Push Pull Legs: The Best Beginner Workout Split

If you’re past the first few months of training and want to structure your gym sessions, push/pull/legs is the best place to start. It’s simple, balanced, and scales from three days a week to six.

How the split works

Push/pull/legs divides exercises by movement pattern:

Push day — chest, shoulders, triceps. Movements where you push weight away from your body: bench press, overhead press, dips, lateral raises, tricep pushdowns.
Pull day — back, biceps, rear delts. Movements where you pull weight toward your body: rows, pull-ups, face pulls, bicep curls, deadlifts.
Legs day — quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves. Squats, leg press, Romanian deadlifts, lunges, leg curls, calf raises.

Each workout trains related muscle groups together, so every muscle gets worked hard once and then has time to recover before the next session.

Why it works for beginners

Three reasons push/pull/legs is ideal for people moving beyond the beginner phase:

It’s intuitive. You don’t need to memorize complex rotations. Push, pull, or legs — you know which muscles you’re training before you walk in.
It balances your training. Full-body programs work well early on, but as you add exercises and volume, you need a way to spread the work across the week. Push/pull/legs does this naturally, with equal attention to all major muscle groups.
It’s flexible. Train 3 days a week (one push, one pull, one legs) or 6 days (each twice). You get the same structure either way.

A sample 3-day push/pull/legs program

Push day

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Barbell bench press	4	8-12
Dumbbell overhead press	3	10-12
Incline dumbbell press	3	10-12
Cable lateral raises	3	12-15
Tricep rope pushdowns	3	12-15

Pull day

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Barbell rows	4	8-12
Pull-ups or lat pulldown	3	8-12
Cable rows	3	10-12
Face pulls	3	15-20
Dumbbell bicep curls	3	10-12

Legs day

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Barbell squats	4	8-12
Romanian deadlifts	3	10-12
Leg press	3	10-15
Walking lunges	3	12 each leg
Calf raises	4	15-20

Tracking your split

A push/pull/legs split generates a lot of data across three different session types. Tracking everything in your head isn’t realistic.

Logged comes with built-in push, pull, and legs templates. Tap a template to start a session with your exercises pre-loaded, then log your sets as you go. The app shows your previous numbers for each exercise so you know exactly what to beat.

After a few weeks, you’ll have a clear record of every session and can see your progress across all three days. That visibility is what turns a workout split from a plan into actual results.