Metabolic Bodyweight Circuits

Are you ready?

Metabolic bodyweight circuits. The name implies sound scientific protocols applied by guys in white
lab coats on subjects hooked up to multiple monitors.

While this may be how we discover the effectiveness, or uselessness of certain exercise modalities, (read: Tabata vs. long slow cardio for the average person,) here we can just say that this is going to be a kick-ass workout that tests your strength-endurance and cardiovascular endurance.

Of course, it will also leave you in that lovely state of EPOC, or excess post exercise oxygen consumption. But don't worry, you'll recover, eventually.

So, on to the B-WOD.

Warm-up:

Light jog, you'll need this as a specific dynamic warm-up for what's to come. Aim for ~10 minutes going easy.

Joint rotations. Always, always do mobility exercises. If you need a refresher on this, you can review here.

Circuit 1:

*I recommend having a space at least 15-20 feet long, and outside would be ideal.

• Leg raises. Plain Jane. Lying on floor, hands at your sides. Do 1, hold in the up position for 3 seconds. Do 2, hold for 6 seconds. Do 3, hold for 9 seconds. See where this is going? Try to make it up to ten. 

(By the way, these are not necessarily scientifically derived multiples of 3, I just happen to know that having to exert muscular strain for longer and longer periods takes serious mental and physical effort.)

If 10 is laughable to you, keep going and do as many as possible. The second you can't raise or hold your legs 8 inches off the ground, jump up and do:

• Burpees: x10-20 (or 5, scale it to your failure rate.)

Once you've pushed your limit on Burpees, start crawling:

• Bear Crawl: If you have 15-20 feet, try to make the 2-3 round trips. If you are doing this outside, aim for 25 feet out and 25 back. Again, if you can bear crawl a football field, that's what you do. 

*Keep going until you can't crawl any further.

When you reach the end of your crawling, stop, in a push-up plank that is (you'll be tempted to rest, but don't, you can do this!)

• Push-up Plank: How long? Beginners could crumble at 10 seconds or less, but if you've ever done more that 2 core sessions involving planks, you should be doing no less that 30 seconds at a time.

• No sagging pelvis.
• Tuck the belly up and in.
• Shoulder blades are engaged, not shrugging.
• Head neutral.
• Engage lats by pushing hands hard into the ground and shoulders back until you feel the lats flexing. 
• **You can switch between pushup planks and elbow planks for this. Just maintain solid form and serious contracting. It is even easier to engage the upper back in the elbow plank by pulling elbows down and back, keeping them on the floor of course. 

The strong athlete can aim for 1-2 minutes, while you elites out there are welcome to go for world records. 

Keep this in mind: If you are contracting everything in the plank, abdominals, glutes, lats, etc., you are not going to last as long as if you just tightened your stomach enough to keep from sagging. 

More effort-less time-stronger core.

Now you can rest, AFTER you repeat this circuit at least 2 more times. Advanced and show-offs, if you are ready for more when you finish 3 rounds, you didn't push hard enough!

Seriously, if you do leg raises/holds until your muscles fail, followed by Burpees to failure, then Bear Crawls and fully contracted planks until you literally drop to the ground, 3 rounds will be enough.

Keep going, you're halfway there.

Circuit 2:

You'll be glad you skipped those extra rounds anyway, because we're not quite done yet. 

This circuit is best done outdoors, but if you have to stay in, use a treadmill or a spin bike.

This is the deal, it's very simple:

After a nice stretch, and about 3-5 minutes rest after Circuit 1, do:

• 400 meter sprints (or your fastest run at least, unless you're a seasoned track athlete.)
• BW Squatsx20

Repeat this circuit 4 times. As always, the repetitions are a guideline, if you don't start feeling bodyweight squats until you hit 50, then get to that number and then sprint. If you get to 10 and need help standing up, then that's fine too.

*Also, 400 meters is one lap around a standard collegiate track, or about a 1/4 mile. You don't need to go further if this isn't enough, you need to go harder. You can work on your long distance time trials another day.

Now, if you happen to be lying flat on your back on the ground, I recommend doing some back bridges to stretch out those hip flexors, followed by deep lunge stretches, followed by the Camel posture or Beautiful Thunderbolt if you know your yoga.

That's it! Post your results in the comments below!

BWOD Strength, Balance and Flexibility

oxygenmag.com

Bodyweight Workout of the Day, Sep. 3/4

Today's BWOD (C'mon, who doesn't love saying B-Wod?) requires a thorough warm-up and intense concentration. Qualities that are a good idea to incorporate into every bodyweight workout of the day.

Let's get started.

Warm-up:

Joint rotations, mobility exercises, light jogging or similar for 5-10 minutes.

Then:

3-5 rounds of the following circuit, with 30-60 seconds rest between rounds:

Dips: x5-15
Pullups: (UH-underhand) x5-15
Toes to Bar (or hanging leg/knee raises) x10-20

Then:

Choose 2-3 stretches to work on and one balancing exericise for 3x1 minute each.
(Break it up into 30 seconds if necessary.)

Peter Harrison

Stretch Examples:

• Middle splits
• Side splits
• Splits
• Back Bridge

Examples of Balances:

Karah Levely-Rinaldi

• Handstands
• Standing on one leg w/hands out to sides (and eyes closed if you dare.)
• Crow pose, etc.

That's it! Post your results in the comments below.

My results:

Dips: 5x5-6
Pullups: 4 (5?) x 3-4
Toes to bar: 3x4 (ugh. I've done better!)

Practiced handstands, middle splits, splits, back bridges and even added in some rope climbing and cartwheels. (Working out with my daughter adds some flavor like that.)

Bodyweight Bodybuilding Circuit

Today's BWOD, (bodyweight workout of the day) is part of a series for bodyweight bodybuilding. Push your muscles to the limit in strict form and watch them grow and shine while the fat melts off your body!

This is a simple bodyweight circuit that can be expanded upon by adding dips, Australian body rows and other exercises, or simply increasing the reps and sets.

Set out to do the max number of sets and reps. Mentally prepare yourself for that level of output, even if you don't make it to the end.

BWOD:

Fartlek run: (Sprint then slow to a steady pace, 30 seconds followed by 1 minute) x 10-20 minutes

3-5 rounds of the following circuit:

Pullups: x10-15 (strict.) Or assisted pullups (resistance band assist, stool assist, etc.)

Pushups: x 10-25 (Each set vary the width of the hands, unless basic is challenging enough.)

Reverse prayer sit-ups: x 5-10. Hook feet under stable object/s. Raise hands over your head and raise your torso to 90 degrees while keeping hands overhead and in line with shoulders. Do not flex torso, keep it rigid.

Great, now flip over on your back and do sit ups in the same position. Arms in line with shoulders!

Simple right? Leave your results in the comments below.

My results:

Run: ~15 minutes, about 30 seconds fast run /1 minute jog (I had the dog and he wasn't sprinting:-)

Pullups: 1x3 on rings (weak from rope climbing yesterday.) Subbed by lowering rings and pulling from my squat. 12, 9, 8, 6

Pushups: First 3 normal width, 17, 15, 15. Wide width on fists x9

R.P. sit-ups: 10, 6, 4, …Yeah, those fall off pretty quick. The stricter you get, the harder it gets.

www.marksdailyapple.com

To Build Muscle, All you Need is your Bodyweight

In the following post, featured on Mosladder, the author brings up some excellent points with regard to bodyweight bodybuilding, or simply building muscle with bodyweight.

Since we've all seen the well-developed bodies of elite gymnasts, Hannibal and Barstarzz (among others; of playground bar/pro calisthenics fame0 we already know you can get ripped and yoked with bodyweight exercises (dips, pullups, front levers, pistols and handstand pushups anyone?) 

Here is how to take your bodyweight workouts to the next level:

The question: Can you build muscle by only using your bodyweight?

The answer? Hell yes! 

But just like lifting weights to build muscle, it isn't easy. It may even be too hard for a lot of people. After all, in order to destroy your muscles with bodyweight, you have to use leverage, push harder than you would with free weights to find failure, and learn to have complete control over your muscles in order to activate all the muscle you need when you need it.

What this all boils down to is this. In order to build muscle with just your bodyweight, you need to do three things:

• Work to absolute failure
• Continually progress 
• Extend the time under tension

Work to Absolute Failure

Forget 'leaving a rep or two in the bank,' or avoiding the failure point to save energy for something else. The greater the destructive stimulus, the greater adaptation the body must make, and if you want to continue to build muscle in the long run, you will need to push to failure, fully recover, and repeat.

Absolute failure for bodyweight exercises can be hard to pinpoint. Let's face it, after you've done a couple dozen pushups or squats, you start wondering if you'll ever 'truly' fail. But you can, and eventually the muscles give out.

Using the bodyweight squat as an example, imagine you can perform 50 repetitions before it becomes difficult to stand up. This is when your set begins, and your mental fortitude is tested. When you cannot   stand back up (or you fall to the floor) you are done. 

But just to be sure, hold onto a chair or rail and perform slow eccentric (negative) repetitions. When you fail at those, then you can stop.

You can also reverse this process by pre-exhausting the muscles. Perform an exercise to failure or close to failure, followed by the target movement. Pushups followed by dips, or vice versa, for example. 

The same method can be used for pushups, pullups, etc. Perform a regular set to failure, then do an assisted version (pushups on your knees, pullups with a band or with feet supported) until you cannot perform another repetition. It takes guts to push to this point, and if you do it right, you will feel it the next day.

Continually Progress  

There are many ways to continue to stimulate your muscles to grow, but if weight is weight (your body, free weights,) then repetitions are repetitions. High repetition sets to failure will develop your muscular endurance, but only so much muscle.

As with free weights, you must continually challenge your muscles to grow. This means increasing the load somehow, as well as the overall amount of work done. Here are two ways to accomplish this:

• Eliminate momentum
• Increase the lever arm
• Destabilize the base

Eliminating momentum is another way of saying 'slow down.' Instead of bouncing off the bottom of a pushup or dip, lower slowly, pause at the bottom and then push back up. This ensures complete control over the movement, helps prevent injury, and makes the muscles do all of the work. Use this same tactic with every one of your bodyweight workouts and see how long you last.

Increasing the lever arm means putting your body at a disadvantage to complete the exercise. So for instance, a pushup with your feet elevated is harder than one with the feet flat. Move the hands wider apart and it becomes more difficult still; move the hands further in front of you, and although it brings other muscles into play, it is still more difficult to complete a rep.

This is an easy concept to get if you like doing planks. Most folks can hold an elbow plank for a few seconds, but as you begin walking your hands ahead of your skull, the exercise gets significantly harder. 

Destabilizing your base forces the muscles to work harder to maintain proper form and execute the movement, while also bringing additional supporting muscles into play. 

Some good ways to do this include:

• Performing pushups with your feet on an exercise ball 
• Pushups with one foot elevated
• Hack squats
• Box squats
• One leg squats
• Planks with your hands/elbows on an exercise ball
• Single leg deadlift
• Side plank with extended arm and elevated leg

Extend the Time Under Tension

One of the easiest ways to extend a set and force the muscle to work a little longer is to keep them under tension a little longer. This may mean hanging with the shoulders, upper back, wrists and biceps activated for 10 seconds when you can't perform another pullup or row. 

It can also be done by good old fashioned flexing. After failing at that last pushup, stand up and tense your chest, shoulders and triceps in an isometric contraction for 10 seconds. 

Additional time under tension means more work for your muscles.

It Works if you Work it

Bodyweight muscle building is no mystery, and it's no myth. With the right workout and nutrition program, and enough mental toughness, you can push your body to limits you'd never imagined, and build muscle at the same time. 

Spring Training and Bodyweight Muscle Building

Spring is here! At least in some parts of the country, and even if you are still nursing hot cups of steaming beverages and shivering in your thermal underwear, summer is not far around the corner.

That means more activity and less clothing, which means now is the perfect time to start shedding pounds and packing on some muscle! Fortunately, with bodyweight exercises you can do both, and because it's a busy life, you can keep it simple.

If you have mastered doing 20-30 pushups without much effort, then you are ready for this upper body workout. If not, work on basic, wide hands and close hands pushups to failure and beyond (*see below) until you can.

For those who are ready, do the following exercises, resting about 2 minutes after you have gone to failure and beyond.

*Failure and beyond: When your muscles cannot do another rep of the exercise. You then switch to an easier exercise, such as regular pushups or pushups on your knees, each one to the same degree of failure. If you feel excessive strain on your wrists while doing pushups, consider purchasing some inexpensive pushup stands to relieve the pressure.

Pushing to failure and beyond is how we are going to build some spring/summer muscle, and develop greater body awareness at the same time. You can build muscle with bodyweight exercises, and performing this routine as described will leave you no doubts.

*For these three exercises, when you reach failure, switch to regular pushups to failure, and finally pushups on your knees to failure. As always, warm up your joints with mobility exercises and joint rotations before 'going heavy.'

∞There are no set reps. Go until you can't go any more.∞

Exercise 1: Divebomber Pushup

In this video, she recommends only doing 5 divebomber pushups. But remember, you are going to absolute failure (whether that's 2 or 20,) then switching to regular pushups and then to pushups on your knees.

Do these with minimal momentum, maintaining muscle tension throughout the movement.


Exercise 2: Scorpion Pushups

A good rule of thumb when doing scorpion pushups is to imagine your are trying to touch the heel of the reaching foot to the opposite shoulder. Do these with minimal momentum, maintaining muscle tension throughout the movement.

Exercise 3: Hands to Hips Pushups

As with the other exercises, do these with minimal momentum. Keep the body rigid (as if you'll have a choice!) the entire time and avoid 'bouncing' up and down.

That is your entire chest, shoulders and triceps workout for today! In addition, you will be doing extensive core work and activating the lats quite a bit to stabilize your movements.

How many sets of each should you do? That depends. If you go to complete failure as described, you may not need to or be able to do anymore. 

If you feel you can, give it a try. However, work harder on the second set; really push for those last reps.

***If you want a great read and a handy comprehensive bodyweight fitness reference by your side, I highly recommend this book:

You Are Your Own Gym: The Bible of Bodyweight Exercises

Quad Shaking Bodyweight Blast

A Parkour-Garnished Outdoor Bodyweight Workout

Maybe it's just me, but my bodyweight workout routine this morning had my quadriceps a quakin'. I started off with an easy jog to the park, about a half mile; continued to warm up with joint rotations, and proceeded to do the following cluster (no rest between exercises:)

• Bodyweight squats: x 20 (toes pointed slightly out and legs shoulder width or a little farther apart, arms in front and behind head, lowering body below parallel.)

• Extended (superman) plank x 10 seconds

• Pushups: x20 (alternating between close and wide grip)

• Burpee Snatch Squat: From a pushup position, pop-up into a squat while simultaneously throwing both arms up and back, as if you were snatching a barbell. Keep pulling shoulders back and down as you rise up. Then shoot your legs back and drop into pushup position. Drive hard off the ground and repeat.

The first two sets I hit my goal reps, but by the third they were almost cut in half! Start off with 2-3 rounds and see how your body fares. Add more reps or rounds if necessary. I rested 30-45 seconds between rounds, and about 3 minutes before finishing off the workout with jumping wall-ups.

I finished this workout off with: 

Jumping Wall-ups: Using the back railing of the bleachers at the baseball diamond, I held the rail and pounced up (a la Parkour,) pulling hard and extending my arms at the top like a muscle-up. 

My goal was 20 reps straight through. Instead I got 10, 6 and 2. But it felt good and I was pushing myself to do even that, so I'm happy :-)

Now go out and put this little routine to the test.

Be sure to keep the pace up and get past your comfort zone!

***Here is a good tutorial on the Cat Leap. The second part after the leap is what I call the "wall-up," but you have to Cat Leap to get there. You don't need to leap from another wall to practice this. Try finding an obstacle that you can reach the top of with extended arms, then "cat leap" onto it and muscle-up.

Like Parkour? Get this amazing DVD by Julie Angel, filming Parkour Generations. Click here to see more.

Late Night Body Blast Bodyweight Exercise Routine

After a day spent running the kids around and fitting bits and pieces of work in, I am ready for a re-energizer workout before I get too sleepy. Do this bodyweight exercise routine performing all the exercises back-to-back. Aim for the recommended reps or muscle failure.

To complete this routine, you can choose a set number of rounds (I did about 3+) and continue until they are completed (adding an extra round as needed,) or set a timer for 10 minutes and do it Crossfit style; as many rounds as you can complete before the bell rings!

Here is the workout:

• Pullups x 10 (partial reps are ok, but keep tension in the muscles-don't let yourself relax) *Alternate between underhand and overhand each set. (Click here for pullup bar options.)

• Bent-over extended reaches x 20. Bend at the waist, tighten your hamstrings and glutes and extend both arms out in front of you. Now repeatedly rise to a 45 degree angle. Repeat 5 times in front, 5 to each side and another 5 to the front.

• Swing arm squats: You can see a demonstration of this in the video here. Basically, assume a squat position with your arms at your sides. Do 5 partial squats while swinging your arms forward and backward with each squat. On the fifth one squat all the way down. Repeat 10 times.

Repeat this complex for 3 rounds, or set a timer for 5-7 minutes and keep repeating until it rings. Then dive right into:

• Swing arm squats: Same as above.

• *Candlestick to Butterfly Situp: Rock onto your back, push legs up into a candlestick, crush knees to ears and rock forward to butterfly situp. 10 reps.

• Elbow Plank to Pushup: From an elbow plank, powerfully extend arms and pop up to a pushup position. Perform a pushup and return to starting position. 10 reps.

Repeat this complex for 3 rounds, or set a timer for 5-7 minutes and keep repeating until it rings.

Go for a jog or some easy exercise to cool down before a stretch.

*From a candlestick pose, roll up to a butterfly situp. Watch the videos below for instruction:

More on bodyweight fitness:

Exercise Equipment for doing Pushups? Really?

Special Ops Elite Fitness Training for Everyday People

Today's BodyWeight Workout Routine (BWWOD)-Mountain Climbers/Pushups/Burpees

Time for a jumpstart, and as it happens to be the holiday party season, you and I probably need all the little body blasting workout routines we can handle! So let's get moving:

Warm-up: Fast paced joint rotations. Click here for a refresher video.

Bodyweight Circuit:  Do each exercise in the circuit with no more than 20 seconds rest between. If the reps are too easy, speed up the pace or do additional reps.

menshealth.co.uk

So if 10 pushups is a joke for you, do 15 or 20. If 10 burpees doesn't make you hiccup, do a few more. Keep it to 20 max. as the overall effect of the three exercises is greater than any single one.

• Mountain Climbers: Do 30 reps, counting every other leg motion as 1, or 30 seconds, whichever is more work. You should know what works for you after the first set.
• Pushups: 10 reps. Strict form but fast execution.
• Burpees: 10 reps. Make sure to jump up when you get off the floor, even if it's a hop.

Mountain Climbers-menshealth.com

In between circuit rounds, jog around or in place. Keep the blood pumping at an easy pace for 20 seconds, then drop immediately into the next round.

This is a good workout routine for the outdoors, where you can stretch your legs and get some fresh air.

Do a total of 3-5 rounds depending on your fitness level. Even beginners should aim for 3 rounds, resting more between circuits if necessary.

Short Full Body Workout Routine with Elephants and Scorpions and More

Today's bodyweight workout is meant to build muscle while getting your heart rate up. Indeed, if you move fast enough between the exercises and rest as little as possible between rounds, it will be a good cardio workout routine. If that is the route you want to go, keep the pace steady and keep it up for at least 10 minutes. Otherwise, just follow the sequence in this video:

 

 The video shows a shortened version of the workout, here are the recommended rounds/repetitions. Be sure to warm-up first: 2-5 rounds (depending on fitness level)

 No rest between exercises. 30-60 seconds maximum rest between rounds.

  The exercises are:

•  Divebomber Pushups: 5-15 repetitions 
•  Scorpion Pushups: 5-15 repetitions 
•  Hip/Neck Bridge: 10-30 seconds (any longer allows you to rest to long. Repeat the sequence if you need additional work.) 
•  Slow Motion Lunge: 10-20 repetitions 
•  Elephant Walk-Out: 5-10. Walk your arms out as far in front of you as possible, then hold the position for 2-3 seconds. Keep the butt tight and the stomach pulled in.

Have fun!

*Click here for more short workout ideas*

Core, Legs, Triceps BW Workout Routine

getfitwithnic.tumblr.com

Today's workout is courtesy of the pain in my shaking legs for two hours after I was finished. It stems from two things I enjoy when working out: A lack of any pre-determined sets and reps, and exercises that flow together in a seamless fashion. A little further explanation:

My bodyweight routines tend to have a loose structure with a general goal in mind. For example, this workout I wanted to do several sets of pushups, work squats until my quads screamed and get warm enough to do some yoga poses. The overall goal was to go until my muscles, in particular my triceps, chest and legs, were spent. Here was the result, more or less...

Warm-up: Sun salutations, half moon to both sides and back, sun salutations then immediately to...

Modified Hindu Push-ups: Upward facing dog to child's pose. Then:

Pushups: This started as regular pushups, then progressed to walking pushups. Like this: Do a pushup,  walk both hands one 'step' to the right, do a pushup. Then repeat on other side. Always do a pushup in the center.

Quad Sit-ups? From resting on your knees with your butt on your heels, use your quads to pull your body up to kneeling. Keep the glutes and stomach tight. Sit back down and repeat.

When you can't do another, immediately pitch forward and do more of the pushups as done above.

When you have had enough of this (I lasted about three rounds for ??? reps) do:

Pushup to Extended Side Arm Plank: Do a pushup and press up into an extended side arm plank. That is, the arm on the bottom and top are extended. Repeat on both sides until you can't do another one.

Elephant Walkout: At this point the memory gets hazy, so this may not be the exact order. However, these are great for the core. Stand up straight, reach your hands straight to the floor and walk out as far as you can go. All the way to a Superman plank if possible. Walk back the way you came. Do this several times and try to progress to:

Iron Cross Plank: Once fully extended, or close to it, walk your hands out to your sides. The goal is to have them parallel with the shoulders and the arms still extended. The reality is it will probably take you a while to do it that way! But try just the same. It's fun, and effective.

Now at this point you may feel like you need a break, but don't stop for water just yet! Instead, bring your arms in, drop to your elbows, keeping them extended in front of your shoulders, and press off the floor. These are basically triceps extensions, adjust your arms to place the emphasis on the triceps.

I can't tell you how long this went on for, or whether or not I left out some exercises. But this is how I finished:

Balanced Leg Extensions


Stand straight with hands on hips. Bring your right knee up as far as you can (your chest is ideal). Make your other leg strong and press it into the ground. From here, extend your right leg straight out in front of you. Try to hold it for at least 3 seconds.

Without putting the leg down, bring your knee back to your chest, turn the hip over and push the leg out to the side as straight as possible, driving with the heel. For you 'tae kwon do fans, this is a side kick.

Bring the knee back to the starting position and press it straight backwards. Hold each position for several seconds, and always struve to keep the leg at waist height.

With all three positions done, you can lower the leg to the ground. Now repeat on the other side. Remember to move slowly and in perfect form. Think 3 seconds to extension, 3 seconds hold, 3 seconds back to flexed position.

Do as many sets/rounds of these exercises as you need to get a thorough workout. Push yourself to get the best results. Feel like something is missing? Throw your own favorite in between these movements! Especially if it flows.

For more on the Elephant Walk-Out, click here:

 Bodyweight Workout Routine: Whole Body Conditioning

For more on pushup variations, read these:

MosLadder: The Mother of All Chest Workouts???

Every Pushup Exercise you can Think of and the Celebrities Who do them

Do You Need to Buy a Bodyweight Exercise Program?

Transform Your Body with Bodyweight Exercise!

No Weights Needed! 

Develop Functional Muscle Fast!

The headlines above are common to bodyweight exercise programs. They promise to deliver fast results without having to go to a gym, use any special equipment or get out of your pajamas! While all of this is true, isn't it pretty easy to find bodyweight exercises on the internet, with complete instruction? 

Is it really useful to purchase a comprehensive program?

I used to think not. While I valued the videos companies like RMAX International and Bodyweight Exercise Revolution owners Adam Steer and Ryan Murdoch made, I didn't think they had anything special to offer. For one thing, between Coach Scott Sonnon, Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training and others, it seemed like you could find anything you needed to know about innovative bodyweight routines on YouTube! 

Why would I pay for it when I could get it for free? I have been doing yoga for several years and I thought I knew just about every bodyweight exercise in the proverbial book. When I discovered Bodyweight Exercise Revolution (BER) and RMAX International, I thought, "Wow! This stuff is so fresh, so effective!" But I still didn't think I needed to buy their programs.

Unfortunately I was rowing a boat with only one oar, and after a while, my haphazard attempts to integrate these systems into my daily routines grinded to a halt. I was clearly missing the core philosophy, and probably quite a few unpublicized exercises hidden within the paid product. Sure I incorporated the occasional side-leg slide and tripod switch into my routines, but it wasn't the same. I conceded that it was time to put my money where my ego was. 

These were my favorites to choose from:

TACFIT Warrior (and other TACFIT) programs:

This is made by RMAX International, founded by Scott Sonnon. It is an in-depth program with great routines and is geared towards tactical operators; military, police, etc. It is also over $100. I'm no tactical operator, and I wasn't sure I was ready for this program in any case. So choice number two was:

Bodyweight Exercise Revolution:

This is made by Coaches Adam Steer and Ryan Murdoch, who were trained and certified by Scott Sonnon (who they pay homage to in their manual, btw.)

Since they were my first experience with the bodyweight flow workout genre, I thought this was a great choice. I had already learned a lot of their featured moves, so why not pick this up and see what I was missing? There were two other reasons I chose this one:

• The $47 price tag.
• A 56 (yes, 56) day return policy. Take your freakin' time with this one!

After watching so many BER videos and following their blog, they already had my trust, so I had no problem giving up my credit card number. 

Then I got charged twice. 

Actually I think this was my fault, my computer was running a little slow...but it gave me a chance to test their refund out. I e-mailed customer support, got a quick reply and had the money back on my paypal account in about 48 hours. Refund policy works. Check.

The Program

BER is a downloadable program. I was skeptical about this, but now I am a convert. You get instant access, you don't pay shipping and if you need a physical manual you can print it out. 

So What's In It?!?

Seriously, at first glance this is an outstanding value. For less than $50 bucks, you get a 209 page Bodyweight Exercise Revolution manual complete with exercise instruction, their macrocycling philosophy for maximizing athletic goals in the least amount of time, chapters on fat loss, hypertrophy (building muscle), general athleticism, longevity, recovery and more.

In addition you get 5 printable follow-along charts for each exercise chapter. This is convenient, because there is a learning curve to the exercise and the sequences if you have never done them before. Having it on the wall makes this transition easier. 

Also for every exercise chapter are photo and video instructions, not the best video, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Wow. Personally, I was impressed at the amount of 'stuff' for the money. As it turns out, these are just well integrated parts of the whole, but still a great value.

Areas for Improvement:

So far, the program is exactly what I expected, and certainly worth my $47 dollars. As I suspected, the complete theory behind their program was worth the price of admission alone. But why on Earth they didn't spend a little more time and money on better video quality is beyond me!

Let me be specific, about half the videos are just fine. Uniform, clean cuts, easy-to-follow and not too lengthy (I need to learn the exercises, not fall asleep!)

But the other half, although thorough and complete, were more like amateur YouTube videos. Yeah, they get the job done, but it seemed a bit lazy to me. I often wished for more consistency when I would watch one of the good videos, then go back to one of the mediocre ones. 


Is this a dealbreaker? No. Not for me anyway. The information inside this program is too valuable. I can put up with a few so-so videos.

The Total Package

The BER program is one of the first of it's kind, and it is definitely a revolution of sorts. It combines innovative and basic bodyweight exercises to build muscle, increase strength, improve flexibility (a lot) and even improve your cardiovascular conditioning. 

Adam and Ryan spell out the programs for each fitness goal so they are easy to follow along with. The 'cycles' are also short, about one month, so you don't get bored and if your diet is in check, you should start seeing results in a short time. As the manual says, BER will keep you busy for 15 months if you complete all chapters at all levels of difficulty. (You can take a peek at it here, just scroll to the bottom of the sales page and choose your workout:)

Which is the another good point. No matter where you are starting from, this program is for you. Don't be intimidated because you're a beginner or put off because you're in outstanding shape. Between the 209 page manual, the videos and the wall charts, this is an excellent value-packed fitness program that has something for everyone. 

Right now you get 56 days to check it out for yourself. But be prepared, Bodyweight Exercise Revolution is likely to transform you into a lean, agile, resilient network of muscles! Of course, you have to put the work in first...

Feel free to check it out for yourself. I liked it so much I went back and signed up for their affiliate program, so I'd be much obliged if you clicked on my link below. It takes you to the usual sales page, but I would recommend going straight to the 'Add to Cart' button so you can get started. Change happens with that first step! Commit! Commit!

Check Out the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution!

P.S. Feel free to e-mail or comment below if you have any questions. I am using this program now so I should be able to clarify any fine points.

Live in Good Health!

Chris Mo


If you haven't tried one of the Bodyweight Daily workouts, try this one, which includes exercises from the program above:
Cardio Circuits, Tabata Intervals and Muscular Endurance

Whole Body Functional Cardio and Muscle Burning Workout

-Today's workout requires a warm-up and then a warm-up. Better known as doing a general warm-up and then a more workout movement specific, 'dynamic warm-up.'

We are going to get the joints loosened up with a general joint rotation routine (click to review the joint rotation routine.)

For the dynamic warm-up, you are going to do a slower, easy pace of the first intervals. That's right people, it's Tabata interval training time, and we are going to follow this up with some pulling exercises for strength and muscle growth.

If you are a beginner, lower the number of rounds and sets to allow you to get through the whole bodyweight workout.

2-4 rounds (warm-up round doesn't count,) for each exercise do 20 seconds high intensity followed by 10 seconds rest.

-Jumping Jacks
-Quad Hop Burpees (Do a quad hop and shoot the legs out to a pushup; bounce back and repeat.)
-Knee to Chest Pushups ( Not 'Spider Pushups' here. Do a pushup while bringing one knee up to the side. Alternate knees each pushup.)

Quad Hop Demo:

Next, do 2-4 rounds of 20/10 of:

-Elephant Walk/Ab Wheel Rollouts (Review the Elephant Walk here:  Elephant Walk Instruction )
-Bent Over Shoulder Press
-Isometric Pushup Plank

Bent Over Shoulder Press. This can also be done with feet on the ground; just walk the feet up towards the hands and bend the knees slightly:

Finish your workout with some gymnastics ring pullups, assisted suspension trainer pullups or basic pullups. Use the following guideline:

3-5 rounds of 10 second hang with active shoulder + 3-10 full range of motion reps. If you cannot do full pull-ups, lower the rings or suspension trainer straps and do body rows.

Finish the workout with some easy stretching to cool down, and guzzle plenty of water when you are done!

You can find a selection of gymnastics rings here:

Gymnastics Ring Training

Review pullup bars here:

Home Gym Pullup Bars