As the title suggests, what are the pros and cons of the two? Question came to mind when reading Body By Fish's body weight training site. I currently train with external weights, but like the idea of the scrapper program as something to break up the norm. Could the two be effectivley trained together? Would bodyweight excercise not just be the equivilent of 'low weight - high rep' weighted excercise, which doesn't improve strength, speed ect. to the same degree as low rep - high weight. Instead wouldn't it simply stand to result in improved muscular indurance?
Low Rep- High Weight (muscle building) High Rep- Low Weight (muscle toning) those are the difference between the two. I recommend build then toning up, for strength, but I don't know what it would do for speed. But don't trust the site though. Lots of these sites have many scams. I wonder why it's called Body By Fish? Fish maybe another word for phishing. To trick someone into buying something maybe. I heard from one guy that he didn't recieve anything from that site when he paid for his program thing....
Depends. I would guess that the training regime would have a lot to say about the matter. Its easier to overload using iron. Just snap on more pounds and your good to go. Bodyweight exercises are another matter. If you want to overload, you will have to change your leverage, which is very difficult ot do since it will demand a lot from your CNS. Take pushups for example. Increasing the load on your arms would require raising your legs. If you do pushups while standing on your hands this introduces another set of factors (like the question of whether you can do a handstand).
I think it is a good idea to do both bodyweight exercise and weight training. As a martial artist or fighter it is important to train both maximum strength and muscular endurance. What good is strength if you cannot apply it for more than 10 seconds? Also, you should be able to move your own bodyweight around easily. Many bodyweight exercises develop not only endurance but coordination. Don't forget that there are several bodyweight movements that can in fact be used for strength training. I myself do strength routines consisting of dips, one-arm pushups, pistols, wheel rollouts, and pullups. All of these exercises are great for strength training and can even have weight added to them. Bodyweight exercises can also be explosive. Plyometrics like clap pushups, burpees, high jumps, the list goes on and on. These bodyweight exercises are great for increasing speed and explosiveness, while generally being safer and more beginner-friendly than olympic lifts. Now don't get me wrong, I love lifting weights. Weight training is a great way to build strength and/or size. But by all means, mix it up a bit.
some bodyweight exercises are cool, and i do think it's a good idea sometimes, but i wouldn't use them to train endurance most of the time. strength endurance is what's really important (applying a lot of force multiple times, as opposed to applying a little force over a long period of time), and you're getting regular endurance training by practicing martial arts anyway (unless your school sucks ). i would stick with weights the vast majority of the time.
They are both great and should be used together imo. Doing standing overhead presses have helped my handstand pushups greatly and the HSPUs in turn helped my jerks. Also, benchpress helped my plaches and vice-versa (when I used to do them regularly.. I dont really find either exercises "fun" ).
Bodyweight exercises are great to train balance, flexibility and leverage changes in your body. However, there is only so much you can do without external resistance. Maximal strength, which is correlated to speed (you can't have too much of either without one limiting the other) is best trained with heavy weights for low reps.
If you read around Body By Fish you'd probably change your thoughts on a scam situation. But that's beside the point. I totally agree, best to mix weighted compound excercise and bodyweight excercise.
yeah, the whole body by fish thing has a good reputation. it's free anyway unless you want all the video tapes and stuff.
