What do you think of my PPL routine? Beginner looking for advice

J

jake3134

New member
Been going to the gym for about a year. Started out with Full Body and now I´m doing Upper Lower. Currently on a cut and when I start bulking again I want to do PPL. I've spent a lot of hours creating my own routine, and would very much appreciate your insights!

I'm happy to hear your thoughts and will change things if you recommend it. My goal is Hypertrophy and my chest is lagging a lot, especially upper chest.

Push A:​


Chest

Flat Barbell Bench Press: 4 x 4-6

Incline Smith Machine: 3 x 8-10

High to Low Cable Flies: 2 x 12-15

Shoulders

Barbell Overhead Press: 3 x 6-8

Lean-Away Cable Lateral Raises: 3 x 10-12

Triceps

Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extensions: 3 x 8-10

Push B:​


Chest

Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 x 8-10

Flat Barbell Bench Press 3 x 6-8

High to Low Cable Flies: 2 x 12-15

Shoulders

Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 x 8-10

Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 x 12-15

Triceps

Incline Overhead Dumbbell Extensions: 3 x 12-15

Pull A:​


Back

Deadlift: 3 x 5-6

Pull Ups: 3 x 6-8

Seated Cable Row: 3 x 8-10

Rear Delts / Traps

Kneeling Face Pulls: 3 x 12-15

Front Smith Machine Shrugs: 3 x 10-12

Biceps

Standing EZ Bar Curls 3 x 6-8

Pull B:​


Back

Pull Ups: 3 x 6-8

Chest Supported Dumbbell Row: 3 x 6-8

Lat Pulldowns: 3 x 8-10

Rear Delts / Traps

Kneeling Face Pulls: 3 x 12-15

Front Smith Machine Shrugs: 3 x 10-12

Biceps

Incline Dumbbell Curls: 3 x 8-10

Hammer Curls: 2 x 8-10

Legs A:​


Quads

Back Squats: 4 x 6-8

Leg Press: 3 x 8-10

Hamstrings

Romanian Deadlifts: 3 x 10-12

Calves

Standing Single Leg Calf Raise: 3 x 8-10

Seated Calf Raise: 3 x 12-15

Legs B:​


Quads

Back Squats: 3 x 6-8

Bulgarian Split Squats: 3 x 8-10

Hamstrings

Lying Leg Curls: 3 x 8-10

Calves

Standing Single Leg Calf Raise: 3 x 8-10

Seated Calf Raise: 3 x 12-15
 
@jake3134 Looks ok but theres some stuff id change. Firstly, if youre doing this much horozontal pressing id replace some of the overhead presses with more laterals, rear delt flys or upright rows.

Secondly i wouldnt do deadlifts and romanian deadlifts in a week. Id keep the romanians and take the deads out. Keep the rest the same.

Also youre doing all your arm work when theyre tired at the end of the workouts. This is just a problem with ppl in general. Your arms are gonna lag behind.
 
@bronsontaur Thanks for replying!

Ok, so maybe removing standing dumbbell shoulder press and instead add another lateral?

So you mean I should never Deadlift? Isn’t it good to at least do 1 deadlift per week? Is romanians more priority than deads?
 
@jake3134 Romanians are deadlifts. They just bias the hamstrings, glutes and traps more. Theyre more effective for hypertrophy from a bodybuilding perspective. Doing deads and romanians will be fatiguing as fuck.

Spam laterals and rear delts. Its not gonna hurt.
 
@bronsontaur I see. I will remove Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press and add another Lateral on that Session instead. Great advice!

However I really want to do Deadlifts, so maybe I should remove romanians instead and just do Lying Leg Curls instead like I do on the other leg workout? I've never done Romanians though but they look really good. As you can see I put a high rep range for them, do you really think it will be too much for me in a week? I've placed them so that they never go Back to Back 2 days in a row. But if that's what you recommend I will follow your advice!
 
@jake3134 If you like deadlifting then do that its your training. Just saying you dont have to pull as much weight on romanians so theyre easier to recover from and are better for hams.
 
@jake3134 I'd change the push days a bit as you've mentioned that your upper chest is lagging. So I'd always start the day with OHP on one day and Incline BB/Smith Press on the other. Also, I'd add low-to-high cable flies and chest dips. You don't need to overhead press 2x a week as the front delts are worked just as well with incline pressing, I'd add in a tricep exercise instead as 6 sets of direct tricep work aren't much unless you're a complete beginner. So I'd rearrange the push days like this

Push A:​


Chest

• Incline Barbell Bench Press: 4 x 6-10

• DB Bench Press: 3 x 8-10

• High to Low Cable Flies: 2 x 12-15

Shoulders

• Lean-Away Cable Lateral Raises: 4 x 10-12

Triceps

• Cable Pushdown 3 x 12-15

• Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extensions: 3 x 8-10

Push B:​


Chest

• Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 x 8-10

• Chest Dips: 3 x AMRAP

• Low to High Cable Flies: 2 x 12-15

Shoulders

• Barbell Overhead Press: 4 x 6-10

• Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 x 12-15

Triceps

• Overhead Cable Extension: 4 x 12-15
 
@txstudent145 What is the reason I should do OHP first? I was thinking of doing it 2nd. Also, this means I will flat bench only once instead of twice as I first thought. Currently I chose 1 flat bench day for lower reps and one with higher, which should I keep?
 
@jake3134 OHP is a heavy compound exercise and best to put it first.

No, you'd flat bench 2x a week. Once with a Barbell and the other day with a Dumbbell, the only problem then becomes the overlap between the OHP and Incline Press but if you use a smith machine then you can really focus on the upper chest and limit the front delt from stabilizing somewhat. So I'd rearrange it like this

Push A

• OHP

• DB Bench

• Incline Smith Press

• High-to-Low Cable Fly SS Cable Pushdown

• EZ Bar Tricep Ext SS DB Lat Raise

Push B

• Bench Press

• Incline DB Bench

• Low-to-High Cable Fly SS Cable Pushdown

• Cable Lat Raise SS Cable Overhead Ext

I noticed that you don't superset anything but I'd highly recommend it as it doesn't interfere with performance at all
 
@txstudent145 Last question: Regarding Push A: Would it be okay to put Incline Smith right after OHP and then do DB bench? Because I notice now that Upper chest is not targeted first on either A or B. Maybe it doesn't matter anyway? I have this thought that whatever part of the chest you're targeting first will grow the most which can be totally wrong haha
 
@jake3134 Yes, that would be fine but my logic behind this is that the front delts are fatigued from the OHP, and doing the DB Bench in between gives the front delts some more rest during the workout. In theory, you wouldn't even have to do incline presses to hit the upper chest, to begin with, apparently, it only activates the upper portion 5% more than a flat bench and the low-to-high cable fly activates it the best. But from my experience, a slight incline db bench whilst going down a lot to feel the stretch and incline barbell pressing where you put the bar really high on your chest works the upper portion really well. Which exercise you put first mostly matters for strength anyways, it doesn't matter at all in terms of hypertrophy
 
@txstudent145 Perfect! Have a great day and thanks for all your advice. Still 2.5 months left on my cut so I’m sticking with my boring upper lower split until then. Can’t wait for my next bulk and my new routine!
 
@txstudent145 I'm running upper/lower and I'm considering doing flat DB bench + OHP + high to low flys on one upper day and then another horizontal press variation (maybe dips?) + low to high flys on the other upper day.
 
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