Tag Archive for: Bodyweight Training Tips

Top 4 Bodyweight Training Myths

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Bodyweight exercsies are very quickly becoming an extremely popular way to improve ones body. But this great popularity also comes with lots of “myths” surround bodyweight training.

I’m here to clear all these up and get to the bottom of all the confusion:

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Bodyweight Training Myth #1: The Only Way to Lose Fat with Bodyweight Training is to Perform Super High Repetitions

Most people stick to basic pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. And when the workout starts to get too easy, they simply add repetitions or add sets, especially if their goal is to lose fat. The only thing this does is make a workout last incredibly long.

The real way to lose fat with bodyweight exercises is to make your workouts more intense and challenging. Do this by using intensity techniques such as circuit training. Circuit training is where you choose 4 or more exercises and perform them back to back with little to no rest in between each exercise.

Bodyweight Training Myth #2: Bodyweight Exercise is another Form of Cardio

I think there’s a confusion between bodyweight exercises and calisthenics. Calisthenics is aerobic exercises using your own bodyweight. Exercises such as jumping jacks, run in place, and high knees would be classified as calisthenics. Bodyweight training is strength exercises using your own bodyweight.

Pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats are not a form of cardio. Both bodyweight exercises and calisthenics are very good ways to use your bodyweight to lose fat. However, you do need to place a distinction between the two. These two words are not interchangeable.

Bodyweight Training Myth #3: There’s No way You can Burn fat and Build Lean Muscle mass at the Same time with Bodyweight Exercises

People are starting to understand how you can burn fat and gain muscle mass with high intensity weight training. So why can’t you do the same with bodyweight exercises? If you use exercises that challenge you enough, then you can easily burn fat and build muscle at the same time.

Once again, the formula to achieve this is to organize difficult movements into workouts using high intensity techniques. One of these techniques is circuit training. But I’ll now reveal a second effective training techniques called interval training. Interval training is simply alternating between periods of high and low intensity training intervals.

Bodyweight Training Myth #4: Bodyweight Exercises won’t work if you’re Overweight or Obese

If anything, overweight and obese individuals need to perform bodyweight exercises. This is because the greatest problem with these individuals is a lack of mobility. Greater mobility and flexibility can be achieved with very simple bodyweight movements such as the chair squat.

The chair squat is exactly what it sounds like: sit on a chair, and get up. But think about how many times we sit down and get up on a daily basis. This is the most basic function of our lives, and yet our hip muscles are not being effectively strengthened to perform such a basic activity.

Bodyweight Training (Great For Athletes and Regular Exercisers)

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Many athletes (as well as the casual exerciser), feel that they can get absolutely no benefit from bodyweight training. They feel it’s too easy for them. But i feel this is a big mistake because bodyweight exercises are essential for training athletes, as well as help exercisers of all skill levels burn fat, build strong muscles and improve fitness.

Lets look at some things advanced athletes and regular exercisers can do to make their workouts even more intense using bodyweight training.

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Here is what happens: We have been brainwashed to believe physical training is resistance Training (weight lifting) and Cardio. We do sets and reps of a certain exercise to target a certain muscle group with certain rest periods. Then after we are done treating the body like a bunch of parts, we do some aerobic cardio to improve the heart and lungs.

So, athletes think that doing a workout with only the resistance of their own body is too easy because there is no added resistance. And here’s the thing… if you are only getting the inflated muscles of bodybuilders, they are probably right.

However, I believe the body should be trained as one complete unit. The entire body, all the muscles as well as the heart and lungs should be challenged at the same time. The lines between resistance training and cardio training need to be blurred. I would ask the athletes, “Is your sport done in a compartmentalized way with robotic actions where strength and cardio-respiratory endurance are separate?

Or, is your entire body needed to work in unison in order to excel at your sport?” Bodyweight training is great for switching between strength exercises and “cardio” exercises seamlessly… which is an excellent way to train.

Plus, exercise is really a question of movement. And there are two types of movement: moving your own body through space, and moving objects through space. I would argue that for most athletes, being able to control and move your own body around with strength, balance, flexibility and coordination is going to help your perform better. And for the regular exerciser, bodyweight training is important to prepare your for the physical and mental challenges you face in your everyday life.

My recommendation is to blur the lines between strength training and cardio-respiratory training in the same bodyweight workout. For example, complete a circuit of push up, air squats and crunches as fast as possible without rest, and then do 50 jumping jacks before repeating the circuit 2-5 times… and repeat for 20 minutes without rest. This type of bodyweight workout targets all your muscles as well as your heart and lungs and trains the body to work as one complete unit.

I encourage you to add bodyweight training to your overall workout program regardless of whether you are a high-performance athlete or just a regular exerciser trying to improve fitness and control your weight. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how effective bodyweight training can be. And when your heart is pounding, your breathing is hard and you are laying on the ground in a pool of your own sweat, ask yourself… “Are bodyweight exercises too easy?”

Bodyweight Training – Fit to Fight

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I love this saying: “Fit to fight”. I heard this from the #1 man of bodyweight training world records Paddy Doyle. And he has it right, you need to be fit to fight. More and more men and women are taking to bodyweight training as the way to optimal fitness in record time. MMA fighters and athletes all over the world are starting to take notice of the benefits of bodyweight exercises and getting results that push them to the next level.

Using your own bodyweight as resistance is not just a few pushups and sit ups it’s so much more. Bodyweight exercises are so versatile that you never have to do the same workout again. A man that has well over 100 bodyweight and martial arts world records is a man I want to learn from. Using your own bodyweight will make you a better athlete or will burn the fat from your waste line like a spreading wild fire.


The physical fitness aspect of bodyweight training will not only work in the ring or to make you physically fit, it will make you mentally fit that will carry you in life. The more you improve using your bodyweight as resistance the more you will push yourself. You will start to push yourself farther and harder, you will start to feel as if you are unstoppable. Martial artists and other athlete’s will become faster, stronger, more explosive with a ” I’d rather die then give up” attitude. Bodyweight training will get you fit to fight either in the ring or in life.

Bodyweight training will build a physical and mental toughness that you will be proud of. So become fit to fight. A short workout you can try will only take a few minutes so no excuses on time.

Pick 4 bodyweight exercises. For example Burpees, Pushups, Jumping Jacks, Bodyweight squats. Each exercise is to be done for 1 minute with a 1 minute rest in between each exercise. After you go through this 1 time rest for 2 minutes and repeat one more time.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity you’ll be calling for oxygen soon enough.