Pull-Ups and Bodyweight Training
Four guides that take you from zero pull-ups and zero push-ups to both, plus a full-body plan for days with no equipment. They all work the same way: a ladder of harder versions, a number that tells you when to move up, and two or three short sessions a week.
With bodyweight, you cannot add a 2.5 kg (5 lb) plate, so progress comes from changing the exercise: hands lower, a slower lowering, one leg instead of two. Every guide here is built on that. Each move has a ladder, each rung has a test, and you climb only when you pass it.
Where to start
| If you are | Read first | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Unable to do a pull-up and unsure where you stand | How to do your first pull-up: take its placement test | The 30-day calendar, if you want every set written out |
| Able to hang about 15 seconds and do 5 or more rows | The 30-day pull-up plan, starting at the block its day 1 test picks | Its day 31 section |
| Already doing one clean pull-up | The day 31 section of the 30-day plan: singles, then doubles | Progressive overload for adding reps and, later, weight |
| Unable to do a push-up, or a few with sagging hips | The push-up progression from wall to floor: find your rung | Its 6-week plan |
| Doing 3 × 15 full push-ups | The next-steps table in the push-up guide: deficit, feet-elevated, weighted | One harder version at a time, same move-up rule |
| Training at home with no equipment, new to all of it | The no-equipment bodyweight workout | The push-up or pull-up page for the move you want to drive |
| Already lifting in a gym | The pull-up ladder, at the start of an upper-body or full-body day | The 4-week beginner gym plan if you have no plan yet |
Read them in this order
- 01Your First Pull-Up: The Progression, Step by StepHow to do a pull-up as a beginner: six steps from dead hang to negatives and bands, the test that moves you up each one, clean form, and pull-up vs chin-up.Beginner
- 02The 30-Day Pull-Up Plan, Day by DayA printable 30-day pull-up plan: ten short sessions, three tests, every set written out, who can honestly expect a pull-up by day 30, and what to do on day 31.Beginner
- 03Push-Up Progression: From the Wall to Your First Push-UpPush-up progression from wall to floor in six steps: the rep target to move on, form cues, a 6-week plan and what to do after your first full push-up.Beginner
- 04Bodyweight Workout for Beginners, No EquipmentNo-equipment bodyweight workout for beginners: two full-body sessions, three days a week, a six-rung ladder for every move, plus table and towel rows.Beginner
How the four guides fit together
Two of them are about the pull. The pull-up technique and progression guide owns the how: what counts as a rep, the six steps from dead hang to band-assisted reps, the test that moves you up each one, pull-up vs chin-up, and what to do when you stall. The printable 30-day pull-up calendar takes four of those moves and fills in every set: ten sessions, tests on days 1, 15 and 30, and an honest table of who can expect a rep by the end.
One is about the push. The six-rung push-up ladder runs from wall to counter, bench, step, floor negatives and full push-ups, with a rep target per rung, a 6-week plan, and harder versions for after 3 × 15.
The last one is the whole body. The beginner bodyweight plan gives you two alternating sessions of squat, hinge, push, pull and core, with table and towel rows for pulling when there is no bar. When you want to push one movement further, it hands you back to the push-up or pull-up page.
Running more than one at a time
Keep the total at three sessions a week, and never train the same hard move two days running.
| Your situation | A week that works |
|---|---|
| Home, no bar | The bodyweight workout, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Use the push-up ladder's rung and targets in the push-up slot |
| Home, doorway bar | The bodyweight workout on the same three days, with your pull-up ladder steps in the pull slot; they include the rows |
| Gym, chasing a pull-up | The 30-day plan's four moves at the start of your three gym days; drop the lat pulldown for the month |
| Chasing a pull-up and a push-up | The 30-day plan on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, with 3 push-up sets after it or on the rest days between, about 10–15 minutes |
The rules every guide follows
- Move up on a number, not a feeling. Hit the target on every set with clean form, then take the next rung at the bottom of its rep range.
- Two or three sessions a week, a day apart. That matches the American College of Sports Medicine's 2009 position stand on progression for novices.
- Stop each set with one to three clean reps left. The RPE chart shows how to judge it.
- Pull as much as you push. Push-ups with no rows leave the upper back behind the chest and shoulders.
- Count only clean reps. A kipped pull-up or a sagging push-up is not a rep.
- Write it down. Rung, reps, hang seconds, bar height. A simple training log is how you know to move up.
How long it usually takes
These are coaching rules of thumb, not promises. Starting strength, bodyweight and missed sessions all move them.
| Goal | Common range |
|---|---|
| First pull-up, from zero | 8 to 16 weeks; 4 to 6 if you already hang 30 seconds and row close to horizontal |
| First push-up | 4 to 6 weeks from the step rung; around 12 from the wall |
| Bodyweight plan | More reps in 2 to 3 weeks; visible change in 2 to 3 months, with enough protein |
Protein is the part people skip: how much protein you need gives your number by bodyweight. When the legs outgrow the ladder, usually first, the full-body dumbbell workout keeps the same structure with a load you can add to.