option for most. However, it may not be the most suitable option for everyone. To really make it work, you need to be able to commit to working out at least three times a week to cover each of the days.

In addition, you may find that you have differing results from the people around you also doing this split. We’d recommend sticking with it for at least three months to see if you are making the progress that you want to see, and if not, you may need to switch routines to get better results. On the other hand, if this is working very well for you, you can up the routine to go more than three times a week, or switch up the exercises that you’re doing for a bigger challenge.

Get gym-ready with Avec Sport

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