Survey Says: Body Weight Training, Anytime, Anywhere
A few weeks ago we sent out a survey and want to thank everyone that took the time to fill it out and share your experiences with us.
We’re always looking to improve and determine how to serve you better.
Over 4,525 people replied and over 43% of you said you’d like to see a Lean Hybrid Muscle – Body Weight Program in the near future.
You’ll be happy to hear that Elliott and I are working on hard on this right now and hope to have it ready for you shortly.
In fact, we filmed a few videos today for you in the hundred degree heat.
If you’re new to Body Weight training or haven’t utilized it much lately let’s quickly review some of the benefits.
Convenience:
This has to be one of the biggest advantages of training with your body weight. One of the biggest excuses I heard for years as a personal trainer was, “If I only had a gym….” Or, “If I only had more time to workout…”
The fact is body weight training can be done anywhere, anytime without any equipment making it a very valuable tool. It’s a great time saver as well, since you don’t have to travel to and from the gym or wait for machines.
Don’t get me wrong, personally I’m a big fan of the gym and lifting actual weights but I have found a spot for body weight training in my routine.
You see I have four weddings and a couple seminars to attend from now until the end of the year and a few of those are turning into extended visits. I don’t want to have to find a gym everywhere I go or travel to. Maybe you travel a lot for work and go on a lot of business trips?
Mike Westerdal, Adam Steer, Lee Hayward at Vince DelMonte's Wedding
Last month I attended Vince DelMonte’s wedding and picked up some killer body weight routines from Adam Steer. I sat next to Adam at the wedding and got to hear all about his TacFit Commando program and why he loves bodyweight workouts so much.
Progression:
We all know that to get stronger or continue making gains we have to progress. With bodyweight training you can add resistance by incorporating a weight vest, a weighted back pack or ankle weights. This is really cool because it makes the exercise extra hybrid by adding extra resistance to an already cardio intensive movement. This is great for developing the Type III muscle fiber that is stronger and leaner and more resistant to fatique.
You can also progress by adjusting variables such as sets, reps, adding time or adjusting certain exercises.
Body Weight Training is Primal and Hybrid
We’ve talked about this before, sitting on machines and doing repetitive motions is not natural. It’s not functional and won’t make you a better athlete for that matter. Just like our warrior ancestors trained with rocks and carrying heavy items body weight training is consistent with our evolutionary history.
If you’ve read our Lean Hybrid Muscle book you remember the chapter about how animals are in great shape just by doing what it is they naturally do. Sprinting, walking, chasing, climbing, swimming and just surviving.
Plain and simple Ancient Guys got ripped and jacked without leg extension machines and treadmills!
I’ll give you two sick examples of bodyweight training that has built some seriously impressive physiques.
1) Gymnastics. Gymnasts primarily use only their own body weight. These guys and girls and shredded with super defined muscles. They do lots of push ups, pull ups, sit ups and other cool exercises that are less well known.
2) Wrestling. The only resistance they use it their own body weight and that of their opponent. Wrestling has been around for thousands of years.
Mike Westerdal & The Muscle Cook Wrestling
Conclusion:
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Is there a place for body weight training in your program? What do you think the benefits are?
Oh and please do share your favorite body weight exercises below.
As you probably know Elliott has been recovering very quickly after his bicep surgery. He attributes his speedy recovery to the body weight movements he has been incorporating. In fact, he has been busy inventing lots of new exercises that we can’t wait to share with you! In the mean time please make some recommendations for exercises you’d like to see includes in our new LHM Body Weight Workout plan. Thanks!
Strength Training
July 12, 2010
11:06 pm
I think there is definitely a place for bodyweight workouts in any routine. As mentioned, I like the fact that they don’t take up much room (for example, I did bodyweight dips only using a windowsill and bed whilst on holiday in NY).
My favourite bodyweight exercises must be dips, pushups and planks.
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July 12, 2010
11:08 pm
my favorite bodyweight exercises are all the variations of the pushup and pullup/chinups,, the split squat, jump squat, reverse lunge, front lunge, side lunge, plank, side plank and the bicycle crunch
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July 12, 2010
11:16 pm
Burpees…i mean seriously who doesnt like burpees
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July 12, 2010
11:16 pm
Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, step-ups, crunches, reverse crunches,mountain climbers,lunges
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July 12, 2010
11:32 pm
Here’s one-Hindu pushups,except you recover the same way you went in–it’s like rolling into upward facing dog, then pushing back into downward facing dog–your shoulders and triceps will be screaming at you.
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July 12, 2010
11:37 pm
As much as burpees suck…I have to agree, great explosive total body exercise. Single leg squats and other multi-joint exercises such as multi-directional lunges, plyometrics, kneeling box jumps, and skater hops that incorporate type II muscle fibers and multiple muscle groups to get the most efficient workout with just your body weight.
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leanhybr Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 12:13 am
Ya Burpees are great, good call Dave! How was the honeymoon by the way? Westy
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July 12, 2010
11:47 pm
Great post Mike! Love the pic of us wrestling LOL… Too bad you had to tap out!! ahah!
I incorporate bodyweight training in my workouts as well… about twice a week. I also do a lot of bodyweight exercises when I’m travelling (which is often).
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July 12, 2010
11:51 pm
So many to chose from. Burpees and dips definitly and I would have to add handstand push-ups.
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July 13, 2010
12:00 am
My favorite bodyweight exercises are dips and I’ve always enjoyed handstand pushups. I never have been able to do them without a wall for support but it still adds to a great workout.
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July 13, 2010
12:02 am
I’m traveling up to Canada for about two weeks before I come back down to PA, and since I’ll be staying in the middle of the woods, I had to come up with a Bodyweight Training program for those two weeks. I recently found a love for Pullups, while also loving Pushups and Dips.
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July 13, 2010
12:05 am
Hi everyone!! , Nice to meet you all. I’m newbie to here and to Leanhybridmuscle.too!! =)
One of my favorites bodyweight exersices are:
Advanced Dumbbell Lunges…
But try to do at least 8 steps or more with each foot..
Thats all
Best regards from Costa Rica
TICOFITNESS
¨ FITNESS ISN´ T A HOBBY IS A WAY OF LIFE ¨
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leanhybr Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 12:14 am
Welcome and thanks for sharing.
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July 13, 2010
12:12 am
I use single limb workouts for upper and lower body strength. Any time I can’t go to the gym, like when I’m travelling, I’ll just do sets of of one-armed push-ups and one-legged squats. I’m working on developing one-armed pull ups.
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July 13, 2010
12:12 am
I’m a big fan of Body-weight exercises & if you’re hanging with Coach Steer your in good company. One of the things you forgot to mention, is that there is multitudes of ways to increase your resistance in body-weight exercises besides weight vests. Little adjustment in body position can mean quite a bit of difference in resistance. Also, there are some awesome hybrid body-weight exercises (combining exercises or adding additional movements to common exercies) which are extremely demanding. Although I can think of some exercises, since they may not be common, it would better require a video, which I don’t have the equipment for at this time. Some examples of a couple I can explain without videos are:
Pull-ups/chin-ups with leg raises reaching above the bar as you meet the bar with your chin or chest (as I prefer it). Dips can also be done this way. Of course there are all the one are variations of pull-ups, chin-ups, & push-ups. There are others, but would take large paragraphs to explain without videos.
Dennis
Dennis
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leanhybr Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 12:16 am
Adam is a ninja….he has some seriously impressive moves both in his body weight workouts and on the wedding dance floor! He has been a great resource for us so far in our program design. -MIKE
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July 13, 2010
12:26 am
I was stuck in a hotel for the past 2 months…its definitely helpful to know a variety of body weight exercises.
I try to regularly throw in body weight exercises at the end of workouts, to sorta balance out low and mid rep exercises. A max rep exercise tends to really finish you off and also gets the heart rate up. Plus body weight exercises just seem more real-world-ish and make me feel more agile as well.
Here are some favorites: Wall squats – killer after a tough leg workout or single leg wall squats are tough on their own. 10 seconds each leg switching for a minute or two…ouch.
Single leg squats (the pistol) – really tough if done right but easy enough move to work up to the full motion. Strength, flexibility, balance. Pavel’s the man ya know…
Pull ups – all of them. I was able to squeeze a doorway pull up bar in my suitcase…probably made TSA laugh. I like doing them in a pyramid 2-4-6-8-6-4-2 with about 15-20 seconds in between. Warn out and out of breath.
Triangle/Diamond push-ups – Push-ups in general, but this version just seems to hit the chest and triceps a bit harder. All the way down all the way up, you can’t cheat on these.
Unanchored sit-ups – Feet flat on the floor, arms at your sides…roll up slowly. Toughest sit-up I know.
Sorry for the long post. Cheers!
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July 13, 2010
12:48 am
Hi Guys,
I’am a big fan of bodyweight workouts. They helped me get back in shape after my disc surgery.
I like sit-ups with a towel under your lower back, so you get flexion and contraction, it works your entire abs when done the correct way.
Can’t wait to see what you have in mind.
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July 13, 2010
12:54 am
I enjoy performing hindu pushups; I will have to try to perform them by going in reverse. I also like to do perform planks by holding the position a few second then getting into a pushup position and alternate the position. I used to do duck walks when I was in takewondo when I was little. bear crawls and alligator walks are pretty darn intense.
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Steve C Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Caleb-I saw this one on a video, and it’s great- from a standing position, bend over and try to tuch your toes, then the ground–bend your knees at first if touching the ground is difficult. then, walk out on your hands to a pushup position and perform a pushup. from there, walk out as far as you can and hold the plank there for about 10 seconds,hands as far out in front as possible and don’t round your back.from there, walk your hands back to the pushup position and do another good strict pushup.From there, continue to walk back to standing, touching the ground and stretch your hamstrings. You can walk out and back through this, doing a toe/ground touch, 2 pushups and an extended plank on each go-through. 5 go throughs is usually enough for a set for me, and I’ll do 5 sets.
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July 13, 2010
1:51 am
bodyweight neck training like bridging (front and back) are often forgot…. also Grappling/Wrestling exercises like hip thrust and body scissors are great for conditionning, coordination, flexibility, skills and core strenght
indu push ups and squats, push ups and pull ups variations, jump training, plyometric, etc.
exercises using the bodyweight of a partner are excellants too
theres so much to say lol
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July 13, 2010
2:59 am
Hi All
Greetings from Hong Kong
In these few months, I seriously look into body weight exercises as they are very economical in terms of time and money, yet fun and effective.
As the summer apporach, gyms are literally “STUFFED” with people (while many of them are “magazine-reader-on-the-treadmill type) and have to queue up for machine and treasure hunt for the dumbell or plate that might needed.
Not to leave out those annoying “trainers” who has no intrest in helping people work out effectively but do anything nasty to have their quota meet…
All of these are elimiated by bodyweight exercise!
As a trainer myself, I started to train a group of housewives who has no previous experience with bodyweight exercise that work around a sturdy chair.
For a few weeks, I start to recieve positive feedbacks range from weight losing and relieve of leg pain……
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July 13, 2010
3:41 am
Favorite bodyweight exercises are pistols and split squats with a chair, also off-set pushups and chin ups.
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matt engmark Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 4:54 am
I have just been studying and practicing gymnastic exercises,like L sit walks,mannas and levers,muscle-ups,dips & rows on xtreme rings
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July 13, 2010
6:05 am
i think the best body weight exercise if you don’t have any gymnastics rings is probably flat out sprints up a hill. then maybe pistols, however one i like is a hanging leg raise, where i pull the legs up to the bar, from there i do a pull up.
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July 13, 2010
7:08 am
I used BW vorkouts during my vacation but I used a boat rope and fatgripz to create olympic rings, pistol squat to one legged squat for legs, I used the time/volume technique and am very happy with results cos I actually gained muscle and lost BF.
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July 13, 2010
7:28 am
standing Biceps curl and incline bench press
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July 13, 2010
9:40 am
Planche pushups in my opinion are one of the best workouts ever.
Take long to get going but once there, you’ll never turn back!
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July 13, 2010
11:03 am
would like to see a “playground” element as well as a “hotel” component…thanks
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July 13, 2010
11:12 am
I agree with your post Mike, but if I may add something
“you can add resistance by incorporating a weight vest, a weighted back pack or ankle weights. ” -> you can also add resistance through leverage, some exercises you can look into are front levers, back levers, planches, l-sits etc.
Basically when I’m away from home and don’t even have a pull-up bar, I will just go into l-sit turn through into a planche and then press into a handstand and reverse it, and for the legs I use pistols. Of course many of these moves are really hard but there are easier variations of them so you can work up to the harder ones. A good source for information on bodyweight exercises (gymnastics) is Gymnastic Bodies.
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July 13, 2010
1:36 pm
Slow dips with a double leg raise into a “gymnastic” situp, Iron t (a body weight chest fly done with rings or two long straps) Bridging and Handstand pushups have wormed their way into my routines and my heart.
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July 13, 2010
2:11 pm
I like push-ups with your feet against the wall followed immediately by mountain climbers …that really gets the blood flowing around the upper body (legs to)
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July 13, 2010
2:52 pm
I will do it with my Dumbell everyday when I get done and I become ladys man make you happy
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July 13, 2010
3:37 pm
I´ve learn to have a love/hate relationship with burpees, jumping squats and jumping lunges… But love doing push ups and pullups
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July 13, 2010
4:05 pm
dips between bars, chins, one-arm pushups, handstand pushups, penetration step drill, bear crawls, alligator walk.
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July 13, 2010
10:19 pm
Favorite body weight excercise is probably a muscle up.
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July 13, 2010
11:15 pm
burpees and planche push-ups….
Drop and gimme 100 of both, everybody.
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July 14, 2010
2:32 am
La verdad es que los gimnastas trabajan más de 8 horas al día, y hacer ejercicios de barras, paralelas, potro, pica, salto, etc. les permite desarrollar la masa muscular libre de grasa, pero creo que tambien hay otros ejercicios que ellos tambien realizan, como estiramientos tipo hatha yoga, y esta demostrado que estos eliminan la grasa abdominal. por mencionar uno de ellos el puente, o la torsion de columna sentado, o postura sobre hombros; claro esta que estos dan resultados cuando se pasa 45 minutos haciendolos. Personalmente lo probe hace tiempo, y ahora tratare de retomarlos, pues su energia te dura 3 días en el cuerpo y duermes mas y mejor. Aun recuerdo lo que me decia una amiga que los hacia: me canso menos y me dura la energia tres días. Esto después de hacerlos 1 hora. Mi favorito es postura sobre hombros, el puente modificado (aqui recojo las piernas y me apoyo solo en los talones y la cabeza doblada) pues en el normal se apoya la cabeza y los hombros y se estira las piernas y se apoya en los pies, el arado tambien es muy bueno para eliminar grasa abdominal,sin olvidar la torsion de columna sentado. Por favor consulte en un libro y siga las figuras, pero haga primero el saludo al sol unas 4 veces para que el cuerpo se caliente y despues empiece con los ejercicios acostado, de hombros y de último sentado, esto en una hora durante una semana,luego despues que adquiera elasticidad puede hacerlo 3 veces por semana. ánimo y adelante. Espero en una proxima ocasión enviarle fotos de lo que digo.
atte
Fred
pd: le prometo enviarle fotos de antes y despues de los ejericicios para que note el cambio
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July 14, 2010
3:25 am
Hindu squats are great for the legs and hand stand pushups hammer the upper body (mainly shoulders,tris and chest)
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July 14, 2010
3:51 am
I love body weight exercises, especially to finish off complexes. I use straps or rings a lot. One of my favorites I call the upside-down chinup. Suspended from the straps, with my back facing the ground and the bottom of my feet facing the ceiling, I pull up, drop back down ’till my arms are straight, and repeat. It’s great for upper back, biceps, and core.
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Lew Reply:
July 15th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Hi, Jim, great exercise, are you using a wall or door for support ?
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July 14, 2010
8:35 am
Pullups or TRX Inverted Rows, Pushups, All variation of Lunges ( Side lunge Reverse Lunge etc) Jump Squats, Jump Lunges, Mountain Climbers, Single Leg Hip Extension, Handstand Pushups, Dips, Pistols, Burpees and Sprints.
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July 14, 2010
10:47 am
muscle up babyy
freakin hard to do but when u can hit em theyre awsome
kness to bows, lay back chins and ….plyo push ups and squat jumps
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July 14, 2010
10:58 am
I love bodyweight excercises like push ups, pull ups, squats as well as other variations of those mentioned. Used to think that bodyweight excercises can only be progressed through increasing reps or putting on additional weight to the body. It turns out that there are other ways to do so like increasing the sophistication and complexity of the movements. These include moving on from doing standard push ups to doing dive bombers, progressing from a standard squat to a split squat, or progressing to more advanced push up variations in tacfit comando. Personally, I find that doing bodyweight excercises that requires significant core strength helps to strengthen my legs even for motions which involves only upper body joint motions due to the demand for stability from the thighs and hamstrings. This helps me to maintain muscle mass in my legs while I am awaiting for my knee meniscus repair surgery.
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July 14, 2010
11:14 am
Whoever thought that lack of access to weights will deny one of a great, strong and agile body……!!!!!
I agree that access to weights is convenient in achieving progression, however body weight exercises with minimal tools to work with is pretty much enough to give anyone a killer workout.
Some of my favorite BW exercises:
- One legged SQUATS
- Push-ups with legs elevated
-One-arm push-ups
-Assisted Pull ups and Pull ups ( & Chinups)
-One arm pull ups!!!
-Stair runs or uphill sprints
Is that enough or what!!!
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July 15, 2010
2:11 pm
i think you should visit tacfitcommando.com and get some bodyweight workouts and combine them with lean hybrid muscle techniques.
also, make sure to include levels, just like TACFIT COMMANDO does.
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Steve C Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 1:36 am
Agreed–the TACFIT stuff is pretty awesome–sort of hard if you’re an old-timer like me (56), but the movements I CAN do are great.
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July 16, 2010
6:02 am
I think the trainers should give their best efforts to get the same shape of the body by their good tips and they will also desire to get the good result by every one and also assume this will be one of the gods gift.
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July 17, 2010
8:33 am
Hi, I would love to see hand-stand push ups and variations such as A-frame for progression. Muscle-up (like in 300 movie) are cool to. Combos like burpee to Pull-up to muscle up would be a killer circuit!
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September 10, 2010
3:27 pm
Are you guys going to post so examples of a bodyweight routine using your leann hybrid techniques?
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October 26, 2010
1:22 am
Bodyweight exercises are huge! Thanks for the great post on their importance!!
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March 26, 2011
4:03 pm
Those who have not purchased this program or continue to think about if it is for them…..Its time to stop thinking and act. If you are looking for a program that gives you results; muscle building, strength and fat loss….YOU NEED TO BUY THIS PROGRAM AND GET TO WORKING OUT….IT WORKS. My goal when I started this program was to get to 160lbs and ge my body fat to 8-10% by the end of working through the cycle of the phases 1 time. I am half way through working through the 2nd phase and I was shocked this morning when I had a trainer at my gym calculate my body fat%….
159 lbs
12.3% body fat
Started program on Feb 13 and weighed 188lbs and body fat was 23%.
All I do is follow the program.
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January 19, 2012
7:12 pm
So, which helps burn fat better, deadlifts or bodyweight movements?
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