Anytime, Anywhere - The Benefits of Bodyweight Exercise

The bodyweight squat, pushups, neck bridges, pullups, sit-ups, the variations on these core bodyweight exercises are endless.

For a beginner, bodyweight exercises, along with some basic cardio, are one of the best ways to increase bodily strength and fitness. Bodyweight exercise is great for a beginner because it can be done in your own home, at the level you want to do. No pressure from trainers or other gym-goers.

For the advanced, bodyweight exercises for very high reps or for lower reps using difficult leverages can develop your muscles and physical abilities to very high levels. Many martial artists have used BWE for years and centuries to bring their bodies to top condition.

If you are into bare-bones or minimal training styles, then there is no further to look than BWE(bodyweight exercise).

Benefits of bodyweight exercise:

Master your own bodyweight, be able to manipulate your own weight.

Can be done pretty much anywhere, no or very little equipment required

You can do them in either high-rep, calisthenic style - or low rep, strength style.

A huge variety of exercises and variations can be used.

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Cardio At Home with No Equipment, or Little Equipment

If you live somewhere that has bad weather, or for whatever reason you can't go to a gym, there are still ways to do cardio exercising indoors with little or no equipment.

Step ups



Step-ups are a great way to get exercise, and all you need is something to step on. You can buy a step-up block or use a piece of wood, or really anything under a foot tall that you can step-up onto.

Try doing these for 30 minutes a day. Step-ups can be done in a variety of ways. Front steps, side steps, backward steps, try anything you like.

You can do as little or as much as you want. 10 minutes a day to 2 hours a day. It's a great alternative to other forms of cardio like walking or running.


Mountain Climbers



This is a more advanced exercise than step-ups. If you're pretty fit you can do them as cardio. Do them in a timed manner, ie. a minute straight, when you get more fit you can do them for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. Go for 3 timed sets and add time as you go.

Here is a video demonstrating the mountain climber exercise:



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Bodyweight Circuits For Fitness and Strength

A great way to get stronger and improve your fitness is through circuits. Circuits are done by doing multiple exercises in a row, with no rest, but doing a limited number of reps.

Advantages:
Easy to do multiple exercises in one workout
Can be done in a short amount of time
Great for cardio and fitness
Full body workout
You can do them anywhere, most bodyweight exercises only require some space to do them, no equipment.

Examples of Bodyweight Circuits:

20 Bw squats
10 pushups
5 pullups
25 crunches
rest

repeat 5 times as fast as possible

Or

Run 50 yards
10 burpees
25 crunches
rest

repeat 5 times as fast as possible


You can do any combination of exercises you want.

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Alternate deadlifts and squats every other week

Deadlifting and squatting every week can be too much for many people. Instead of doing both squats and deadlifts every week, only deadlift and squat every other week.

Here's an example:

Week 1: Squats only
Week 2: Deadlifts only
Week 3: Squats only
Week 4: Deadlifts only

You're only doing squats and deadlifts twice a month each, but if you do it hard and heavy then you're allowing yourself more time for recovery. Both of these lifts use pretty much the same muscles and training it 8 times a month instead of 4 can be too much.

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Some quick ways to get exercise

It can be hard to find time to get exercise. Your daily commitments and work can take a lot of the time that you could spend exercising or getting fit. Many today leave themselves little time for their hobbies and other activities. Going to the gym and paying for it takes up time, as well as figuring out which exercise plans that you should follow. I've come up with some quick ways to get exercise:

Many small exercises through the day

You don't have to do all of your exercising in an hour or two that you set aside for your workout. Instead, you can do small and brief sets of exercises throughout the day. Doing ten 5 minute workouts through the day can be easier, and allow you to do more total work. It's best to do bodyweight workouts here, like squats or pushups. If you do them daily, and don't allow yourself to get too tired then it can add up to a great deal over time.

Lunging around

Try doing lunges around your home. If you want to get something to eat, instead of walking to the kitchen, do lunges on your way to getting some food. You can also lunge anywhere else that you feel comfortable doing it. Instead of walking, do lunges. It might not even feel like exercise once you've been doing it a while because you're used to lunging around instead of walking.

Bodyweight squats in your free time

Try doing bodyweight squats whenever you have a couple minutes free. Say you're cooking dinner and just standing there waiting for it to cook. That's a good time to do some bodyweight squats. You could easily do 100 or more squats per day by just doing them whenever you've got a couple extra minutes. Try doing them during commercials when watching TV as well. A commercial break is a couple of minutes, try to do as many squats as you can until the show comes back. Doing bdoyweight squats this way can really add up over time, and there's no excuse not to do them.

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Deadlift Singles Routine

The deadlift is a tough lift to do for many reps at a time. In my mind, it's better to do the deadlift for singles or doubles instead of high reps. The dead lift can hard to do for large rep sets because setting the weight up at the beginning often take some special work and the deadlift just isn't a lift that's made for multiple reps.

The rep scheme that we'll be discussing here is using low reps for the deadlift, and mostly single reps. Using only singles in the deadlift will allow you to do a perfect rep every time, and allow you to use maximum weight in your deadlifting.

Deadlift Singles Routine 1:

Deadlift once every week or once every 5 days

Take a 80-90% deadlifting weight, and do it for 15-30 singles. If the percentage listed is too hard or too easy, then find a weight that it is difficult to get through 20 singles with. Spend around 30 seconds to one minute between reps.

Stay with this routine until it's easy to complete the reps, then add weight and do it again at the new weight.

Deadlift Singles Routine 2:

Do a warmup, and single up to a hard rep for the day, near your max. Then drop back 10-15% and do 10-15 singles. When this becomes easy, do like the previous routine and add weight and go through the routine again.

You can use straps or any grip aid like chalk, it's your choice. Using low reps for strength building in the deadlift should be a good way to improve your strength if higher rep deadlifts aren't working for you.

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Assistance exercises for the overhead press

You can do the overhead press itself to gain size and strength in your shoulders and arms, but to gain strength in the lift more quickly, it's recommended to add assistance exercises for the lift. Adding assistance exercises to your regular overhead pressing can help build up the smaller muscles that are holding you back, and making your strength more well rounded.

Assistance Exercises For The Overhead Press

Bench Press

You can do benches in any way you want, whether full ROM, on the incline or in some kind of partial movement. Pressing standing up all the time can wear your back down, causing your pressing to suffer. Instead, do your pressing on the bench for an assistance exercise. It's great for tricel and chest strength.

Side/ab exercises

Strong sides and core muscles are needed to press big weights standing up. Side bends, and ab exercises will improve your ability to support big weights.

Push press

The push press is done like a standing overhead press, but using your legs to lift the weight up. With a short dip, drive the bar up and lock it out with your triceps. You usually want to use more weight on these than in your regular press.

Seated dumbbell press

To more fully develop your pressing muscles, do seated db presses for higher reps. It's good to use different set and rep schemes, so doing these in contrast to the other lifts that are done for lower reps and heavier weight will fill out your pressing routine.

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How To Overhead Press

The overhead press is one of the best movements for gaining size and strength in your shoulders and triceps. It can be done in a number of ways, seated or standing, with a barbell or dumbbells. This post is about how to do the standing overhead press. Also known as the shoulder press or military press.

- Clean the bar to your shoulders or take it from a rack and bring it to your shoulders

- Make your core tight with a deep breath and tensed abs. Stay upright and try not to bend your back, look upwards slightly and start pressing it over your head.

- Continue pressing the weight until it's locked out over your head. Then you'll need to lower it in a controlled fashion back down to your shoulders.

- Put the bar back on the ground, or back on the rack.

If you do the overhead press standing, it also targets your abs and core muscles. The best rep scheme for overall shoulder and tricep development is to do 5 to 8 reps per set.







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Shouldering The Bar For The Bent Press

Bent pressing is among the most technical and difficult lifts to perform. The best bent pressers of old and today spend a great deal of time practicing their technique and form. The bent press requires much more discipline than almost all other lifts. Most lifts can be done with fairly little in the way of practice, while the bent press typically requires years of perfecting.

Bent Press: How To Shoulder The Bar

Beforehand, you need to mark the very middle of the bar. To find the center of the barbell, attempt to one hand deadlift the bar a number of times until it's perfectly balanced when you pick it up. At that point, either make a mark with a marker or put a piece of tape at that spot.

Put one hand on the center of the bar and with your other hand, grab the bar on the far end, near the weights. You need to heave the bar until it's standing on its end in front of you. It's better to keep your hand on the center of the barbell the entire time instead of doing it after it's on its end because you may grip it improperly and not be able to complete your bent press.

Squat down, and pull the bar into your shoulder. Grab the barbell with your free hand on the far end near the weights, and with a heave you should end up with the bar balanced with both of your hands on your shoulder. At that point, you need to position yourself for the bent press. Bend over with your hip out, and begin bent pressing.

It takes time and practice to shoulder the bar properly, but you should get the hang of it with enough time and practice.

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Assistance Exercises for the Bent Press

The physical requirements to attain mastery of the bent press are numerous. Muscular strength, flexibility and technical skill are needed if you want to lift large amounts of weight with the bent press. There isn't a whole lot out there on bent pressing, and training for the bent press can be challenging if you don't know what lifts to do. There are many different ways you can train the bent press. Your choices will be based on your own needs and preferences. I can give you a list of the lifts that have assisted my own bent press training.

One Handed Snatch and One Handed Clean and Jerk

These two lifts are great for gaining strength and power in general, and particularly good as assistance lifts for the bent press. Arthur Saxon, the great bent presser, thought highly of these two lifts. You can do the one handed clean and jerk and one handed snatch with either a dumbbell or a barbell. If you use a barbell, you'll need to learn how to balance the weight properly as that can be the biggest problem for beginners. These lifts are done by reaching down and thrusting the bar or db clear overhead or to the shoulder and then overhead. The reason they're good for the bent press it that they're one handed lifts that use a lot of the same muscles, and can get you used to doing heavy lifts with one hand.

Side Press

The side press is somewhat similar to the bent press. To do the side press, you should take a dumbbell and press it overhead while bending to the side. It's a fairly simple lift and hits a lot of the same muscles as the bent press. It's very good for building side, tricep and shoulder strength. While you can do the side press with a barbell, it's better to do it with a dumbbell as the barbell can make it difficult to do many reps at a time. If you're new to any sort of one armed overhead lifts, then the side press with a dumbbell is your best choice for a bent press assistance lift.

Hand and Grip Strength

Hand and grip strength is very important for the bent press, as well as a number of other lifts. A lot of lifters avoid or ignore their grip strength. The reason you need hand, wrist and grip strength for the bent press is because the lift can put a lot of pressure on your wrists, and you need to have a firm hold of the bar at all times. Train your hand, grip and wrist strength can be done in a number of ways. Wrist curls, holding weights overhead for time, or thick bar lifts are good choices for hand strength.

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