How to build a six-day push/pull/legs
A six-day push/pull/legs runs push, pull and legs twice a week, with the second rotation changing angle and rep range instead of repeating the first. Every muscle trains twice and accumulates 16 to 22 effective sets a week, which is high volume and only holds up with sleep and food to match. Sessions run 60 to 75 minutes and the seventh day is complete rest.
At a glance
- Days per week
- 6 days
- Session length
- 70 min
- Level
- Advanced
- Weekly sets
- 105
- Distinct exercises
- 30
What it needs
A full gym, with at least two variants of every pattern: barbell, dumbbells, cables and leg machines.
Who it is for
Someone with two or more years of continuous training, six genuine days a week, and a history that already proved they tolerate high volume without performance per set collapsing.
Who it is not for
Someone who in practice trains four or five days. A six-day plan executed four times leaves a whole pattern untouched for ten days, which is worse than the four-day upper/lower that would have been finished. Nor for anyone sleeping badly on a sustained basis: this volume is paid for with recovery, not with willpower.
The whole week
Day 1: Push A — heavy
Flat bench as the axis, in the week's lowest rep range. Everything after it drops load and raises reps without loading the shoulder joint at the same angle again.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bench Press | 4 | 5-7 | 2 | 3 min |
| Barbell Shoulder Press | 4 | 6-8 | 2 | 150 s |
| Incline Chest Press Machine | 3 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 90 s |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raises | 4 | 12-15 | 1 | 60 s |
| Cable Straight Bar Triceps Pushdown | 3 | 10-12 | 1 | 60 s |
Day 2: Pull A — heavy
Barbell row up front, the back exercise that tolerates the most load and the one that degrades worst under prior fatigue.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Row | 4 | 6-8 | 2 | 3 min |
| Weighted Pull-Ups | 4 | 5-8 | 2 | 150 s |
| Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 90 s |
| Machine Reverse Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 1 | 60 s |
| Barbell Biceps Curl | 3 | 8-10 | 1-2 | 60 s |
Day 3: Legs A — heavy
Back squat and quad work. The hamstring gets only the leg curl here, because the heavy deadlift lives in the B session.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back Squats | 4 | 5-7 | 2 | 4 min |
| 45-Degree Leg Press | 4 | 10-12 | 2 | 2 min |
| Leg Extension | 3 | 12-15 | 1 | 75 s |
| Lying Prone Leg Curl | 4 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 90 s |
| Standing Calf Raise Machine | 4 | 10-15 | 1 | 60 s |
Day 4: Push B — volume
Incline dumbbells instead of the flat barbell bench: different angle, different fatigue pattern, same chest. That is the difference between frequency 2 and doing the same thing twice.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 4 | 8-10 | 2 | 2 min |
| Machine Shoulder Press | 3 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 90 s |
| Low-to-High Cable Fly | 3 | 12-15 | 1 | 60 s |
| Cable Lateral Raises | 4 | 12-20 | 1 | 60 s |
| Close-Grip Bench Press | 3 | 8-10 | 2 | 90 s |
Day 5: Pull B — volume
Vertical pulling first this time, and all the work on machines or cables, where load can be taken close to failure without technique being the limit.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown | 4 | 10-12 | 2 | 90 s |
| T-Bar Row | 4 | 8-10 | 2 | 2 min |
| Single Arm Seated Cable Row | 3 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 75 s |
| Cable Face Pulls | 3 | 15-20 | 1 | 60 s |
| Dumbbell Hammer Curl | 3 | 10-12 | 1 | 60 s |
Day 6: Legs B — volume
The conventional deadlift lands here rather than in session A, so the week does not put two heavy axial-load days too close together. Then unilateral work and the posterior chain.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | RIR | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Deadlift | 4 | 4-6 | 2-3 | 4 min |
| Dumbbells Bulgarian Split SquatPer leg. | 3 | 8-10 | 2 | 2 min |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 3 | 10-12 | 1-2 | 90 s |
| Standing Leg Curl Machine | 3 | 12-15 | 1 | 75 s |
| Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise | 4 | 12-15 | 1 | 60 s |
Weekly volume per muscle
| Muscle | Sets per week |
|---|---|
| Back | 22 |
| Shoulders | 21 |
| Chest | 14 |
| Hamstrings | 11 |
| Quadriceps | 11 |
| Calves | 8 |
| Biceps | 6 |
| Glutes | 6 |
| Triceps | 6 |
Direct sets per muscle group, counted across the whole week. It excludes indirect work: the triceps a bench press trains counts in the volume calculator, not in this table.
How to progress
On the A sessions load rises on reaching the top of the range at the prescribed RIR. On the B sessions reps go first, to the top of the range on every set. Every four or five weeks a deload halving volume while keeping the load is worth scheduling, because at this volume fatigue masks the adaptation before it shows in the log.
When to change routine
When performance per set falls two weeks running and the deload does not bring it back. At this volume the problem is almost never too few sets: it is too many. The next step is usually dropping to five days or cutting two accessories per session, not adding anything.
Frequently asked
- How many rest days does a six-day push/pull/legs have?
- One complete day, usually Sunday. The most used layout is three days on, one off, three days on, which spreads fatigue better than six chained days with the rest at the end.
- Can a beginner run a six-day push/pull/legs?
- It can be done, but it does not return more than a three-day plan. A beginner progresses on considerably less volume than this prescribes, and the extra volume speeds nothing up: it only spends recovery and adherence. Six days make sense once three or four have stopped producing progress.
- Why are the A and B sessions not identical?
- Because repeating the same exercise twice a week loads the same joint at the same angle 72 hours apart, and the second session arrives with the first one's fatigue still on it. Changing the angle and the rep range keeps the muscle at frequency 2 without doubling the joint cost.
