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- Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy
Increase strength, build mass, burn fat, and define your muscles. With full-color anatomical illustrations, step-by-step instructions, and training advice, Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy is the authoritative resource for sculpting your physique without free weights, machines, or expensive equipment.
Targeting all muscle zones and primary muscle regions—arms, chest, shoulders, back, core, thighs, glutes, and calves—Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy presents 156 of the most effective bodyweight exercises that can be performed anytime, anywhere. With expert advice from renowned strength trainer Bret Contreras, you’ll learn how to modify, combine, and sequence exercises to ramp up your routine and avoid plateaus.
In depth yet practical, Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy takes you inside every exercise through stunning anatomical artwork that reveals primary muscles worked along with the relevant surrounding structures, including bones, ligaments, and tendons.
Whether you are just beginning your quest for a better body or simply seeking a proven approach for training at home, on the road, or on the go, Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy is a one-of-a-kind resource that you’ll refer to again and again.
Chapter 1 The Bodyweight Challenge
Chapter 2 Arms
Chapter 3 Neck and Shoulders
Chapter 4 Chest
Chapter 5 Core
Chapter 6 Back
Chapter 7 Thighs
Chapter 8 Glutes
Chapter 9 Calves
Chapter 10 Whole Body
Chapter 11 Planning Your Program
Bret Contreras, PhD, MS, CSCS, has become known in the strength and conditioning industry as the Glute Guy because of his expertise in helping clients develop strong, shapely glutes. In 2015 he earned his PhD in sport science from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, where he studied under biomechanics expert John Cronin. Contreras has conducted numerous electromyography experiments in his research.
As the former owner of Lifts Studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, Contreras worked closely with hundreds of clients ranging from sedentary people to elite athletes, and he invented a glute-strengthening machine called the Hip Thruster. He currently trains figure competitors, writes programs for clients from all over the world, and consults for various professional sport teams. He is the author of the bestselling book Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy (Human Kinetics, 2014) and coauthor of Strong Curves (Victory Belt, 2013).
Contreras is a distinguished lecturer in strength and conditioning, presenting at many conferences throughout the United States, including those hosted by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He is editor in chief of the NCSA’s Personal Training Quarterly and cofounder of Strength & Conditioning Research Review. He is a peer-reviewed author and regular contributor to well-known industry publications including Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Oxygen, and MuscleMag. Oxygen magazine voted him the Glute Expert in their 2010 glutes edition. Contreras maintains the Strength of Evidence Podcast, where he discusses important topics in strength and conditioning.
"Bret Contreras is hands down one of the top fitness professionals. If you want to learn the science and art of bodyweight training, there is no better resource than Bret's book, Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy."
Brad Schoenfeld, MSc, CSCS, CSPS-- Author of The M.A.X. Muscle Plan
“Bret Contreras is extremely knowledgeable about biomechanics, and Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy is a tremendous resource for anyone wanting a better understanding of performing bodyweight exercises.”
Joe Dowdell, CSCS-- Founder and Owner of Peak Performance, New York City
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Training Goals
Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury.
Training Goals
People choose to exercise for many reasons. Some want to improve their general health, some want to build larger muscles, some want to shed fat, some seek to get stronger, some hope to improve their functional strength and athleticism, and some strive to eliminate joint dysfunction and prevent injury. Bodybuilders seek maximum hypertrophy (muscularity), powerlifters seek maximum strength, weightlifters seek maximum power, and sprinters seek maximum speed. It should come as no surprise that their training methods differ substantially because training for a particular purpose affects the way a person trains.
Sport-Specific Training
In general, there is too much hype surrounding the topic of sport-specific training. While it is true that athletes from different sports require unique types of strength and energy system development, ideally every athlete should display sound movement patterns and athleticism. This is why it's essential to master the basics as you lay the foundation for subsequent adaptations. You want to make sure that you analyze your sport and perform exercises that use the same muscles and mimic the movement patterns and directions found in the sport, but don't get too carried away to the point that you lose sight of the basics. All athletes should possess balanced strength and mobility. Single-leg exercises such as Bulgarian split squats and single-leg hip thrusts and core-stability exercises such as RKC planks and side planks are great exercises for all athletes.
Strength
When you train for maximal strength you want to perform multijoint movements, stay in lower repetition ranges, and rest more between sets. With bodyweight training, this is not always feasible. For example, the squat, bench press, and deadlift are three of the most popular exercises in resistance training because they use a lot of muscles and allow you to lift large loads. However, in bodyweight training, although you can tweak exercises to make them easier or more challenging according to your level of strength, the most resistance you'll ever use is equal to your body weight. For this reason it can be difficult to develop maximal strength solely through bodyweight training.
The best approach to developing maximal strength through bodyweight training is to lay down an excellent foundation of flexibility, stability, and motor control. This provides a base for future gains and advancement to more challenging exercise variations. I read an interview with a U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who said that although his gymnasts never performed resistance training and solely performed bodyweight exercises, many of them could bench press double their bodyweight and deadlift triple their bodyweight. Clearly a person who performs advanced variations of bodyweight exercises can develop impressive levels of strength. Master the basics and then progress to single-limb exercises, plyometrics, and other advanced methods.
Hypertrophy
When training for maximum muscularity make sure you add sets of higher repetitions and training that targets certain regions of the body, along with resting less between sets. While strength is paramount for hypertrophy, the relationship isn't linear. Always feel the intended muscles working and use controlled form through a full range of motion. A variety of repetition ranges is ideal for muscle growth as is a large variety of exercises to stimulate all of the regions of the muscles.
Body Part Specialization
Sometimes you'll want to focus on bringing up a particular area of the body, perhaps the delts, glutes, upper pecs, or lats. In this case you simply need to cut back slightly on work for the rest of the body while adding work for the weaker muscle group. Other times you may want to improve a particular skill. For example, you might want to be able to perform a one-arm push-up or a pistol squat. In this case you can train the skill frequently while scaling back the rest of your routine. You can't continuously add to your programs. When you add something, you have to take something out or you run the risk of overdoing it and stagnating or worse, regressing.
Let's say that you can't perform a chin-up. Rather than just performing back exercises a couple of times per week in your regular program, you could choose to perform two sets of negative chin-ups several times each day. When you are relatively weak, you don't stress the body as much when exercising, so the added frequency will expedite your progress and allow you to perform regular chin-ups in much less time. But stick to just one movement or one body part at a time. If you try to pick two movements or two body parts, it's no longer a specialization routine. You're just getting greedy. Don't go overboard or you'll pay the price by stagnating.
Fat Loss
When focusing on weight loss, retain as much muscle as possible to ensure that the pounds shed are composed of fat rather than muscle mass. This is the key to a quality physique. Remember that what builds muscle keeps muscle, so your training doesn't have to change much. Train for strength and simply add a couple of MRT circuits or HIIT sessions (see chapter 10) during your training week and focus on your diet. I'll expound on this later in this chapter.
Now it's time to tell you about acute training variables in strength training.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home.
The Bodyweight Advantage
Many folks absolutely love the prospect of being able to train efficiently in the convenience of their own home. Most fitness enthusiasts have gym memberships and have become highly dependent on machines and free weights to work their muscles. While I'm a huge proponent of using all types of resistance, bodyweight training is without a doubt the most convenient type of resistance. All you need is your own physical being, and you'll never be without equipment or a facility and you'll never need a spotter. In other words, if you learn to use your body as a barbell then you'll always have the ability to obtain a great workout. You can gain tremendous functional fitness in terms of strength, power, balance, and endurance from progressive bodyweight training, and recent research shows that you can enhance your flexibility to the same or even a greater degree through resistance training than from a stretching routine.
I like to watch all types of athletes train. As a strength coach I've watched thousands of athletes lift weights. Two types of athletes have always stood out to me in terms of superior muscular control: gymnasts and bodybuilders. In awe, I watch the gymnast on the rings or the pommel horse maneuvering his body around the apparatus with precision. I watch the bodybuilder contract his or her muscles against the resistance with total concentration. When training with body weight, you want to learn from these athletes and develop a tremendous mind-muscle connection, which will allow you to achieve an amazing workout anywhere you go.
In this book I will teach you the best bodyweight exercises and show you the most effective way to combine them into cohesive programs consistent with your fitness goals. You will learn how to progress from the simplest variations to the most complicated and advanced bodyweight exercises. You will learn to use your abdominals and gluteals to lock your torso into position and create a stiff pillar of support while you move your limbs. You will become lean, limber, and athletic. Push-ups and pull-ups won't intimidate you. Your glutes will function like never before, and the confidence you gain from this program will shine through in every aspect of your life.
You will never fear having subpar training sessions when you go on vacation because you'll be able to perform an effective workout from the comfort of your hotel room. You'll realize that you don't need barbells, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands. With sound knowledge of the biomechanics of bodyweight training, you can learn to create just as much force in the muscles as if performing heavy resistance training.
Better yet, you'll save thousands on gym membership fees without compromising the quality of your workout. You can use these savings to make healthier food choices so you can realize even better results from your training. All in the comfort of your own home!
I was recently asked whether or not I believed that I could maintain my muscularity and fitness solely by performing bodyweight exercises. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes." As you progress to more difficult variations and increase the number of repetitions you perform with the various exercises, you will continuously challenge your neuromuscular system. Your body will respond by synthesizing more protein and laying down more muscle tissue. In essence, your body adapts by building a bigger engine. Recent studies have shown that high repetitions can provide a potent muscle-building stimulus, more so than most experts imagined. I'm glad you've decided to take the bodyweight challenge and learn how to manipulate your body to achieve a world-class workout. I'm glad that you've decided to no longer be a slave to the gym. Now the world is your gym and you are the resistance.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature.
Glutes in Motion
The glutes are vital for functional movement. Walking, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, picking up objects off the floor, and carrying objects across the room all require properly functioning posterior chain musculature. (The spinal erectors, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings make up the posterior chain.) The gluteus maximus plays a major role in most athletic activities. As an athlete matures from novice to advanced to elite status, he or she learns to derive increasing amounts of propulsive power from the hips. Propulsive power is considerably influenced by the strength of the gluteus maximus because this muscle is heavily involved in nearly all primary sporting motions including running, cutting, jumping, throwing, and striking.
The gluteus maximus contracts forcefully to extend the hips during foot strike in a sprint, during a countermovement vertical jump, while freestyle swimming or hiking a mountain, and to buck an opponent out of a full-mount position in mixed martial arts. The external rotational power of the gluteus maximus produces the twisting torque at the hips required to forcefully swing a bat in baseball or softball or racket in tennis, to throw a ball in American football or baseball, to heave a shot put, discuss, or hammer in track and field, or to throw a hook, cross, or uppercut in boxing. The abduction power of the gluteus maximus produces lateral stability during running to prevent hip sag in addition to producing lateral power when cutting from side to side during agility and change-of-direction maneuvers in sports such as American football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, and tennis.
Not only is the gluteus maximus involved in high-power and speed sports such as track and field, it also is used in high-force sports such as powerlifting and strongman. Heavy squatting, deadlifting, stone lifting, and carrying require intense gluteus maximus strength. In Olympic weightlifting, cleaning, jerking, and snatching actions require substantial gluteus maximus power to accelerate the barbell.
What's more, the gluteus maximus functions concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically during sporting actions to produce and reduce force. It also prevents energy leaks, which maximizes movement efficiency. Sure, sporting movement requires that your muscles work in a coordinated and synergistic fashion. And yes, many muscles are important for producing power and speed, such as the quadriceps during jumping and the hamstrings during sprint running. That said, an excellent case could be made that the gluteus maximus is the most versatile and important muscle for total athleticism because of its multiple functions at the hips.
Bodyweight exercises can build the glutes very well, but it's important to first learn proper form during basic exercises before advancing to more difficult variations. Many people fail to properly activate their glutes or use movement strategies to take advantage of the strong and powerful gluteus maximus. By mastering proper activation and using excellent technical form, you will rely on the gluteus maximus for many primal movement patterns, including squatting, bending, lunging, twisting, walking, and running. It is often said that abs are made in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that glutes are made during strength training exercise.
Learn more about Bodyweight Strength Training Anatomy.
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