Day 1: Chest & Back
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| A1 | Incline Smith Press / Incline DB Press / Incline Machine Press (upper chest) | 3 x 6-10 |
| A2 | Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown (upper/mid back, lat width) | 3 x 8-12 |
| B1 | Machine Chest Press / Flat DB Press (mid chest) | 2-3 x 8-12 |
| B2 | Chest-Supported Row (mid back, rhomboids) | 2-3 x 8-12 |
| C1 | Cable Fly (mid/lower chest) | 2 x 12-15 |
| C2 | Wide-Grip Cable Row / Face Pull (elbows flared, upper back) | 2 x 10-15 |
Day 2: Quad biased
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| 1 | Heel-Elevated Smith Squat / Hack Squat / Pendulum Squat (quads) | 3 x 5-8 |
| 2 | Leg Extension (quads, isolation) | 3 x 12-18 |
| 3 | Seated Leg Curl / Lying Leg Curl (hamstrings) | 2 x 8-12 |
| 4 | Standing Calf Raise / Leg Press Calf Raise (calves, gastrocnemius) | 3 x 8-12 |
| 5 | Adductor (squeeze in) | 2 x 10-15 |
Day 3: Arms A + Delts
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| A1 | Overhead Cable Triceps Extension (long head) | 3 x 8-12 |
| A2 | Incline Dumbbell Curl / Bayesian Curl (long head) | 3 x 8-12 |
| B1 | Rope Pressdown / V-Bar Pressdown (lateral head) | 3 x 10-15 |
| B2 | Preacher Curl / Machine Curl / Spider Curl (short head) | 3 x 10-15 |
| C1 | Cable Lateral Raise / DB Lateral Raise (side delts) | 4 x 12-20 |
| C2 | Reverse Pec Deck / Face Pull (rear delts) | 3 x 12-20 |
Day 4: Rest
recovery, joint freshness, performance reset.
Day 5: Back & Chest
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| A1 | Lat Pulldown / Weighted Pull-Up (lats, back width) | 3 x 6-10 |
| A2 | Flat Machine Press / Flat DB Press (mid chest) | 3 x 8-12 |
| B1 | Chest-Supported Row / Cable Row (mid back, rhomboids) | 3 x 8-12 |
| B2 | Pec Deck (seat high, lower chest bias) | 2 x 12-15 |
| C | Reverse Fly / Face Pull (upper back, elbows flared) | 2 x 12-15 |
Day 6: Posterior chain + Glute-biased
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| 1 | RDL / DB RDL (hamstrings, glutes) | 3 x 6-10 |
| 2 | Lying Leg Curl / Seated Leg Curl (hamstrings) | 2-3 x 8-12 |
| 3 | Hip Thrust / Cable Pull-Through (glutes) | 3 x 8-12 |
| 4 | Bulgarian Split Squat / Goblet Squat (quads, glutes) | 3 x 8-12 |
| 5 | Seated Calf Raise / Smith Calf Raise (calves, soleus) | 2-3 x 10-15 |
| 6 | Abductor (push out) | 2 x 10-15 |
Day 7: Arms B + Delts
| # | Exercise | Sets x Reps |
|---|
| A1 | Hammer Curl / Cross-body Curl (brachialis) | 3 x 8-12 |
| A2 | Skull Crusher / Close-grip Press (lateral + medial head) | 3 x 10-15 |
| B1 | Bayesian Curl / Cable Curl (long head stretch) | 2 x 10-15 |
| B2 | Rope Pushdown / V-Bar Pushdown (lateral head) | 2 x 10-15 |
| C | Cable Lateral Raise / DB Lateral Raise (side delts) | 2 x 15-25 |
Weekly Volume Overview
| Muscle Group | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Total |
|---|
| Upper chest | A1 (3) | | | | | | 3 sets |
| Mid chest | B1 (2-3) | | | A2 (3) | | | 5-6 sets |
| Lower chest | C1 (2) | | | B2 (2) | | | 4 sets |
| Upper/mid back | A2 (3) | | | | | | 3 sets |
| Mid back | B2 (2-3) | | | B1 (3) | | | 5-6 sets |
| Upper back | C2 (2) | | | C (2) | | | 4 sets |
| Lats | A2 (3) | | | A1 (3) | | | 6 sets |
| Quads | | 1+2 (6) | | | 4 (3) | | 9 sets |
| Hamstrings | | 3 (2) | | | 1+2 (5-6) | | 7-8 sets |
| Glutes | | | | | 1+3+4 (9) | | 9 sets |
| Calves (gastrocnemius) | | 4 (3) | | | | | 3 sets |
| Calves (soleus) | | | | | 5 (2-3) | | 2-3 sets |
| Side delts | | | C1 (4) | | | C (2) | 6 sets |
| Rear delts | | | C2 (3) | C (2) | | | 5 sets |
| Biceps | | | A2+B2 (6) | | | A1+B1 (5) | 11 sets |
| Triceps | | | A1+B1 (6) | | | A2+B2 (5) | 11 sets |
i’ve been running PPLR since day 1 for a long time, and recovery was getting harder with my schedule. my weak points are shoulders and arms, and pure PPL wasn’t giving them enough direct, high-quality work without wrecking everything else.
so i’m switching to an arms-focused parts split - two upper days (chest-first vs back-first), two lower days (quad vs posterior chain), and two dedicated arm + delt sessions targeting different muscle heads.
shoutout to cayden and marcus for refining this plan, choosing the right replacements, cutting redundant volume, fixing the back movement angles, and teaching me about CNS fatigue - made sure arms actually get trained fresh instead of always last when fatigued.
i’ll talk more about my fitness journey and why i’m moving away from PPL in a separate blog post next time.