BODYWEIGHT BASICS - Bodyweight Training - Functional Fitness Without Weights

We recently received a note from a few folks looking to make their bodyweight workouts more challenging. It seems that what they are currently doing just isn't getting it done so today I will go into a few techniques on how to do so.

You see, the nature of progressive resistance training is just that -- progression -- you must keep progressing for it to work and if it isnt "challenging enough" simply pick a variable and build from there.

Heres a few examples:

Reps: real simple, do more than you did last time. If 100 bodyweight squats is "easy" shoot for 150, believe me, you'll start feeling that one very quickly. Etc etc and so on.

Time: holding certain poses for time is a very effective method of training. In fact, it is more than possible to do a killer workout without doing a single rep. Make sure you have a stopwatch on hand to mark your progress.

Form: Every bodyweight exercise isnt just "one" exercise but infinitely many when you factor in all the different variations. To progress, it may be necessary to adjust your form to a more challenging variation (with respect to the previous two examples) - such as going from regular squats to jumper squats or regular pushups to one arm pushups.

Less rest: without getting too technical, consistent training will
lead to certain aerobic and anaerobic adaptations allowing you to make better use of your available oxygen. Cutting down on the rest periods in you workout is one way to increase difficulty.

Ill leave it up to you to notice the one thing in common with all of the things that I just mentioned...

Now, Ill tell you a highly underrated exercise that is surprisingly challenging and that is the "vacuum" as outlined in Combat Abs.

You wouldnt think a simple breathing exercise would be so difficult but this exercise will work you in a way that no other exercise will -- it's difficult to explain, almost from the inside out since you are strengthening the diaphragm.

Due to this unusual development, and the fact that it can be done anywhere, makes the vacuum is an exercise that I feel should be in every program,

In any case, these ideas will make any workout as easy or as challenging as needed.

Train hard,
John Wood

Labels: Bodyweight Squats, Bodyweight Training, Breathing Exercise, Combat Abs Vacuum, Matt Furey, Progression, Workout Tips

On several occasions, someone has written in to say that while they get results doing high-rep bodyweight squats, they still find them boring and tedious. Well...

If you're going to be squatting for several hundred reps, it should be understood that it is going to take anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour or more depending on just how high you're going to go.

So essentially you have two choices:

a) Get tough and fight through it

or

b) Find another way to train your legs because this high-rep stuff isn't for you

Either way will work.

If you go the high rep route, instead of focusing on how much time it takes, instead focus on the tremendous benefits you will get from squatting for high reps:

Increased strength... increased endurance... stronger joints... cardiovascular help... mental toughness... and the personal satisfaction of stepping up to your own personal challenge.

Given these benefits, I think the time involved is a very small price to pay and that's part of the challenge: to fight through something that may not be particularly comfortable at first.

Once you start seeing results though, you'll actually grow to enjoy it.

Although with that being said, it also helps to make yourself a mix CD of your favorite songs which lasts for the duration of your squatting session. - That's at least one way to make it a little "easier."

Train hard,
John Wood

P.S. High rep squatting is one part of the "Royal Court" - three of the most effective bodweight movements. Find out more in Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning Program

Labels: Bodyweight Squats, Combat Conditioning, Endurance, Flexibility, High Rep Work Out, Matt Furey, Mental Toughness