Are you curious about the best Athlean pull workouts?

Do you want to know Jeff Cavaliere trains his back and biceps for size and strength?

Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, I will teach you exactly how to use Jeff Cavaliere’s Athlean X pull workouts to take your training to the next level!

Introduction

  • Part 1: Athlean X Pull Workout #1
  • Part 2: Athlean X Pull Workout #2

Jeff Cavaliere is one of the biggest fitness experts in the world.

He is best known for his popular YouTube channel, called “Athlean X,” where he shares helpful fitness videos to more than 12 million subscribers.

Jeff says one of the best ways to train is using a push / pull / legs training split.

He likes this split because it reduces overlap between different muscle groups, and simplifies your training program.

For example, Jeff Cavaliere uses a pull workout where he trains the back and biceps together.

Jeff Cavaliere says you should start your Athlean X pull workouts with deadlifts, rows, pull ups, and other compound exercises for the upper back.

After your upper back is exhausted, he says you should move onto isolation exercises for your biceps and triceps, as well as a corrective exercise for the upper body.

Here is how Jeff organizes his pull workouts:

The Athlean X Pull Workout Template

  • Step #1: Heavy deadlifts
  • Step #2: Pull ups, pulldowns, and rows
  • Step #3: Arm isolation exercises
  • Step #4: Upper body corrective exercise

This is a very simple but effective way to design your back and bicep workouts.

You start with the deadlifts and other compound exercises for the upper back, and then perform isolation exercises for your arms and one injury-prevention exercise for the upper body.

Here is a great Athlean X pull workout that you can try. Check it out:

Athlean X Pull Workout #1

  • Exercise #1: Barbell deadlift, 1 set of 5 reps**
  • Exercise #2: Chest supported barbell row, 3 sets of 8-10 reps
  • Exercise #3: Lying dumbbell pullovers, 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps
  • Exercise #4: Dumbbell high pulls, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Exercise #5: Bicep chin curls, 3 sets of 5 reps
  • Exercise #6: Overhead tricep extensions, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Exercise #7: Angels and devils, 3 sets of 15-20 reps

**Perform 4 warm up sets, then perform 1 set of 5 reps with 80% of your 1-rep max

Here is the training video:

Talk about an intense back / biceps workout!

As you can see, this workout follows the Athlean X pull workout template perfectly. Jeff starts the workout with a heavy set of 5 reps on the conventional deadlift.

Jeff Cavaliere likes this exercise for his Athlean X pull workouts because it is a functional movement that works almost all of the muscles in the legs and upper back.

“This workout starts with our foundational pull movement: the deadlift. We’re performing the deadlift as a one by five.

That’s not simply one set – you want to ramp up to it with 4 warm up sets to get to 80% of your 1-rep max for one set of five reps.

Again what you do here to ensure progress is add weight in your next workout when you encounter this exercise again.”

After the heavy deadlifts, Jeff moves onto different exercises for his upper back, including rows and pullovers.

Jeff says he really likes the dumbbell pullover, as it is a lat-focused exercise that also works some of the smaller muscles of the upper body, such as the serratus anterior.

“We then come into our next exercise here, giving that upper back a little bit of a reprieve, but going to a little more of a lat-focused exercise – the dumbbell pullover.

There’s a reason Arnold calls this the squat of the upper body: it’s a tremendous way to build the lats.

We get that huge stretch in the bottom position, and then power through, initiating with the lats.”

Finally, Jeff rounds out this pull workout with some isolation exercises for his arms, as well as a corrective exercise for the upper body.

In this workout Jeff uses the “angels and devils” exercise to work some of the smaller muscles of the upper back, such as the lower traps.

“No Athlean X workout is complete without some additional corrective work at the end of this.

One of my favorite all-time movements to hit the entire posterior chain to round out this perfect pull workout is the angel and devil.

The angel and devil is, like it sounds, it sounds so easy, but it is so damn hard.

This will light up your back like a Christmas tree!”

Jeff says one of the best workout strategies is to alternate between two similar, but slightly different pull workouts.

All you have to do is use a different set of exercises in each of your workouts.

For example, here is a second pull workout where Jeff focuses on different back and bicep exercises, such as the snatch grip deadlift and weighted pull ups. Check it out:

Pull Workout #2

  • Exercise #1: Snatch grip deadlift, 3 sets of 5 reps**
  • Exercise #2: Weighted pull ups, 3 sets of 6-8 reps
  • Exercise #3: Alternating dumbbell gorilla rows, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Exercise #4: Straight arm cable pullovers, 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps
  • Exercise #5: Ez-bar curls, 3 sets of 6-8 reps
  • Exercise #6: Tricep pushdowns, 3 sets of 10-12 reps
  • Exercise #7: Cable face pulls, 3 sets of 15-20 reps

**Use a weight you can perform for 8 reps

Here is the training video:

Talk about an intense workout!

Jeff starts this workout with an extremely underrated exercise: the snatch grip deadlift.

This exercise is a favorite of Charles Poliquin and many other strength coaches.

The main difference between a snatch grip deadlift, and a regular deadlift, is the grip.

You are going to hold the bar with a very wide grip.

This forces many muscles to work harder, such as the quads, hamstrings, lower back, and upper back. Check it out:

“This workout starts with the snatch grip deadlift. We’re deadlift again, but not entirely the same focus.

This is not meant for progressively overloading the strength movement. It’s meant for reinforcing the hinge pattern, which we know is incredibly important.

Beyond that, we’re still getting some extra upper back work.

With that snatch grip, we’re going to work the upper traps a lot more, as well as the upper back.”

After the snatch grip deadlifts, Jeff moves onto his compound upper body exercises for the day.

In this workout, he uses slightly different exercises, such as the pull up and gorilla row, to work his upper body muscles.

“This exercise builds your lats and your overall pulling strength, but you have to make sure you’re loading it heavy enough.

We want 6-8 reps here.

If you can do more than that, you have to strap some weight around you to get into this rep range.”

Finally, Jeff moves onto different arm isolation exercises, as well as a general upper body corrective exercise.

For this workout, Jeff focuses on one of his favorite biceps exercises: the standing barbell curl.

He says this movement is great for training the biceps muscle with a relatively heavy load.

“This brings us to the arm focused portion of the pull workout.

You guys know I wouldn't complete one of these two options without having one of my favorite exercise selections: the barbell curl.

Again, I don’t think you should shy away from going heavy here. 6-8 repetitions is a good rep range here for building bigger biceps.”

Overall, this is a very smart pull-focused back and biceps workout.

I really like how Jeff Cavaliere rotates between two different types of workouts to overload the back and biceps muscles from many different angles.

Conclusion | The Athlean X Pull Workout!

Jeff Cavaliere is one of the biggest fitness experts in the world, and it’s easy to see why.

His Athlean X pull workouts are very effective for building size and strength in the back and bicep muscles.

I especially like how he gives you two different workouts that you can perform for improved results.

If you are looking for a great back and bicep routine, then you have to give these Athlean X pull workouts a shot.

They could be just what you need to take your training to the next level!

Before you go, check out my other world-class articles on Athlean X:

Trust me – you won't find this cutting edge information available anywhere else!

“If you want to look like an athlete then you've got to train like one!”

Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!