Introduction to Bodyweight Training

This is part 1 of an 8 part series on how to workout effectively which we call the Ultimate Training Program. You should workout without weights in addition to your other training. In our 8 part series we will cover all the points that a workout program should include.The idea is to constantly mix it up using a variety of ways to workout so you can keep getting stronger and seeing results.

Outside of bodybuilding and football, who would you say are the most muscled and ripped athletes..? I would say Men in Gymnastics… If you want to get ripped and really strong without using weights or going to a gym, bodyweight training is perfect. The only equipment you might need would be for doing dips and pull ups. Having a park nearby with poles or trees is also helpful.

Even the strongest of men or women can’t even do advanced bodyweight exercises. You can get plenty of resistance with these exercises without lifting weights.

The foundation for bodyweight training includes pushups, pull ups, dips, planks, squats, lunges pistols, and plyometrics. You should start with beginner versions of each and work your way all the way up to each advanced version and start adding additional things like gymnastic exercises, weight vests, kettlebells, and sandbags.

If you need any help on how to do these exercises just go to google or youtube and type in the exercise. Their are plenty of examples.

The Best Bodyweight Exercises

The best exercises to do are the hardest ones. The hardest bodyweight exercises build the most amount of strength. But heres the problem… You probably can’t come close to doing them yet.

Just focus with the easiest variations and work your way up. Once you start getting stronger you can add weight to make the exercise harder. The best body weight exercises for interval training are Burpees, jumping rope, bear crawls, etc…

Other special and unorthodox exercises that are really good if you can find a place to do them would be things like, climbing up a rope, and doing advanced planches.

Pushup Progression From Easiest To Hardest

1. Pushups on your knees ( for women to start with)
2. Regular Pushup
3. Down Dog Pushup (stability)
4. Hindu Pushups (strength) – once you can do 10-20 move to next pushup
5. Dive Bomber Pushup (power) – same as Hindu but do the reverse part
6. 90 Degree Pushup – Put legs on a picnic table or something
7. Lateral Wall Walks – facing the wall with chest to the ground
8. One Leg Kick Ups – back to the wall, work your way up to #9
9. Lateral Wall Walk – back to the wall
10. Handstand Pushups
11. Walk On Your Hands for Distance
12. Walk on your hands for distance doing steps up and down

Pushup Variations

1. Hip Slap doing Lateral Wall Walks Facing Ground
2. Do one arm holds doing lateral wall walks 30-60 seconds
3. One arm holds Lateral Wall walks back to the wall
4. One Arm Pushups – change placement of legs and arms for increased difficulty
5. One Arm One Leg Pushups
6. Scorpion Pushups
7. Alligator Pushpus – forward and reverse

There are even more pushup varieties to try, this isn’t all of them. You can really make things hard by getting creative and doing or adding a different variety of pushups into your program.

Pullup Exercises

There are 7 basic ways to do a pullup.

1. Overhand – palms up
2. Underhand – palms down which are easier (chin up)
3. Close Grip using a V bar
4. Wide Grip
5. Should width grip
6. Over Under – like a dead lift grip and switch hand position each time
7. One Arm Pullups

Pullup Variations

1. Clapping Pullups
2. Switch Ups – go from pull ups to chin ups
3. Triangle Pullups – move your chin to left and right hand
4. Pullup Pushups – unorthodox
5. Pullups on a rope or wider bar that you can’t grip around all the way
6. Big Ball Grip Pullups – doing pullups with hands on a ball
7. Climbing pullups
8. You can also do pullups hanging from a towel for increased load or anything that makes it harder

Doing Variations for Dips

By doing dips with a straight upper body your targeting your triceps more. If you lean forward more you start to work your shoulders and chest more.

One-Legged Pistols

Pistols are one legged squats. You can start doing these in your house if you have something to hold on to as you go down and putting your other leg out in front of you or by putting something below you where you sit. You want to make sure you go below parallel and don’t have your knee in front of your foot your squatting with.

Plank Variations

There are 5 different basic plank variations. You usually just try to hold these while having a straight back (no dipping or compensating) for 30 seconds to start with and move up to 2 minutes or more.

• Basic Forearms Plank
• Pushup Plank
• Side Arm Plank each side
• Side Forearm Plank
• Backwards pushup plank

Squats and Lunges are pretty straight forward as bodyweight exercises. For bodyweight squats you can’t really change the lift for front squats without adding weight. You can however change the variation by doing overhead squats without any weight. That will tell you if you have true correct form.

How To Setup Your Bodyweight Training Program

There’s a couple options for getting started with bodyweight training.

• Buy a program that has exercises and routines for you.

• Assemble your own program by starting with the basic exercises and by reading bodyweight training books to add additional exercises to the basic ones after you become stronger and more skilled.

Beginner

Start with the 7 main basics exercises for 2-4 weeks. Pullups, pushups, dips, squats, pistols, lunges and planks. Write out 1 specific exercise you’ll do for each exercise so you’ll have about 7 total.

For the first month just work on getting stronger and work your way up to more intermediate moves. You may want to do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps for each exercise with 1 minute rest in between each exercise. For planks try holding 2 of the 5 plank exercises for 30-60 seconds each in this stage.

If you can’t do 10 pull ups at once, do as many as you can. Rest 30 seconds and then do as many as you can. Keep doing them until you complete your desired reps. Pistols are extremely hard and you will have to work your way up to them. Pavel talks about mastering these in The Naked Warrior.

Intermediate

Now you should be progressed into at least the middle phase of pushups. You probably aren’t doing handstand pushups yet but your getting close. And your getting about 10 pullups each set.  This time pick maybe 7-14 exercises and work your way through them for 2-4 weeks. This time though, maybe add another set and rest less.

Advanced

At this stage you should be able to do at least 15 pull ups in one set without stopping, you can do one legged pistols, one arm pushups for reps, and the hardest bodyweight exercises.

Keep changing your routine, implementing different varieties of pushups, pullups, etc…

You should focus on medium – advanced exercises with the hardest variations. You may want to incorporate a 15-15 program where you pick say 4 exercises and do each one until 15 seconds is up. Then you rest 15 seconds and go to your next exercise. Keep doing this for 15 minutes or so and try to keep the pace of what you did for each first set.

At this point you’ve also implemented using Kettlebells, a weight vest, sand bag and probably some gymnastics training. Anything to make the training harder and unorthodox.

If your looking to buy kettlebells, weight vests, sand bags, rings, plyometric boxes, swiss balls, jump ropes, or gear for your bodyweight training I recommend PerformBetter.com.

Instead of buying a pullup bar, find a park that has a tree limb you can use or sometimes parks have pull up bars, that’s the way to go. This way you don’t have to damage your house putting one up. Or if you have a gym membership, that always works too.

Bodyweight Training Books and Resources

We are in the process of writing reviews that you will find at the link below. If there are any other courses or programs you think we should review, let us know.

Body Weight Training Program Reviews

Bodyweight Training Books

The Best Articles on How To Workout Without Weights

• Dragon Door Bodyweight Strength Training Articles – lots of good articles here.

• Don’t Wait To Start Your Bodyweight Training – 3 Reasons to Start Now

• Bodyweight Training vs. Weight Training – A Martial Artists Perspective

• Wild Man Training Articles

Additional Things To Add To Your Bodyweight Training Program

Bodyweight training is really good by itself but don’t ever get stuck with the same workouts. Always add new things to make it harder and keep progressing.

If you go with a bodyweight program like Turbulence Training you will get plenty of variety. Additional things you can add to bodyweight workouts are kettlebells, sandbags, gymnastic training, and a weight vest.

We’ll talk more about this in our upcoming articles. If you have any questions about bodyweight training or the products I have reviewed please let me know below in the comments. Also, if anyone knows of other good programs or books let me know.

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