How effective is a routine consisting entirely of push-ups and pull-ups for the upper body (excluding abs)? Does the volume matter for the answer to this question? Thank you.
5
-
2Compared to a solid barbell training program? It's terrible. Compared to doing nothing at all? It's awesome. You should post your goals and what you're trying to accomplish.– EricCommented Jan 24, 2018 at 5:37
-
Like @EricKaufman said, compared to what other style of working out? And what are your goals?– MJBCommented Jan 24, 2018 at 7:03
-
Thanks, I agree that I was not clear enough. I only do bodyweight exercises, and only have a desk and a door as equipment. I just increase the volume periodically, and at least know that I can do 65 push-ups in a row. I want to know if a push-up/pull-up routine works all of the important muscles well enough.– CMKCommented Jan 24, 2018 at 12:21
-
Well enough for what? To survive? To win mr Olympia?– Raditz_35Commented Jan 24, 2018 at 16:45
-
@Raditz_35 Basically, I want to know if it targets all of the major upper-body muscles.– CMKCommented Jan 24, 2018 at 21:43
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
Pushup and pullup workouts essentially cover all upper body muscle groups. When you are designing a workout plan the keys are looking for "pull" exercises and "push" exercises while incorporating core and legs.
Push exercises work typically on your chest and tricep muscles and pull exercises work on the back and bicep muscles. Pullups and pushups have lots of variations that can provide isolation to different muscle groups. Here are pushup variations and here are some pullup variations.
The advantages of weight training over are isolation and it can be a little faster but you can get similar results for bodyweight exercises.
Either way whether weekend warrior or pro athlete bodyweight alone is still effective. There are plenty of testimonials you can look online to show that bodyweight exercise is effective.
Just gonna throw out some personal experience here: I have had good luck with Nike Training Club and Freeletics. They both have bodyweight variations that are quite effective and cover all muscle groups.
-
Thank you. I have been using bodyweight solely for around three years now, and I have seen great results. Do you think that pull-ups would be enough for the forearms, though? Thanks again.– CMKCommented Jan 26, 2018 at 1:40
-
Yeah they will help with that but you can also look at rice buckets Commented Jan 27, 2018 at 18:06
-
-
@CMK Probably but I think the consistency and weight of rice is key but I'm not sure. Commented Jan 29, 2018 at 16:45