Written by Patrick Dale, PT, ex-Marine

The push-pull-legs (P-P-L) workout is one of the most popular training programs in bodybuilding. Even the legendary Austrian Oak Arnold Schwarzenegger used this split routine, and who can argue with the man who won seven Mr. Olympia titles?

With the push-pull-leg routine, you perform extension exercises one day, flexion exercises the next, and then hit your lower body on the third day. You can do this cycle once per week or repeat it if you wish to train each body part twice a week, i.e.:

Alternatively, you could use a revolving approach with flexible rest days where you train for three days in a row and then take one day off, like this:

Regardless of how you use it, the P-P-L routine is a great way to ensure you train all your major muscles equally.

In this article, we provide you with not one but two push-day workouts to train your chest, shoulders, and triceps.

So, why are we giving you two push workouts? The reason is that if you do two push, pull, and leg workouts per week, it’s usually best to avoid repeating the same program. Doing so can make your training boring and unmotivating. Alternating between two similar workouts will prevent boredom and burnout.

However, if you plan on only doing one push workout per week, just choose one, do it for 6-8 weeks, and then switch to the other.

Either way, these two workouts will ensure all your pushing muscles get the best possible workout.

Of course, to get the most from your training and reduce your risk of injury, you must prepare your muscles and joints before you touch the weights. Warm-up with 5-10 minutes of easy cardio followed by a some dynamic mobility and flexibility exercises for your upper body, such as the DeFranco Agile 8 program.

Complete your warm-up with a couple of light sets of your first exercise to dial in your technique and activate your muscles.

Exercises 6a and 6b are a superset. So do a set of EZ bar skull crushers immediately followed by a set of EZ bar close grip bench press. Use the same weight for both exercises. AMRAP is short for As Many Reps as Possible, so just do as many as you can until you are unable to continue in good form.

Exercises 6a and 6b are a superset. So do a set of reverse grip triceps pushdowns immediately followed by a set of regular triceps pushdowns. Use the same weight for both exercises – just switch your grip. AMRAP is short for As Many Reps as Possible, so just do as many as you can until you are unable to continue in good form.

There are two ways to do any exercise – the right way and the wrong way. The right way provides plenty of muscle-building tension for your muscles while minimizing stress on your joints and connective tissue. The wrong way is usually less effective and more likely to cause injury.

So, do the exercises the right way!  

Target muscles: Chest, deltoids, triceps

While the squat is regarded as the king of leg exercises, the bench press probably holds the same title for your upper body. Go pretty heavy with this move to get plenty of tension in your chest, shoulders, and triceps. However, don’t go so heavy that you cannot do the exercise with perfect form.

You should not need to bounce the bar off your chest to complete your reps!

Target muscles: Chest, deltoids, triceps

The incline bench press emphasizes your upper chest. Also, you’ll have to work a little harder to keep your arms together, further increasing chest activation. Go a little lighter on this exercise, and focus more on pumping out the reps.

Your last chest exercise hits your inner, lower chest while minimizing triceps engagement. Use this move to squeeze any remaining energy from your pecs. Cable crossovers work best when you go slow and use light to moderate weights. Strict crossovers are effective crossovers!

This famous shoulder exercise is named after the patron saint of high-volume bodybuilding – Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Press hits all three deltoid heads, making it a very complete shoulder exercise. After all that chest pressing, you won’t be able to go too heavy with this exercise, but that’s okay. The range of motion and constant tension means this exercise works well with light to moderate loads.

Your final direct shoulder exercise targets your medial or middle deltoids, which are what give your shoulders their width. Using cables keeps your medial delts under constant tension, which will deliver a great pump. You’re only doing two sets, so make sure you take each one to failure.

The final two exercises in your push workout hit your triceps. You’ve already used these muscles indirectly in the pressing movements, but it’s time to isolate them and finish them off. You’ll be doing two triceps exercises back-to-back, i.e., a superset.

Target muscles: Triceps, chest, deltoids  

Where skull crushers isolate your triceps, close grip bench presses work them alongside your deltoids and chest. Using these muscles will allow you to push your triceps beyond their usual point of failure and also increases time under tension.

This workout follows a similar format to workout #1, but the exercises are slightly different to prevent boredom and movement fatigue. As before, do each exercise with the best possible form to make them effective and safe.

Target muscles: Chest, deltoids, triceps

Some lifters find dumbbell bench presses more comfortable than the barbell version. That’s because your wrists and arms are free to rotate, which takes unwanted stress off your shoulder joints. Also, you can lower the weights a little lower, which may aid in hypertrophy.

On the downside, it’s harder to control two weights, so you won’t be able to go as heavy. So as both barbell and dumbbell bench presses are so effective, you’ll probably want to do them both in your workouts!

Related: Dumbbell Bench Press Guide

Target muscles: Chest, deltoids, triceps

The incline barbell bench press hits your upper pecs. This exercise tends to feel harder than flat barbell bench presses, so don’t go too heavy. You can do this exercise with a barbell or, if you prefer, you can do it on a Smith machine. The advantage of a Smith machine is the weight is guided by rods, so you don’t have to worry about balancing the load. You can also train to failure in relative safety.

Target muscles: Chest, deltoids, triceps

Before the bench press became the world’s favorite chest exercise, dips were at the top of everyone’s push day to-do list. Using a wide grip increases the range of motion at your shoulders, leading to increased chest activation. But, if you don’t have a wide grip dip station available, regular width dips are still a great chest exercise. However, your triceps will get a bit more of a workout.

The seated dumbbell clean and press is an unusual exercise, and you won’t see many people doing it. The standing variation is much more common. However, as deltoid exercises go, the seated dumbbell clean and press is very effective, and you’re going to enjoy how quickly it fatigues your delts.

Dumbbell lateral raises target your medial deltoids just like the cable variation. However, the load increases as you raise your arm, creating more of a peak contraction effect. That’s not to say they’re better than cable lateral raises – just different, and different can be all that’s needed to trigger muscle growth.

It’s triceps isolation time again! This time, you’ll be using two similar exercises to hit your triceps in two different ways. This pair of exercises is also a mechanical drop set as you’ll be moving from a weak biomechanical position to a stronger one. Best of all, these exercises will leave your triceps pumped and tired.

Switching from an underhand to an overhand position puts your muscles in a stronger position, so you can pump out a few more reps and push your triceps even harder. There should be no need to change the weight – just flip your hands over and get to work!

The main difference between cutting and bulking is your diet rather than the workout you are following. For example, if you eat 300-500 calories above your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), you should bulk up and build muscle.

In contrast, if you reduce your calorie expenditure to 300-500 calories BELOW your TDEE, you should burn fat and get leaner.

So, adjust your diet according to your body composition goal. Eat more to build muscle and less to lose fat. Train hard to stimulate muscle growth or preserve your existing muscle mass during your cutting diet.

Providing you use similar exercises, you are free to make changes to the programs. However, don’t increase training volume or use different rep ranges.

The idea is to train with heavy weights for maximal muscle tension (exercise 1), moderate weights to create plenty of metabolic stress (exercise 2), and then moderate progressing to light weights to fatigue as many muscle fibers as possible (exercise 3).

Providing you stick with that format, changing exercises should have no real effect on your progress.

Training to failure means doing as many reps as possible with good form. This is also known as technical failure.

You’ll know you are approaching failure when your repetition speed decreases and you feel you need to take longer pauses between reps. Your facial expression will also change, and you’ll start to grimace. In short, you should feel that you cannot do any more reps without getting assistance from a spotter.

Stick with this workout for 6-8 weeks or until you feel it is no longer productive. During that time, do your best to use more weight, do more reps, or just do each set with a higher degree of technical proficiency. These “micro progressions” are what keep your muscles growing.

Then, when you are ready for a new workout, use a similar approach but with mostly new exercises. Alternatively, revert to a lower-frequency, higher-volume chest program for a few weeks before returning to this workout.

Muscle soreness is simply a sign that you’ve done something new and isn’t necessarily an indicator that anything is wrong or that you aren’t recovered from your last workout. If you are sore, spend a little extra time warming up and do 3-5 ramped sets of the first exercise to ease yourself into your workout.

Soreness should become less of an issue as you become accustomed to this workout.

The push-pull-legs workout has been popular for decades, which means it works. By grouping body parts by anatomical function and rotating muscle groups workout to workout, you can train hard and still get plenty of recovery between training sessions.

That said, the P-P-L workout is just one of many equally effective training splits. Other options include upper body/lower body, anterior/posterior, and body part splits where you train just 1-2 muscle groups per workout.

Ultimately, the best split is the one you can stick to.

Try the P-P-L workout and see how it works for you. If it’s not the perfect fit, move on to another approach until you find the one that works best for you.

Patrick Dale is an ex-British Royal Marine, gym owner, and fitness qualifications tutor and assessor. In addition, Patrick is a freelance writer who has authored three fitness and exercise books, dozens of e-books, thousands of articles, and several fitness videos. He’s not just an armchair fitness expert; Patrick practices what he preaches! He has competed at a high level in numerous sports, including rugby, triathlon, rock climbing, trampolining, powerlifting, and, most recently, stand up paddleboarding. When not lecturing, training, researching, or writing, Patrick is busy enjoying the sunny climate of Cyprus, where he has lived for the last 20-years.

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