← Guides 2 October 2026 · Forge

Push pull legs for beginners: a simple plan that fits your week

Push pull legs splits your training by movement. Muscles that push get their own day, muscles that pull get another, and your legs get a third. It’s popular because it’s easy to follow and it spreads the work so nothing gets hammered two days running.

How the split works

• Push day works your chest and shoulders, with the triceps helping. Think presses.
• Pull day works your back and biceps with rows, pulldowns and curls.
• Leg day covers the front and back of the thighs, the glutes and the calves, mostly with squats and hinges.

The muscles in each day work together, so a pressing movement trains your chest and triceps at the same time. That makes each session efficient, and it means a sore chest from Monday doesn’t get in the way of Wednesday’s rows.

Choose your number of days

Pick the number of days you’ll actually turn up, then pick the version that fits.

Three days is a good start. Each muscle is trained once a week, which is less often than ideal, but the habit matters more than the frequency in your first few months. Spread the sessions out, such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so you get a rest day between each.

A starter exercise list

Two or three exercises per day is enough at first. Learn them properly before adding more.

Push day

• A press for the chest, such as dumbbell bench press or push-ups.
• An overhead press, seated with dumbbells to start.
• A triceps exercise, like cable pushdowns.

Pull day

• A row, such as a seated cable row or a one-arm dumbbell row.
• A lat pulldown, or assisted pull-ups if your gym has the machine.
• A curl for the biceps.

Leg day

• A squat pattern. Goblet squats are easier to learn than barbell squats.
• A hinge, like a Romanian deadlift with dumbbells.
• Calf raises.

Do two or three working sets of 8 to 12 reps for each. Stop each set with a rep or two left in the tank while you learn the movement.

How to make progress

Write down the weight and reps for every set. Next session, try for one more rep at the same weight. When you hit the top of the rep range on every set, add the smallest weight step and drop back to the bottom. That’s double progression, and it’ll carry a beginner a long way. What to log, and what to ignore.

When full body is the better choice

Push pull legs isn’t always the best fit. If you can only train two days a week, a full-body plan hits each muscle twice and gets better results. The same goes for anyone who misses sessions often, because missing leg day on a split means no legs that week, while missing a full-body session costs much less.

If you’re unsure, start with whichever plan you’ll stick to. You can switch after a couple of months without losing anything.

Common beginner mistakes

• Too many exercises. Six exercises on push day leaves you tired and sloppy by the fourth. Three done well is more useful.
• Skipping legs when busy. If one day is going to be dropped, it shouldn’t always be the same one.
• Changing the plan every week. Progress comes from repeating the same lifts and adding a little each time.
• Ignoring rest. Two minutes between sets on the big lifts is normal. Rushing makes the numbers drop and the log harder to read.

Running it in Forge

Forge builds a plan from your goal, experience and equipment, and push pull legs is one of the splits it uses. You pick the days you’ll train, and the plan fits the sessions to those days. I make Forge, so weigh that. Every exercise has a form video, you log sets as you go, and rest days don’t count against your streak.

Common questions