pushing vs pulling

[globetrotter]

I read something in the past few days about dividing up exersizes between pushing (bench press, military press, squat) and pulling (lat pulldown, seated row, shrug, romanian deadlift etc) instead of dividing by body part.

by this I mean, instead of doing one day chest and shoulders and the next legs and back (for instance) doing two days a week squats, bench press and military press, and two days a week deallift, squat, shrug and lat pulldown.

anybody heard of this, do it, have any ideas on this?

 

[Tck13]

Originally Posted by globetrotter

I read something in the past few days about dividing up exersizes between pushing (bench press, military press, squat) and pulling (lat pulldown, seated row, shrug, romanian deadlift etc) instead of dividing by body part.

by this I mean, instead of doing one day chest and shoulders and the next legs and back (for instance) doing two days a week squats, bench press and military press, and two days a week deallift, squat, shrug and lat pulldown.

anybody heard of this, do it, have any ideas on this?


I have heard of this also. Actually, I think I tried it for a bit but it didn't really feel that much different from splitting up the body parts Chest/Tri, Back/Bi, Shoulders/Calves, Legs.

It seems like a good variation to keep a workout fresh, to shock the body by doing something different.

 

[coachvu]

I balance pushing/pulling by working chest and back in the same workout. I think the idea is that, by doing them on the same day, you might do the same number of sets or exercises. That way, you work muscles that have opposing motions equally, leading to a better balanced physique. I also do biceps and triceps on the same day. I like it, but I think it's better to do what feels best.

 

[globetrotter]

yeah, today I do pushing and pulling on the same day, too. I was wondering if there were benifits of splitting it up.

I actually stopped doing bicepts tricepts at all - I used to have huge arms, but now I only do compound exersizes - just trying to save time and work on larger groups.

 

[coachvu]

I honestly don't know if I could handle doing squats, bench, and military press all in one workout twice a week. Those are three staple exercises, and I feel like you wouldn't have the same intensity with the third muscle group you hit as you would the first. During school, I also rarely do biceps and triceps. So many other exercises work them somewhat that I've had to eliminate them b/c of time.

 

[kever]

yeah, I find it hard to do three big compound lifts with maximum effort in one day, three days a week. Right now I'm doing a pushing/pulling type routine from a book called "the Book of Muscle" by Ian King and Lou Schuler. I'm on the advanced routine, and its nice because it changes up every three weeks. My workouts are never boring because I'm always doing something new.
The pushing and pulling splits that are in this book are a little bit different. you do horizontal pushes and pulls on the the same days (bench press/seated row) and vertical pushes and pulls on the same days (shoulder press/chin-ups). The book isn't for everyone, but I like the volume and variety.