Workout
Upper Body Workout at Home, No Equipment
Push and pull in the same session, scaled so you can hold form rather than survive it: the incline push-up before the standard one, a pike push-up for shoulders, a chair for the dips, and a superman pull so the back does not get skipped the way it usually does at home.
- Time
- 12 min
- Level
- Intermediate
- Rounds
- 2
- Approx. burn
- 180 kcal
The moves in this workout
The app sequences them for you. Each one has a demo and a form guide.
- Upper body
Chair Dip
Triceps brachii, Anterior deltoid
Equipment: A sturdy chair, bench or step
- Core
Hollow Hold
Rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, iliopsoas
Equipment: None
- Upper body
Incline Push-up
Pectoralis major, Anterior deltoid, Triceps brachii
Equipment: A sturdy chair, bench or step
- Upper body
Pike Push-up
Anterior deltoid, Lateral deltoid, Triceps brachii
Equipment: None
- Upper body
Shoulder Tap Plank
Rectus abdominis, transversus abdominis, external and internal obliques
Equipment: None
- Upper body
Superman Pull
Trapezius, rhomboids major and minor, erector spinae
Equipment: None
Who it suits
Best once you can hold a clean incline push-up for a full set.
How to run it
Push and pull alternate through the round, so no muscle gets two turns back to back and you are never waiting on one tired set. Set the chair up before you start — the dips and the incline push-up both want it, and hunting for furniture mid-round is how a rest interval quietly doubles.
Easier and harder
Easier: raise the surface. Hands on a kitchen counter rather than a chair takes load off the push-up immediately, and keeping your feet in close does the same for the dip. Harder: lower it — feet on the floor, then feet raised — and walk the pike push-up nearer to vertical.
The mistake this session invites
Shrugging on the chair dip. Your shoulders creep up towards your ears the moment the triceps run out, which turns a triceps exercise into a neck one. Keep the shoulders pulled down away from the ears, and end the set at the point you no longer can.
