quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:

Any other recommendations for "body weight only" exercises?

Sprint intervals! Sprint 100 yards all-out, walk 400 yards, repeat until you fall over.

Some of the best shape I have been in was when I performed sprint intervals. Haven't been able to for a while due to knee issues. Sprints are a completely different stimulus compared to steady state jogging or bike riding.

Insanity workouts are another option.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett B:Sprint intervals! Sprint 100 yards all-out, walk 400 yards, repeat until you fall over.

Some of the best shape I have been in was when I performed sprint intervals. Haven't been able to for a while due to knee issues.

Seems like doing anything "until you fall over" might lead to "issues".

Make sure you do variations on the body weight workouts to make sure you are covering all of the different muscles in a muscle group, and also to variate the type of load.

5x10 pushups is different type of resistance than 5 sets of max reps. Don't forget hand release pushups, close grip pushups, wide grip pushups, plyopushups, etc. Put your feet up on a chair for added resistance, and do more sets of fewer reps.


You also need to add core and lower body. Planks, side planks, hollow body rocks, supermans, dragon flags, toes-to-bars, knee raises, air squats, jumping air squats, walking lunges, reverse lunges, roman lunges, etc.

Also learn how to build, For Time, AMRAP (as many reps as possible) and EMOM (every minute on the minute) and Tabata (20 seconds high intensity, 10 seconds of break, typically 4+ minutes in length) excercises.

Doing 5 sets of 10 pushups at a leisurely pace is different than doing 5 sets of 10 pushups for Time, or doing max reps over 4 minutes of Tabata. You could do 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats and 20 situps for one round, then do a 10 minute workout with as many reps and rounds as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by MNSIG:

quote:

Originally posted by Brett B:Sprint intervals! Sprint 100 yards all-out, walk 400 yards, repeat until you fall over.

Some of the best shape I have been in was when I performed sprint intervals. Haven't been able to for a while due to knee issues.

Seems like doing anything "until you fall over" might lead to "issues".

It was a joke, referring to how much effort it really is to sprint all-out for 100 yards compared to a leisurely jog for distance. I suspect most of us starting out would be done after one or two sprint intervals and would need to lie on the ground for quite a while to recover, myself included of course.

I injured my knee wakeboarding and have had to be careful with it even after surgery. Sprinting wasn't the cause of my knee "issues" but any running currently makes it pretty unhappy.

Body weight stuff is mostly what I do, some kettlebells in occasion. I've never paid for a gym membership. There really is no limit to how far you can take body weight training other than your knowledge and imagination. In terms of raw strength, if you can't do one arm pull ups, one leg squats, one arm handstand push ups etc. you aren't even remotely close to exploring the limits of bodyweight training.

I have gotten killer workouts in a hotel room, done pull ups in a hotel stairwell, no excuses you can't get a great workout anywhere.

I gladly pay for my "expensive" CrossFit membership. I pay for the motivation and support. Some people don't need it, others don't see the value of paying for it, and there are cheaper ways to get motivated and have the support needed to make lifestyle changes...

But for me, as of right now, being in better shape today than I was yesterday, is worth every penny I spend.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Insanity workouts are another option.

I've done insanity, it's great. You definitely sweat and you didn't need equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I gladly pay for my "expensive" CrossFit membership. I pay for the motivation and support. Some people don't need it, others don't see the value of paying for it, and there are cheaper ways to get motivated and have the support needed to make lifestyle changes...

But for me, as of right now, being in better shape today than I was yesterday, is worth every penny I spend.

No doubt! CrossFit is great and from a self-discipline (and fitness of course) standpoint, if you can sum up the will to walk through the door, ego and the support there will take care of the rest keeping you there to finish the WO.

Though I've never paid for a gym membership, its been because between the self-discipline I got from a life in the military (and the fact I'm still in and have to pass PT tests and set an example) and personal health and performance reasons it has been enough to motivate me.

Money-wise, I have spent as much as I would have on a lifetime of gym memberships. I just spent it on fitness knowledge products and equipment instead. However, the knowledge can't ever be taken from me and the equipment tends to last for a very long time.

With body weight, all you need is a book or video or 2 for knowledge and a program and something to pull up on. That can keep you busy for years with constant progression...

Old-school calisthenic books I like are "Get Strong" (program I'm on now), "Convict Conditioning" and "The Naked Warrior."

dragondoor.com

I'm a big fan of calisthenic and bodyweight exercise. I have nothing against weights and resistance apparatus, but I like the no-excuses philosophy of being able to work out anywhere with little-to-no equipment as they do in prisons and military.

I've perused a lot of literature and videos. Here are my recommendations.

1. Anything by Ross Enamait is excellent, but Never Gymless concentrates on calisthenics. Ross is that rare blend of - Quality, Price, Service - except instead of only picking two, you get all three.

In the early 2000s, I spent several hundreds of dollars on products from a certain Fureyous shameless self-promoter, huckster, and con man. For the most part, his products I purchased were decent albeit overpriced. He did do a lot to bring bodyweight workouts back in vogue, so they weren't a total waste. However, I did feel a cheated after I discovered Ross Enamait and realized he put out better, more comprehensive material for $30 shipped. This was before he went to e-books. Now he charges less than half that.

You can read articles for free on his website.
http://rosstraining.com/blog/

He has a lot demo videos on YouTube too. If those get your attention, then I recommend starting out w/ his book, Never Gymless.

2. Jim Barthurst at Beast Skills gives you a lot of ideas on taking your bodyweight exercises to the next level. I can hardly do any of them, but they are good to see the progressions and what one can aspire towards.

http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/

3. I don't have this book yet but plan on buying it in the near future: Overcoming Gravity (2nd Ed.) by Steven Low.

https://www.amazon.com/Overcom...eight/dp/0990873854/

Low is friends w/ Beast Skills Jim. Make sure you get the Second Edition. The book was just published last Nov but has already earned a reputation as the Bible of bodyweight training.

Ross comes from a boxing background. Jim and Steven come from gymnastics backgrounds, so you can expect to see those influences on their training techniques.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Burpees

I have a love hate relationship with Burpees. I hate them during the workout, but love how effective they are for keeping me fit.

Some additional suggestions for inexpensive exercise:

- TravelWODs app. It's $2 and has over 100 workouts that require no equipment.

- Kettlebells. You can do a wide variety of workouts, and cost and space required is minimal. For beginners I suggest starting with a kettlebell that's about 20-25% of your body weight, and once you've got the form down properly you should be working with a kettlebell that's 30-35% of your body weight.

- Suspension training. TRX is the hot brand, but you can do the same stuff, for much less money with some of the other brands. Hell, a set of rings (http://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-echo-rings), for about 1/3 to 1/2 the price of a TRX set, will work just as well.

- Jump rope. So simple and inexpensive. If you get good enough you start trying to do double unders.

I just found this site, has a wealth of workout information

https://darebee.com/

I posted an example of body weight , this site has tons of material

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AZUSMC22,

TRX style suspension training has been a real kick in the pants.
Golds & a couple other companies make their version of the strap system that's in the $50-$60 range & can be found at Wal*Mart. I went with a non TRX brand & got it for $35.

Love it. Haven't done circuit training since the Corps and it feels like it.

I love that it comes with a door mount option for when traveling.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
I would add some leg work.

Squats
Lunges
Step-ups

In addition to your biking, I would agree with comet, add some air squats and reverse lunges.

At the house I would try to rig something so that you can do some backward sled drags. KILLS your quads and does wonders for biking.

I would also throw in some running interval work or swim if possible to keep your cardio diverse and well rounded.

Since I moved back to the USA a month ago, all my work has been based around BW exercises.

For cardio, I just skip rope with my crossrope and run sprints and intervals, and since my focus is sheep hunting, I do some loaded pack carries.

Other than that, pushups, pullups, squats, planks, burpees etc.

Forget the traditional body weight exercises. Does these instead, that also rely on nothing but your own lubbering you;

1. Planking. If you think you're in shape planking, done properly, will show your flaws within 60 seconds. There are different forms such as side planking, palms down or up but if you can one for 90 seconds that's pretty impressive if you?e never done them before. The record, IIRC, is held by a scrawny Chinese policeman at 4+ hours.

2. Burpees. Try them for 5 mins and see how many you can do. It's probably one of the most perfect exercises.