The vast majority of upper body exercises will fall into one of the following six categories:

1. Horizontal Pushing
2. Horizontal Pulling
3. Vertical Pushing
4. Vertical Pulling
5. Elbow Flexion
6. Elbow Extension

Why should you care about any of this? Two reasons:

• Effectiveness
• Designing a workout with these six categories in mind will help ensure that every upper body muscle group is being trained, and you’re using each available movement plane  to do so.
• Injury Prevention And Balance
• Designing things this way also helps to keep everything balanced around the joints

A horizontal pushing exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pushed out in front of you so that it’s traveling away from your torso in a horizontal plane. Most chest exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Bench Press
• Incline Bench Press
• Decline Bench Press
• Flat/Incline/Decline Chest Press Machine
• Push-Ups
• Dumbbell/Cable/Machine Flyes

A horizontal pulling exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled in towards your torso from out in front of you in a horizontal plane. Most back “rowing” exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Bent Over Barbell Rows
• Bent Over Dumbbell Rows
• Seated Cable Rows
• T-Bar Rows
• Chest Supported Rows
• Inverted Rows
• Various Machine Rows
• Various Rear Delt Exercises

(Note: Even though the rear delts are a part of the shoulder, they fit best in the horizontal pulling category with these types of back movements).

A vertical pushing exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pushed upwards in relation to your torso in a vertical plane. Most shoulder exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Barbell Shoulder Press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Machine Shoulder Press
• Lateral Raises
• Front Raises

(Note: Lateral raises and front raises are technically not “pushing” movements, but they still fit best in this category. “Vertical raising” movements would be more accurate.)

A vertical pulling exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled down towards your torso in a vertical plane. Most back “pull-up/pull-down” exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Pull-Ups
• Chin-Ups
• Lat Pull-Downs

An elbow flexion exercise is any movement in which the weight is being pulled towards your torso strictly as a result of flexing at the elbow. Most biceps curling exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Barbell Curls
• Dumbbell Curls
• Cable Curls
• Preacher Curls
• Hammer Curls

An elbow extension exercise is any movement in which the weight is being moved away from your torso strictly as a result of extending at the elbow. Most triceps extension exercises  fit into this category. For example:

• Triceps Pushdowns
• Overhead Dumbbell Extensions
• Skull Crushers
• Triceps Kickbacks