What the garage setup needs
The planner calls this the garage preset: a barbell, a squat rack, dumbbells, a bench and a pull-up bar. There are no cables or machines in it, so the engine fills those slots with free-weight and bodyweight movements. That is why the plan below has slider curls, wall sits and a bridge walkout where a commercial gym would use a leg curl and a leg extension.
The six-day plan, session by session
Push A Mon · about 56 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Bench PressHorizontal push | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Standing Barbell Overhead PressVertical push | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Dumbbell Lateral RaiseSide delts | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
| Dumbbell FlyChest | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
| Dumbbell Skull CrusherTriceps | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
Then: Brisk Walk or Easy Jog, 10 min.
Pull A Tue · about 59 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Chin-UpVertical pull | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Barbell Bent-Over RowHorizontal pull | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Bent-Over Dumbbell Rear FlyRear delts | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
| Hammer CurlBiceps | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
| Farmer CarryCore | 3 × 30–50s | 40 s |
Then: Mobility & stretching, 15 min.
Legs A Wed · about 60 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Back SquatSquat | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Barbell Romanian DeadliftHinge | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
| Walking Lunge (dumbbells)Lunge | 3 × 6–10 / side | 120 s |
| Towel Slider Hamstring CurlHamstrings | 3 × 10–15 | 75 s |
| Wall SitQuads | 3 × 30–50s | 40 s |
| Single-Leg Dumbbell Calf RaiseCalves | 3 × 10–15 / side | 75 s |
| Barbell Hip ThrustGlutes | 3 × 6–10 | 120 s |
Push B Thu · about 56 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Incline Dumbbell PressHorizontal push | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
| Seated Dumbbell Shoulder PressVertical push | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
| Dumbbell Lateral RaiseSide delts | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
| Dumbbell FlyChest | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
| Close-Grip Bench PressTriceps | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
Then: Mobility & stretching, 10 min.
Pull B Fri · about 59 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Pull-UpVertical pull | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
| Chest-Supported Dumbbell RowHorizontal pull | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
| Prone Y-T RaiseRear delts | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
| Incline Dumbbell CurlBiceps | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
| Hanging Leg RaiseCore | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
Then: Mobility & stretching, 15 min.
Legs B Sat · about 59 min
| Exercise | Sets × reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell Bulgarian Split SquatSquat | 3 × 8–13 / side | 105 s |
| Conventional DeadliftHinge | 3 × 8–13 | 105 s |
| Dumbbell Step-UpLunge | 3 × 8–13 / side | 105 s |
| Glute Bridge WalkoutHamstrings | 3 × 12–18 | 60 s |
| Wall SitQuads | 3 × 30–50s | 40 s |
| Single-Leg Calf RaiseCalves | 4 × 12–18 / side | 60 s |
| Single-Leg Glute BridgeGlutes | 3 × 12–18 / side | 60 s |
Generated by the free planner: build muscle, intermediate, 60 minutes, Monday to Saturday, garage equipment, seed 4. The same answers and the same seed return exactly this plan.
How to read the A and B days
The A days use the heavier range: compound lifts at 6 to 10 reps with two minutes of rest. The B days use 8 to 13 reps on the compounds and 12 to 18 on the small lifts, with shorter rests of 105 and 60 seconds. Pushing and pulling movements repeat across A and B on purpose, because a split that trains each muscle twice a week needs two exposures with different loading. Each leg day covers a squat pattern, a hinge pattern and a lunge pattern, then hamstring, quad, calf and glute work.
| Muscle | Hard sets per week |
|---|---|
| Chest | 13.5 |
| Back | 19.5 |
| Shoulders | 30 |
| Biceps | 12 |
| Triceps | 12 |
| Quads | 18 |
| Hamstrings | 16.5 |
| Glutes | 21 |
| Calves | 7 |
| Core | 12 |
Weekly hard sets per muscle in this plan. The engine counts a set fully for the main muscle and as half a set for each secondary muscle.
Why six days, and what to do if you cannot train six
Six days is more than the 3 to 4 days per week the American College of Sports Medicine suggests for intermediate lifters, and the 4 to 5 days it suggests for advanced lifters. It earns its place when you want each muscle trained twice a week and your sessions are close to an hour. If your week cannot hold six days, tell the planner how many days you really have: for four days it builds an upper and lower split with each muscle twice, and for three days it builds three full-body or upper, lower and full-body sessions.
Progress with double progression
Keep the same load until you complete every set at the top of the rep range, then add the smallest jump you can and start again at the bottom. Liftcadence uses this rule and suggests the next load from what you logged last time.
If a piece of equipment is missing
No pull-up bar, or no bench? Tell the planner what you actually own and rebuild the plan: it only picks exercises you can do with that equipment, and it prefers the closest movement pattern. The survey also lets you mark an injury, which removes the movements that commonly aggravate it.
General fitness guidance, not medical advice. Stop a set if you feel sharp pain, and check with a doctor before starting if you have a health condition.
Build it in the planner
The free Liftcadence planner builds a weekly plan from your goal, schedule, minutes and equipment with fixed training rules and no generative AI, and it works offline. Read how the rules work or see what is free and what Pro adds.
Questions
Is a six-day push pull legs split too much?
It is above the usual range. The American College of Sports Medicine position stand recommends 3 to 4 days a week for intermediate lifters and 4 to 5 for advanced lifters. Six days can work when sessions stay near an hour, you sleep well and you do not push every set to failure. If you feel run down, drop to four days with an upper and lower split.
How often should each muscle be trained?
At least twice a week. A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis found that training a muscle twice a week gave better muscle growth than once a week when volume was matched, and left open whether three times beats twice. A six-day push pull legs split trains each muscle twice.
How many sets per muscle per week does this plan give?
The weekly table above lists them. Research on weekly volume found a graded dose-response: more weekly sets were associated with more muscle growth, with diminishing returns not ruled out. Treat the plan numbers as a starting point and add or remove sets according to how you recover.
Do I need a barbell and a rack?
This sample assumes them, because the garage preset includes both. If you have only dumbbells, choose the home preset in the survey and the planner rebuilds every session around dumbbells, a bench and a pull-up bar.
Related
Sources
- American College of Sports Medicine. Position stand: progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009;41(3):687-708. doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181915670
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 2016;46(11):1689-1697. doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017;35(11):1073-1082. doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197