A great home workout for your upper body can consist of just a pull-up and a push-up and deliver incredible results. In this video, I’m going to show you how to use these two popular bodyweight exercises in your home to build muscle and make gains despite not working out in the gym. From the individual challenge of completing the first part within one minute to the entire home workout that will take you just a little over a half hour, this one will be tough but worth it.
HOW MANY PULLUPS CAN YOU DO?
We start by determining how many pullups you can perform within a single set to failure. The number of pushups you can do is not necessarily factored in, given that the pull-up is going to be the limiting exercise and if you can do a certain number of reps on that then you will be able to get that many on pushups too.
15+ PULLUPS
If you can perform more than 15 pullups in a single set to failure then you will be performing the hardest version of this workout. You will start by doing 20 reps each of pullups and pushups within a one minute time period. The best advice I can give you is not to try and do all the reps of pull-ups at once. Instead, break it into a two thirds one third split. Here I wound up doing 15 pullups then I dropped down to perform all 20 reps of pullups. I jumped up to the bar again to finish out my final 5 reps and even had 5 seconds or so to spare.
10-15 PULLUPS & 5-10 PULLUPS
If you can do between 10 and 15 pullups in a single set to failure then you will be performing 15 pull-ups and 20 push-ups in the first minute. Those whose max is between 5 and 10 will have a choice to do either 10 pullups and 20 pushups in the first minute or 20 inverted rows and 20 pushups.
LESS THAN 5 PULLUPS
Finally, even if you can’t do more than 5 pullups in a single set you will have something to do as well. Here the goal would be to perform 15 inverted rows and 15 pushups, this time from your knees instead.
HOW TO DO THE WORKOUT
That being said, regardless which level you start at this pullup and pushup workout is just getting started. From here you want to rest 1 minute and then aim to complete the two exercises within a minute again, this time however knocking off two reps of each. So if you started with 20 and 20 then you will be attempting to get 18 and 18 of each within the third minute of the workout.
You continue to progress through the workout, working for a minute and dropping two reps of each off each time, and resting one minute between rounds.
After you get to 10 of each exercise you are half way done. You now have to start working your way back up to your top number again. Before you think that this is impossible, there is some relief coming your way. This time, your rest periods are 2 minutes in length and the time that you have to perform all of the reps increases from 1 minute to 2.
The goal is to be able to get back up to the original number of push-ups and pull-ups you started with in the first minute (20 and 20 in my case) and have them completed within that final 2 minute time period. This is definitely not easy but it is possible. Even if you can’t do this right now, remember you may start at a lower level and progress up as your strength in the two home exercises increases.
WHAT IF THE WORKOUT BECOMES TO HARD?
You can even start at a higher level and drop down to one of the easier levels if you must in order to complete the entire workout.
CONCLUSION
Give this home pullup and pushup workout a try and let me know how you do. Can you last the entire 33 minutes? Also, if you are looking for a complete home workout that uses absolutely no equipment at all, be sure to head to athleanx.com at the link below to check out our total bodyweight workout called ATHLEAN XERO. No bars, bands, benches or bull involved in this program. Just results.
If you want to see the perfect home workout video or other workouts you can do from home, be sure to subscribe to our channel at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.
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Jeff Cavaliere M.S.P.T, CSCS
Jeff Cavaliere is a Physical Therapist, Strength Coach and creator of the ATHLEAN-X Training Programs and ATHLEAN-Rx Supplements. He has a Masters in Physical Therapy (MSPT) and has worked as Head Physical Therapist for the New York Mets, as well as training many elite professional athletes in Major League Baseball, NFL, MMA and professional wrestling. His programs produce “next level” achievements in muscle size, strength and performance for professional athletes and anyone looking to build a muscular athletic physique.
