Happy Friday to You!
I hope you are enjoying this series about how to exercise like a true professional. It’s amazing how many people are wasting their time with bad exercise programs. But not you anymore!
This is part 5 of a 7 part series. If you missed the others you can view them here:
On Tuesday we covered the importance of the Squat and why you must include some variation of the Squat in your workout. Today we are onto the 4th vital movement pattern…
4. The Pull
Every time you bring something towards you, like opening a door, rowing a boat or climbing a tree you are performing a pulling movement.
Pulling is great for your posture and works the back of your body where there is a lot of muscle mass so it’s great for fat loss and increasing your metabolic rate.
It is very common, especially for men, to ignore the pulling exercises because they only want to work the muscles that look good in the mirror.
This is a big mistake because Pulling exercises actually help to pull the shoulders back and show off the chest in both men and women.
So if you want to lift your chest you should be doing the exact opposite of what most trainers recommend and start doing more pulling and less pushing.
Lots of pulling exercises will also help to counteract the excessive sitting that most of us do each day and help prevent back pain.
Just like the Pushing exercises there are lots of variations of the pull but they can ultimately be divided into 2 categories:
- Vertical Pulling
- Horizontal Pulling
Vertical pulling happens when you pull something towards you from overhead, so very practical for climbing and a chin up or pull up would be a perfect example.
The horizontal pull occurs when you pull something towards you from in front of your body. Rowing a boat is a good example and most rowing exercises are horizontal pulls.
Please see the video above for one of my favourite horizontal pulling variations that challenges your balance and core muscles at the same time:
Simply adding more pulling exercises into your workouts will make a huge difference not only for fat loss but for strength and your posture too!
Just as with the Pushing movements you will want to alternate between vertical pulls and horizontal pulls during each workout.
Always master the horizontal pull first as this is far more important than the vertical pull. In fact, all beginners should focus purely on the horizontal pull.
Here’s a workout that puts together everything you have learned so far:
- Lunge
- Push
- Squat
- Pull
- Rest 60 secs and repeat 3 times
——
OK, your workouts will be really starting to rock now.
I’ll be back on Tuesday with the 5th crucial movement pattern!
Until then, take care!
Greg
Leave a Reply