Hi, everybody. I was just wondering something about mixing body weight in with weightlifting exercises. The maxim I've been raised by is that you essentially don't touch a muscle for a few days after it's been subject to high-intensity weightlifting. That's a little troublesome to me, because frankly, I feel paralyzed in my workout routine. I'd like to do a lot more bodyweight than I'm doing right now, but I'm not sure if bodyweight training follows the same principles of weightlifting. As in, I don't know if bodyweight exercises will catabolize muscle tissue in the same way weightlifting does due to comparatively less strenuous weight, or if it's safe/not counterproductive to engage in bodyweight training after lifting. Same goes for bodyweight following bodyweight training. I typically practice my static stance-work twice a week, but I'd like to practice much more frequently if such exercises could be done daily/bi-daily without fear of losing muscle mass. Thanks to anyone who can answer.
Your body doesnt realize the difference between bodyweight and dumbells. Lifting is lifting. A contraction is a contraction. The benefit to using body weight is you run far less risk of injury due to excessive weight. Your body is already equipped to move itself in most cases so increasing the amount of times your body moves itself can safely challenge your muscles. But even having said that training beyond safe limits can still cause the same negative effects as using weights. A distance runner is using his bodyweight. If he or she doesnt replenish over the course of a marathon the body will feed on itself, using lean mass for energy, in order to survive. My recommendation is if you want more frequency back off on intensity so you heal more quickly or break up your lifting endeavors into a split that enables you to train select body parts enabling certain groups to rest while others are working. Without knowing how you train I cant be more specific. If you want to toss up your current lifting plan I'd be happy to look at it and give more detailed pointers. As an example, I usually train: chest, triceps and shoulders on one day, back biceps and traps on another and legs as I can depending on soreness from MA classes which happen twice a week. Another thing you can do is if you feel stuck, change your workout around. Stagnance is often the result of doing the same thing the same way for too long. The body adjusts and we plateau. But like I said, without more info I cant speak to anything specific. Back to the question at hand though, adding body weight training to any workout is a great idea. I usually encorporate bodyweight work specific to the days I train certain muscle groups like Dips or pushups on chest/Tricep day, standing high jumps or sit squats on leg day, pullups on back day, etc.... Theres nothing wrong with adding some bodyweight stance training on leg day as a warm up or cool down. The main thing is to guage your soreness level. Tender is one thing, PAIN is another.
Awesome post. Thanks a bunch! My current lifting routine is: Day 1: Chest, triceps Day 2: Back, legs Day 3: Biceps, shoulders Day 5: Stance-work Day 7: Stance-work I guess my biggest question is just knowing how to treat bodyweight exercises in relation to lifting. As I said before, I'd love to do more stance-work and intersperse some light bodyweight exercise so I don't feel as though I'm wasting days that I could be potentially training at least a little on.
Well make no mistake, fitness is a three pronged equation. It needs all three parts in equal measure to be effective and those parts are: Exercise, Rest and Diet. Think of a pyramid with three sides. Remove any piece and the whole thing falls apart. So those rest days are VITAL to growth and healing. When you train you expect 100% from your body, right? How can it give what it doesnt have? I use the example of a car. If you get 400 miles on a tank of gas, can you honestly expect 400 miles on HALF a tank? No. Same with the body. I realize the urge to train is powerful but if you dont take time to fill your tank you'll have a difficult time getting to where you want to go. I have an issue with your split that might help you. Day 1: Chest, triceps Day 2: Back, legs Day 3: Biceps, shoulders On day 1 you use biceps to stabilize most of what you do for chest. If you bench, you're using biceps, if you do flies - biceps. Granted its in a secondary capacity but they are still being used. Then the very next day you turn around and do back which again uses biceps in a secondary capacity. THEN, you actually DO biceps. My question is... when do they rest? Tr soemthing like this: Day 1: Chest/Triceps Day 2: Stance-work Day 3: Back/Biceps Day 4: Legs/Stance-work Day 5: Shoulders Day 6: Off Day 7: Stance-work See how things are spaced out more for rest but you're actually doing MORE work?
Hi 'Vermanubis', What he said Find a few exercises that you like and have them as 'core' exercises that you do every workout / every other workout / every week (whatever) and then have a LARGE number and variety of exercises that you do whenever you fancy or whenever they fit the body parts you are working on. This morning I did a warm up - 20 mins on the treadmill whilst using 5Kg weights in my hands to do an upper body warm-up at the same time. Then I hit the leg machines and then I used free weights to mainly hit biceps and triceps. Tonight I'm going to be teaching Tai Chi for 75 minutes so that will include some stretching and some breath control exercises. Later tonight I'm going to be doing a Kettlebell session split between cardio for 15 minutes and then abs for 15 minutes. Followed by an fairly intense leg stretching session as I'm trying to rehab an old injury. Tomorrow I will probably repeat the morning treadmill exercise but take it to 30 minutes and then only use machines for chest and back - no free weights. Tomorrow night teaching Tai Chi again but then something completely different for the late evening workout (press-ups and sit-ups and some core exercises probably)... My body kind of goes "Huh, what the heck is he up to today???" - Also you need to look at your short and long term goals - I currently am trying to do two different things - lose weight and build muscle - it's much easier to measure results if you focus on one thing at a time... So I keep my long term goals in mind and don't worry too much about the short term... Oh yes - eat properly - enough and the right type of foods.... This is the one area in which I crash & burn regularly - I like all the wrong foods and that's my weakness - you hopefully will not be a sinner like I I have a mantra, "Good Pain Good, Bad Pain Bad" - Good pain is when the body is complaining because it doesn't want to do the work or when the muscles ache because you made them work. Bad pain is the body warning you that you are about to cause damage or have caused damage. Bad pain means that you have to allow time for your body to heal (which wastes time that otherwise you could use for training) good pain is your body saying I will grow / am growing.... (Oh OK I know that the above is not 'correct or a full explanation' from a Medical / Sports Physiology point of view but I find it works for me.)
LOVE THIS!!! I do this myself and its proven to be phenominally effective for me. Plus it allows me to cater to my mood a bit. The worst plateau ever is a motivational one due to being bored. A little variety, while still on theme, is HUGE!
Frankly you should pay attention to a few things. First your body knows only resistance, no matter where you get it from BW or Weights. You can do calisthenics and still be muscular like this man Hannibal. He is the king of calisthenics [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yauyyv534"]_Hannibal For King_ New Video Just Released Strength_ Conditioning_ Abs.mp4 - YouTube[/ame] or as whatever you may say or call him Second you should pay attention to the recovery and nutrition aspect of your training too. Beginners: 7 days a week, Intermediate: 5-6 Days and Advanced: 4days a week and 3 days active recovery. Third pay attention to your Resistance Progression, which in short means increasing your resistance level and giving your body a REASON to grow. On a last note: Do check the video out, get motivated and train like Hell on Calisthenics or BW for a year, and then beyond that start get HYBRID with your Training [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0yauyyv534"]_Hannibal For King_ New Video Just Released Strength_ Conditioning_ Abs.mp4 - YouTube[/ame]
