The Push-Pull-Legs (PPL) workout split is widely popular for muscle building, but this analysis reveals critical flaws in its standard implementation, particularly regarding muscle group volume distribution and recovery. It proposes a modified PPL split, termed the "Athletic Bodybuilding Workout Split," to optimize muscle growth and aesthetic development.
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the push pull leg splits universally
considered the best workout split for
building muscle and if you see Mr
Olympia or these huge bodybuilders
chances are they're doing this workout
split the reason it's so effective is
because it maximizes total workout
volume if you know anything about
building muscle you understand that
volume is one of the biggest drivers of
muscle hypertrophy and so it's intensity
you can't just go into the gym and not
push yourself and build muscle the
pushful leg foot is the most popular
workouts foot however I've been Lifting
for 5 years and I actually stopped doing
this several years ago cuz I saw major
flaws in it and if you stick to the end
of the video I'll tell you what these
flaws are and how you can fix them so
you can make sure you're still gaining
muscle month by month a push pull legs
workout are three workouts a push
workout consisting of shoulders chest
and triceps a pull workout which is back
and biceps and then your leg workout if
you're a beginner or you've been
training for less than 6 months you're
going to be doing this once or 3 days in
total in the gym this is because your
body hasn't adapted to the physical
demands and the stress that
weightlifting causes to your body even
if you're prioritising other sports SPS
like MMA you should be doing push pull
legs once if you guys want to see a
cardio workout for MMA drop a like if
this video hits 3K likes I'll release
that next and even if you don't want
this workout if you don't hit that like
button right now I'm going to send Leon
NE to your house he going to head kick
you in the face so now if you're an
advanc lifter you will do the push pull
legs workout twice or 6 days in total in
the gym which is considered typical and
one of the ways you maximize muscle
growth in order for a muscle group to
recover completely you want to be giving
it 48 to 72 hours to recover these are
simple stad conditioning guidelines for
maximizing muscle hypertrophy and
another one of those guidelines is to
hit each muscle group two to three times
per week so the push pull leg workout
allows you to achieve both of these
which in turn leads to maximum muscle
growth once I fell in love with the gym
and really focused on building my body
building my aesthetic physique I started
doing this but through my education in
this field I noticed the huge flaws and
there are two of them and I'll tell you
these are flaws that all lifters fall
victim to the first biggest problem I
notice is you're hitting three muscle
groups on one day but only hitting one
muscle group on the other day because on
your push workout you're hitting three
muscle groups your shoulders your chest
and your triceps and on your leg day
you're just hitting legs and to not
confuse people when I say muscle groups
I guess you could say muscle categories
because obviously a muscle group could
be considered like the lateral head of
the shoulder but in terms of a muscle
category it's the shoulder I have to
clarify this because this confuses
people for some odd reason on a typical
workout it consists of 16 to 20 sets or
8 to 10 sets per muscle category which
will lead to 16 to 20 sets for each
muscle category per week which I would
say is on the dot for how much volume
you'd want in a particular muscle group
to maximize muscle growth and not add a
bunch of junk volume there's a certain
point in your workout where you're not
building more muscle but you're just
lifting weights for the sake of it and
you're just fatiguing your body that's
what I mean by junk volume so on my pull
day I'll be doing back and biceps and
I'll be doing three exercises for each
and following those guidelines of 8 to
10 sets per muscle group but on a push
day since it consists of three three
different muscle categories I'm dividing
those so instead of doing three
exercises per muscle group I end up
doing two instead of doing 8 to 10 sets
per muscle group I only do six so
because I had three different muscle
categories on my push day I was actually
giving all three of those less
importance when in my opinion you need
to build your shoulders you need to
build your chest you need to build your
triceps for an aesthetic physique and
with your standard Push Pull leg split I
had to reduce the volume on all three of
those muscle groups and The Simple
Solution is on our leg Daye and a
typical leg Daye for me would be 3x
exercises for 8 to 10 sets like I was
talking about before but I didn't have a
second muscle category with it so my
workouts would be pretty quick and a lot
of people will say this is low volume
for the legs but I don't know what
you're doing because I'll do four sets
of squats and just call it a day my legs
are super sore so clearly the amount of
volume I'm doing is making it difficult
for my legs to recover just by doing
Simple squats so since the leg day only
has one muscle category and the push day
has three I decided to move one of the
muscles to the leg day and the muscle
group I chose was triceps if you don't
already know the shoulders and the chest
both Flex at the shoulder and other than
like a close grip bench press or maybe a
dip if you includeed on the tricep day
you're not really doing shoulder flexion
as much so combining shoulders and chest
and moving triceps to a separate Day
made so much sense in terms of a
recovery standpoint and in terms of
muscle function standpoint to maximize
muscle growth I'm sure many of you are
saying wouldn't my shoulder training
affect my chest training and vice versa
I thought that would be the case too but
through my actual experience I found
that not to be the case one week I did
shoulders I started with the military
press so I hit shoulders first then I
hit chest and I hit 225 on bench press
for six reps then later that week I
decided to start my push workout with
chest I did 225 for 7 and that last rep
was so hard I barely got it up so
clearly it didn't impact it very much I
did find it at first it was kind of
tricky doing shoulders and chest first
because of the shoulder flexion she
would have some fatigue in the shoulders
but eventually you just get used to it
but normally I will start with shoulders
before chest that's because I find it to
be a more aesthetic muscle group and
believe it or not most people don't know
this the shoulders are actually a bigger
muscle group than the chest is the
shoulders are more aesthetic than the
chest not because of their size but
because they add to that baper physique
or the famous Leon Edwards physique and
we all know that b taper is the most
aesthetic physique for men the chest in
terms of Aesthetics is very overrated
because it's the middle of your body but
it's not more aesthetic than the
shoulders are however always remember
you need everything developed to have an
aesthetic physique other than your caps
however Variety in your training is key
most the time I'll start with shoulders
in a block of training before chest but
then sometimes I'll have chest first
just depending on the block of training
and when I say block of training that's
every four to 6 week cycle you must
change your workouts every four to 6
weeks to make sure you're maximizing
muscle hypertrophy your body smart you
will get used to what you're doing if
you're doing the same thing in the gym
every single week and every single month
so now that we know the shoulders are
more aesthetic than the chest we also
have to remember another aesthetic part
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started today adding Tri sub to my leg
day opposed to having an on pushed day
has led to incredible growth in my
triceps your leg workout will not impact
your tricep workout very much because
it's lower body compared to triceps
which is upper body and in terms of
strength and conditioning principles
when you're asked to combine workout
routines you're often instructed to
combine upper and lower body because of
the minimal impact they have on each
other meaning the interference your leg
day has in your tricep day and vice
versa is minimal and adding triceps to
leg day posi impacted my shoulder and
chest workout by simply allowing me to
have more volume on those two muscle
groups and my triceps as well after
making the shift all of a sudden my
pressing muscles and my pressing
movements were stronger and more
muscular so that's a huge dub just like
fixing issue two which is your deadlift
affecting your leg day whether you're an
athlete or a bodybuilder I'm a huge
advocate of including deadlifts in your
routine bodybuilders make excuses to Not
Dead lip by saying apparently it's bad
for muscle growth and it's a very risky
exercise particularly for your low back
there is no research that suggest that
deadlift is more dangerous than any
other exercise and the only reason I'd
say it's more dangerous if at all is
just because it has a steeper learning
curve but just take the time to learn
the movement and if you think it's not
good for building muscle my legs
particularly my quads are my most
overdeveloped muscle group and my traps
which I owe specifically to the deadlift
I never isolate my upper traps with the
movement like the shrugs it's purely
from the deadlift I'm a very big fan of
deadlifting on my back day because you
don't want to be deadlifting and
squatting on the same day you're going
to throw up but your pull day and your
leg day are only separated by 24 hours
which is where the recovery problem line
like I said Earl in the video you need
your muscle groups to have 48 to 72
hours between workouts to recover which
won't be granted to your legs if you do
a standard Push Pull leg split so this
led to me having really sore legs for my
leg workout and the switch is super easy
all you have to do is switch your push
day with your pull day thus giving you a
pull push leg split aka the athletic
bodybuilding workout split aka the Leon
Edwards physique workout split this is a
workout split I've been doing for
several years now and I continue to do
and the workout split I give to the
members of my ultimate athletic
bodybuilding Academy in this Academy you
get your monthly workouts or your
monthly pull push leg workout you get
weekly calls with me and my brother
nutrition guides posture stuff
everything you need to achieve your own
Leon Edwards physique I will leave a
link in the description be sure to check
that out I look forward to seeing you
there I'm sure you're thinking your
second pull day is right behind your leg
workout so the problem is still there
right well this is why I only deadlift
on my first pull day and on my second
pull day I replace the deadlift as the
main compound lift with a another
compound back exercise like a barbell
row or a pullup so for those of you who
think deadlift impact your recovery
you're only doing it once a week so it's
ideal for you and once you make those
adjustments here's what your workout
split will look like on Monday it's
going to be your pull workout on Tuesday
it will be your push workout which is
shoulders and chest Wednesday it will be
your leg and tricep workout Thursday
will be your second pull workout if
you're doing the push pull legs twice
but this pull workout will have another
compound back exercise so this is the
pull workout with no deadlift and then
you'll have a push workout on Friday and
Saturday a lean tries to workout that's
hypothetical if you want to switch your
rest day around that's completely fine
and again you can hit shoulders or chest
first that's up to you but if you trust
my opinion I advocate for hitting
shoulders first most of the time if you
want that workout check out my ultimate
athletic bodybuilding Academy again the
link will be in the description down
below and that right there is your pull
push legs workout or your athletic
bodybuilding workout or your Leon
Edwards workout that will make you make
your own body transformation thanks for
watching here's a two examples of
workouts that I do and I'll see you guys
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