The Best Bodyweight Workout of All Time

 The Best Bodyweight Workout of All Time

The Bodyweight Gauntlet has four main movements:

1. Push Ups - any variation

2. Strict pull-ups - all holds and variations

3. Squats - Ass Only To Weed!

4. Burpees - chest to floor with an upward jump

Do a three-minute set for each exercise, keeping track of all repetitions.

For a beginner, this can get brutal very quickly. When a person works overtime, they will quickly see the differences in strength and overall condition.

I do not recommend an absolute beginner to take this on. Typically, I have complete beginner progress on each of the four basic movements to build a solid base of body weight strength and conditioning before letting go of them on the body weight glove.

HOW IT WORKS

This routine requires a park or playground with climbing frames and lots of open space. You'll be doing classic (though not mandatory) bodyweight exercises like bear crawling and crab wandering that you probably haven't tried in your days at summer camp. As you will recall, they are not easy - especially for a grown man well north of 100 pounds. They take a lot of work from your heart, lungs, and core. Later, the parallel handrail breaks your grip and your forearms. The sprints fry your legs.

DIRECTIONS

Do the pairs of exercises (labeled A and B) as supersets so that you complete a set A and then a set B before resting. Repeat until all sets are complete. Note that the parallel handrail runs as a straight set - do a set, rest, and repeat the process. This workout can be combined well with option A for body weight. So if you want to incorporate both of them into one workout week, do A first, get a day of rest, and then do B. (You can also add option C, which will appear next.)

OPTION C.

When you combine exercises, you can train more muscles at the same time. With these hybrid movements, you can use six exercises in a workout that actually only dictates three.

HOW IT WORKS

This workout can be combined with the previous two for a three-day program per week in the order listed. Or combine it with one of the two previous workouts and alternate them throughout the week.

DIRECTIONS

Do the exercises as regular straight sets and complete all the sets for one exercise before moving on to the next. If you can't do 10 reps for a given set, do as many as you can without failure (finish the set with a rep or two in you), then rest for a few moments. Continue when you can do the remaining reps.

OPTION D.

OK, we admit it, sometimes the chances are really bad that you will exercise. You may be stuck with no weights or straps, only to find that you forgot to pack your suspension trainer too. There's nothing to wear, so you can't work your back or even improvise with the objects around you. We're not sure what kind of place this would be without a prison cell (and if you're there, hey, we're not judging), but we can give you great workout there too.

HOW IT WORKS

All you need is something to step on, be it a park bench, large rock, or chair. However, if you don't have anything elevated to step on, you can replace the stepup with a lunge. To target your back, which normally doesn't work without at least one bar to pull on, we use the "blurpee" made famous by fitness expert Tim Ferriss, author of The Four-Hour Body. The wider foot position used in the blurpee requires more work from the lats to pull the hips and legs forward as the body comes back from the push-up position. (The additional "l" in blurpee stands for "lats".)

DIRECTIONS

Do the exercises as regular straight sets and complete all the sets for one exercise before moving on to the next.

Bodyweight Workout for Beginners

 Bodyweight Workout for Beginners

An easy progression for beginners to learn how to edit the core might look like this:

Push-up plank. This is a simpler version of the plank because your body isn't as horizontal. Set it up like you're doing a push-up and a plank. Beginners should start here.

Plank. Your body becomes horizontal and the exercise becomes much more difficult. Be sure to breathe in and out (don't hold your breath) to avoid a headache, but also to better work your slopes.

RKC Plank. Move your elbows up a little, then dig your elbows into the ground and pull your elbows down toward your toes. Don't forget to squeeze your glutes!

Weighted RKC plank. Increase the resistance. Since you are at home, using a large, heavy book or clean cast iron pan on your back will work in a pinch.

Long lever plank. Bring your elbows towards your eyes instead of under your shoulders. This makes your body "longer", which makes the exercise even more difficult.

Body saw. This advanced movement begins with placing facial towels or paper plates under your feet and moving your body back and forth while holding the plank position.

What about calisthenics as a workout?

Calisthenics is a gym-style exercise, and the goal is usually better, more athletic movement. While they could get your body to build muscle and burn calories to help with fat loss, there are much better options.

When people start doing calisthenics, their first step is learning coordination, developing stabilizer strength, etc. Not exactly the best type of exercise for building muscle, burning calories, or even heart health. It's more like playing sports or dancing (which is great in its own way.)

The training trains the body in the 6 main movements:

There's a boost. Like a push-up, weight bench, overhead press, etc. This would primarily affect your chest (pecs), back of your arms (triceps), and shoulders (deltoids).

There is a train. This could be something like a weighted series or a pull-up. This would mainly work your back (like your lats), the front of your arms (biceps), and the back of your shoulders (deltoids).

There is a squat. In this case, your knees move the most and you crouch between your legs like a cup squat. This would mainly work your bum (glutes) and the front of your legs (quads).

There's a hip joint. When this happens, your hips move the most (fewer knees) and your hips shoot back. An example is the Romanian weighted deadlift. This would mainly be the back of your legs (hamstrings), buttocks (buttocks), and your lower back stabilizer muscles (spinal straighteners, helps with posture and relieves back pain).

There's a carry. A carry solves many core and posture problems. They help people regain possession in their lives and make them stronger in almost everything. It is difficult to carry a real farmer without heavy weights, so we have some solutions in our free download.

There is a front core exercise. Something that either prevents movement (isometric) will protect your back by teaching the stability and rigidity of the core. An example of this would be a front plank. You can add an exercise where the core moves for more tummy size, like the McGill Curl-Up, which is like a crunch that won't destroy your back (we have a link to the videos if you're using the free sign up .) These core exercises would mainly work the front of your core like the abdominal muscles (rectus abdominis), the obliques, as the back of your core would often be worked with a hinge and other movements.