6 Day Push Pull Legs Workout Program (Intermediate)
This is a 6-day push/pull/legs program for an intermediate lifter training with a barbell, dumbbells, a bench, a squat rack, and a pull-up bar. Each muscle group is trained twice a week across six focused sessions: pressing on push days, back and biceps on pull days, and the whole lower body on leg days. It suits someone who has been training consistently for a while, recovers well, and can realistically commit to six sessions most weeks.
Equipment needed
Each day mixes barbell and dumbbell work, with the barbell handling the heavier main lifts. The pull-up bar matters most on pull days, where every session pairs a vertical pull with a row so the back is trained from both directions.
The program
Six days gives you enough volume capacity to run push/pull/legs twice through, which is one of the most common approaches among intermediate and advanced lifters for balancing high volume with solid recovery.
Day 1: Push
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then arm circles and band pull-aparts to open up your shoulders. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Overhead Barbell Press | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Close-Grip Bench Press | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your chest, shoulders, and triceps, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Day 2: Pull
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then arm circles and band pull-aparts to open up your shoulders. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pull-Up | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Barbell Bent-Over Row | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Rear Delt Dumbbell Fly | 2 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
| Dumbbell Bicep Curl | 3 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
| Dumbbell Upright Row | 2 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your chest, shoulders, and triceps, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Day 3: Legs
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then bodyweight squats and leg swings to open up your hips. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbell Back Squat | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Romanian Deadlift | 5 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 5 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Lunge | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Calf Raise | 5 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your quads, hamstrings, and calves, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Day 4: Push
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then arm circles and band pull-aparts to open up your shoulders. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Floor Press | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Overhead Barbell Press | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Parallel Bar Dip | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Barbell Bench Press | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 2 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your chest, shoulders, and triceps, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Day 5: Pull
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then arm circles and band pull-aparts to open up your shoulders. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-Bar Row | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Pull-Up | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Rear Delt Dumbbell Fly | 2 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
| EZ-Bar Curl | 3 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
| Dumbbell Upright Row | 2 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your chest, shoulders, and triceps, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
Day 6: Legs
Warm-up
5 minutes of light cardio to raise your heart rate, then bodyweight squats and leg swings to open up your hips. Finish with 2-3 ramp-up sets on your first exercise before your working weight.
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Front Rack Squat | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift | 5 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Barbell Hip Thrust | 5 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Dumbbell Reverse Lunge | 4 | 8-12 | 90-120 sec |
| Seated Dumbbell Calf Raise | 5 | 10-15 | 60-90 sec |
Cool-down
A few minutes of static stretching for your quads, hamstrings, and calves, holding each stretch for 20-30 seconds.
How to progress week to week
Once you can hit the top of the rep range for every set on this push/pull/legs (6-day) plan, add weight on your barbell, dumbbells, bench, squat rack, and pull-up bar the next session and expect reps to dip back toward the bottom of the range. That cycle of adding reps, then adding weight, is what steadily builds size over time. At an intermediate level, progress typically settles into something closer to this pattern, a small jump every week or two rather than every session.
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Keep the tools free →Frequently asked questions
Is six days a week too much for an intermediate lifter?
Not if the sessions stay manageable, and these are built to: each one covers a single movement pattern, and every muscle group gets several days between its two weekly sessions. If six days doesn't fit your life, a 4-day upper/lower plan trains the same muscles twice a week in fewer sessions, and consistency matters far more than the day count.
What should I do if I miss a day?
Pick up with the next session in the rotation rather than doubling up or skipping ahead. The order of push, pull, and legs matters more than which weekday each one lands on, so a missed day just shifts the rotation by one.
Why does each pull day include both a pull-up and a row?
Vertical pulling, like pull-ups, and horizontal pulling, like rows, train the back from different angles and emphasize its muscles a little differently. Including one of each on every pull day keeps back training balanced instead of leaning on one type of movement.