The Best Push Pull Workout To Maximize Results

The push pull workout split efficiently targets each major muscle group to maximize results while allowing adequate rest. The one we have below starts with a strength-focused push day and alternates for the remaining workouts, with rest days between.

For more focus on each major muscle group, this split can also be expanded into a push pull legs routine. This is a good choice if you want to devote time to focusing on your lower body musculature. Otherwise, the push pull split incorporates lower-body exercises to target the whole body.

The Ultimate Push Pull Workout

This push pull workout routine is divided into four workout days and three rest days per week. Each muscle group is targeted twice weekly, allowing adequate rest time between workouts. 

• Day 1: Push – Strength.
• Day 2: Pull – Hypertrophy.
• Day 3: Rest.
• Day 4: Push – Hypertrophy
• Day 5: Pull – Strength.
• Day 6: Rest.
• Day 7: Rest.

The routine starts with a push workout targeting the push muscles. This includes the quadriceps, chest, shoulders, and triceps. The push muscles are essential for pushing motions like kicking a ball or pushing a shopping cart.

The pull workouts focus on the pull muscles, including the back, biceps, and rear shoulders. These muscles perform pulling motions, like opening a door or picking up a shopping bag. 

In addition to alternating between push and pull, this routine switches focus between strength and hypertrophy. Strength workouts will focus on full-body movements with greater weight for fewer repetitions. This will help maximize strength gains.

Hypertrophy workouts will combine compound, or multi-joint, movements and isolation, or single-joint, movements. The weight and repetitions will be kept in a moderate range to ensure appropriate volume for muscle growth. 

Day 1: Push — Strength

Day 1 focuses on the push muscles: quadriceps, chest, shoulders, and triceps. In this strength-focused workout, the movements are multi-joint, incorporating several body parts in each exercise. These routines combine upper and lower body push movements to give you the best push day workout.

Loading recommendations are different on strength days compared to hypertrophy days. For strength, you will aim for heavier weights and lower reps. Shoot for 80%-100% of your one-repetition maximum for the given sets and reps. Your one-repetition maximum is the maximum weight you can lift for one repetition with proper form.

Day 2: Pull — Hypertrophy

Day 2 uses cable and dumbbell pull exercises to target the pull muscles: back, biceps, and rear shoulders. While push workouts target the anterior (front) and lateral (side) deltoids, pull workouts hit the posterior, or rear, deltoid. 

As a hypertrophy workout, compound and isolation exercises are combined at moderate reps ranges to encourage growth. Compound exercises target multiple major muscle groups to build training volume efficiently. Isolation exercises hit single muscle groups from different angles to maximize muscle activation. 

Loading recommendations for hypertrophy are 60%–80% of your one repetition maximum for the given sets and reps.

Day 3: Push — Hypertrophy

Day 3 returns to the push movement pattern, focusing on hypertrophy instead of strength. The push muscles are targeted with moderate weight and repetitions on this day.

If you don’t want to use the one-repetition maximum guidelines for loading, you can also use trial and error. Choose a weight that allows you to perform the given repetitions, approaching or achieving failure. If you can perform more than stated, the weight is too low. The weight is too high if you can’t hit the given reps before failure.

Day 4: Pull — Strength

The last workout of the routine switches back to the pull movement pattern with a strength focus. Pull exercises are excellent for strengthening the posterior chain or the muscles on the back of the body. This includes the glutes, hamstrings, back, latissimus dorsi, and calves.

For example, the deadlift activates the glutes and hamstrings at 95% and 108% of their maximum. This shows how effective this pull exercise is at targeting those muscles of the posterior chain.

Benefits Of A Push Pull Routine 

Choosing a push pull workout routine has many advantages that can help all lifters, whether beginner or advanced. Below, we’ve outlined three of the top benefits.

Prevent Muscle Imbalance

Muscle imbalances occur when muscles are worked unevenly, resulting in inequality of strength and size. This can increase the risk of overuse injury due to repetitive overload in improper postures. It can also lead to undesirable changes in physique and posture.

The push pull split is a good way to structure your workouts to prevent muscle imbalance. The push and pull movement patterns are opposite in nature, working opposing sets of muscles. By targeting opposing muscles on each workout day, your body will develop in a balanced way.

Improved Functional Fitness

Functional fitness is the ability to perform fundamental movements and activities with strength, balance, and coordination. Pushing and pulling movements are two of the most essential patterns used in everyday life. They are used during many activities of daily living. 

The push pull workout split devotes two days each week to these vital movement patterns. By strengthening these movements, the activities involving the movements become more effortless. This improves overall functional fitness. 

Improved Recovery

This push pull workout routine provides adequate rest time between workouts to achieve desired changes in strength and hypertrophy. The current recommended rest between workouts is 48–72 hours for each muscle group. 

Splitting workouts into opposing muscle groups ensures you’re getting the proper rest. Each major muscle group gets two to three days of rest between workouts, an adequate length for recovery.

Prioritizing rest can also help prevent overuse injury. Overuse injuries are common when rest periods are too short, allowing for the overaccumulation of damage to the muscles and joints. The push pull workout split is perfect for optimizing your recovery to reduce injury risk.

Tips To Make The Most Of A Push Pull Workout

Progression 

To continue achieving results and avoid plateaus, you must continue to progress your workouts. One training principle utilized by trainers and lifters alike is progressive overload. This refers to intentionally manipulating training variables, like weight, sets, and reps, to facilitate muscle adaptations. 

For example, you could add weight to progress your lift. If you bench-pressed 135 pounds last session, you would aim to lift 145 pounds for the same sets and reps. 

Alternatively, you could increase your sets or repetitions to boost the intensity. If you performed 5–6 deadlift reps at your last session, shoot for 7–8 reps with the same weight. 

As always, ensure you’re using the proper form to reduce injury risk. If your form is deteriorating, you’re not ready for that progression.

Rest And Recovery 

Prioritize rest and recovery to maximize your efforts at the gym. Ensure you follow the given rest periods between sets to prevent burnout. Insufficient rest periods can also lead to negative impacts on performance.

To achieve optimal results with adequate recovery, 10–20 sets per muscle group per week are sufficient. The push pull split breaks the body into different groups, targeting each group twice weekly. This ensures each group gets enough work and has a proper amount of recovery.

Conclusion

The push pull split is a great way to structure your workout for excellent gains while minimizing injury risk. When implemented correctly, this training style can efficiently deliver significant changes in strength and hypertrophy. 

In addition, this split benefits the lifter by optimizing recovery times, improving functional fitness, and preventing muscular imbalances. Try this push pull workout routine today and keep pushing yourself to achieve the results you want to see!