Full Body/Push/Pull Split: 3-Day Workout Routine

If you want a highly effective 3-day workout routine you can use to build muscle, this page will show you what to do.

First thing I want to do is show you briefly what this particular 3-day workout split looks like, and what the benefits are.

Then I’ll lay out the routine in full, so you can see which exercises you’ll be doing on which days, as well as how many sets and reps to do.

Let’s jump right in.

What is a Full Body Push Pull Split?

This 3-day workout routine combines a full-body workout with a push/pull split to create a full body/push/pull hybrid. Here’s what it looks like:

• Monday: Full Body
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Push
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Pull
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

Here’s a breakdown of the muscles trained in each workout:

Push Workout

• Quadriceps/Glutes
• Chest
• Shoulders
• Triceps

Pull Workout

• Hamstrings
• Back
• Biceps

Full Body Workout

• Everything

However, the days you train aren’t set in stone, and you can move things around from one week to the next depending on your schedule.

Because you’re only training three days a week, the full body/push/pull hybrid gives you plenty of flexibility in terms of what days of week you train.

For example, if you prefer to do most of your training on the weekends, your week might look like this.

• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Full Body
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: Push
• Sunday: Pull

You could also reverse the order of the training sessions, doing the push and pull workouts on Monday and Wednesday, followed by the full-body workout on Friday.

• Monday: Push
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: Pull
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: Full-Body
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

Here’s what each training day looks like.

Full Body Push Pull Split

Full Body Workout

• Incline Dumbbell Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Seated Cable Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Leg Press 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 10-15 reps
• Lateral Raise 3 sets x 15-20 reps
• Dumbbell Hammer Curl 2 sets x 10-15 reps
• Overhead Triceps Extension 2 sets x 10-15 reps

Push Workout

• Bench Press 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Barbell Squat 4 sets x 5-8 reps
• Leg Extension 3 sets x 12-15 reps
• Cable Crossover 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Overhead Press 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Triceps Pressdown 3 sets x 8-12 reps

Pull Workout

• Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 4 sets x 12-15 reps
• Romanian Deadlift 4 sets x 8-12 reps
• Single-Arm Dumbbell Row 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Seated Leg Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Incline Curl 3 sets x 8-12 reps
• Standing Calf Raise 3 sets x 5-8 reps

While there’s no work for your abs listed, just add one or two ab exercises to the end of your workouts 2-3 times a week.

How to Warm Up

The number of sets listed are the actual work sets only, and don’t include warm-up sets.

It’s always a good idea, especially if you’re using heavy weights, to do several progressively heavier warm-up sets. This will prepare the joints, the muscles and the nervous system that controls those muscles for the heavy work to come.

In most cases, somewhere between 1-3 warm-up sets will do the job. However, the exact number of warm-up sets you do will vary depending on a number of factors, including the temperature of the gym you’re training in, how your joints feel, the amount of weight you’re lifting, and where that exercise is placed in the workout.

There have been times when I’ve been training in a cold gym, it’s early in the morning and my joints are feeling a bit stiff, where I’ve ended up doing 7-8 warm-up sets before getting into the heavy stuff.

On the flip side, with some of the exercises that come later in the workout, the muscles being worked are already warm, so you won’t need many, if any, warm-up sets.

What about stretching?

In most cases, there’s very little benefit in stretching, be it dynamic or static, as part of a warm-up.

While the adverse effects of stretching on strength and power have been exaggerated, most studies show that pre-exercise stretching does little for injury prevention and has no beneficial effects on lifting performance.

Can you stretch as part of your warm up? Yes. Do you have to? No. It’s certainly not mandatory, and many people will do just as well without it. You can read more about how to warm up for weight training here.

How Long To Rest Between Sets

Take 2-3 minutes rest between sets. If in doubt, err on the side of giving yourself too much rest rather than not enough.

As a rule, I’d suggest resting for longer between sets of compound exercises that work a large amount of muscle mass, such as squats, barbell rows, deadlifts, pull-ups, leg presses and so on. 

You won’t need as much rest between single-joint isolation exercises, such as biceps curls, lateral raises and pressdowns.

Don’t try to save time by cutting your rest periods short and racing from one exercise to the next. The hypertrophy stimulus generated by a given workout will be that much greater if you get a decent amount of rest between each set before tackling the next one.

How To Progress on a Full Body Push Pull Split

No matter how your training split is set up, it’s important to train hard and focus on improving your performance in the gym over time.

Do the same exercises, for the same number of sets and reps, while lifting the same amount of weight, for the next five years. Nothing much is going to happen.

That’s because the training you’re doing is a challenge your body has already adapted to. As a result, no new muscle mass will be gained.

I’m not saying you’ll make progress every time you go to the gym. To do so indefinitely would be impossible, and there’ll be times when you end up lifting the same amount of weight, for the same number of sets and reps you did before.

However, you should be pushing yourself to increase the amount of work your muscles are doing in the gym, whether that’s lifting heavier weights, doing more reps with the same weight, or doing more sets.

You need to give your muscles a reason to get bigger, or you’ll remain stuck at the same size you are right now.

So make sure to keep a training journal, write down your numbers, and always try to beat your previous workout in some way.

You’ll notice that the workouts use rep ranges, such as 5-8 or 8-12, rather than a fixed number of reps in each set.

For example, let’s say that the prescription for a particular exercise is 3 sets of 5-8 reps.

The idea is that you select a weight that allows you to perform at least 5 reps in each set, but no more than 8.

Every time you go to the gym, you try to do more reps than you did the workout before. Once you’re able to do 8 reps in every set, increase the weight for the following workout.

It’s a form of progression known as the double progression method. Here’s an example of how it might look in practice:

Workout 1

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 5 reps

Workout 2

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 7 reps

Workout 3

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 7 reps

Workout 4

• Set 1: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 2: 100 pounds x 8 reps
• Set 3: 100 pounds x 8 reps

Workout 5

• Set 1: 105 pounds x 7 reps
• Set 2: 105 pounds x 6 reps
• Set 3: 105 pounds x 5 reps

As you can see, in workout four, once you’re able to do 8 reps in all 3 sets, you add weight in the fifth workout and repeat the cycle. 

This simple double progression method can work well for most exercises, and will produce decent gains in muscle mass over several months, just as long as you stay consistent and work hard.

It’s also important to make sure that your technique remains solid from one workout to the next. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that you’ve gotten stronger, when all you’re doing is cheating on those last few reps to get the weight up.

The exact number of workouts it takes to reach this point will vary from person to person, and from exercise to exercise.

It might take 10 workouts or it might take 5. But wait until you can do 3 sets of 8 reps before adding weight. 

Full Body Push Pull Split: The Pros

Flexibility and Convenience

One of the major benefits of any 3-day workout routine is that it tends to make for a more consistent training schedule. By that, I mean it’s a lot easier to carve out the time for three workouts each week than it is four or five.

On a 3-day workout routine, you can train:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday
• Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
• Wednesday, Friday, Sunday

With a training program that requires you to lift weights 4-5 days a week, there’s a lot less flexibility when it comes to shifting your training days around.

The odd missed workout here or there isn’t a problem. But if you’re constantly missing workouts, your progress is going to suffer. 

It’s far better to choose a training frequency that you’re able to stick with for the length of time necessary to add a substantial amount of muscle mass to your frame than attempt to follow a routine that doesn’t fit your schedule.

Allows for an Optimal Training Frequency

With the full body/push/pull split, you’re training each muscle group twice a week, which tends to work well for muscle growth.

When you work a muscle at least twice every seven days, it tends to grow more quickly compared to once a week.

Assuming you’re not overdoing it in the gym, eating the right food and sleeping well, and your workout volume in the gym isn’t excessive, your muscles don’t need a full week to recover before they’re ready for action again.

A More Enjoyable Way to Train

Many people like the idea of having a push and a pull workout where they dedicate an entire workout to a few muscle groups. It’s just a more enjoyable way to train.

Gaining 10, 15 or 20 pounds of muscle mass requires a lot of hard work and consistency over several years. To stay consistent, you need to want to go to the gym. 

If you find a particular workout split more enjoyable, that’s a major benefit. A training program that’s ideal for muscle growth isn’t ideal if you don’t do it.

One of the downsides of a full-body workout is that you’re working your whole body – chest, back, legs, shoulders and arms – in a single training session. 

As a result, a typical workout can end up lasting anywhere between 1-2 hours, which doesn’t suit everyone.

Some people will run out of steam towards the end of a training session. The muscles being worked towards the end of that workout receive less effort than the ones trained at the start.

Including a push and a pull workout in your training schedule means that your energy and focus is distributed across fewer muscle groups.

More Time and Energy for Other Things

For some people, all they want to do is lift weights and nothing else. Their entire focus is gaining as much muscle as they can, as quickly as possible.

However, that’s not the case for everyone. While they still want to build muscle and get stronger, many folks just enjoy being physically active on a daily basis, and want a bit of variety from one day to the next.

With a 3-day workout split, you can lift weights three days a week, and still have both the time and energy to run, swim, cycle, kayak, play sport or whatever you like on the days you’re not lifting weights.

Full Body Push Pull Split: The Cons

The main downside with most 3-day workout splits is that they’re far from ideal for advanced lifters, who typically need a higher volume of training to make their muscles grow. 

And by a higher volume of training, I’m talking about the number of hard sets you do for each muscle group.

Beginners will often see impressive results lifting weights three times a week. But as the months and years go by, and you wave goodbye to the beginner and intermediate stages of training, you’ll need to ramp up the amount of work you do to keep the gains coming. 

In most cases, that’s going to require more than three weekly training days. The more training miles you have on the clock, the more likely it is that you’ll benefit from some kind of split routine that involves a higher frequency of training.

And by a higher frequency of training, I’m talking about a workout routine that involves lifting weights 4-6 days a week.

What About Cardio?

Should you do cardio on a 3-day workout split? And what type of cardio is best?

That depends a lot on you and your goals.

If you’re trying to build muscle, there’s no need to do any cardio at all. While some people like to do it for health reasons, lifting weights itself has been shown to deliver many of the same health and longevity benefits.

If you’re doing cardio because you want to burn off some extra calories and lose fat, it’s important to keep in mind that fat loss is mainly a function of diet rather than what you do in the gym.

Cardio can certainly make a contribution to the calorie deficit required to lose fat. But unless your diet is set up properly, you’re just spinning your wheels.

For those who insist on doing cardio, some low-to-moderate intensity cardio 2-3 times a week for 40 minutes or so is plenty. And by low-to-moderate intensity, I’m talking about something that gets your heart rate up to around 70% of its maximum.

Doing too much high intensity exercise on top of a 3-day strength training program does have the potential to put the brakes on muscle growth if you’re not careful.

It’s best to avoid any intense cardio immediately before lifting weights. You’re better off doing it once the heavy training is out of the way, or even on a separate day.

I’d also suggest that you focus mainly on low-impact cardio, such as cycling, swimming, climbing stairs, rowing or even incline treadmill walking, rather than running.

Running tends to cause a lot more muscle damage than something like swimming, cycling, or even incline treadmill walking. There’s also a lot more wear and tear on your joints.

As a result, running has a much greater potential for impeding recovery and slowing muscle growth.

Other Workout Splits

• Arnold Split
• PPL Split
• Upper/Lower Split