My Lifting Program for June 2025

What's up, gang. In this article, I'm going over the lifting program I'll be using for this current month, the month they call June, in the year 2025.

No surprises, I'm sticking with a PPL, high frequency, moderate volume program where each session will take only around 20-35 minutes.

My plan is to do PPL 3X – which means I do 3 exercises per session – as a baseline. On days I have more time, more energy, and greater ambitions, I'll add a 4th exercise.

Each exercise will be done for 3-4 sets.

The optional 4th exercises for pull day will be incline hammer curls or rear delt flyes.

The optional 4th exercise on push day will be a lateral raise (in which case I'll do kettlebell overhead press or clean & press as my main shoulder exercise).

The optional 4th exercise on leg days will be either another hinge variation (kettlebell swing variant or single leg foot elevated glute bridges) or a lateral squat.

Here's the background info and general layout for my PPL 3X Plan (feel free to do you're own variation or the exact same plan as me).

PPL 3X

Okay, so this is like PPL 4X (the program I used last month) except, instead of 4 exercises we'll do just 3 exercises per session. We still do 3-4 sets per exercise.

Regardless, the PPL 3X program is a bit more abbreviated and sessions will be shorter — probably 20-30 minutes. Maybe 35 minutes if doing 4 sets per exercise and resting longer (I do a lot of unilateral exercises, which take a bit longer).

This is great for those that love training frequently (4-6 days per week) and/or need to squeeze training into less time than PPL 4X (cutting out 1 entire exercise will save you around 10-15 minutes of training time). 

It's also a great program for people that respond well to slightly lower volumes and higher frequency.

I sometimes run into periods where I have a lot going on outside of my lifting routine. (Or maybe it's just summer time and it's super hot in my garage). If that's the case, I benefit from focusing on just a few exercises each session and really dialing in, getting the most out of those 3 exercises each day.

If doing sessions with more exercises, I find I might have to drop training down to 3-4 days per week instead of accumulating 5-6 quick sessions per week due to general fatigue and time constraints/pressures. 

Even 4-5 exercises sometimes take a lot out of me. I train pretty intensely and go close to failure, and with 15-20 sets in a session, that can compromise performance and recovery. At a certain point, a 4th exercise is more mentally fatiguing than anything else. 

During these busy periods of life (which seems to be all the time as I accumulate more clients, houses, hobbies, friends, and projects), I find myself needing more rest days if I'm doing a program with 4 or more exercises per session. 

But I feel best when I train frequently during these periods of time. The structure of [near] daily training positively affects my physical, mental, and emotional health. It centers me, keeps me disciplined, and keeps my mind fresh and clear. 

So, since I feel better AND more energetic from frequent, brief training, these PPL 3X sessions work perfectly for me – especially during busy times or times when I'd rather be playing outside but still want to train a bit most days. 

The perk of an abbreviated PPL program is that it allows me to train very frequently. If I'm not recovering from my training, then I can't train very frequently, can I?

Therefore, I often find PPL 3X to be a better program for me. 3-4 sets of 3 exercises is extremely easy to manage. My recovery improves, my training duration per session decreases, and I'm able to train (and train HARD) most days of the week which provides me great enjoyment and gains. 

I've learned one way to immediately improve performance in the gym is to focus on doing fewer exercises (but still doing enough exercises to directly target each major muscle group– quads, glutes, hamstrings, shoulders, chest, triceps, back, biceps).

3X is not better, nor is it worse, than 4X. It's just different and it may be better for certain individuals with certain schedules, preferences, and time/recovery restraints.

I've written a lot about these PPL 3X programs on my blogs and in various ebooks (which can be found on my Gumroad site: https://garagegymbro.gumroad.com/) and the 'PPL split, 5-6 days per week, 3 exercises per session,' model is highly inspired by Vince Gironda's programs. And he was a master at transforming bodies with frequent, brief training sessions.

Here's the sample plan:

Warm up before every session with adduction glute bridges, clam shells or kettlebell swings, AND abs. 1-2 sets of each

Pull Day 

Ex 1: pullups (or lat pulldowns)-3-4x5-10

Ex 2: single arm rows-3-4x6-12

Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls or concentration curls (or whatever other curl you like)-3-4x6-12

Optional hammer curls or rear delt flyes-3-4x10-15

Push Day

Ex 1: clean & press or overhead press or lateral raise*-3-4x5-10; 3-4x10-15 if lateral raise*

Ex 2: incline or flat dumbbell bench press-3-4x6-12 or high rep pushups for 3-4 sets

Ex 3: cable/band pushdowns or cable/band overhead extensions or dumbbell skull crushers-3-4x10-20

Optional lateral raises-3-4x10-15

Legs

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats or box step ups or single leg box squats-3-4x6-12 

Ex 2: single leg RDL or kettlebell swings (any variation – alternate between swings & RDLs each session)-3-4x10-15

Ex 3: calf raise variation-3-4x10-20

Optional kettlebell swing variation or lateral squat or box step ups or hip thrust or single leg box squat-3-4x10-15

*If doing lateral raises instead of clean & press or overhead press, do the bench press or push up variation first on Push Day. I like to swap out overhead presses for lateral raises every other Push Workout. So I'll do an overhead press as exercise 1 during 1 push session, then I'll do a bench press variation as exercise 1 and lateral raise variation as exercise 2 during the next push session.

Anywhere you see more than one exercise option, feel free to pick and stick to one exercise or just alternate between whichever exercises you want from one session to the next.

Train at least 3 days per week with this plan, but ideally, you'll train 4-6 days per week. Lift heavy and hard and push for progress. We're only doing 3 exercises per session, and, while there is the option for 4 sets per exercise, I almost always do just 3 sets per exercise because I'm doing this routine to save time and improve recovery. Intensity + frequency (consistency) + recovery = muscle growth. Volume can be added if you're able to recover well.