Training six days a week means each session can be focused and fairly short while weekly volume stays high. Every muscle can be trained twice, sometimes three times, and no single workout has to do everything.
The cost is recovery. Six sessions leave one rest day, so sleep, food and the way you manage effort matter more than on any other schedule. Pick a split built for six days, keep most sets a rep or two short of failure, and it works very well.
Who it’s for
Lifters with a few years of training who have the time, enjoy being in the gym most days and recover well, usually meaning seven or more hours of sleep and enough food. Six days is also a good fit for people who prefer 45-minute sessions to 90-minute ones.
It is the wrong choice for beginners, for anyone whose week regularly loses a day or two, and for people whose sleep is short. Training five days well beats training six days badly.
The week
| Option | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Push pull legs | Push | Pull | Legs | Push | Pull | Legs |
| Arnold split | Chest & back | Shoulders & arms | Legs | Chest & back | Shoulders & arms | Legs |
| Upper / lower ×3 | Upper | Lower | Upper | Lower | Upper | Lower |
A sample day
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Romanian deadlift | 4 × 6–8 | 3 min |
| Hack squat or front squat | 3 × 8–10 | 2–3 min |
| Walking lunge | 2 × 12 each leg | 2 min |
| Seated leg curl | 3 × 10–12 | 90 s |
| Leg extension | 2 × 12–15 | 60 s |
| Seated calf raise | 4 × 12–15 | 60 s |
Legs B is hinge first, squat second. Legs A on Wednesday is the other way round, so each pattern gets one heavy day. Sunday is the only rest day of the week, so place the most demanding sessions earlier in the week.
Six days of PPL lands most muscles at 14–22 hard sets a week. If you are recovering poorly, cut sets on the second push, pull and legs days before cutting a session.
How to progress
Train each heavy pattern hard once a week and lighter once. Progress the heavy version with small weekly jumps and the lighter version with double progression. Trying to set records on both is the fastest way to stall.
Keep most sets at RPE 7–9, one to three reps short of failure, and take only the last set of isolation exercises to failure. Effort management is what makes six days sustainable.
Take a lighter week every four to six weeks, or sooner if sleep, mood or bar speed drop. On six days, the need for one comes faster than you expect.
Mistakes that stall it
Full volume on every session
Six days at a five-day split’s session volume is too much. Each session should be a little shorter.
No true rest day
Sunday is not for a long run or an extra arm day. Rest means rest.
Eating like a three-day lifter
Six sessions burn more. If you are trying to grow, eat at a slight surplus with plenty of protein; the TDEE calculator is a good place to start.
Ignoring sleep
Seven hours is the minimum for this kind of schedule. Below that, cut to five days.
Starting at six
Build up from four or five. Jumping straight to six usually ends in a week off three weeks later.
Running it in Splyt
Make the six sessions as templates in Splyt. Each brings back your last weights, so the heavy and light versions of each day carry their own targets. With supersets in the template, an Arnold-style day logs the way you train it.
Splyt tracks sleep and a daily strain score beside your training, which matters on a six-day schedule: when the line for sleep falls while strain rises, it is time for a lighter week.
Questions
Is a 6 day split too much?
Not for an experienced lifter who sleeps and eats well and manages effort. It is too much for most beginners, and for anyone short on sleep.
What is the best 6 day split?
Push pull legs twice is the most popular and balanced. The Arnold split suits people who like supersets. Upper/lower three times trains everything three times a week but suits strength-focused lifters better.
Do I need a rest day on a 6 day split?
Yes. One full rest day a week keeps the other six productive.
How long should 6 day split workouts be?
Forty-five to seventy-five minutes. Shorter sessions are one of the main advantages of training six days.
6 day split or 5 day split for hypertrophy?
The difference is small if total weekly volume is the same. Choose six only if you enjoy it and recover; otherwise a five-day hybrid gets nearly the same result.
Other splits
- Push pull legs split — 3 or 6 days
- Arnold split — 6 days
- 5 day workout split — 5 days
- Every workout split, compared
Exercises by muscle
How to do every lift above, and the alternatives when a machine is taken: Chest · Shoulders · Triceps · Lats · Upper back · Biceps · Quads · Hamstrings · Glutes · Calves · Abs · The full exercise library
Ready-made workouts for each day
Sessions with sets, reps and rest you can drop into this split: Push day · Pull day · Leg day · Upper body · Lower body · Full body · At home · All workouts
Free tools for this split
- Workout split generator — Days, time and goal in; a week of training out.
- Training volume calculator — Hard sets per muscle against the ranges that build it.
- TDEE calculator — A day’s calories, split into where they go.
- Macro calculator — Protein, carbs and fat for your goal, in grams.
Splyt is a workout tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch with templates that remember what you lifted. Get Splyt free on the App Store · How templates work