In this paper we propose a swing-up strategy for a single inverted pendulum. The proposed method has a feature whereby can handle the input and output constraint of a pendulum in a systematic way. For the swing-up of a pendulum, we adopt a 2-DOF control structure that combines the feedforward and feedback control. In order to generate the swing-up feedforward trajectories that satisfy the input and output constraint, we formulate the problem of generating feedforward trajectories as a nonlinear optimal control problem subject to constraints. We illustrate that the proposed method is more flexible than the existing method and provides great freedom in choosing the actuator of the inverted pendulum. Through an experiment, we show that the proposed method can swing a pendulum upward effectively while satisfying all the imposed constraints.