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PPL

Also known as

push pull legs · reddit ppl · metallicadpa · ppl split

Community talk may be wrong. Not medical, training, or diet advice. Sharp pain, fainting, or disordered-eating concerns need a clinician.

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In brief

PPL is a training split that groups pushing exercises, pulling exercises and leg exercises into separate sessions.

The common picture
6 days: PPL / rest / PPL or PPL / PPL / restThe Metallicadpa / Reddit PPL picture.
Or 3 days: one push, one pull, one legsWhen life is not a 6-day week.
Compounds firstBench or OHP, row or pull-up, squat or hinge — then arms.
45–75 minutesLonger than a beginner full-body day because the accessory list grows.
Same template for monthsProgram-hopping is how PPL fails.

People compare three-day and repeated cycles, exercise selection and how the sequence fits around work, travel and other training.

Good to know. Doing this as week one. Skipping legs. Changing the split every Sunday.

What people say

  • The job: A split they can remember without an app.
  • Gym TikTok and X still default to PPL. It is the wallpaper of 2020s lifting.
  • Reddit PPL (Metallicadpa, 2015, still cloned) is the free named template. Late beginner / early intermediate if they can train often.
  • Once-a-week PPL — one push, one pull, one legs, and call it a program — is the version coaches dunk on. Frequency is the point.
  • Lift Vault 2026 PPL writeups still say: not a true-novice first month.
  • Why it’s loud: people want a chest day that is not “full body again.” PPL gives them a named room.
  • Recovery is the real split. Week three is when sleep and food get veto power.
  • Skipping legs is so common it is a meme. Then they ask why the squat is stuck.
  • Upper/lower is the 4-day cousin when 6 days is a fantasy. See Upper / lower.
  • Women’s PPL threads look the same: compounds first, accessories they care about (glutes, back). The split is not gendered.
  • Bro-split (one body part a week) is the older cousin people graduate from — or slide back into.

How people do it

  • Pick 6 days or 3. Do not invent a 4.5-day hybrid week one.
  • Push: bench or OHP, a second press, laterals, triceps.
  • Pull: row and a vertical pull, rear delts, biceps.
  • Legs: squat or hinge pattern, a second leg move, calves if they care.
  • Add a little on the main lift when the last set was clean. See Adding weight.
  • Rest day is a day. Two “light PPLs” is not rest.
  • If they miss a day: they do the next letter, they do not restart the week from Push.

Amounts people use

  • Days: 6 or 3. 4 usually means they actually want upper/lower.
  • Session talk: about 45–75 minutes.
  • Main lift: 3–5 work sets is the Reddit PPL band.
  • Accessories: 2–4 movements, not twelve TikTok finishers.
  • Weekly frequency: each muscle 2× on a 6-day, 1× on a 3-day — the 3-day is just full-body with extra steps.

How people keep it

  • Same template for months. They change accessories, not the letters.
  • A written Push / Pull / Legs list in the notes app.
  • A rest day they defend like a meeting.
  • Food on the 6-day — a surplus or at least maintenance. PPL in a huge cut is a different, crankier card.
  • If life shrinks: they drop to 3-day PPL or upper/lower. They do not “fail PPL.”

How it may feel

  • Week one: “I have a plan.” The locker-room identity lands.
  • Week three: recovery catches up. They sleep and eat or they stall.
  • Push day: the fun one for a lot of people. Ego lives here.
  • Leg day: the one they move. Then they wonder why nothing grows.
  • Six-on / one-off: fine until a wedding weekend. Then the plan has to bend.
  • The good version: a little bored, a little stronger, they stop shopping programs.

How long

  • Until adds stop and they want a training-max program. Then 5/3/1 or GZCLP.
  • Years is common. PPL is a split, not a 12-week challenge.
  • A cut can keep PPL if volume drops. It does not have to.
  • If they can only train 3 days, they may be happier on full body.

The longer notes

  • Metallicadpa PPL was written as a linear-progression PPL for people who wanted more than 3 days. It is not “the” PPL — it is the named free one.
  • PHUL / PHAT / upper-lower show up when people want 4 days and a bench focus.
  • 5/3/1 and GZCLP are the named next rooms on r/fitness when linear adds die.
  • A bulk on PPL is the classic gym year. See Lean bulk vs dirty bulk.
  • Self’s lift 2–4 days is the habit. This card is the split.

More from the community

Session count and gym days are not identical. In a September 2026 Fitness thread, someone with limited available days considered doing PPL as two sessions on each of three days; a very short gym commute was part of their reasoning. A reply instead suggested reducing the workload of the existing upper/lower routine. The decision involved travel time, session length and workload—not simply whether PPL was a good split.Source 1

Related

Good to know

  • Not a first-week program if they have never lifted.
  • Skipping legs is not PPL.
  • Once-a-week PPL is a bro-split with better branding.
  • Changing the split every Sunday is how nothing gets overloaded.
  • Pain that stays in a shoulder or knee is a person, not a new push variation.

Also on this house

STUDself · lift 2–4 days

Checked sources

Selected links for the notes above, not a review of every historical claim.

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