A push-pull workouts is a style of training that boards muscles depending on whether they involve pushing or pulling action.
These push-pull workouts are popular with bodybuilders and extra contestants because they maximize recovery time between activities and help create a balanced physique.
And its article explains all you need to know about push-pull workouts, including a routine you can use to build muscle.
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What is the Push-Pull Workouts?
Push-pull is a style of training that assemblies workouts founded on muscle movement patterns. With this training style, you train the upper body muscles that perform pushing movements on one day and the higher body muscles that perform pulling movements on another day, either the next day or separated by a day of pause, depending on your level of experience.
These are the muscles that perform the pushing and pulling movements:
Thrust: chest, shoulders and triceps
Pulling: back, biceps and forearms
A lower body and core training day usually follows the upper body pushing and pulling training days, again the next day or separated by a rest day.
Leg muscles include the muscles in the front (quadriceps) and back (hamstrings) of the thigh and the glutes and calves.
The push-pull training style allows you to exercise all major muscle groups a maximum of twice per week, assuming you train six days per week with one day off.
Recent research has exposed that for most people, training in this way (rather than focusing on just one muscle group each day) can lead to maximum strength gains (1).
Therefore, push-pull workouts are perfect for anyone looking to increase muscle size and strength, including beginners.
Please note that how often you train per week may depend on your experience level, which is discussed in more detail below.
Benefits of Push-Pull Workouts
There are several benefits to a push-pull workout regimen.
Allows Optimal Recovery
Traditional strength-type workouts train one or two body parts daily.
It means you could train your chest one day, your shoulders the next, your triceps the next, and so on.
But even if you ever focus on your chest, your shoulder muscles inevitably have to work, too, since they’re synergistic muscles that help you perform moves like the chest fly and the bench press.
Also, you end up training many similar body parts on consecutive days, which can overload your muscles over time.
The push-pull training regimen allows your muscles to fully recover the recommended 48–72 hours of rest before training again.
It is because you can only train a major muscle group once every three days.
Everyone can Enjoy It
Anyone can perform the push-pull workout regimen and benefit from it.
Adjust the number of times you train based on your strength training experience.
Novices with less than six months of training should alternate training days with rest days to let for a maximum of 3 training days per week.
Those with intermediate weightlift experience (6 months to 2 years) should consider training 3 or 4 days a week. Those with advanced resistance training experience (2+ years) can train up to 6 times per week with one rest day separating each split.
Here are examples of workout splits for beginners and intermediate and advanced lifters:
Beginner and Intermediate Weightlifters
1: push
2: rest
3: launch
4: rest
5: legs and trunk
Advanced Risers
1: push
2: Shooting
3: legs and trunk
4: rest
5: push
6: Shooting
7: legs and trunk
You can increase or decrease the volume per workout (reps, sets, and weights) for specific muscle groups based on your preferences and training goals.
