You have set the upstream of that branch
(see:
--set-upstream-to all the time?"git branch -f --track my_local_branch origin/my_remote_branch # OR (if my_local_branch is currently checked out): $ git branch --set-upstream-to my_local_branch origin/my_remote_branch
(git branch -f --track won't work if the branch is checked out: use the second command git branch --set-upstream-to instead, or you would get "fatal: Cannot force update the current branch.")
That means your branch is already configured with:
branch.my_local_branch.remote origin
branch.my_local_branch.merge my_remote_branch
Git already has all the necessary information.
In that case:
# if you weren't already on my_local_branch branch:
git checkout my_local_branch
# then:
git pull
is enough.
If you hadn't establish that upstream branch relationship when it came to push your 'my_local_branch', then a simple git push -u origin my_local_branch:my_remote_branch would have been enough to push and set the upstream branch.
After that, for the subsequent pulls/pushes, git pull or git push would, again, have been enough.