{"id":20,"date":"2026-04-02T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/blog\/push-pull-legs-uk\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T18:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:15:21","slug":"push-pull-legs-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/push-pull-legs-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Push \/ Pull \/ Legs: The UK Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Push \/ pull \/ legs \u2014 PPL to its friends \u2014 is probably the most-run training split on earth. It has survived for decades because it works, but only for the right person at the right stage of their training. This is the honest UK guide: who should run it, how a week looks, and the British-gym realities that nobody mentions in American YouTube videos.<\/p>\n<div class=\"takeaways\"><h4>Key Takeaways<\/h4><ul><li>&#8211; Best suited to intermediate trainees with six clear sessions a week<\/li><li>&#8211; Each muscle group is trained twice weekly<\/li><li>&#8211; Sessions run 60\u201390 minutes \u2014 plan accordingly<\/li><li>&#8211; Requires consistent gym access at the same time each day<\/li><li>&#8211; Not the right split for most beginners<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n<h2>What the split looks like<\/h2>\n<p>You train six days on, one day off, rotating through three workout types.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Push<\/strong> \u2014 chest, shoulders, triceps<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pull<\/strong> \u2014 back, biceps, rear delts<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legs<\/strong> \u2014 quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A sample week looks like: Mon Push, Tue Pull, Wed Legs, Thu Push, Fri Pull, Sat Legs, Sun Off.<\/p>\n<h2>Who should run PPL<\/h2>\n<p>PPL demands six gym trips a week, every week. That is a genuine lifestyle commitment. You should consider it only if:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>You have at least a year of consistent training behind you<\/li>\n<li>You can reliably get to a gym six days out of seven<\/li>\n<li>You have 75\u201390 minutes per session without rushing<\/li>\n<li>Your recovery (sleep, food, stress) is genuinely in order<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If any of those are shaky, run the <a href=\"\/blog\/three-day-full-body\/\">3-day full-body plan<\/a> instead. You will make faster progress with less frustration.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tip-box\"><span class=\"label\">Pro Tip<\/span><p>If you train at a busy city-centre gym, avoid the 5.30pm\u20137pm rush. Early mornings or after 8pm are dramatically quieter, and you will actually get the bench you need.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>UK gym realities<\/h2>\n<p>Commercial chains in the UK get brutally busy between 5pm and 7pm. PPL falls apart when you cannot get your main lift because someone is scrolling TikTok on the squat rack. Plan around it:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do your main compound lift <strong>first<\/strong>, before accessories<\/li>\n<li>Have a plan B exercise ready for when the rack is taken<\/li>\n<li>Consider a 24\/7 gym if your schedule is unpredictable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Sample push session<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Barbell bench press \u2014 4 \u00d7 6\u20138<\/li>\n<li>Overhead dumbbell press \u2014 3 \u00d7 8\u201310<\/li>\n<li>Incline dumbbell press \u2014 3 \u00d7 10\u201312<\/li>\n<li>Cable lateral raise \u2014 3 \u00d7 12\u201315<\/li>\n<li>Tricep rope pushdown \u2014 3 \u00d7 12\u201315<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Progression and recovery<\/h2>\n<p>Treat every session as a <a href=\"\/blog\/progressive-overload-explained\/\">progressive overload<\/a> opportunity \u2014 small additions each week. Training six days hard requires serious recovery: protein intake matters (see our <a href=\"\/blog\/protein-intake-uk-guide\/\">UK protein guide<\/a>) and so does sleep. Skimp on either and PPL will grind you down inside six weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Push \/ pull \/ legs is the most popular six-day split in the world. Here is how to run it properly, who it suits, and the UK-specific gotchas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-workout-plans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/64"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitnext.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}