The short answer
Pull-up or Push-up?
The pull-up is harder for almost everyone. You lift close to your whole body, while a push-up puts about two thirds of it through your hands. They also train opposite halves of the upper body, so you keep both and decide which one needs the extra work. Until your first pull-up, start both in week one: push-ups at the hardest version you can do for 8 to 12 clean reps, and the steps toward a pull-up on the same days.
Side by side
| Question | Pull-up | Push-up |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Hang from a bar with an overhand grip and pull until your chin clears it. | Lower your chest to the floor from a straight plank and press back up. |
| Main muscles | Lats, the muscles between the shoulder blades, biceps, grip | Chest, front of the shoulders, triceps, with the trunk holding the plank |
| How much of you is lifted | Everything below your hands, so nearly all of your body weight | About 64% of body weight at the hands, about 49% from the knees |
| Where most people start | Zero reps, often for months | A few reps, or a knee or incline version |
| Equipment | A bar, a doorway bar, or a sturdy branch | None |
| To make it easier | Hang, scapular pulls, rows, a band or an assisted machine | Hands on a bench or a counter, or knees down |
| To make it harder | Slower lowering, then a weight belt or a vest | Feet on a step, a pause at the bottom, a backpack |
| What usually gives out first | Grip and the last third of the pull | The plank: hips sag before the arms fail |
Choose the pull-up when
- You already have a bar and want the most upper back for your time.
- Your job keeps you hunched over a desk and the back of your shoulders feels weak.
- You climb, grapple, or row, where pulling strength decides the day.
- You can do 20 push-ups and still no pull-up: the pull is your gap.
Choose the push-up when
- You have no equipment at all, at home or on the road.
- You are starting from scratch and want a strength win in the first fortnight.
- You are working toward a bench press and want the same pattern without a bench.
- A shoulder or elbow complains when you hang, and pressing does not hurt.
Using both in one week
One rests while the other works, which makes them an easy superset. Do a set of push-ups, rest about a minute, do a set of your current pull-up step, rest again, and go round three or four times. Training them two or three days a week, a day off between, clears the bar the 2026 American College of Sports Medicine position stand sets for strength: at least two sessions a week, a full range of motion, and the exercise near the start of the session. Keep the weekly sets about even on both sides. People who only push tend to end up with shoulders that round forward.
From zero to a first pull-up, in the order Aion uses
- Active hang: 3 sets of 20 to 40 seconds, shoulders pulled down away from the ears. Move on at a pain-free 40 seconds.
- Scapular pull-ups: 3 sets of 8 to 12, arms straight, lifting yourself an inch with the shoulder blades alone.
- Inverted rows under a bar or a sturdy table: 3 sets of 8 to 12, walking your feet forward until your body is almost horizontal.
- Lat pulldown or an assisted pull-up: 3 sets of 8 to 12 with a strong, steady pull to the chest.
- Pull-ups: 4 sets of 3 to 8, from a dead hang every rep. Add load only once several clean reps come easily.
The numbers
- Regular push-up
- 64% of body massPeak force through the hands on a force plate (Ebben 2011).
- Knee push-up
- 49% of body massSame study. Hands on a 60 cm box drops it to about 41%.
- Bottom of a push-up
- About 75% of body massThe lowest point is the heaviest, about 69% at the top (Suprak 2011).
- Lats in a pull-up
- 117 to 130% of a maximal contractionSurface EMG in 25 adults; the chin-up leans more on the biceps (Youdas 2010).
Mistakes that cost the most
- Counting a pull-up that stops with the chin below the bar. A short rep builds a short pull.
- Kicking and swinging to finish. Momentum then does the work your back was meant to do.
- Sagging hips in a push-up. The trunk is part of the exercise, and a sagging rep loads the lower back.
- Months of push-ups with the pulling put off until later. Pressing will not build it for you.
Questions people ask
How many push-ups equal one pull-up?
None. They train different muscles in opposite directions, and plenty of people can do 30 push-ups and no pull-up. Strength on one side tells you very little about the other.
Should I do pull-ups or push-ups first in a workout?
Start with whichever is weaker, while you are fresh: strength responds best to the exercises done early in a session. For most beginners that is the pull side. If you superset them, the order matters less than keeping every rep clean.
Can push-ups help me get my first pull-up?
Only indirectly. They build the trunk and shoulders that hold you steady on the bar, but the pull itself has to be trained with hangs, rows and assisted pulls.
Sources
- Kinetic analysis of several variations of push-upsJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2011
- The effect of position on the percentage of body mass supported during traditional and modified push-up variantsJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2011
- Surface electromyographic activation patterns and elbow joint motion during a pull-up, chin-up, or perfect-pullup rotational exerciseJournal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2010
- Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy AdultsMedicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (ACSM position stand), 2026
Figures on this page come from the studies above or from the arithmetic shown. Read how claims are reviewed and updated in How the guides are written.