See how the burpee pull-up is an all-around amazing exercise.
When it comes to seeing huge gains, exercises like the burpee pull-up can work both those strength goals and endurance ones to give you a well-rounded and seriously effective exercise. Building strength while also working to boost endurance can be challenging but it is absolutely possible.
We all know the burpee and we all know the pull-up but put these two together and the result is something else. With the right guidance and ability to grind in the gym, having a workout like this in your routine will only skyrocket your gains.
The burpee is one of those exercises some try and avoid like the plague. Maybe the same goes for the pull-up. But at the end of the day, to neglect these two exercises is only a disservice to us and our gains, for what they can really do is allow for serious muscle building with the right approach to cardio work. Too often do we neglect cardio work and chalk it up to just lifting. We need both and this exercise is able to provide us with both.
Let’s dive right into this and see what makes this exercise so great. From what it is, to muscle worked, the many benefits of it, and how best to perform it, you will have a complete guide into this exercise to place in your routine for any occasion. Plus, the gains you will see to strength and endurance are hard to match with other exercises.
What Is The Burpee Pull-Up?
This exercise combines the movement of a burpee with that of a pull-up to provide for an effective worthwhile exercise in any routine. What you will find is that this total body workout can fire up your muscles so they grow and so you build that valuable aerobic capacity.
It is important to perform this workout safely and to follow strict technique to avoid injury, but once you get going, there will be no turning back. The nice part is all you need is a pull up bar.
Muscles Worked
When it comes to muscles worked, the burpee will work a host of muscles. Those lower body muscles include your quads, hamstrings, and glutes and will require those muscles for power and explosivity. Your upper body muscles worked include erector spinae, triceps, pecs, shoulders, and core, as you need a solid core to stay as engaged as possible.
For the pull-up portion of this lift, you will see work done in your triceps, biceps, shoulders, and core, but primarily in your lats. Pull-ups are a great lat builder and can really give you the best when it comes to all things gains.
Benefits Of The Burpee Pull-Up
The benefits of combining the burpee with the pull-up are hard to ignore and can greatly affect all areas of your gains. The power and explosiveness of the burpee in tandem with the strength and development builder of the pull-up will only enhance all your gains for the better so you see the best results possible. Benefits of this exercise include:
- Great strength builder: As an exercise to work many muscles, and till failure, you get a nice strength builder to see great gains to all your muscle building goals (1).
- Increase in endurance: Building endurance and aerobic capacity is something to consider for this will enhance those strength building goals while also taking your endurance to the next level.
- Calorie burner: Shed calories as a result of the high-intensity movement to aid in weight loss and those fat loss goals (2).
- Enhance power and explosiveness: The movement requires you to be explosive and to use real power to get off the ground. By enhancing this part of the exercise, you work for more power when it comes to certain sport specific movements (3).
- Total body workout: Give yourself a great total body exercise to feel good about your workout.
- Plenty of variations for each portion: Both the burpee and pull-up portions have great alternatives to mix up your workout and add to your workout plan.
- Promotes posture: Building strength and keeping your body aligned will promote better posture for athletic movements and everyday life.
- Builds grip strength: Building grip strength is important and this will work to do so with the pull-up portion of the exercise (4).
How To Perform It With A Pull Up Bar & Push-Up Position
Here are the steps for performing the burpee pull-up:
- Your starting position is in a squat position with feet shoulder width apart and feet forwards. Explode off the ground and as you land, go into a push up position.
- Once here, perform a push-up so your chest touches the ground and explode back onto your feet.
- Jump up and grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip, engage your core, and perform a pull-up movement, with your feet hanging.
- With a controlled motion, bring yourself back to the ground and set yourself back up in a push-up position, before performing a push-up, then coming back to the squat position with feet shoulder width apart.
- Repeat for your desired number of sets and reps aiming for perfect form before rest.
Alternatives To Burpees & Pull-Ups
When it comes to alternative exercises and mixing in variations, finding exercise to replace this can be challenging. However, there are exercises that will separately replace the burpee and the pull-up. We wanted to share a few with you so you can better tackle those workout goals to only see the best gains possible.
Alternatives of the burpee will still give you the ability to get your heart rate going to get some cardio work while also boosting strength. These exercises include:
- Squat Jumps
- Dumbbell Thrusters (can be interchanged with kettlebells as well)
- Renegade Rows
- Mountain Climbers
- Medicine Ball Slams
Alternatives of the pull-up will build strength and overall lat development while also working other muscles in your upper body. These exercises include:
- Inverted Row
- Wide Grip Lat Pulldown (Neutral grip works as well)
- Bent Over Rows
- Chin-Ups
- Dumbbell Pullover
Wrap Up
This is a great exercise to see effective gains and will really enhance all areas of your strength and endurance needs. With the right approach, you can increase your gains for the better and provide for only the best out of two effective exercises put into one. The benefits are hard to ignore so place this into your routine today and watch your gains take off.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow Generation Iron on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
*Images courtesy of Envato
References
- Ronai, P.; et al. (2014). “The Pull-up”. (source)
- Roy, M.; et al. (2018). “High-Intensity Interval Training in the Real World: Outcomes from a 12-Month Intervention in Overweight Adults”. (source)
- Haff, G.; et al. (2012). “Training Principles for Power”. (source)
- Lee, J.; et al. (2016). “The Effect of Wrist Position on Grip Endurance and Grip Strength”. (source)
