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The ultimate push workout you will ever need

The no BS, straight to the point, back-to-basics, and only push workout you'll ever need if you want to cut all the fluff and go 'Die Hard’-mode!

Published: 31 May 2023Last updated: 24 January 2024

A man with a gray T-shirt performing an incline barbell bench press. The bar is at the bottom position slightly above his chest and he is about to push the barbell up. — Figure 1: Bench pressing is the primary exercise in a push workout.Push, Pull, Legs, or PPL for short, is a popular routine that targets all the major muscles in a split program. On *Push* days you'll be focussing on your chest, shoulders, and triceps.

Introduction

Are you doing a PPL workout (Push, Pull, Legs) and looking for the ultimate and only workout for your push days at the gym? I've got you on this!

I'm going to cut the crap and other BS. Since you may already know what 'PPL' entails, you probably don't need the usual introductory paragraph or additional info but want the workout handed straight to you…

Assuming you already know how to do a proper warming up (remember, a proper warming up also includes mobility work and stretching, and a great stretch for your chest and shoulders is the doorway stretch), below you’ll find the workout handed straight to you.

Push day gym workout

You'll start with 3 exercises for chest, beginning with the most important one, the bench press. Then, you'll do another 3 exercises for your shoulders. Lastly, you'll burn your triceps with a superset and finish them off with one last exercise.

Below you'll find the workout in a handy table form:

Table 1: The workout

Muscle group	Exercise	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Remarks
Chest	1. Bench press	8 reps	8 reps	8 reps	-	Increase weight slightly after each set. Go to failure in the last 2 reps of the final set (use a spotter!). Both the concentric and eccentric phase should be performed at the same speed of 1-2 seconds per phase.
	2. Incline dumbbell press	8 reps	8 reps	8 reps	8 reps	Use same weight for all reps, and use strict form. Pause at the bottom before doing the concentric. The concentric should be explosive, the eccentric should take about 3 seconds.
	3. Dips	12 reps	12 reps	12 reps	12 reps	Bodyweight only. Perform all reps with moderate to fast speed and focus on the pump!
Shoulders	1. Barbell BTN press	5 reps	5 reps	5 reps	-	Perform with relatively heavy load. RPE should be around 8 for all three sets. Pause for a second at the bottom, before pushing the barbell up again.
	2. Seated dumbbell press	8 reps	8 reps	8 reps	-	Set the bench in a slight incline of 60-75 degrees Use the same weight for every set. RPE should be around 7-8.
	3. Standing, single-arm dumbbell press	6 reps	6 reps	6 reps	-	Use relatively heavy load, and your RPE should be around 8 to 9 at the final rep of each set.
Triceps	1. Superset
	Triceps pushdowns (cable)	10 reps	10 reps	10 reps	10 reps	Hold the contraction at the end of the concentric phase for each rep! Do not go fast. Use the same weight for all sets.
	Single-arm, reverse-grip pushdowns (cable)	15 reps	15 reps	15 reps	15 reps	Use the lightest weights for and do not increase weight after each set.
	2. Triceps OH extensions (cable)	12 reps	10 reps	10 reps	-	Finisher exercise. Focus on contraction and the ‘mind-muscle connection’. RPE should be around 6-8.

Details

Each superset consists of 1 set of each exercise. For example, the first exercise 10 reps doing in the first set, followed immediately by doing 15 reps of the second exercise as soon as you finish the first set of the first exercise. There is no rest in between. Only when you did both exercises for the required number of reps, you'll have completed 1 set of that superset. So in total, you need to do 4 (!) of such supersets. Since there is no rest between the exercises of a superset and since you need to do 4 sets to finish your superset exercises, make sure to select the proper load for the exercise. In other words, do not go too heavy or you won’t be able to do all 4 sets with the required number of repetitions.

Wrap up

There you have the no-BS, straight-up, ultimate push workout. It's simple yet highly effective. It's best to follow this workout in the order provided.

Don't do triceps or shoulder work before chest. Otherwise, you'll fatigue those muscles and won't be able to hit your chest hard.

If you want to improve your leg strength during your 'Push, Push, Legs'-routine, consider training for power with one of these explosive exercises for legs.

Questions, remarks, suggestions, or other comments? Let me know!

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