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.

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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

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.

Core, Legs, Triceps BW Workout Routine

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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

Bodyweight Workout Routine: The Simple Pushup Test and More

Today's routine is dominated by the simple pushup. That is, body straight, hands flat and placed just outside of and under the shoulders; legs straight and resting on toes or balls of feet. Don't let the back sag and don't allow your butt to go up in the air.

Pushups may seem too simple and boring to bother with, but they are more complicated than you might think. Just a brief review; pushups work the pectorals, frontal deltoids, triceps. However, they also bring in the following muscles to stabilize the body: Lats, abdominal wall, obliques and to a lesser extent, the glutes.

Today is the day you get a great pushup workout while gauging your upper body strength. Depending on who you read, a woman under the age of 40 should be able to do at least 13 full pushups, while a man under 40 should be able to complete at least 40. Let's take that one step further. Complete as many pushups as you can in 3 minutes. Rest as needed but remember, the clock is ticking.

For women under 40, lets say this number should be at least 30. That's ten pushups a minute. If you can not complete this many in three minutes, your upper body needs more strength, or you need to lose weight. Why 30? Because the armed forces sets the minimum between 6 and 13 in 2 minutes. Here you have an extra minute and you are aiming at doing the best you can; not the minimum. Women can build strength just as easily as men, so aim to blow this number up!

Perfect form in 'up' position

For men under the age of 50, the number is going to 55. This is a solid number of pushups to accomplish in good form in this time span. If you can do more, congratulations! Keep going until you hit the 3 minute mark. If you cannot complete 55 in 3 minutes, keep working on your upper body strength, and/or lose some weight.

Therefore, today's workout:

Sun Salutations to warm up x 10.

Pushup Test: As many as you can in good form in 3 minutes. Rest as needed, but go for your max!

Then:

Isometric Pushup Holds on Fists: (use a towel or pillow if needed. Encourages stronger wrists.)
Do 3 rounds of 10, 20, or 45 seconds depending on your fitness level. Focus on maintaining perfect plank form with extended or bent arms. Start the first half of your time in the 'up' position, do the second half in the 'down' position. Do not let your chest hit the floor!

Good Luck!