Test your real pulling power

The seven fundamental movements that I’ve discussed here over the past few weeks are so important. 

We need to be able to perform them to have a good quality of life. If you have a physical job such as building or farming and do a lot of activity in your daily life, then you probably already have sufficient strength built up in the muscle groups that require you to squat, lunge, push/pull, bend/hinge, walk/pivot and rotate. 

But while we’re still in lockdown why not test your power? If you use your upper body a lot then pushing and pulling movements have to be strengthened up. So this week I want you to test your pulling power: 

Pull (Test)

The test is a pulling motion of a weight or object towards your body. It could even be a water bottle. It can be performed in a standing, sitting or bent over position. It is the same as a vertical or horizontal row. 

The movement is like a rowing movement where the object is out in front of you and pulled inwards by your arms.

Pull (Improve)

The muscles you use are your biceps, your upper back (lats), forearms and shoulders so to improve I would concentrate on building strength and technique in the rowing movement and then singling out exercises for the separate muscle groups.