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
