Hiya,
Bodyweight training is probably the oldest form of resistance training that exists. The ancient Greeks used it, Indians wrestlers are notorious for using bodyweight movements to strengthen their entire bodies, “calisthenics” have been systemized, and we even find traces and anecdotal references among travelers who visited Amerindian tribes, especially Apaches and Iroquois. It helped develop great warriors and great physiques.
Now, let’s step back a bit and see how and why you could benefit from it:
Maybe you are on vacation or in a hotel for business and don’t have a gym.
Maybe it’s a holiday and all the gyms are closed.
Or there is so much snow that you can’t walk or drive to the gym maybe it’s even closed.
You can’t afford to have a gym membership when you are in a tight spot.
Well, to all of that: bodyweight training is the answer!
Below, I’ll make an attempt to answer all the questions you may have about bodyweight training:
Bodyweight Training Leads to More Muscle Recruitment
The push-up is a closed-chain bodyweight exercise: your hands are on the floor and do not move, while your body does. A bench press is an open-chain exercise: your body does not move off the bench (I hope), only the resistance (barbell) does. This means you need a greater amount of stability and rigidity in the body during the first exercise than in the second one. You have to be stable from head to toe, no matter how hard you go. Same for pull-ups, dips, leg raises, squats or handstands. This means more core work, more muscles being used and more stabilizers being recruited and thus, improving.
EMG studies have demonstrated that you get more pectoral and triceps activation in a dip than in a flat bench press. Same for pull-ups and pull down, as they both work the latissimus at the same degree, but pull-ups are superior to arm flexors (biceps, brachialis, brachioradialis) and core activation (both abs and lumbar erectors).
Consider all those gymnasts that never touched a weight but still can deadlift 3-4 plates off the floor, or bench press 2 plates for reps, while weighing a mere 145-160lbs/65-72kg.
Bodyweight Training Allows You To Train Everywhere, Anytime
Are you traveling? Stuck at home? Not enough weights available for a proper workout at the place you are currently staying in?
Well, looks like it’s time to crank up some old-fashioned push-up/pull-up/squat combo. All you need is a place to hang on, and enough room on the floor to lie down or to squat. This could be outdoor in the forest, on the grass, under the sun, in your garden or living room… Some of my best bodyweight workouts were done next to a pool in the countryside of Toscana, in Italy, surrounded by hills, forests and beautiful dawns and twilights. Some were in the rain and the cold wind of a hillock/forest near the place where I live. But I never was limited.
Find it too easy?
Then feel free to enter the wonderful world of progressive difficulty with feet elevated push up, one arm movements, paused reps, pistol squats, tempos work and even weighted variations. Or you can do it in Herschel Walker style and go for ultra-high-volume training. Want a one-hour quick and easy chest workout? Do 10 push-ups every minute. That’s 600 per hour. You can apply the same logic to squat, inverted row, dips, lunges, chin-ups or leg raises.
Bodyweight Training Helps You Keep a Limber, Injury-free Body
Don’t make me say what I didn’t say: of course bodyweight workouts leave you open to injury. You can get hurt, have tendinitis, strains, muscle tears… However, there’s one thing that the gym-goer always has: the cumulative stress on the same area of every joint. At first, that tightness may become tender, then turn into a nagging pain and eventually become real debilitating injuries. Switching sometimes to bodyweight variation to train the same muscles, but with a different joint angle/resistance/training parameters can go a long way to stay injury-free and ready to go.
Also, when doing advanced exercises, bodyweight training has the benefit to also train the coordination, proprioception and working muscles through a greater range of motion, thus making and keeping them souple. Think front/back levers, dips, one arm pull up and push-up, muscle up, pistol squat, nordic hamstring curl… In short, you’ll get more athletic improvement than with the most common weight training routines.
Bodyweight Train To Look Awesome And Make Heads Turn
If you want to show off or speak to non-athlete people, bodyweight skills are way easier to relate with than just saying how much you can lift on X. There are Youtube and other social media on which you can binge-watch crazy feats of strengths like 900lbs deadlifts and incline pressing 405lbs for reps. Nowadays, a 3 plates bench and a 5 plates deadlift aren’t “that” impressive anymore. Also, your grandma doesn’t care how much you squat!
This is highly uncommon, however, to see someone who is physically fit go into a pull-up starting position, and then get his whole body into a horizontal position holding it there like it’s a warm-up exercise. Or for someone to perform sets of 20+ one-arm push-ups with their feet elevated like for cardio work. Look at what the Hollywood and Netflix series make actors do when there is a warm-up/training scene: lifting relatable objects, but first and foremost bodyweight (like Stephen Amell in the TV series Arrow or Ben Affleck in Batman Vs. Superman). And if you still want to impress your grandma, help her and open the cans and jars for her!
Bodyweight Training Gets You Lean
Being lean is about calorie management, as I explained it all in this ultimate guide to structuring your diet.
Now, the lighter you are, the easier are bodyweight movements. The leaner you are, the less fat and useless/dead weight you need to carry. We could also make the argument that having big legs and hips is also detrimental, but that’s for another time. What you must keep in mind is that you will see dramatic improvements to your bodyweight performance just by dropping 5-10lbs and, sometimes, removing 3-4lbs of water/fat weight will make you significantly stronger.
So, if all those gymnasts and calisthenics champions you see are lean, it’s both because they manage their diet but also thanks to the type of training they do to avoid being fluffy. This is another indicator if you want to stay on track with your own progress, no matter if you’re in a fat loss or a lean bulk mode.
Bonus Sample: “Low Skill” Workout
For men:
- Feet Elevated Push-Up: 4 sets of 20-25 reps
- Inverted Row: 5 sets of 20-25 reps
- Hand Stand Hold against a wall: 3 sets of 30-60s
- Squats: 5 sets of 50 reps
- L Sit Hold bi-set Wrestler Bridge: 3 sets of 10-20s of each
For women:
- One-legged Glute Bridge: 5 sets of 20-25
- Reverse Lunges: 5 sets of 20-25
- Pull Up with feet supported: 5 sets of 10-15
- Push Up knee on the ground: 4 sets of 10-15
- Plank one feet up Bi-Set Back Bridge: 3 sets of 20-30s
These are just some examples of what you can do to get some sort of full-body workouts whenever you can’t hit the gym, or you’re stuck somewhere with no material. Of course, you would still need some space or places to grab on, but you can get creative too! Sets and reps parameters can be changed, it’s all up to you and your level of strength/skill into bodyweight.
Now: go and do some push-ups. And then some more. I’m always available for you if you need a hand with your bodyweight training, just check my consulting services!
Your lightkeeper,
-Hersovyac.
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