Recently I was listening to a discussion about Push Workouts and Pull Workouts. One person wasn’t understanding the Push/Pull phrase because technically (as the other person pointed out) all muscles pull on bone to move it. We move because a muscle contracts and pulls the bone in the direction of the contraction so the Push/Pull workout wasn’t registering for this person.
What the Push/Pull Workout phrase means is that the muscles USED to push or pull are being worked. So a push workout would primarily work the muscles in the front of the body and a pull workout would work the muscles in the back. That is just a generalization for some people it helps and some people it doesn’t because it is not entirely accurate. As you know for some muscle groups and for some exercises it is not possible to JUST use one muscle group or one side of the body
A pull workout works “primarily” the lats, back, biceps, glutes, and hamstrings. Where a push workout includes exercises that “primarily” work the chest, shoulders, triceps, quads, and calves. It would typically be done on alternating days.
This type of workout could be seen as a functional type workout since when you think about it we do a lot of pushing and pulling. Think of grocery shopping, who has not had to yank a cart out of a row of carts, then pull the groceries out of the cart once they are bagged, then push them into the back of the SUV, then pull them out again. Pull, push, pull, push . . . . Its a very functional workout.
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