So, you snuck away to the gym or your garage to bust out a workout. If your like me, your time is limited and you need to be effective during your short time. I’ve found ladder sets to be very useful. With s ladder set you perform several sets of an exercise adding 1 rep to each set. Today I performed this deadlift pull-up ladder. Basically, it’s a super set of both exercises performed in ladder sets (increasing reps with each set). Here’s the break down:

Deadlift @ 70-80% 1 rep max, followed immediate by  pull-ups

Set #1: 1 rep deadlift w/ one pull-up

Set #2: 2 rep deadlift w/ two pull-ups

Set#3: 3 rep deadlift w/ three pull-ups

Set#4: 4 rep deadlift w/ four pull-ups

Set #5: 5 rep deadlift w/ Five pull-ups

Set #6: 6 rep deadlift w/ six pull-ups

Complete all 6 sets with little to no rest in between. This took me about 14 minutes with a little break around set#4, which had me pretty gassed. I used 225lbs, which is 75% my 1RPM. Another thing to consider, make every rep count. Make sure every rep is a good rep.If you need to take a break or slow down, do it. Don’t sacrifice form for volume.

Regression: If the workout is to difficult, scale it back. Instead of 70-80% 1RPM, try it with 50% 1RPM. If you can’t complete the pull-ups, replace the pull ups with inverted rows.

Progression: If you want to challenge yourself further, perform more sets. Instead of 6 sets, try 10 sets ending with 10 reps each exercise.