body weight exercise
My son plays baseball in college and the other day his coach was a little perturbed with the team so he scheduled and early morning 6 AM workout for them. If you know college students then you are aware that 6 AM on any morning is a difficult task. But when combined with the workout it was that much more difficult.
The simplicity of the workout is amazing. On the face of it, you will think that it is easy to perform. But then as you try the workout you will quickly change your tune. The baseball players had to perform the workout for 30 minutes straight. I recommend that you try it for 20 minutes and if you feel that you can continue then by all means go ahead.
The workout consists of only two simple exercises at very low reps. But one set is performed after the other for the entire time period without any rest in between. Are you ready and up to the challenge? If so give it a shot. Here is what they did.
Pushup 2 Reps
Squat 2 Reps
That was the entire workout. Two pushups followed by two squats over and over again for 20 minutes. It looks simplistic but the workout is brutal and I can guarantee that it will burn fat in the process.
Do you want to stoke up the fires of your metabolism with some great body weight exercise routines? In my opinion there is no better way to do it. Steady state cardio (jogging, etc) is used by many as the only source of burning calories.
However, it does not produce much of an overall body effect. It will burn a few calories but it will begin to take a toll on your joints as you get older and does nothing to provide for the conditioning and strengthening of the entire body. What if you could put together a 20 minute exercise program where you could get a whole body workout, burn more calories and not bore you to tears while you were doing it.
Below you will find such a program. There are four exercises below. Perform each one of them in order for the prescribed repetitions and without rest. This would be one set. Perform as many sets as you can in a 20 minute period of time. There should not be any rest between the exercises. Move from one exercise to the next in a steady fashion. If you get a little worn out in the middle or towards the end then give yourself a quick 30 – 60 second break but at that time on to the end of your workout. I think when you are done you will see how powerful these workouts can be for burning fat.
Here are the four bodyweight exercises.
Burpees 5 Reps
Pushups 5 Reps
Squats 10 Reps
Knees to Elbows 10 Reps
Record how many sets that you were able to complete and the next time that you use ths particular workout try to improve on that number.
Bodyweight exercises have long been used to chisel the physique and to develop great strength. Today, too many people believe that they only way to develop great strength is to throw heavy weights around in a gym. But since the beginning of time, if men wanted to display great strength they did so through displaying a great control of their body. They practiced the art of calisthenics.
Calisthenics today is only viewed by most as a form of conditioning. However, if you go back to the days of the ancients, it was understood as a strength and conditioning system. It allowed fighters to develop maximum strength for battle and the musculature that intimidated those that they faced.
If you saw the movie 300, you saw the story of 300 Spartans who due to their great conditioning and musculature and battle skills held off an army of 120,000 Persians until further Greek forces could arrive at the Battle of Thermopolylae. When Herodotus, the Greek historian, records this story he mentions that Xerxes had sent out a scout party and had seen the Spartan warriors training their bodies with calisthenics. What is considered to be the greatest warrior race that has ever been recorded used calisthenics or bodyweight exercises are their main training regimen. If it was good enough for the Spartans who had to head into battle, it should be more than sufficient for us, many of whom sit behind a desk all day. In fact, since the movie a number of bodyweight exercise programs that have been designed around the training of the actors who played the Spartans in the movie have sprung up.
The Spartans weren’t the only ones who believed in the power of body weight exercises. The great athletes of the original Olympic Games trained with calisthenics. This was documented by Pausanius. In fact, you can see evidence of this type of training taking place on many painted scenes or carving from early Greece. The Greeks understood that body weight exercises provided an athletic, muscular body that performed well in battle and competition.
Perhaps we should spend more time on body weight calisthenics instead of glorifying throwing around a bunch of iron. Weight lifting has its place but it never should come at the expense of performing exercises with your own bodyweight. At the very least they should live in harmony together.
I think I may have invented a new body weight exercise for burning fat. I didn’t set out to invent it but it happened nonetheless. And the interesting thing is that it will not force you to find any extra time to perform it. It left me feeling as if I had a great workout and I believe I burned quite a few calories in the process.
Let me describe how it happened. The last couple of days it has rained quite a bit where I live. In fact, it poured for most of the weekend. Yesterday (Saturday), I went to watch my son play baseball at college so it left only Sunday to get my grass cut. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day. Finally, I was able to get outside in the late afternoon to cut what was a pretty wet yard. But when you have only certain times to get it done you need to take advantage of what you are presented with.
Now I am cheap. All of my neighbors have riding lawnmowers. I do not. I still give it a go with my old standby push mower. I have no intentions of changing either. I don’t have a huge yard. It normally takes me about 45 minutes to an hour to cut my grass.
Well when I went out to cut the grass about halfway through it began to rain lightly again and dinner time was just around the corner. So I had the great idea of jogging while cutting grass. My 17 year old daughter was watching through our large window that overlooks the back yard and was laughing at her dad looking rather weird running with a lawn mower.
Now this is not something you would do everyday unless you want to run with your lawnmower off through your yard each day. If you do that then your neighbors may wonder what caused you to go crazy. But jogging while cutting grass is quite challenging. Your heart rate will elevate and I guarantee that you will burn quite a few calories and burn fat in the process. Since you have to cut grass each week anyway you may want to give it a try. If you have a riding lawnmower then maybe you want to put it away every now and then and break out the push mower. It will provide you a great workout and burn some fat in the process. You will even get your grass cutting duties done quicker. Give it a try.
One of the best ways to condition your body is through bodyweight exercises. The nice thing about it is that you do not need a treadmill, an elliptical machine or a rowing machine. All you need is your body. You can perform it anywhere. Bodyweight conditioning is able to get your heart rate up to a level where you will burn a serious amount of calories. I think the routines for conditioning with bodyweight exercises look simple at first. However, when you begin to perform them you come to realize that they take much more out of you than you thought. It is quite challenging just to get through the circuit.
I was reading the other day (can’t quite remember where) and the individual who was writing the article made mention of the fact that the football team that he played on in college dreaded the bodyweight conditioning exercises most of all because they took so much out of you.
Just yesterday, I took the day off and made a 90 minute trip to watch my son play baseball for his college. While I was sitting in the bleachers watching the game I heard a soccer player from his college talking about the burpee exercises that they had to do for conditioning. They were extremely tough.
You can get a tremendous workout from bodyweight exercises alone. They are some of the most effective exercises for shedding fat and losing weight as well. Below is a sample workout that I will be performing tomorrow for my bodyweight conditioning segment.
Perform 5 rounds with about a 1 – 2 minute rest between each round. Within the round you should not have any rest between exercises. Move from exercise to the next.
Burpees (10)
Mountain Climbers (15 each leg)
Squat Jumps (10)
Atomic Push Ups (10)
Knees To Elbows (10)
Tuck Jumps (10)
In case you are not familiar with tuck jumps, knees to elbows or an atomic push up then you can watch the videos below. If you do not have a TRX suspension trainer then you can substitute 15 – 20 push ups for the atomic push up.
Tuck Jumps
Knees To Elbows
Atomic Push Up
Bodyweight exercises are great for burning calories and burning fat. One of the most effective exercises that you can perform to really get you heart pumping is box jumps. They are just what they sound like. You jump up on a box and then either step down or jump down. Then repeat. I usually perform them in sets of 15 as part of a bodyweight exercise circuit but you can perform them as a stand alone workout as well.
I built a platform out of 2 x 4s from some wood I had laying around the house. I put a 3/4″ piece of plywood on the top of this very primitive platform. It is quite sturdy despite its ugly looks. There are other more attractive options that you can build so that you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on plyometric boxes. There is a design that Crossfit has published that is quite good. It is even slanted to help to possibly save your shins a bit if you miss a jump. My plyo platform is not so forgiving. You can find the pdf file for building the box here.
Here are a few videos of box jumps to get you started in case you are not sure exactly what they are. Give them a try. Use them in place of your regular cardio workout. You will burn many more fat calories with box jumping than you will with a leisurely jog through the neighborhood.
Dips are one of the best bodyweight exercises that you can do for triceps. Not only is it a great exercise for your triceps but it is also a good exercise for your chest. If your own bodyweight ceases to be enough of a challenge at some time you can always add a little weight strapped to a belt or you can hook a dumbbell in the crook of your knee.
You can do dips on a variety of different things if you don’t have access to a health club. You can use two chairs that are pushed together. Or you can make a dip station of your own. There are probably several plans that you can find on the internet but I saw one from Matt Wichlinski of the Strength Shop in Virginia Beach, VA. It is part of a larger video that shows some of his homemade equipment. The dip station is made out of 2″ PVC. I will be trying to make one in the coming weeks. When I do I will put the measurements that I used online. In the meantime you can view the video and have a go at it yourself if you want to.
Bodyweight exercises can be a great way to increase strength and build muscle. Many people do not realize the strength level that can be achieved and the muscle that can be built with only bodyweight exercises. One of the most famous of individuals that have built an incredible physique through bodyweight exercises is Hershel Walker. In an interview done with Academy of Achievement in 1991 Herschel said the following:
“I didn’t grow up – my parents didn’t have a lot of money. My high school didn’t have a lot of money to afford a lot of the expensive weights. You know all this stuff. They used that as an excuse. I started doing push-ups and sit-ups during commercials as I was watching TV. And started doing about, sometimes 2,000 push-ups, 3,000 sit-ups, 1500 pull-ups, 1000 dips, or different things like that. I started creating different hand positions for all that, then I learned that could work you out. ”
All you have to do is to look at Herschel’s physique even today to realize that there is great merit to bodyweight exercise. It requires hard work but it can provide great gains in strength and muscle.
Bodyweight exercises such as pull ups and push ups and sit ups allow you to follow the principle of progression. You can build muscle when you progressively overload your muscle. Increase the number of push ups you do every day. Increase the number of pull ups that you do every day. Eric Cressey just made a post recently that stated if you did one set pull ups to failure every day for one month that you would double the number of push ups that you could do in one set.
It is based on the idea of progression. If you want to increase strength and build muscle then embark on a program of progressive bodyweight exercises. You will be amazed by the results. Maybe one day you will build up to 1000 push ups like Herschel Walker.
There are a number of bodyweight exercises that you can do to build muscle in your upper and lower back. One of the most effective bodyweight back exercises is the bodyweight row. The bodyweight row will work the same muscles that one would work when performing bent over rows with a weight bar or a seated row. It is a great exercise so give it a try.
If you have access to a Smith Machine you can set the bar about four feet off of the ground and drag a bench over to place your feet on. Placing your feet on a bench increases the amount of weight you are rowing. Of course, if you don’t have a bench then lower the bar and place your feet on the floor. In the absence of a Smith Machine you will need to get creative by putting a bar across a couple of stools or something that is about three feet off the ground. Look around the house to see what you might be able to use.
The best tool for doing the bodyweight row and many other bodyweight exercises is the TRX Suspension Trainer. Its versatility is unmatched. If you are serious about getting stronger through body weight exercises then this is a must. Check the video out.
To perform the exercise grab the bar with a shoulder width grip and pull yourself up to the bar so that you touch the bar with the middle of your chest. Do not take your face to the bar; it should touch your chest.
If you perform these are part of your regular back workout you will find that if favors comparably to a workout with weights. If you want to add weight you can always lay a weight plate on your stomach when performing the exercise. However, I would just be inclined to do more repetitions. Give it a try if you have never used it. It is one of the best bodyweight exercises you can do.
The benefits of bodyweight exercises can be enormous. Bodyweight exercise uses your own body to help condition you. On top of this it also help you with everyday tasks that you perform in life such as squating, jumping reaching, twisting and the like. These exercises are built for you normal everyday life.
People are worried that bodyweigt exercises may not provide the individual with gains the gains in muscle, strength, and endurance that can be provided through other means of exercise such as weight lifting or cardiovascular exercise. But this is not true. Not only can bodyweight improve on these things but it can help burn fat effectively as well.
The nice thing about bodyweight exercises is that you are not forced to get an expensive gym membership. You can perform them anywhere. You can do them in the comfort of your own home. You can do them in your backyard or in a park. You can do them in a hotel room if need be.
The military still understands the benefits of bodyweight exercises and uses them as the primary form of exercise and conditioning. If it is good for them it will be good for you as well.
Bodyweight exercises have the ability to raise your heart rate and in doing so to burn more calories and burn more fat in the process. They give you the ability to build muscle while working the heart to a great degree. Weight lifting, although, greatly beneficial to build muscle lacks greatly when trying to keep your heart rate up. There is often too long of a wait time in between weight sets to keep your heart rate up. On the other hand, cardio has the ability to elevate your heart rate but it does absolutely nothing for building muscle. In fact, a lot of cardio exercise will actually decrease muscle rather than enhance it.
One of the benefits of bodyweight exercises is the time that it can save you. You don’t have to perform weight lifting exercises and cardiovascular exercises. All you need to do is perform a circuit of bodyweight exercises to accomplish the same result in less time.
So if you have never considered doing bodyweight exercises before give it a whirl and see what you think.
