Throughout the day we are all constantly pushing and pulling. We are pushing when we get out of chair or out of bed. We pull when we’re lifting things or opening a door. There are thousands of examples of these foundational movements throughout the day.

In recent years, this push/pull terminology has become more prevalent when trainers design exercise programs. While the exercises have not changed very much (pushups, squats and rowing movements are still essential to most people’s programs) over time, how we structure a program has.

In general, pulling movements will work back and bicep muscles and pushing movements will work chest, shoulders and triceps. We can break these down further by referring to them as compound pulling movements and compound pressing movements. Compound exercises are movements that involve more than one joint and are normally using larger muscle groups like your chest and back.

Examples of compound pulling movements are things like seated, standing or bent over rows, the lat pull-down and pull-ups. Whereas, compound pulling movements are things like pushups, bench press and any kind of dumbbell press (overhead or lying on your back).

What is the significance of this you ask? Well, most people should be doing a few more pulling exercises than pushing exercises. Throughout the day, most people are seated, this encourages a rounded or hunched back. The pressing compound movements encourage this position. Pulling movements, on the other hand, will actually pull us back into proper posture by raising our chest and pulling our shoulder blades back.

As a general rule of thumb, you want to make sure you are at least doing equal amounts of pushing and pulling. Many people could benefit from an increased emphasis on pulling movements since these exercises help to reverse the poor posture most people have developed over time.

One of my favourite push -pull workouts when time is limited consists of only three exercises. I would repeat the following workout as a circuit, which means I would do one exercise after the other as opposed to repeating the same exercise. I would repeat this circuit three to four times:

. Squats or lunges (normally with a dumbbell or kettle-bell),

. Pushups and

. TRX pull-ups.

The entire workout is done in less than 20 minutes with minimal rest between each exercise. I will vary the number of repetitions depending on what my goals are or how much time I have. This is a great workout because it doesn’t require much equipment or preparation but is highly effective at burning calories and increasing strength. Give it a try and let me know how it goes