# Push / pull / legs program, six days

> phase.fitness writes push/pull/legs as a six-day hypertrophy block: each muscle twice a week, volume climbing toward the adaptive range, and a deload that halves the sets at the same loads before a heavier week shows what the block bought.

phase.fitness · Strength & physique · Updated 22 September 2026 · HTML version: https://www.phase.fitness/training-programs/push-pull-legs-program

## Quick facts

- Level: intermediate
- Length: 6–8 weeks
- Days per week: 6
- Modalities: Strength
- Equipment: A full gym; six days a week of barbell, dumbbell, cable and machine work
- Sessions go to: Hevy, Liftosaur, Garmin

## The short answer

A push/pull/legs program in phase.fitness is a six-day split where each muscle is trained twice a week — the 2×-frequency layout the frequency document lists — with weekly sets starting near the minimum effective volume and climbing toward the adaptive range: large muscles 12–20 sets, medium 10–16, small 8–14. Working sets are 6–12 reps at 65–85% with the last set at RPE 8–9, and a set is added per muscle per week while that holds. The official template, Push / Pull / Legs 6× — 6 weeks, runs four weeks of accumulation and two of deload and re-test; a generated program adapts the same structure to your logs and equipment.

## Six days is a volume tool, not a badge

The frequency document phase.fitness reads lists push/pull/legs twice through as the six-day way to hit every muscle twice a week with balanced structure and manageable per-session volume. The reason to run it is arithmetic: 16–20 weekly sets for the quads are two sessions of 8–10, not one of 18, and the second exposure in the week is what a four-day split cannot give at that volume. The reason not to run it is the same arithmetic in reverse — six days that are not recovered from produce less than four that are.

So the block is built the way the volume document prescribes: start each muscle near its minimum effective volume, add a set per muscle per week while the last set stays at RPE 8–9 and performance holds, and end with a deload at half the sets and the same loads, then a heavier week to see what changed.

## Is it better to train each muscle twice a week?

It is the layout phase.fitness uses here: a six-day push/pull/legs split hits every muscle twice, which is the 2× frequency the knowledge base lists for this volume. The sets are what drive growth; the frequency is how you fit twelve to twenty weekly sets in without a three-hour session.

## How long should you run a push pull legs block?

Six weeks in the official template phase.fitness ships: four weeks of accumulation where a set per muscle is added each week while performance holds, then two weeks of deload and re-test. A generated program keeps the same shape and fits it to your logs and equipment.

## What phase.fitness builds

| Phase | Weeks | Job | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accumulation | 4 | Climb to the top of the adaptive range | Each muscle 2×/week; large 12–20 sets, medium 10–16, small 8–14; 6–12 reps at 65–85%; +1 set per muscle per week while the last set stays at RPE 8–9 |
| Deload and re-test | 2 | Recover, then measure | Week 1: half the sets at the same loads (4 days); week 2: a heavier week to see what the block bought |

Template to start from, importable without AI credits: **Push / Pull / Legs 6× — 6 weeks**.

## A sample week

| Day | Modality | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Strength | Push A: bench 4 × 6, overhead press 3 × 10, incline dumbbell 3 × 12, lateral raise 3 × 15, pushdown 3 × 12 |
| Tue | Strength | Pull A: pulldown 4 × 8, barbell row 4 × 8, seated row 3 × 12, face pull 3 × 15, curl 3 × 12 |
| Wed | Strength | Legs A: squat 4 × 6, RDL 3 × 10, leg press 3 × 12, split squat 3 × 10, hip thrust 3 × 12 |
| Thu | Strength | Push B: dips, flat dumbbell press, machine press, rear and side delts, triceps |
| Fri | Strength | Pull B: pull-ups, chest-supported row, pullover, rear delts, hammer curls |
| Sat | Strength | Legs B: front squat, leg curl, walking lunge, calves, abs |
| Sun | Rest | — |

## How it adapts when a phase ends

phase.fitness counts weekly sets per muscle from the sessions logged in Hevy, Liftosaur or the watch and compares them with the landmarks. Each week's sets are planned when the block is written. When the block ends, the re-test week tells the next one where to start: a muscle whose working loads rose starts the next block higher; one that stalled with persistent soreness starts lower. Six-day weeks with two sessions skipped every week are read as a frequency problem, and the next block is written on four days.

## Where the sessions go

- **Hevy** — Strength routines are written to Hevy; logged workouts return to phase.fitness. Cardio and calisthenics do not travel here.
- **Liftosaur** — Strength programs are pushed as Liftoscript; workout history comes back.
- **Garmin** — Write it here, train it on your Garmin: strength and cardio sessions are sent to Garmin Connect and appear on the watch, and the activities you finish come back to mark the plan done.

## What phase.fitness does not do here

Six days a week is a commitment the frequency document calls unnecessary for most. phase.fitness will write it if you ask for six days; it will also write the same volume on four when your logs say six were not happening.

## The evidence

The knowledge-base documents this page is built from (The phase.fitness generator reads them for this case):

- [Training Frequency Guidelines](https://www.phase.fitness/methodology/frequency-guidelines) — updated 2025-01-18
- [Volume Landmarks for Hypertrophy](https://www.phase.fitness/methodology/volume-landmarks-hypertrophy) — updated 2025-01-18
- [Strength Training Basics](https://www.phase.fitness/methodology/strength-basics) — updated 2025-01-07

Read more in the knowledge base:

- [Training frequency: how often to train each muscle](https://www.phase.fitness/learn/posts/training-frequency-how-often-each-muscle)
- [Structuring a mesocycle for maximum hypertrophy](https://www.phase.fitness/learn/posts/structure-mesocycle-maximum-hypertrophy)
- [Managing training volume: MEV, MAV and MRV](https://www.phase.fitness/learn/posts/managing-training-volume-mrv-mev-mav)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is push/pull/legs good for beginners?

Usually not. The frequency document phase.fitness reads recommends full-body training three times a week in the first years, because beginners need frequent practice of the patterns more than they need volume. phase.fitness writes push/pull/legs for intermediate lifters who can use six days.

### How many sets per muscle in a PPL week?

In a phase.fitness PPL block, starting near the minimum effective volume and climbing toward the adaptive range: 12–20 weekly sets for large muscles, 10–16 for medium, 8–14 for small — split across the two sessions each muscle gets.

### Can I get this as a template?

Yes: Push / Pull / Legs 6× — 6 weeks in the phase.fitness template library, four weeks of accumulation and two of deload and re-test, importable into a program without AI credits.

## The only app that plans strength, cardio and calisthenics together

In a six-day split the calisthenics day is what replaces the seventh: support holds, L-sits and lever steps train the straight-arm scapular strength that pressing and pulling volume never touches, without adding recovery debt.

Right now, phase.fitness is the only training app that writes strength, cardio and calisthenics into one periodized program — same calendar, same phases, same recovery budget.

You choose the mix. A calisthenics-only plan, a cardio-only block, strength plus cardio, or all three: the phases, the end-of-phase analysis and the sync work the same way with one modality or three.

**Why calisthenics is in the plan.** Bodyweight skill work is strength training in a different shape. Straight-arm work, levers and handstands build scapular control, tendon capacity and relative strength that barbell and machine work leave untouched, and they transfer because they are closed-chain, whole-body patterns. Treated as a modality rather than a warm-up, they get sets, holds and progressions like a squat does.

No exercise catalogue on the market contains a tuck front lever, so those sessions run in the phase.fitness built-in player; strength goes to Hevy, Liftosaur or a Garmin watch, cardio to Garmin and Intervals.icu.

## Keep reading

- [Hypertrophy program built on volume landmarks](https://www.phase.fitness/training-programs/hypertrophy-program)
- [Upper / lower split, four days](https://www.phase.fitness/training-programs/upper-lower-split-program)
- [Strength training program, periodized](https://www.phase.fitness/training-programs/strength-training-program)
- [phase.fitness for bodybuilders and physique athletes](https://www.phase.fitness/for/bodybuilders)
- [phase.fitness for Hevy users](https://www.phase.fitness/for/hevy-users)

Build this program: https://www.phase.fitness/signup