BODYWEIGHT BASICS - Bodyweight Training - Functional Fitness Without Weights

If you train - you should train your legs - that much should be obvious. And it should be obvious for a couple reasons: 1. High-rep leg work builds mental toughness, you can always push yourself to do a few more reps than you think you can. 2. Leg work stresses the heart and lungs, giving you a great cardio vascular workout in addition to building strength. 3. Intense leg work strengthens the largest, strongest muscles of the body allowing for more muscle growth and improvement throughout the entire body, not just the legs.

4. Bodyweight squats provide much of the benefits of weighted Squats without the wear and tear on the body.

Im sure I could think of a few more, but those key points should be more than enough to go on for now, and more than enough to get you to start training your legs if you haven't been.

Over the last few thousand years, Indian Wrestlers have been doing a "swaying" form of a bodyweight known as a "Baitak" as pictured in Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning as a Hindu Squat:

The Indian wrestlers did thousands of them per day to build incredible power and endurance.

Of course, you can also do the regular style squat, often called simply "wrestlers squats" - like a barbell squat without the barbell.

Either way, the benefits are tremendous. I highly recommend starting at a very manageable level, (say only 50 if you are in very good shape) and building from there.

The soreness the next day will tell you that there's something youve been missing, and the spring in your legs from this kind of training will keep you doing them for a long time.

Labels: Baitak, High Rep Work Out, Indian Wrestling, Leg Work Out, Mental Toughness, Training Ideas

One of the great advantages of bodyweight training is that it is easily adjustable to anyone. Think of little kids running around the playground, climbing ladders, swinging on swings, and just having a good time.

Or theres a yoga instructor going through certain poses and maintaining a specific form while concentrating on breath control and serenity.

And finally we have a Navy Seal in training, going through a brutal regimen of up-downs, rope climbing, squats and the like.

All of these exist on the same continuum, its up to you to adapt bodyweight training to your needs.

Now, regardless of your overall goals, you need to keep a few things in mind:

1. You need to actually "do it" to derive benefits from bodyweight training and that means keeping a consistent schedule. If you are only training once a month, don't wonder why you aren't getting results I would recommend 3 x per week at the very least.

2. Understand that with so many exercises and ways to train, there is still a limit to:

a) how much exercise you can do, and
b) how much exercise you can benefit from in a given session.

As you grow stronger these limits will, of course, adjust themselves.

Also remember that a half hour of good training will beat 3 hours of "going through the motions" every time.

3. You can make bodyweight training as challenging as you want (or need) to.

For some people, a set of 100 bodyweight squats is a pretty lofty goal. Others can pop that out without breaking a sweat. If you need a further challenge, find out what your limit is and go just a bit beyond it. Or adjust your form, or cut down on rest time, or do more reps.

Either way, its up to you to make it happen.

Train Hard,
John Wood

P.S. Brad Johnson is a guy into strange and usual bodyweight exercises, I suspect he may be able to give you a few ideas on how to make your bodyweight training very interesting. Find out more here: Bodyweight Exercises for Extraordinary Strength by Brad Johnson

Labels: Bodyweight Training, Training Ideas, Training Thought