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Have you ever considered switching to a push-pull split? Having a day at the gym dedicated to a glorified “shoulder workout” is becoming an ancient artifact of the weight room. The solution? Push-pull.
This methodology gets the muscles of your body working synergistically across a week of training rather than working each group on its own. The push refers to exercises that involve the chest, triceps, shoulders and quads, while the pull involves forearms, biceps, hamstrings and back. When you organize a training session in this way, you use your agonist muscles (the muscle that is contracting) while its direct opposite (the antagonist) is relaxed.
An easy example of this is the way biceps and triceps work together: While the biceps is contracting, the triceps is relaxing. Splitting muscle groups in this way prevents overtraining while still performing compound functional movements. Compound lifts are exercises that allow you to engage two or more muscle groups at the same time. This “split” allows for adequate recovery and decreases the risk of injury while also maximizing your training capacity in the gym.
Research highlights the effectiveness of multi-joint resistance training and the benefits of muscle size and strength — especially in women — to build a better physique, decrease the risk of osteoporosis and improve metabolic function (just to name a few). The push-pull split capitalizes on the body’s ability to create muscle adaption and hypertrophy (read: growth) while still allowing it to recover.
An example of how to organize your workout on a pushing day would be to focus on chest, shoulders, quads and triceps. A pulling day would focus on back (middle, upper, lower traps and rhomboids), biceps and hamstrings. Each of these muscle groups can be trained twice per week with a total of four training days.
In the following example, we’re working the upper body and lower body. In doing so, you will burn more calories and use compound movements.
The 4-Day Push-Pull Split
Complete the prescribed sets and reps in each routine, taking a 60- to 90-second rest between sets during all workouts.
Day 1: Push
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press | 4 | 6-8 |
| Dumbbell Curtsy Lunge | 4 | 8-10 (each leg) |
| Bench or Ring Dip | 4 | 8-10 |
| Barbell Strict Press | 4 | 6-8 |
| Sled Push | 2 | 50 meters (rest as needed between sets) |
| Single-Leg V-Up | 4 | 20 |
Day 2: Pull
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Barbell Pendlay Row | 3 | 12 |
| Prone Resistance-Band Hamstring Curl | 3 | 20 |
| Banded Face Pull | 3 | 20 |
| Dumbbell Reverse Flye | 3 | 12 |
| Dumbbell Hammer Curl | 3 | 12-15 |
Day 3: Push
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Landmine Single-Arm Shoulder Press | 3 | 12 (each side) |
| Barbell Reverse Lunge | 3 | 10-12 (each leg) |
| Deficit Push-Up* | 3 | AMRAP** |
| Barbell Triceps Extension | 3 | 10-12 |
| Side-Plank Dip | 3 | 15-second hold (each side) |
*Perform with plates or with the hardest variation of push-ups you can manage. To modify, use plates or a box.
**AMRAP = as many reps as possible
Day 4: Pull
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Pull-Up (weighted or the toughest variation you can) | 4 | 5-10 |
| Barbell Romanian Deadlift | 4 | 8-10 |
| Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row | 4 | 8-10 |
| Supinated Barbell Biceps Curl | 4 | 8-10 |
| Hanging Leg Raise | 4 | 6-12 |