Humbled..

 

Every now and then when trying some new exercises, I feel that ‘good’ kind of soreness. That kind that you want every time, after exercising, but don’t always seem to find no matter what nifty technique you try, being that Tabata’s, 21’s, hoisting weights near max, HIT’ing or trying out the Weider principles the good ol’ BB days..) or whatever..

Since a few days, and actually since a few months of almost bodyweight only training, I am being humbled about the lack of flexibility, agility and the ability to do fairly simple exercises using bodyweight alone. And I bet, that most of us that are not accustomed to doing bodyweight stuff, will be humbled as well. We all have been under a heavy bar crushing down on the traps, lifting amounts of weight of the floor that would give normal human  hernia just by looking at it. But how many of you trainees out there, are able to perform a set of 10 pistols (one legged squat BW only)? How many of you can do 15-20 strict reps on the pull up bar, handstand pushups or one arm pushups? I bet that the average gym rat can’t do that.

Is it necessary to be able to do that? NO. That is simple, it’s not needed to develop a nice physique, a strong physique do being able to get in the awkward position of a one-arm one-leg push up position and bang out reps to be and to get strong. Barbell benches will get you there, and so will dumbbell presses. So what’s the point of my rambling? I will tell you..

Being able to handle your own bodyweight in exercises (and there are more) above, will you make you a very complete, alround strength athlete. Fact is you can handle a heavy barbell, but when you can’t handle your own bodyweight in a series of exercises, something seems ‘off’ to me. Now I will be frank, and tell you that I have never looked into bodyweight exercises. Heavy barbells, dumbbells or even machines made more sense to me. But now, being in a sabbatical from the gym, I am using almost just that, bodyweight exercises.

Is there any proof to all of this? Yes, there is. And if you have ever seen gymnastics on tv, you will become a believer. Gymnasts have the best physiques out there (excepts for the leg development, because they always wear those somewhat gayish pants). Delts that look like cannonballs, biceps that make bodybuilders jealous and ripped up chests and abs, not even mentioning the strong and thick back development. And the muscles are all go, and functional as hell!

Here is a quote from an article of C. Sommers, professional gymnastic instructor and host of gymnastic bodies.com. : “I've seen many gymnasts capable of planche push-ups do double bodyweight bench presses on their first attempts. Conversely, I've never seen a weightlifter capable of doing a double bodyweight bench press even come close to a planche push-up initially.”

I have set up a pair of rings in the garage, and even the simplest of exercises were giving me a very hard time. Supporting own weight, I am back to around 91-90kg, is hard. L- seats, L- pull ups, front levers or back levers, every muscle in your body will be shaking and squeezing hard! If you have a set of rings somewhere, do some flys or just your regular push ups/ dips, and you too will be feeling a whole different sensation in your body.

Ring training will have your whole body contracting hard to support your own weight, and adding a few exercises to your regimen of training can make you a stronger athlete. If ring training is not your cup of tea, I would just ask one thing of you. Try it. And if you are a bodybuilder in search of some strong abs, I suggest you TRY IT.. And if you are a powerlifter and want to push some more weight, TRY IT, because getting into some hanging supports or doing some tricep extension when leaning into the rings will make your triceps work very VERY hard..

Right now, in my own training, pistols are still giving me some trouble due to lack of flexness, but I squeeze out one good ass to calf rep, one arm and one leg push ups for 2, and pull ups done for reps up to 15. Not bad. As far as the ring stuff goes, that’s all new to me and right now I am working on two basic skills, the front and back lever. www.beastskills .com has some good articles about this, as well as www.ringtraining.com.

 

So to come into a conclusion, bodyweight training can spice up your regular training and make you a more complete lifter. Have a go at it, and see if you can benefit from it. I bet you will be humbled...

Theo

Comments

[Mike]

I love the idea! Nick hooked me into jump training, so I think I'll give your's a whirl as well. How have you set up your rings? How high off the floor are they? By the way, I've always admired the gymnast ring guys, knowing full well I couldn't do what they do. And they keep a straight face while doing it...like the T-bar pic you have posted there. Maybe it's good inspiration to try. Great idea! Thanks.

[Theo Burggraaff]

Hi Mike, give it a try! I had some steel welded into rings, attached some rope n hung them in the garage. looping etra long rope i can adjust the height. For example pushups with the rings nearly touching the ground is much harder than having them at hip level and doing pushups while leaning into them. Be sure to check out ringtraining.com and gymnasticbodies.com for some example exercises..

Make sure to try L-sit and pull ups, let me know if you were humbled!

[Mike]

Thanks. I'll see if I can work on getting some rings fabricated. Thanks for the other websites also.