Bodyweight Training is no freaking joke!
For a long time bodyweight training was considered inferior to lifting weights. People associated bodyweight training with high rep push ups, squats, chin ups and dips. Fortunately martial artists, gymnasts and inmates showed us that bodyweight training is no freaking joke! The mind is the limit with bodyweight training. Keep an open mind and foster creativity and you can take any simple bodyweight movement and turn it into an absolute nightmare. Many of the strongest weight lifters in your gym would be unable to knock out muscle ups, one arm push ups or explosive pistol squats.
The Bodyweight Movement is Strong
People that were once ignorant to bodyweight training have now become ignorant to weight training! They have switched sides and now tout the benefits of bodyweight training and the damaging effects of lifting weights. It baffles my mind that humans inherently feel like they need to choose one or the other.
This takes me back in time to when Bruce Lee was dominating America! It was then that martial artists were expected to be loyal in their chosen style of martial art. To cross train and practice two or more arts would be blasphemy. Fortunately Bruce Lee stepped away from the status quo and learned from as many styles as possible. Boxing, Wing Chun, Fencing, Savate, Muay Thai, BJJ, Wrestling……. He then created Jeet Kune Do Concepts which strived to end the dogmatic approach to martial arts and seek simplicity and effectiveness over all else. This paved the way for what has now become mixed martial arts.
The same concept is true with resistance training! In order to be a true master of strength it is not enough to lift external resistance. You must also master your own bodyweight. The marriage of bodyweight training and weight training is where the greatest gains will be realized. I have always combined bodyweight movements with weight training. I want to be well rounded, universal and complete. I want to be able to hold my own in the weight room and the playground/beach park.
The World is Your Gym
One major benefit of bodyweight training is that you can do it anywhere. I can easily maintain my strength and physique anywhere in the world as long as I perform some advanced bodyweight exercises a couple times per week. Whether I’m locked up in a prison cell, on a 3 week adventure or unable to make it to the gym I know i can get a bodyweight workout in. This allows for a great sense of freedom.
Now I don’t feel that bodyweight training should become the entirety of someone’s workout program. But rather bodyweight training should complement your routine. For packing on muscle nothing beats the simplicity of adding weight to the bar.
At any given time I recommend including a few bodyweight exercises in your routine. Keeping your bodyweight skills sharp will allow you to get a workout in anywhere if need be. In addition bodyweight training will also promote relative strength. Adding fat is very counterproductive with bodyweight exercises. A few pounds of fat gain can make an exercise much more challenging. For this reason including bodyweight exercises in your routine will keep you motivated to avoid overeating and causing fat gain. With traditional weight training getting fatter helps. Fat is added leverage.
Best Bodyweight Exercises for Building Muscle & Strength!
1. Full Range Handstand Push ups
Handstand push ups have been my primary vertical pressing exercise for a long time. My joints feel way better doing these over traditional shoulder presses. You eventually want to build up to doing full range handstand push ups with your hand elevated against the wall.
–> Hand Stand Push up Tutorial
2. One Arm Push ups
One arm push ups provide a very unique challenge. For building pure pressing strength and muscle they are not as effective as bench pressing. For this reason I like to use one arm push ups as a secondary pushing exercise. The benefit of one arm push ups are that they build enormous amounts of core stability especially in the obliques. The anti rotation element is very useful for punching power.
3. Bar Muscle ups
I sometimes like to finish off my workouts with a few sets of muscle ups. The muscle up is great for building explosive pulling power. The muscle up involves doing an explosive pull up up and over the bar into a dip. This takes a ton of upper body strength and power to pull off. Most people that witness this exercise firsthand are blown away. I will have a muscle up tutorial very soon.
4. Pistols (one leg squats)
Pistols are my primary lowerbody exercise. I like to do a few sets of 5 reps, slow and controlled. You can add weight to this exercise to make it more challenging but I prefer not to. Adding weight to this pistol can lead to excess lower body mass. For this reason I just do them bodyweight. Sometimes I will perform them with an explosive jump onto a box for building pure power.
5. Front Levers
For building incredible core strength and lat strength nothing beats front levers! This exercise is extremely challenging but with consistent effort you can accomplish it.
6. Stand to Stand Bridge
Bridging is absolutely incredible at increasing flexibility throughout your body, improving your athleticism and posture.
–> Stand to Stand Bridge Tutorial
Bonus – Weighted Chin ups and Dips
Weighted chin ups and dips are great movements for building extraordinary strength and muscle! Technically since you are adding weight these exercises are not bodyweight movements but lets not get into semantics. Weighted chin ups for a long time have been my only pulling exercise in my routine. My back has developed so well from getting strong at chin ups that I haven’t had any need for further back training. To be honest my back has almost became too big from weighted chin ups. I now perform this exercise with my hands 4-6 inches a part to emphasize more biceps and less lats.
Combining Bodyweight Training with Weights
One of my favorite methods for combining bodyweight training with weights is to perform a heavy pushing movement (Incline Bench Press) as my first exercise followed by a bodyweight pressing movement (one arm push ups or handstand push ups). This is usually how I start off my chest/shoulder/triceps workout. I then follow this up with lateral raises, skull crushers and occasionally muscle ups for fun.
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What about adding weight to all bodywight exercises? You master external weight and you could for example add weight to push ups to do bench press anywhere on the planet.
Cheers
Had to dip into the old bodyweight arsenal today. An old upper back injury flared up, and bench pressing was too painful, so resorted to different push ups to work slightly different muscle groups.
Got through the work out pain free, chest and triceps stimulated. Also did some exercises which are good for back injuries such as bird dogs, planks and supermans.
I have still yet to attempt to a muscle up, must go to the park one day and see if I have the power to do them.
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As usual great post Greg! How long did it take you to work up the strength to do one arm push ups that easily?
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I never spent much time training with the one arm push up. Simply maintaining a low body fat and building a lot of pressing strength enabled me to perform it. At first I had to keep my legs sprawled out and body twisted but with consistent practice I was able to perform it with better form due to a stronger core.
I didn’t see much chest growth from one-arm push-ups. Do you think you can build a great chest with any body weight movements?
One arm push ups are really tough on the core. For this reason the pushing muscles don’t get worked as hard. You’re better off focusing on a pure pressing movement for building the chest. Incline bench press, weighted dips, bench press and even weighted push ups. I use one arm push ups as a secondary exercise and only a primary when I am unable to workout at the gym.
Great article! I already do some bodyweight training every week but not really consistent. And I can do muscle ups and front levers but I can only do one handstand push up, do you recommend doing only 1 for a few sets or should I try an easier variation?
Are you talking about a full range hspu or regular hspu? If you can only do one full range hspu then I would do it normal style until you build up to 10 reps. You can then gradually increase the range of motion bu one inch or so until you get down all the way.
If on the other hand you can only do one normal handstand push up (against the wall of course) then I would start with pike push ups.
Thanks!
Another amazing article as usually and this came in perfect timing. I’m doing a strength workout ( this: http://www.kinobody.com/2077/a-lesson-from-bruce-lee-simplicity-is-the-key-to-brilliance/ ) and trying to master some bodyweight exercises like one arm push up, leg pistol, front lever and handstand pushup. I still can’t do any of these movements, but I’m following the progressions you posted a time ago. I’ve replaced the standing presses for handstand push ups and added leg pistols on workout B. On workout A ,I added one arm push ups and calf raises. I’m afraid that there’s too much volume into the workout and I still don’t know in which day should I do the front lever progression. What do you think?
Thanks!
You can do front levers on rest days.
I would do one arm push ups instead of weighted dips. Doing three pressing movement in one workout is overkill. Two is perfect.
Good stuff, Greg. I’m loving the direction you’ve been taking recently in terms of bw training and training for power. These practices really upregulate testosterone and GH. Since I’ve been able to do a muscle up, I’ve actually only worked out 2-3x per week bw only and have gotten considerably more ripped and much stronger. My endocrine system is running like a well-oiled machine. I’m actually launching a blog next month focused specifically on this stuff bc it’s changed my life. Love your blog. Keep up the great writing man.
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Awesome dude! I’ll be sure to check out your blog when it’s up and running.
Bodyweight exercises are great. I am just starting to really get into body weight exercises. I just bought some push up bars so I can do deeper handstand push ups and a doorway pull up bar so I can do pull ups at home.
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Hi Greg. Great post. I’m a thin guy with belly fat. Will bodyweight training alone help me reach my goal of gaining 10-15 lbs of muscle and lose fat? Or should I mix it with weight lifting at the gym? Also, for my diet, do I follow your 16-20 hour fast? Or do I eat more? I’m 32 years old. 5’7. 152 lbs.
Thanks man.
Bodyweight training + weights is your best bet. Diet is going to be extremely important to allow for fat loss but support workout recovery. You can definitely fast 16-18 hours but you still need to make good food choices and watch how much you’re eating.
Hi greg, I’m starting fasting for 17 hours everyday, how long do you think it will take to not be hungry during the fast? Also, do i need coffee or some sort of caffeine in the morning or can i do the fast without it?
3 days to 2 weeks. If you eat really big dinners you will eventually find that the next day you can go all day without food. Caffeine/coffee should be used during the fast. It makes the fast way more enjoyable. 2-4 cups of coffee or 200-400mg of caffeine during the fasting period works great. This should be split up 2x per day.
Hey Greg, awsome article man. This is somewhat the thing I needed to read. I read Convict Conditioning some time ago, and I just loved the bodyweight exercises. However, I think the author is pretty narrow in his point of view where the weights are the devil…
Anyway, I have been messing around and being pretty inconsistent with my training. I want to add muscle now, especially during the winter months when the food is typically heavier. I also want to do the CC exercises, which are more oriented to the strength gains I guess. So, my best approach would be to combine CC with weights!
Would you recommend me a routine that will allow me to do that, while training, 3 times a week, please? I will sort out the diet myself : )
Maybe I will do a future article on a weight/bodyweight routine.
Just wondering you say to take caffeine when you fast but have been reading latley tat caffeine can restrict blood flow which would be bad for muscle growth ?
what is your thoughts on this ? also love the body weight article just mastered the front lever going to shoot for the muscle up and planche pushup over the next few months love body weight training !
Best Regards
Dan
There is no way that caffeine has a negative effect on muscle growth. This is a seriously paranoid outlook. If caffeine allows you to train harder, which it is known to do, then it should help with maximizing the growth stimulus. Just don’t go too crazy on the caffeine. 4 cups of coffee or 400mg of caffeine max.
Hi Greg,
Been following your website for a while. Can’t thank you enough, needless to say I really appreciate all the information….. Could you clarify 2 things
1) How breathing is performed ( when to exhale and inhale)
As of now I guess ( for push ups and dips) – while going down we inhale and at the top (while going up we exhale). How does this work out for hand stand, front levers etc. I am still working on the hand stand, one arm push up and stand to stand bridge progressions.
2) Could you do a post or give some information ( point to an accurate link on you tube) on dips with respect – locking out elbows, elbow position , chest/ triceps targeting etc there is so much contradicting video, info and mixed up comments on you tube.
Hope I wasn’t asking too much.
I recommend exhaling on the top half of the movement. You can breath in before lowering (eccentric) or during the eccentric. When body tightness is important it’s better to breath in before lowering.
Thanks Greg for clearing that up
Hey Greg,
Are you coming up with a kinobody bulk up manual like you did the shredding program?
Cheers
I am! It will be out anytime between now and christmas.
Hey Greg, I dont have access to a gym and I cant get a membership cause my parents dont want to pay for it.
Do you have any specific bodyweight workouts that I can build muscle with?
Thank you!
Oh and I do have a chin up bar and dip machine at my house. But no weights.
Get a dipping belt and a 45, 25, 10, 5 and 2.5 lbs plate. Your goal will be to get stronger at weighted chins and dips in the 5-8 rep range.
Get a chin up bar, dipping belt and weighted plates for christmas! As well as a set of adjustable dumbbells from 10-25/35 lbs. You’ll be set. You can hit weighted chins, one arm push ups, handstand push ups, curls, lateral raises….. Next best thing would be a dip stand for weighted dips or a backpack with weights for weighted push ups.
Thanks for the options man!
Hey Greg!
First I wanted to thank you for all the very helpful information you have posted on you website! So I first started using your program “Bulking up Hollywood Style” and saw awesome gains during the summer. However once school started, i found myself struggling to be able to make it to the gym 4 times a week. So would this workout be good for a hard gainer to bulk up and put on lean muscle mass at only 3 times a week? Also I bought a Creatine supplement from GNC called “Encharge” by Rivalus. Any thoughts on this product?
Thank you,
Nick L
Hey Greg are there any online body fat websites that I can use to get an accurate reading of my body fat? Or should I buy an instrument?
What do you use?
THANKS!
Nope. You’d need to do a bod pod, hydrostatic or DEXA scan to get an accurate reading. Although knowing your exact bf% isn’t that important. It’s just a number. What’s more important is how you actually look and if you’re happy with your level of leanness.
Wow, your website is amazing. I found a video of yours on Youtube the other day and was blown away at your videos. They are extremely inspiring. I’ve just started working out for the first time in several years and was horribly out of shape (think couldn’t even do one situp), so reading all this simple information is really motivating, even if it’s directed towards guys. :)
Thanks for the kind words Jenna! Let me know if there are any articles or topics you’d like me to cover in the future.
Hey Greg, this isn’t really about the topic (visit your blog daily, it’s great) just wondering, who are the men posing on the Kinobody “logo” at the top of the page?
I’m not quite sure! I had this banner made by a website guy and he found those models.
Hi Greg,
Awesome site — you have my appreciation. I am on the Visual Impact course and was wondering if you had any ideas of how to incorporate bodyweight exercises into it?
Thx