- Level
- Intermediate
- Days a week
- 6 days
- Goal
- Muscle
- Equipment
- Full gym
- How long
- 8–12 week blocks
- Created by
- Splyt
This is Splyt’s six-day PPL for building muscle. Each muscle is trained twice a week, once with heavier compound work and once with more volume and variety, at 12–20 hard sets per muscle per week.
This program is Splyt’s own. Use it, share it and adapt it as you like.
Who it’s for
Intermediate lifters whose main goal is muscle and who can train six days a week.
It suits people who enjoy training most days and can sleep and eat to match. If you can only reliably make four sessions, the 4-day upper/lower program gets you most of the benefit with less time.
You don’t need to be advanced, but you should know the main lifts and be able to judge how many reps you have left in a set. That skill is what keeps six days productive.
The weekly schedule
| Day | Session |
|---|---|
| Monday | Push A (heavy) |
| Tuesday | Pull A (heavy) |
| Wednesday | Legs A (heavy) |
| Thursday | Push B (volume) |
| Friday | Pull B (volume) |
| Saturday | Legs B (volume) |
| Sunday | Rest |
Every workout
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell bench press | 4 × 5–8 | |
| Seated dumbbell shoulder press | 3 × 8–10 | |
| Incline dumbbell press | 3 × 8–12 | |
| Cable lateral raise | 3 × 12–15 | |
| Triceps rope pushdown | 3 × 10–12 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell row | 4 × 6–8 | |
| Weighted pull-up | 3 × 6–10 | |
| Chest-supported row | 3 × 8–12 | |
| Face pull | 3 × 15 | |
| EZ-bar curl | 3 × 8–12 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Back squat | 4 × 5–8 | |
| Romanian deadlift | 3 × 8–10 | |
| Leg press | 3 × 10–12 | |
| Seated leg curl | 3 × 10–12 | |
| Calf raise | 4 × 10–15 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Incline barbell press | 4 × 8–10 | |
| Machine chest press | 3 × 10–12 | |
| Dumbbell lateral raise | 4 × 12–20 | |
| Cable fly | 3 × 12–15 | |
| Overhead triceps extension | 3 × 10–15 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Lat pulldown | 4 × 8–12 | |
| Seated cable row | 3 × 10–12 | |
| Straight-arm pulldown | 3 × 12–15 | |
| Dumbbell reverse fly | 3 × 15 | |
| Hammer curl | 3 × 10–12 |
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hack squat | 4 × 8–12 | |
| Bulgarian split squat | 3 × 10 each leg | |
| Leg extension | 3 × 12–15 | |
| Leg curl | 3 × 10–12 | Lying |
| Seated calf raise | 4 × 12–15 |
Rest 2–3 minutes on the first exercise and 60–90 seconds on isolation work. Take most sets to one or two reps short of failure, and the last set of isolation exercises to failure.
Sessions take 60–75 minutes. The heavy A days open with a barbell lift for lower reps; the B days use machines and dumbbells for more reps, which spreads the load across joints and keeps things interesting.
How to progress
Double progression on everything: reach the top of the range on all sets, then add the smallest available weight.
Log every set and beat it over time: one more rep, or the same reps with a little more weight. If a lift hasn’t improved in three weeks, swap it for a close variation in the next block.
Stalls and deloads
Every six to eight weeks, take a week at half the sets.
How long to run it
Eight to twelve week blocks, rotating a few exercises between blocks.
What to do next
Run another block with new variations, or swap to PHAT for a change in structure.
Common mistakes
Every set to failure
Six days a week of that is not sustainable. Save failure for the last set of isolation work.
Skipping rest day
Sunday is part of the plan.
Running it in Splyt
Build each workout above as a template in Splyt. When you finish a session, the weights you actually lifted carry into the next run of that template, so every set shows last time’s numbers beside it and you can see at a glance whether to add weight. Log on iPhone or Apple Watch, and the Watch counts your reps for you.
Have the program in a spreadsheet or screenshot already? Import it and Splyt turns it into editable templates. Use the one-rep max calculator to set a training max, the warm-up calculator for warm-up sets in whole plates, and strength standards to see where your lifts sit for your bodyweight.
Questions
Is PPL best for hypertrophy?
It’s one of the best ways to get twice-weekly frequency with enough volume. Total weekly volume and effort matter more than the split.
How many sets per muscle is this program?
Roughly 12 to 20 hard sets per muscle per week, spread over two sessions. That is the range most research on muscle growth lands in.
Similar programs
- Reddit PPL (Metallicadpa’s beginner PPL) — beginner, 6 days
- PHUL (Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower) — intermediate, 4 days
- 4-day upper lower program — intermediate, 4 days
- PHAT (Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training) — advanced, 5 days
- Every program, by level and days
More for your training
- Workout splits: how push pull legs, upper/lower and full body compare
- Ready-made workouts for every muscle and piece of equipment
- The exercise library: how to do every lift above
- Strength standards by lift and bodyweight
Run this program in Splyt, the workout tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch that remembers what you lifted. Get Splyt free on the App Store