The Complete Push Pull Legs Split — 3-Day & 6-Day PPL Routine

The push pull legs split is the most popular way to structure a serious training week in any Indian gym, from a well-kitted setup in Bengaluru to a basic neighbourhood gym in a smaller town. It sorts every exercise into three buckets by movement — the muscles that push, the muscles that pull, and your legs — so each session is focused, each muscle gets real recovery, and the plan scales cleanly from three days a week to six. This guide lays out both the 3-day and 6-day PPL routine with exact exercises, sets and reps, shows how to progress each lift, and covers the part most guides skip: because PPL piles on volume, your recovery, calories and protein — off a mostly vegetarian Indian diet — decide whether the work turns into muscle.

What Is the Push Pull Legs Split?

PPL groups muscles by what they do. Every pressing movement — bench press, overhead press, triceps pushdown — trains the same chain, so they go together on Push day. Every pulling movement — rows, pull-ups, curls — trains the back and biceps, so they live on Pull day. Your lower body gets a dedicated Legs day. The three buckets are: Push (chest, shoulders, triceps), Pull (back, biceps), and Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves). Because you train one group hard while the others rest, PPL has recovery built in — which is why it is the default framework in almost every modern muscle-building program.

The 3-Day PPL: Best for Beginners

If you are newer to lifting or your week is unpredictable — long commutes, shifting work hours — run push pull legs for beginners as a 3-day split: one Push, one Pull, one Legs session per week, with rest days wherever they fit.

Three sessions a week is plenty while you are still adding weight fast. Nail the technique on the main lifts, hit each muscle once, and let the rest do its job. When progress on the big lifts slows and recovery feels easy, that is the signal to add days.

The 6-Day PPL Schedule

The 6 day push pull legs version runs the cycle twice, so every muscle is trained twice a week — the frequency most research links to faster growth for intermediate lifters. Six training days, one rest day.

Splitting each session into an A and a B variant lets you lead with a heavy compound one day and a different angle or higher-rep work the next — accumulating volume without frying the same lift twice. Six days only pays off if your fuelling and sleep keep up; skip that and the back half of the week becomes junk volume you cannot recover from.

Sample Exercises: Sets & Reps for Each Day

This template runs on either the 3-day or 6-day version. Lead each session with a heavy compound in a lower rep range for strength, then accumulate volume on accessories in the 8–15 range for growth.

Push Day (chest, shoulders, triceps)

Pull Day (back, biceps)

Legs Day (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves)

How to Progress Each Lift (Progressive Overload)

A split is just a container. What builds muscle is progressive overload — doing measurably more over time. Apply it to every exercise with the double-progression method: pick a rep range (say 8–12), add reps first until you hit the top of the range on every set with clean form, then add weight and drop back to the bottom. On the big compounds, small jumps win — 2.5 kg on the bar per week beats ego-loading you cannot control. Every push day should look slightly better than the last one. None of this works from memory: if you cannot recall what you benched last Monday, you cannot beat it. The fix is to log every set — covered in depth in our guides to progressive overload and, for a structured strength template, StrongLifts 5x5.

How to Track a PPL Split Across the Week

PPL creates a specific tracking problem: the same muscles return every few days, so to progress you need last time's numbers in front of you the moment you unrack the bar. That means logging weight and reps for every set, then seeing your history the next time that session rolls around. Good workout tracking shows you last week's push day while you do this week's, so beating it is obvious rather than guesswork. Nutri Macro India does exactly that — you log each PPL session set by set, it stores your history per exercise, and it surfaces last time's numbers so progressive overload becomes a simple game of "add one." And it does the thing dedicated lifting apps skip: it puts the fuel and the recovery on the same screen as the sets.

Fuelling a High-Volume Split on an Indian Diet

Here is what separates people who grow on PPL from people who just get tired on it. Six hard sessions a week is a lot of stimulus, and stimulus without recovery is just fatigue. Muscle is built between sessions, out of the calories and protein you eat and the sleep you get. To gain, most lifters need a slight calorie surplus and roughly 1.6–2.2 g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. On a mostly vegetarian Indian diet that takes planning — build meals around dal, rajma, chana, paneer, curd, soya and eggs, and top up with a whey or plant protein if you fall short. Undereat and the extra volume you added on the 6-day plan becomes work you cannot recover from: you feel flat, your lifts stall, and the split gets the blame when the real problem was the plate.

This is exactly why tracking the split and the fuel in one place matters. Apps like Strong and Hevy are excellent set-loggers, but your nutrition lives in a separate calorie app and your recovery somewhere else again — so the loop between work, fuel and recovery is split across three screens that never talk. Nutri Macro closes that loop: photo-scan your paneer bhurji or a plate of rajma-chawal and the protein lands next to your sets, with a recovery view alongside — so when a lift stalls you can see whether you under-recovered rather than guessing.

Who PPL Suits

• Beginners (3-day): simple, forgiving and easy to stay consistent with while you learn the main lifts.
• Intermediates chasing size (6-day): twice-weekly frequency is the sweet spot for growth once your recovery can handle it.
• Anyone who fuels deliberately: if you are eating for a lean bulk or recomp on a veg-heavy diet, one app for training and food removes the guesswork.

Pick the 3-day if in doubt; you can always add days later. The split you can recover from and stay consistent with beats the ambitious one you burn out on.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the push pull legs split? PPL divides training by movement — Push (chest, shoulders, triceps), Pull (back, biceps) and Legs (quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves) — so each session is focused and each muscle gets real recovery.

Is push pull legs good for beginners? Yes, on a 3-day version — Push, Pull and Legs once each per week with rest between hard sessions. Move to 6 days once recovery and technique catch up.

What is the difference between a 3-day and 6-day PPL? 3-day runs the cycle once a week (more rest, ideal for beginners); 6-day runs it twice so every muscle is trained twice weekly — faster growth, but only if calories, protein and sleep keep up.

How do I get enough protein on an Indian diet? Aim for 1.6–2.2 g/kg daily from dal, rajma, chana, paneer, curd, soya and eggs, topping up with whey or plant protein. Nutri Macro logs the protein in Indian meals so you can see if you hit the target.

How much does it cost? ₹199/mo or ₹599 for a family plan, with a 3-day free trial.