Bodyweight training : Equipment and Programing

As promised yesterday, this entry is dedicated to the equipment needs and routine programing of bodyweight training. My training philosophy is simple. I workout according to the pillars of health, because I like to get as much as possible from my workout.  Throughout the years, I have found that it is the optimal way to train for me. I love the fact that it is challenging and fun. I believe this is the reason why my motivation has always been high. I feel like I accomplish feats and records on a regular basis, and I can’t help but being proud of myself. This entry will not cover the whole subject (this is a broad topic) but it will give you a few ideas as far as training is concerned.

I don’t like to train with fancy equipment. Most of the time, I train outside. I don’t wear a shirt nor shoes when I train. I believe when it comes to training, simplicity is necessary. Nonetheless, there are a few pieces of equipment I highly recommend. The cool thing is that for each piece of equipment listed, you can make your own or you can have access to it in a park.

Here is a quick overview :

• Pull up bar. Essential for a large number of great upper body exercises (pull ups, muscle up, back or front lever, etc.). If you don’t have one at home, don’t worry. Go to a kid park or use a tree branch.
• Gymnastic rings. This is my favourite piece of equipment. I love how challenging they are and they yield great results too. Hang them on your pull up bar or do as I do, hang them on the swings structure at the park. I highly recommend these rings.
• Boxes. If you want to improve the explosive strength of your legs, having something to jump on is a must. Build your own or jump on a bench at home or in the park.
• Chalk. I don’t like to train with gloves because I like to feel the bar or the rings. If you plan on doing a lot of ring work, consider using chalk instead of gloves.
• Paralettes. If you are serious about handstand work, you will definitely need some to keep on progressing. The good news is you can build your own.
• Parallel bars. These are nice for upper body pushing exercises. However, they are not a must if you have access to gymnastic rings.

Now that we got the equipment part covered, let’s talk about programing. First thing first, there are a thousand viable ways to train. You have to find out what works for you. That means you should enjoy your work out, and you should be seeing results. Because of this, I have limited the programing part to a single full-body program. Hey, I have to keep some in  bank for future articles or a possible e-book.

Let’s start with the warm up. Start with something that gets your heart rate up. A few light sprints or some jumping jacks are good choices. The goal here is to get the blood flowing without tiring you out. Then, select two or three exercises for the upper body and for the lower body. For the upper body, I highly recommend doing scapular push ups and hindu push ups. As of the lower body, I really like jackknife squats and lunges done in a slow motion. Do a few repetitions but don’t go to failure. After that, you can do skill work (work on a move you want to get better at) and/or rehab exercises (to strengthen your joints). The whole warm up should take less than 10 minutes.

As for the work out, let’s look at the template we will base it on.

1-2 Leg exercise

1-2 Upper body Pulling exercise

1-2 Upper body Pushing exercise

1-2 Core exercise

1-2 Assistance exercises

This is a minimalist approach to training. If we want to produce results, we have to make sure the exercises we use are challenging. As I mentioned yesterday, we will want to reach 3 or 5 repetitions per set. Each repetition should be done with good form and great muscular contraction. The number of sets will depend on you. Anywhere from 3 to 5 sets per exercises should be fine. If your goal is size, you may consider doing more repetitions and less sets and make sure you eat a lot. You should do the workout two to four times a week.  Let’s see what the program would look like. I added harder variations of the exercises to make sure every one is covered.

Minimalist bodyweight work out

1. Squats -> Assisted pistols -> Pistols -> Jumping Pistols

2. Chin ups -> Pull ups -> L-Pull ups -> Assisted one arm chin ups -> one arm chin ups

3. Push ups -> Assisted handstands push ups or assisted one arm push ups -> one arm push ups -> Handstand push ups

4. Planks -> L-sit -> ”Gymnastic work” (e.g manna) *

5. Depends on your goals/needs, you could add jumps here or a special exercise to strengthen a specific body part.

* When you progress toward the ”gymnastic work”, you may want to consider doing it at the beginning of your work out.

This is a pretty basic work out, but it does work. I made most of my strength progress with a similar template (actually, I still base my workouts on this template). I went from being a weakling to being able to do ring muscle ups, handstands and pistols in a short period of time. I am currently getting close to be able to do levers, and I think I will be able to get the planche down before 2011. I hope this post gave you new ideas and made you want to try a simple, efficient and fun way to achieve your fitness goals.