5×5 vs push pull legs vs upper/lower: which split should you run?

Read the table with the research below: the Programs differ less in how often they train a muscle than in how many sets it gets. This 5×5 spends its sets on squats and the big barbell lifts and gives arms and calves none; push pull legs gives chest, back, shoulders and legs 12 sets or more a week, at the cost of six days.

Every session starts with five sets of five squats, then either bench press and barbell rows (Workout A) or overhead press and one heavy set of deadlifts (Workout B). You alternate A and B on three days a week with a rest day between, so one week has two A sessions and the next has two B. Strengthara's version adds face pulls, chin-ups and side planks to the five barbell lifts.

Five reps with about three left in the tank keep the weight heavy and leave room to add to it for weeks. The cost is in the tables above: no direct work for arms or calves, little for hamstrings, and bench and press only every other session.

Push days train chest, shoulders and triceps, pull days back, rear shoulders and biceps, and leg days squats, hinges and calves. Each day opens with one heavy barbell lift at five reps (bench, press or rows for four sets, squats for three, deadlifts for a single set), then four exercises in rep ranges such as 8–12 and 12–20.

Train all six in a week and every muscle gets two sessions. Train four or five days and you pick a session you have not done yet in this round of six, so nothing is skipped; each muscle simply waits longer between sessions and gets fewer sets a week.

Two upper-body and two lower-body sessions a week. The strength days use 3–8 reps on the barbell lifts (bench, row, press, squat, deadlift); the volume days use 8–20 reps on dumbbell, cable and machine work.

Like push pull legs it trains every muscle twice a week, on two fewer days, and like 5×5 it keeps heavy barbell work at the centre. The American College of Sports Medicine names this split as an option for intermediate lifters (ACSM, 2009).

When total weekly sets are the same, training a muscle once, twice or three times a week builds about the same muscle (Schoenfeld, Grgic & Krieger, 2019). An earlier review found that training a muscle at least twice a week beat once a week, without settling whether three beats two (Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger, 2016).

Volume matters more: each extra weekly set was linked to a small extra gain in muscle size, about 0.4% per set in one analysis, with returns that shrink as sets add up (Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger, 2017; Pelland et al., 2026).

For strength, training a lift more often helped mostly because it added volume; with volume equal, the difference was not significant (Grgic et al., 2018). A larger 2026 analysis of 67 studies still found a small, shrinking benefit of frequency for strength, which favours 5×5's squatting three times a week (its bench and press come once or twice) (Pelland et al., 2026).

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends two or three full-body days a week for novices, and three or four days for intermediates, either full body or a split such as upper/lower that trains each muscle twice (ACSM, 2009).

So pick the split that gets you enough hard sets per muscle on days you can keep. Missed sessions cost more than the choice of split.

None of these Programs adds weight by itself, and neither does Strengthara. You apply one of these rules at each session:

Both are simpler versions of the American College of Sports Medicine's guidance, which adds 2–10% once you can do one or two reps more than the target in two sessions in a row, the smaller step for small muscles (ACSM, 2009). Follow that stricter rule if the simple one stalls you quickly.

Stuck for three sessions? Check sleep, food and technique first. A common reset is to take about 10% off the lift and build back up, or to move it to a higher rep range.

Reps in reserve (RIR) is how many more reps you could have done. Judge it at the end of each set; Helms and colleagues argue that near heavy loads it rates effort more precisely than a general exertion score (Helms et al., 2016).

In Strengthara, each set row shows the weight and reps you lifted last time, and the prescription line shows your record. Ticking an empty set logs last time's numbers; type to change them. The next weight is your call.

Move from 5×5 to upper/lower when resets stop working: you have reset a lift and stalled again at about the same weight, or every session runs long because every lift is heavy. Your working weights carry over to the new split's main lifts.

Move from upper/lower to push pull legs when you want more weekly sets for a muscle and have the days to spend on it. Moving the other way is fine too: if six days stopped fitting your week, four that you keep will beat six that you miss.

Classic 5×5, Push Pull Legs and Upper Lower are starter Programs in Strengthara, each in a Block with a Nutrition plan and a weekly Check-in. The iPhone app runs your Sessions and shows last time and your record on every set; the web portal is where you plan and edit.