Albert K. Park

When was the last time you actually did pull-ups, pushups, and bodyweight exercises in your workout at the gym? Why do pull-ups when you can do 200 pounds on the Lat pull machine right? Or Why do pushups when you can bench 225 pounds? I can’t do anything but let out a small chuckle when body weight training comes up. As Alwyn Cosgrove , renown fitness guru who writes for men’s health, and a number of other top health magazines would say, “why load excess weight when you can barely do bodyweight work!” .

I have a friend who can bench press 275 pounds for endless reps. Quite impressive for anyone really. He’s a frequent gym rat who loves his creatine and Muscle & Fitness magazines. But when I challenged him to do 25 proper, chest to the ground and fully extended arm, pushups he laughed a little in my face. A little rude I know.

When the tear ducts from my eyes finally ran dry from all the crying from laughing so hard he finally understood. By the 20th rep both of his elbow and shoulder complexes were cracking with painful cacophony, sweat had started to stain his affliction t shirt (I hate those shirts by the way), and the fast pace he had for the first 8 reps had transformed into a turtles pace as he painfully squeezed out the last 5. No matter how much you lift, you will always be able to find bodyweight training beneficial.

It’s appalling how often I see Personal trainers put their clients through loaded weight work when they can barely do bodyweight work. 20 correct form pushups should be a standard before putting someone onto a bench press with extra weight. Why jump under a squat rack when you can barely do 15 bodyweight squats properly? End result is usually injury.

Benefits of Body Weight.
Now let’s get to the good stuff.

1.) Bodyweight training is Safe.
- As long as I have been training, I have never heard anyone suffer a serious injury from doing a jumping jack, pushup, or bodyweight squat. The great thing about bodyweight work is that most of the movements and exercises are natural movements and it is at a weight that your body should be able to move. Bodyweight. You are never under a bar that’s loaded with 160% of your bodyweight that, if any bit of your form is off, can cause you serious injury. I’m sure all you lower back victims aren’t laughing right now, sorry I feel for you.

It was Monday, National Bench press day, so it was only right that everyone in the gym was working their chest out except for a couple ladies on the elyptical machines. They were looking quite fine I might add. LA fitness, another commercial powerhouse also tends to attract the bench press addicted meat head. I walked in on an active recovery day so I knew I would be doing some body weight exercises. After my first set of explosive pull ups (exercise is explained later) I got tons of evil stares and a 275 pound beast of a man was so disturbed he found it absolutely necessary to approach me.


275 Beast: “Hey bro, what the heck are you doing?”
Me: “Ummm just doing some pull ups.”
275 Beast: “Why? What is that really working?
Me: “It works my back and it’s pretty damn hard on my respiratory system.”
275 Beat: “Man if you want to get huge, you should load up that lat pull and do like max out 2 reps.:
At this point in the conversation, I just smiled and walked away. It’s just not worth the time and effort. The sad reality is that bodyweight training has been given this negative old school stereotype and completely ruled out as a form of training. The truth is that it can be one of the most effective weapons in your training. To Mr. Meathead, I can’t wait to see you when your forty, arthritis will have completely kicked in, and all that heavy lifting will have worn your cartilage down that you will be pushing a walker, the kind with the tennis balls on the end around everywhere. Not to mention your liver will have failed from all the non FDA approved supplements you have filtered through it that you will have a permanent dependency to senior citizen diapers.

2.) You can use it anywhere & anytime.
- No dumbbells, No benches, No cable machines. All you need is yourself and some time. Now that would make an awesome Infomercial. What’s up now Bowflex. Honestly this is probably the greatest aspect of bodyweight training is that all it requires is yourself. You can do it anywhere, at the park, in your room, inside of a hotel room while your on vacation. So if it can be accessed so easy, why isn’t everyone doing it? I know. I ask myself the same thing.


3.) The heavier you get the harder it is, there are always modifications to increase the difficulty.

- For you larger, more bench press focused, prehistoric men this will probably be a little bit harder to get through your brow bone into your head but let me try. You. Too. Can. Benefit. From. Body – weight. Training! This is true because the heavier you are, the more you have to push, pull, jump, sprint, you get the idea. So Mr.275 pound beast, I would love to see you attempt 5 explosive pushups without rupturing your spleen.

There are also tons of different modifications to body weight exercises that can increase the difficulty. So increasing your body weight is not the only way to provide extra resistance. Martin Rooney, the nation’s top NFL combine trainer form Parisi Speed Schools and MMA’s top strength and Conditioning trainer devoted a year to finding the best body weight training. He traveled the world training and studying in different martial arts including Muay Thai in Thailand, Sambo in Russia, and Brazilian Jiu jitsu in Brazil. The one main aspect he found in common with all their training was the body weight training. He incorporated this into the training he did as the Rutgers Wrestling strength and conditioning coach and the results speak for themselves. They broke an all time win record for the history of school! The school is like a million years old!



So if collegiate wrestlers, MMA pro athletes, and NFL pros are all incorporating body weight exercises into their training, why aren’t you.? Good, Bloody, Question!


Bodyweight Exercises?
There is a myriad of great exercises that you can perform to maximize gains in your training. A lot of these exercises will probably bring back horrible memories from junior high gym class, yeah I am talking about when you wore that stinky t shirt with your name hand written on it. Below is a list of those fun, traditional, but highly effective exercises to refresh your minds.

The Pushup: A military standard because it is so effective. Make sure you keep your elbows tucked in, as soon as those elbows flare out stop and refocus.

Pull up: This exercise requires you to lift your entire bodyweight. So take advantage and don’t cheat. All the way down and all the way up. Vary your grip to stress different areas of your back.



The Y Squat: Some people underestimate the body weight squat, when the truth is so many can’t do it with good form. With your arms in a Y position over your head and shoulder blades locked, perform a perfect form squat. This doesn’t mean just squatting down, this means hips retracting, the bottom of your hamstrings getting parallel with the floor, straight back, and hips pushing through at the top.

The Lunge: A staple in building your legs this exercise can be performed front lunges or reverse lunges. Take a step forward bending your front leg so that the hamstring is parallel to the ground and return. Make sure you push off your heel on the back up.

Advanced Bodyweight Exercises?

Modified pushups: You can change up your pushups easier than you think. Varying your hand width is probably the easiest way to change up the old gym class pushup. Also try elevating your legs to increase difficulty. Once you have mastered these try explosive pushups where you push yourself up off the ground, DON”T CLAP, catch yourself on the way down and repeat. This recruits fast twitch muscle fibers which in turn builds bigger Muscles.

Jump squat :
This should be performed just like a body weight squat but from the down position you will be exploding and lifting yourself off the ground like a vertical jump. The key is to use perfect form throughout the motion.

Burpee:
If you have ever wrestled, practiced MMA, or have just come across a good trainer than this exercise has probably shown up in a nightmare or two. From standing up your going to place your hands on the ground by your feet than kick your feet back so your in a pushup position. From here you are going to explode back up, jumping off the ground a little bit and repeating. Great exercise for conditioning.

Isometric Lunge holds:
Isometrics can be misleading in its difficulty just because the general consensus is that all you do is hold a position. This is true but when utilized with lunges, you will quickly realize that a little hold can turn into an entire work out. Try doing your lunges with the last rep of your set an isometric hold for 15-30 seconds. This is a quick way to increase strength in those legs.

Explosive Pull ups:
This one is for the Meat head at LA fitness. Once you can do a regular pull up, try making it explosive. From the hanging position, explode up so you fly well above the bar while releasing your grip. On the way down catch yourself and repeat.


Extra! Extra! Body Weight Circuits for Fat LOSS!
Melt fat away with body weight circuits. I know I have written a few blog articles on circuit training and how it’s a great way to melt fat. So I don’t want to bore you with the science of EPOC and the benefits of high intensity training. I will just get straight to the program, you lucky readers you.

All exercises are supposed to be performed one after another until you are completely done. Rest for 1 min to 1 min and a half after you perform all exercises.

Y squats 12 -15
Pushups 12 – 15
Lunges 12 – 15 both legs
Burpees 15
Toe touch crunches 12 – 15
40 yd sprint
REST

Advanced Circuit #1
Jump squats 12
Explosive Pushups 8
Reverse Lunges 12
Burpees 15
V sits or crunches 12
40 yd sprint
Rest

Advanced Circuit #2 (also known as hurricanes)
Jump squat 12
40 yd dash, rest on jog back
Varying width pushups 12
40 yd dash, rest on jog back
Lunges with last rep a 20 sec isometric hold- 8 reps
40 yd dash, rest on jog back
Burpees 12
40 yd dash, with rest on jog back
V sits 12-20
40 yd dash, with rest on jog back

Perform all circuits for 3 – 5 sets. The workout should take you 20 – 30 minutes tops. Stay consistent, dig deep, don’t let that little voice inside your head telling you “let’s just do 11 reps instead of 12 because nobody’s counting except for me” to shut the hell up, and watch the fat drip off your body!

Let’s keep attacking the Weight Gain Season with weapons like bodyweight work. Don’t forget about your goals and stay consistent.