Push and pull workouts are great for any exerciser, whether you’re a bodybuilder or just someone lifting weights to be strong and fit. This kind of routine is usually spread out over three days of training, allowing you to do shorter workouts, which may fit into a busy schedule easier than longer, total-body workouts.
You can also do these exercises with a cable pulley system or resistance bands.
Push and Pull: Main differences
Push and pull are two basic strength movements commonly used in many physical activities and exercises.
Push Exercises
As the name suggests, push exercises involve all the movements you can do, where you push the weights away from your body. These exercises typically focus on the quads, outer thighs, chest, shoulders, and triceps.
Upper Body: Push Exercises
The following is a list of upper-body push exercises:
- Push-ups
- Chest presses
- Chest flies
- Overhead presses
- Lateral raises
- Bent arm lateral raises
- Front raises
- Dips
- Triceps extensions
- Skull crushers
Pull Exercises
Pull exercises are movements where you are pulling the weight toward your body. These exercises primarily use the biceps, hamstrings, glutes, and back muscles. For that reason, you can set up a routine in which you do a push routine one day and a pull routine the next without working the same muscles two days in a row.
Upper Body Pull Exercises
The following is a list of upper-body pull exercises:
- One arm rows
- Barbell rows
- Double arm rows
- Barbell high rows
- Dumbell pullovers
- Seated rows with bands
- Lat pulls with a resistance band
- Back extensions
- Seated alternating rows
- Renegade rows
- Biceps curls
- Hammer curls
- Reverse curls
- Barbell curls
- Incline curls
- Concentration curls
- Preacher curls
Benefits of the push and pull routine
1 Enhanced Recovery Time
Splitting your workouts between push and pull movements allows you to focus on specific muscle groups while giving much-needed rest to the others. For example: on Monday you focus on push exercises, and you’ll hit your chest and triceps. On the next training session, you’ll focus on pull exercises, meaning your chest and triceps will be recovering even while you’re working out.
2 Lean Body
You’ll train more of your body per workout than on a traditional split. That way, you’ll burn more fat and build more muscle. Let us explain: in a traditional routine, you divide training sections per muscle group. Since the push and pull routine is not focused on specific muscle groups but on movements, you’ll end up with a training routine that has a more comprehensive approach to your whole body, helping you get leaner faster.
3 Anyone can do it
Whether you’re a regular gym-goer or just starting your fitness journey, the fact is that a push-and-pull routine is pretty straightforward. Plus, you can adjust the number of times you train and the weight you use according to your strength training experience.
How to structure a push-and-pull routine?
A 3-day push-and-pull routine would be like this:
Day 1: Push day.
Day 2: Pull day.
Day 3: Leg day.
You could easily turn this into a 6-day routine by repeating the format while choosing different exercises.
Tip: You can work on your core and abs on leg days, making this a whole-body approach.