Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2830: The Best Push Pull Legs Program For Building Muscle (MAPS PPL)

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

GET MAPS PPL: 40% OFF USE CODE "PPL": https://www.mapsppl.com/?htrafficsource=spotify-organic&hcategory=MPSHOW&el=2830 You asked for it. For the last 10 years, the most commonly requested body parts split program has been Push Pull Legs and it's FINALLY here. In this episode, we introduce MAPS PPL, our brand new push/pull/legs program built for hypertrophy, big pumps, and serious muscle growth.We break down: • What push (chest/shoulders/triceps), pull (back/biceps), and legs means • Why this is the most popular bodybuilding split of all time• How higher per-session volume builds strength stamina over time• Why the pump matters more than you think for consistency • The 3-phase, 9-week program structure (including a 5x5 strength finisher) • Our first-ever specific bulking macro formula built into a program • Why we created TWO versions -- one for men, one for women Most people either chase the pump with no structure or follow full-body programs that never scratch that itch…But the real solution? A smart PPL split that gives you the volume, the pump, AND the progressive programming to actually build. If you've been wanting to run a body parts split the RIGHT way with Mind Pump programming behind it, this is your program, AND if you grab it during launch week you'll get live coaching, a supplement schedule, and a 12-week blueprint to set you up for success! Launch Bonuses Include: • 3 Days of Live Group Coaching with a Mind Pump Coach • 12-Week Transformational Blueprint • Supplement Schedule Guide (AM/PM/Pre/Post-Workout) • Dumbbell-Only Version Included   This Episode is brought to you by Paleo Valley ⇨go to paleovalley.com/mindpump   They make grass-fed, fermented meat sticks and Paleo-inspired supplements. They're delicious, they're good for your gut, and they actually taste good. 15% off with the link above.   Timestamps: 00:00 Episode Intro 00:18 MAPS PPL Launch 01:22 Episode Sponsor 01:50 Why PPL Is Popular? 04:45 What Push Pull Legs Means 06:31 The Pump 10:00 Volume And Strength Stamina 11:00 Program Structure 12:20 The Bulk Diet 14:22 Men vs. Women Version 16:24 Free Coaching Bonus 19:58 Supplement Schedule Guide 20:47 Equipment And Weekly Schedule 22:02 How To Buy And Wrap Up 22:26 Final Outro And Bundle Plug

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump. Mind Pump with your hosts. Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode, we talk about a brand new Maps program. Maps, push, pull legs.

PPL, you ask for it. You got it. By the way, there's two versions of this program, one for men, and then one for women. The programming is different. Women have a more higher emphasis on lower body volume, glute training, shoulder volume, men, it's more traditional. Now, because it's a brand new program,

we're launching it right now, and it's 40% off. If you go to Maps, ppl.com, use the code PPL. You get the price slashed by 40%. Also, if you sign up within the first few days of the launch, you can attend live coaching by one of the mind pump coaches. They're going to do three days of coaching, breaking down things like nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, really to help you become more consistent and maximize your progress through the program. We also include a supplement schedule guide, which will be free with this program. Again, you can get all of that included 40% off.

Maps ppl.com. The code is PPL. This episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, Paleo Valley. and they make paleo-inspired supplements, meat sticks, and more to improve your health, fitness, and vitality. I love their meat sticks. They're not dry. They're delicious. They're grass-fed and fermented, so they're wonderful.

They taste good. They're good for your gut. Go check them out. Check out some of their other supplements as well. Go to paleovalley.com forward slash mind pump. That link will get you 15% off. All right, real quick, if you love us like we love you, why not show it by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs or training gear over at mindpumpstore.com.

I'm talking right now, hit pause, head on over to mindpustor.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show. For the last 10 years, the most commonly requested body part split program by far hits here. Is PPL push, pull legs. People send us messages all the time. Can you please make a maps program?

Please. That is a push, pull, legs, split. We haven't done it until now. Introducing Maps PPL. We're going to talk about that program right now. What's in it and whether or not it's right for you. You're going to talk about what's special that we did this time that we've never done before to?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. We'll get there. We'll talk to you. Save it. No, I might as well say it now and then we'll get to it later. But this is the first MAPS program where we have, they're both PPL. So there's two of them.

But one of them is geared towards what men typically are looking for in a program. And then the other ones for women. So when it comes to training men and women, I mean, exercises, are the same. Like there's no difference except there are preferential. Preferences are different. Yeah. So, so the programming is different, slightly different for the male version versus the female version. And we've never really done that before. But again, we're trying to listen to our audience and give them what they want, which again, this is why we wrote a PPL program. Easily the most popular, there's a lot of different ways to

split up body parts and bodybuilding style training. It's got to be the most popular ones, right? Yeah, I would say this is probably one of the most popular. I mean, I don't know about you guys. Maybe not Justin so much. I bet you, this is probably one of the more popular routines you personally have followed most of your life. If I ever did a split, it would be something like this for sure. Is that always? I mean, did you mess around much with body part splits?

Did you mess around? I've done individual body part workouts. But if the one split that I liked was typically this. And it was typically a three-day, like the one we have here, like a three-day-a-week kind of routine. Because what it allows for is a lot more volume per body part in a singular workout. So you can either do your full body split, which we're obviously very big fans of.

And then there's the splits where you're only doing a few body parts. And one of the benefits of that is, I mean, you really get to focus on a body part. And you get to do a lot of volume in one workout in different combinations of exercises. and you're hitting it from different angles. You get the pump, the whole deal. It's probably why it's such a popular split.

Is this one, this one's for you? Yeah, this is one of the top ones. I've run in like an upper lower split quite a few times. And then I've ran a split where I do like a legs. And then I do all, I do chest back together. And then I do like shoulder arms together. And then I run a routine like that. It's very similar though to like.

what this is. Those are probably my three most common splits that I do, but I love the push-pull legs. Yeah. So push represents the muscles that are involved, typically in pushing exercises for the upper body. So this would be chest, shoulders and triceps, pull is back and biceps, and then legs is legs. And so it's just kind of an easy way to break up the body. And the reason why you would combine all the push muscles for the upper body on one workout, This is just kind of the theory around it, right? Why would we put all the push muscles in one and all the pull muscles in another one? They're working together.

And you already kind of working. So if I'm doing, you know, if I start a push workout with chest, my shoulders and my triceps are getting some work. So it makes sense to work them in that day as well. Rather than the next day when they've gotten some work already the day before type of deal and they might already be sore. This is just, you know, when body parts splits. Body part splits.

became popular when bodybuilders really started to ramp up training volume. Yeah. Full body splits were the name of the game for a long time. But as bodybuilders got more advanced and as they started to add more volume, because volume does contribute to muscle growth. That's a fact. That's one of the factors that plays a role. You know, if you're doing, you know, you're doing nine sets for every body part, you're doing a full body.

What is it? It's too fatiguing. Yeah. It's two and a half hour workout. Yeah. A lot of times the back half. of the workout is junk volume. Done. Totally.

Yeah, you're not, you're, yeah, no. So I, I like this to, you know, most all the research points to, you know, optimal frequency for hypertrophy being somewhere between two and three times hitting a muscle room, right? So it lends itself well for a routine like that where you're going to hit the muscle at least, at least two times in the week, you know, so that part I love. Yeah, this, what it feels like if you've never done a split like this before, if you're really a big fan of, the pump, this is really good for that. Because, you know, if I'm going to do nine sets or six sets for body part like you would in this program, I mean, you're really maximizing the feel

of the pump. Does that contribute to muscle growth? There's a lot of debate around that, but it definitely contributes to the enjoyment of the workout. And I'm always for that. Like, if you do something that you really enjoy in your workout, so long as it's not detrimental, I think it's a positive because it increases the odds you'll want to do it. And you'll do it enthusiastically, which contributes to better workouts. So I think it's definitely something to consider. So because I'll hear people debate the pump, you know, and some people will say, and I probably be more in this camp that if you get a really good pump, it's more,

the reason why it's a good thing is it's probably pointing to the fact that you're well hydrated, well rested, well nourished, not necessarily that the pump itself is doing anything. but is it enjoyable? Well, yeah. It's a really, if you're trying to work on a body part and you want to see what you look like or what it feels like to have it be more developed,

I mean, you could do that with a pump and kind of give yourself a sneak peek at what you may look like in a year of consciousness. Would you say that's probably the biggest pushback for people that didn't want to try out the total body splits? Yeah. Because the pump,

they get those specific muscle groups like pretty fired up those days. Oh, 100%. I mean, that was why I didn't like full body for the longest time was because I was so attached to the pump. That's how I started was in these splits. I mean, we used to just focus on one muscle

early on. And so you get these massive pumps in one muscle. And so to take somebody like that who's used to feeling a big pump in the body part they're working and then ask them to do like this kind of full body routine where you could literally, I mean, I could train a MAPS and a Ball Oak Day

and not fill much of a pump at all. No. Because you're, you're in and out. You're in and out of each muscle group. And, you know, that's tough. And so I think that was one of the biggest hurdles was convincing people that had enjoyed chasing that pump

to follow MAPS and a ball all the way through. I think that was when we first started, that was the feedback. Oh, it doesn't feel like I'm doing enough. That's right. Everybody always said they need to do more because they weren't getting this massive pump from the workout.

It's like, just trust the process, go through it. You'll see. And then we obviously over time, we convince people. but I'd argue that's probably the number one deterrent was that. Yeah, and there's nothing to sneeze at. Again, I'm going to say this again.

Like, that's not nothing. Like, if doing something in a workout is something really enjoyable, and it's not detrimental, is the pump detrimental, no, there's nothing wrong with the pump. So getting a pump isn't bad for you. It's not going to take away from your gains. It's not going to take away from your performance. So even though some people can argue that the pump itself is beneficial. And again, there's controversy around it. I don't care.

I know it's not detrimental. But if you enjoy it, then go for it. And if you enjoy your workout, look, this is a personal trainer. One of the things that I focused heavily on was helping my clients develop a relationship with exercise, well, they enjoyed it. If I could do that, I won. I 100% won. Because no matter how effective a workout is, if they're not enjoying it, it's just not effective. They're not going to want to continue doing it.

So that's one of the big things about it. There's also the strength stamina aspect of it, right? So which probably has some potential for helping someone with their gains. If you always do full body workouts, which are great, and you suddenly switch to a split like this, you're not used to doing that much volume in one workout. And what you'll find is doing a workout like this is that initially your strength will drop off very quickly. So if you're always used to doing just two or three sets for chest, and then doing it maybe multiple times in a week.

If you do a workout where it's nine sets for chest, you'll find after the fifth set, strength is gone. Fatigue and strength. That's right, but you actually build it. By the end of the 18, you'll adapt.

The program, you will feel a huge difference. That's right. And if it's novel, you're probably going to build. And that's... And that's the value of it, really, is to introduce it,

change it up. And I think that that's why, too, I think it's great that we have options out there that people already enjoy anyways. Totally. So it's a three-day program. You know, push-pull legs. Ideally, you would do a day off in between. That's how the program is written. And it's three phases. In each phase is about three weeks long. So you're looking at a nine-week total program. So just over two months, essentially, is what you're looking at. And each phase is different. The programming in each phase is different. One of the phases is actually quite different from the other two. And the rep ranges are different. different. Now the rep ranges that we're using are kind of hypertrophy ranges. The first one is a low rep range, but you're looking at, you know, around five or six reps, maybe even a little lower, bit heavier. Then you get into the kind of, you know, second phase, which is eight to 12. And then

we threw in a five by five phase at the very end to really focus on building the strength. And I like that we ended with the five by five at the end of this. So you could really see how well. That was one of my favorite things that we did with Cemetery. only other program where we did something like that's why that's why we put that in here yeah we got such great feedback yeah and i think that was a a cool way to get litmus test into program so you can really start to see like oh what a difference that that made and so this is cool to see that this is the only the second program that we've incorporated like ending the program with like a five by five yes yes the other thing too is um this is the first time we've put very specific dietary um advice

or instructions in a program. Typically, it's, you know, kind of advice and guidance. And we went full on like, this is what you're going to eat if you want to bulk. So for people who are trying to build or reverse diet or bring up a weak body part and they want to build muscle, they are very specific. Here's the formula. The formula is very basic and very specific. It's like, this is the protein you're going to eat based on your body weight plus add this much.

this is the carbs you're going to eat and this is the fat that you're going to eat and your body weight dictates the calories and it will put both men and women in a surplus and I wanted to make it as straightforward and simple as possible because any time you get dietary advice

that gets a little complicated Yeah, here's the void for that reason. Yeah, plug this in minus that, add that type of deal people get a little bit confused. It's not so effective. We're like, okay, this is going to be a nine-week bulk nine week bulk. That's what you're going to be on

if you follow this. Straight up. Go in a bulk. 100%. And it's in there for both the male and the female version of the program. Well, this really appeals to the

person that is kind of aesthetic driven or wants to build hyper, I mean, build muscle. That's right. That's really what a PPL program is geared towards. And it's not that you won't get strong doing it. It's not that it doesn't help

in a lot of other ways. It's just that. You're looking for hypertrophy. Yeah, that's the main focus. And hypertrophy. we want to be in a calorie surplus. And that's why this is unique where we gave that kind of advice

because typically people always ask, well, should I run in a cut? Or can run in a bulk. I mean, you can do either one. You can make arguments for both. Yeah, and you could do, you could totally do that. But if the goal is to build muscle.

But we wanted to put specific, like, you want to build, here's your diet. Yes. And then watch what happens. We also put some supplement advice in there as well. And then the men and women's version have just different programming. So women just again, we train people for a long time.

We've been doing the podcast for a long time. They typically want more training volume. For the legs and the glutes and more of a shoulder development emphasis rather than let's say chest development emphasis. And so the programming is different. On the push day, typically like what you see in the men's version is you'll start with chest, which makes sense typically when you're looking at exercise order. but with the women's version of this, most women are more interested in shoulder development

than they are chest development. It gives them more of that aesthetic look. And so you're actually starting off with shoulders, and there's more volume for shoulders less for chest than you find in the men's version. And there's less overall volume for the upper body because we moved it to the lower body for women. And then the order of the exercises is also different on leg day.

It's going to be more glute focus than quad-focused. You're still hitting the quads. It's just the order's different. So the focus is heavier. Well, and I think the most important thing to point out with that, that where I see people go wrong when they create their own program is they don't take an account the thing that they want to focus on, that you need to take volume from somewhere else. You can't just add a bunch of volume.

And this is a mistake that I used to make as a kid also is just like, oh, I want to develop this muscle group. So it was just like, oh, I'll keep doing everything I'm doing it. And then I'll just add more of this. And so the real- You end up getting less of everything. Right. So the real art to this is when you have a client who's like, hey, I want these areas that I really want to focus on. In this case, with the women, you're talking about shoulders and glutes primarily are the big focuses. It's like, okay, well, it's great. Well, then we have to take from somewhere else because we don't just want to slap on more glute, more shoulder stuff than is already in a typical program.

And I think that's where it gets a little murky for the average person is like, okay, where do I take from? Why do I take from there? How do I order the exercises differently? And so that's the real unique part about these two. Totally. Now, one other thing we did, which we just started implementing recently. We just did this for our last program launch. And it was the first time we did it. And it's something that we thought about in the past. We'd never really implemented. But now we have a training and coaching staff here at Mind Pump that does an excellent job. And so one of the challenges that we've had to, what we've tried to overcome was helping people, A, get started on the program that they purchase and then be completed. Okay. Now, there's an industry average. Industry average for online programs is dismal. Okay, people buy programs. They don't even touch them. They didn't even open them, let alone complete them.

It stays in their email. Now, our average is triple what the industry average is. And I think that's because of the podcast. People listen to us. They hear our advice. So they trust us. And so maybe they're more invested. But it still isn't, you know, over 80%.

It still isn't a majority of people. Yeah. So there's a lot of people that, that don't complete a program because, look, That's the issue with all fitness. All fitnesses. Can I stay consistent? Can I finish this? Can I keep going?

We talk about that on the podcast all the time. That's the big challenge. And so what we did for our last program launch is we had one of our top coaches do some free coaching, some free group coaching at the end to help people get started, to talk them through with diet and to help them finish out and continue afterwards. And the response we got was more than we more than we could have even. anticipated. Well, he, he covers diet, the training, lifestyle, kicking off the program. Like, I think it was a huge success. So it was, this was our last time was our first like test run of like, okay, how well, let's go. I was so impressed with not only the attendance, but then also how long everybody stayed in through the whole process. Oh, yeah. You know, typically when you do something online

like this where you have like a webinar that somebody is showing up to, you know, you have maybe, be a 50% show on the first, the first day that dramatically drops. And then every day you see it kind of trickle down. And then you also see, even within the day, early on, people stick around to kind of hear a few things and then bounce. The engagement that Cole had, such a testament to one, I think your point of how valuable I think this is for everybody. Then also what a great coach he is. I think he does such a good job communicating and the feedback that we got on the last day when we hop on, was incredible. Just everybody saying how helpful this was for them to start. And so I think this is going to be going forward anytime that we release programs or do some of

that is set this up with it to set people up with success. Yeah. So when people, when you enroll in the initial launch period, which whenever we do an initial launch, you get a huge discount. So it's 40% off. So you get that. But when you enroll in that initial period, you automatically get signed up. for this three days of coaching. And so he's going to go over the map success overview. Then he talks about diet, how to get results, lifestyle, training, how to maximize the exercises, the workouts, pick the right weight, that kind of stuff.

And at the end, he gives you a 12-week transformational blueprint. And so you leave with this, like you know what to do and how to go through the whole thing. And again, when we look back, the amount of people that open the program continue to go all the way through it, like skyrocketed. So the success rate is going to go through the roof. And that's included for free. That's also a bonus that you're going to get with this. We also are including with this a supplement guide.

Now, this is going to be much more specific than what you're used to. This isn't just a list of cool supplements to take. It's literally a schedule. AM, PM, afternoon. This is what you take here. This is your pre-workout. This is your post-workout. Here's what you do at night.

Now, the reason why we're doing is people ask for it. People want us to tell them, tell me exactly what to do. I want to know exactly what to do for the next nine weeks. I want to commit myself to nine weeks to build as much muscle as possible, boost my metabolism, really make changes in the way my body looks. And so that's why it's so specific. You have your specific program. You have your three days of coaching.

You have your specific scheduled supplement routine. All put this all together. And the only thing that's left, the only piece of this recipe that's missing is just you've been doing it. And you got it. You got everything laid out for you. So the other common questions would be length of workouts. equipment needed. So, or any special equipment,

can we do this from home? What are all the... Home gym? Are you needs a home gym? Only dumbbell blueprint in there for at home. Yeah. So if you have a well-equipped home gym, barbell dumbbells,

adjustable bench, squat rack, you could do the whole program. If you just have dumbbells, we have a dumbbell-only version as well. Which means you just have dumbbells, you could also follow the program. And then about, what do you say, 50, 60-minute workout?

Yep. This is a full workout. A full workout. Yeah, full workout. It would take you about an hour. Yeah. give or take. And then technically somebody could run this as a three days and they only actually lift three days. they could add or three days in the week and you could also run this like three days day off and then three days again so it's it's set up just for three days if you want to get crazy like that we have other programs that much volume but you think that would be too much volume it would be way too much for most people I'm sure there's some guy listening right now that's like yeah I'll try something like that's a six week yeah you're talking about six day a week so then if it's only a three day would you recommend a day off in between each day so Monday Wednesday Friday typically is what people will do okay so that would be like ideal would be Monday Wednesday would be Monday Wednesday

Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is the other option that people typically do. So if you want to get this program, again, it's 40% off. What you do is go to Maps pPL.com. The code is PPL that gets you 40% off. Plus you get the bonus supplement schedule guide. Plus you get the three days of coaching with the Mind Pump coach. It's all included. Again, it's Maps ppl.pl.pL.com.

The code PPL, 40% off and all that of the stuff is included. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. Your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pumpmedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes MAPS Anabolic, Maps Performance, and Maps Aesthetic, nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos,

the RGB Superbundle is like having Sal Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Mind Pump.