Bodyweight Blitz

Bodyweight Blitz

                Bodyweight training has grown has popularity over the last few years, particularly within the realm of the at home workout DVD.  P90X, Insanity, Zumba, and Tae Bo, just to name a few, are among the best-selling fitness programs ever.  The common element of all these programs is that the individual person’s own body is providing the resistance.  So the question is: can body weight alone provide enough stimulation to increase a person’s overall fitness, or are programs like this just a bunch of clever and gimmicky marketing?  And, why not?  There are several advantages to this type of training.  My apologies for sounding like an infomercial:

·         Convenient:  Body weight training can be done virtually anywhere, including at home, no gym required

·         Improved overall Conditioning: Strength, Coordination, Increased Muscle-Mass, Fat-Burning, Endurance, and Quality of Movement can all be improved by training using body weight as a resistance

·         Very little space required: don’t waste space by cluttering it up with bulky equipment

·         No Spotter Needed: It is safe to do by yourself

·         Combine Strength Training with Endurance Training

The short answer is: YES.  Body weight conditioning can be a great way to build a program by itself or as an addition to a weightlifting or cardio-based program.  The great thing about body weight training is that it improves Functional Strength.  That is a term that has been thrown around a lot the last couple of years without a lot of clarity given to what that means.  To say that training is creating an improvement in functional strength means that the training activities being performed mimic a specific movement pattern of a sport or other physical activity.  This is more than just being able to perform an exercise with heavier weights or the same weight for more repetitions; it is direct improvement to the quality of movement on the playing field during the competition.

               

Just about every person’s fitness goal falls into one of six categories: hypertrophy (muscle-building), maximum strength, maximum power, maximum speed, fat loss, and endurance.  A training program can be designed to maximize any one of these goals and there is some overlap between some of the goals.  However, any program based in body weight training or not, should be created with the intention of focusing on primarily one goal at a time.  The key to successfully utilizing body weight training to accomplish these goals is to understand four things: 1) Appropriate repetition range or time duration for activity; 2) Appropriate Rest Period; 3) Work to Rest Ratio; and 4) Real-life training examples.  The table below outlines how to classify and design a program aimed at achieving these goals.  It is important to understand, when designing a program that having the right balance of repetition ranges, time durations, and rest period maximizes the efficiency of training for the desired goal.

Goal	Rep Range/Duration	Rest Period	Work to Rest Ratio	Real-Life Example
Hypertrophy	8 to 12/45-60 seconds	45-90 seconds	1:1-2	Body Builder
Max Strength	1 to 6/0-30 seconds	2-3 minutes	1:2-3	Power Lifter
Max Power	1 to 3/0-15 seconds	3-4 minutes	1:3-4	Olympic Lifter
Max Speed	1/0-10 seconds	45-60 seconds	1:4-5	Sprinter
Fat Loss	30 seconds to several minutes	Equal or less than activity	1:<1	Everyone Else
Endurance	15+/60+ seconds	No Rest	1	Marathoner

The key to reaching these goals using body weight training is identifying the primary goal and design workouts using the appropriate protocol.  One of the problems that people run into with body weight training is that body quickly adapts to moving itself.  Without increased stimulation a body weight exercise that may have originally started as a power exercise can quickly turn into an endurance exercise. 

Take a box jump as an example; it is great exercise for improving explosive lower body power.  The box jump is performed by starting on the floor, and with both feet together, jumping on to an elevated platform.  To perform this exercise to improve power, a person would only need to complete 1 to 3 repetitions or for less than 15 seconds. Resting 3 to four times longer than the amount of time required to perform the activity.  Performing the exercise for more than a few repetitions or shortening the rest period would change this from power training into hypertrophy training; enough repetitions or inadequate rest periods when turn this into an endurance exercise.  When training for power increasing the number of repetitions per set or increasing the time duration of the set is counterproductive.  To increase power with a box jump, increase the height of the jump, not the number of reps.

A bodyweight workout does not have to target just one goal; it can target two goals.  A well designed bodyweight, power based workout can actually be designed to train three or more goals.  Here is how to do that.  Keeping the primary goal as power training, the second goal will be fat loss with the third goal being endurance.  To accomplish this, the workout will be designed as a circuit, training the entire body in one workout.  This will allow the workout to train for power while keeping the body moving enough to burn plenty of calories for fat-burning and building endurance.  Perform each exercise for the desired number of reps, rest for the specified time, and then begin the next exercise.  Follow this pattern until all exercises have been completed.  Doing this will allow adequate rest for the muscle groups to meet the intense demand of the low repetitions while keeping the body moving with short rest between exercises, creating a fat-burning effect.  To build endurance, simply complete as many rounds as possible.  Remember to follow the designated rest periods.  Eliminate the rest periods will turn this into a strictly endurance workout.  Prolonging the rest periods will eliminate the power training aspect.

Exercise	Repetitions	Rest Period	Work to Rest Ratio
Box Jumps	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
TRX Push Ups	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
Skater Jumps	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4
TRX Row	1 to 5	15 seconds	1:3-4

Box Jumps

Begin by standing with the feet shoulder-width apart.  Lower into a squat while simultaneously swinging the arms back behind the body.  Explosively swing the arms forward while at the same time jumping and lifting both feet off of the ground, and, keeping the feet shoulder-width apart, land on the platform with both feet at the same time. Upon landing lower into a squat to cushion the pressure of the landing, then, step of the platform, one foot at a time, or, jump off with both feet together.  If jumping off, lower into a squat upon landing to cushion the pressure.  That is one rep.

Skater Jumps

Begin by standing with the feet shoulder-width apart.  Jump to the right as far as possible and land on the right foot with the left foot off of the ground.  Jump back to the left, landing on the left foot with the right foot off of the ground.  That is one rep.

TRX Push Ups

Adjust the TRX straps so that the handles are level with the knees.  Firmly grasp the handles and place the body into the top of a pushup position.  Lower the body into a push up and the press the body back to the top of the push up position.  That is one rep.

TRX Pull Ups

Adjust the handle length of the TRX straps until they are level with the chest.  Grasp both handles firmly and walk the feet forward until the handles are positioned directly above the chest.  Keep the body in a straight line from the head to the toes.  Contract the muscles of the back and pull the body up until the chest is directly underneath the handles. Return to the start position.  That is one rep.

Bodyweight conditioning is a great tool to have in your fitness tool bag.  It is a great way to build an entire program or works as a substitute for those times when you are too busy to get to the gym.  If your program is stuck in a rut consider adding body weight training into the mix.  Below is a list of fantastic body weight exercises that can be adapted to meet any training goal.

Body Weight Exercises

Chest/Shoulders

Push Ups on Knees

Push Ups on Feet

Push Ups w/Feet Elevated

Clapping Push Ups

TRX Push Ups

Handstand Push Ups

Back/Biceps

Chin Up

Narrow Grip Pull Up

Wide Grip Pull Up

TRX Pull Up

Horizontal Pull Up

Horizontal Towel Pull Up

Horizontal Pull Up w/ feet on a crunch ball

Legs

Squats

One-Leg Squats

Forward Lunges

Backward Lunges

Sideways Lunges

Skipping

Broad Jumps

Skater Jumps

Box Jumps

Squat-Jumps