5 Ways To Add Challenge To Bodyweight Exercises To Build Muscle and Strength Fast
Bodyweight training is the oldest and one of the most effective means of adding muscle and strength to the body.
For athletes, bodyweight training should be an essential tool.
Lots of athletes and trainees alike by-pass bodyweight training all together to hit the "big" weight in thinking that lifting heavy weights is the key to all muscle and strength building.
This concept is way wrong! Bodyweight training alone has so many different variations and modifications that an athlete or trainee could actually go without lifting heavy weights for a long time and still manage to build lots of muscle and strength fast.
Lifting weights should still be apart of a serious athlete's and trainee's core regiment, but if heavy weight's aren't available, here's 7 different ways how you can add muscle and strength via bodyweight training modifications.
1) Explosive - Plyometric Bodyweight Exercises are key to fast strength and muscle gain Instead of doing the normal slow paced bodyweight movements, try adding in explosive movements such as squat jumps, lunge jumps, plyo push ups, and even explosive pull ups and rows.
The science behind explosive movement training, or plyometrics is when you perform movements at the highest velocity possible, you recruit close to all of your muscle fibers which in short, will help increase strength and muscle gain.
Throw plyometric movements into the first part of your training workouts for best rests and keep the rep range around 5-8 and no more.
2) Adding Chain Resistance - Adding in resistance in the form of chains help blow your muscle and strength gain through the roof with bodyweight training Normal push ups and all of it variations can get a little dull and unproductive at times.
What you can do to change all of that is add in chains for more resistance and challenge.
Simply throw the chains around your next and hit your normal push ups.
You can also add in chains for squats, lunges, rows, pull ups.
The best chains to get are the thicker versions with 1 inch to 1/2 inch thickness that are usually 2 feet in length and weight around 20-25 lbs each.
Chains are easily removable or added in to the different bodyweight movements which make them even more useful.
3) Suspended Bodyweight Training - Using Blast Strap and TRX are two ways to add in suspended bodyweight training for strength and muscle gain.
What suspension training is in a nutshell, is when part or all of the body is suspended above ground.
this forces the body to work extremely hard to perform normal movements such as push ups, rows, single leg squats variations, and even plank and other abdominal movements.
Using the TRX and Blast Straps are great ways to challenge the whole body and add in muscle and strength fast.
Make sure to give it a try! 4) No More Failure - Stop training bodyweight movements to failure all the time.
This will actually decease results.
When you go to failure, you fatigue your body down to the point where it can be a huge stress on the body.
When you do this set after set after set, your body begins to get highly over trained.
This is no good.
You body only gets stronger at rest and only grows muscle when at rest.
The more you train to failure, the more rest and recovery time you take away from you body.
A good rule of thumb is to "leave a few reps in the tank".
Go until your movement slows down and when you have to start grinding out reps, stop.
Stay a little bit fresh.
This will be hard at first because so many people are used to training to failure on everything they train for on every set.
Give it a try and your results will prosper! 5) Go Solo - Use single arm and single leg variations to blow through plateaus and increase strength and muscle even more.
When you basic two arm, two leg movements get easy, why not take it to the next level and hit single arm and leg variations of the same movements? You're results will only go up! For example, when you hit a plateau with your push ups, try hitting single arm variations for about 3-4 weeks.
Yeah, your reps won't be anywhere close to your two arm reps, but trust me when I say your strength will go up for sure! You can do the same with pull ups too! Another way to go is with your two legged bodyweight movements.
take your normal squats and do your single leg squat or pistol squat variation for 3-4 weeks.
You'll come back and each leg singly will be stronger and you'll pack on more muscle faster.
Challenge yourself with single arm and leg movements and variations for extreme gains in strength and muscle.
Well, there you have it! 5 ways to take your bodyweight training to new heights! Give them a try and you'll see your muscle building and strength go through the roof in no time at all!
For athletes, bodyweight training should be an essential tool.
Lots of athletes and trainees alike by-pass bodyweight training all together to hit the "big" weight in thinking that lifting heavy weights is the key to all muscle and strength building.
This concept is way wrong! Bodyweight training alone has so many different variations and modifications that an athlete or trainee could actually go without lifting heavy weights for a long time and still manage to build lots of muscle and strength fast.
Lifting weights should still be apart of a serious athlete's and trainee's core regiment, but if heavy weight's aren't available, here's 7 different ways how you can add muscle and strength via bodyweight training modifications.
1) Explosive - Plyometric Bodyweight Exercises are key to fast strength and muscle gain Instead of doing the normal slow paced bodyweight movements, try adding in explosive movements such as squat jumps, lunge jumps, plyo push ups, and even explosive pull ups and rows.
The science behind explosive movement training, or plyometrics is when you perform movements at the highest velocity possible, you recruit close to all of your muscle fibers which in short, will help increase strength and muscle gain.
Throw plyometric movements into the first part of your training workouts for best rests and keep the rep range around 5-8 and no more.
2) Adding Chain Resistance - Adding in resistance in the form of chains help blow your muscle and strength gain through the roof with bodyweight training Normal push ups and all of it variations can get a little dull and unproductive at times.
What you can do to change all of that is add in chains for more resistance and challenge.
Simply throw the chains around your next and hit your normal push ups.
You can also add in chains for squats, lunges, rows, pull ups.
The best chains to get are the thicker versions with 1 inch to 1/2 inch thickness that are usually 2 feet in length and weight around 20-25 lbs each.
Chains are easily removable or added in to the different bodyweight movements which make them even more useful.
3) Suspended Bodyweight Training - Using Blast Strap and TRX are two ways to add in suspended bodyweight training for strength and muscle gain.
What suspension training is in a nutshell, is when part or all of the body is suspended above ground.
this forces the body to work extremely hard to perform normal movements such as push ups, rows, single leg squats variations, and even plank and other abdominal movements.
Using the TRX and Blast Straps are great ways to challenge the whole body and add in muscle and strength fast.
Make sure to give it a try! 4) No More Failure - Stop training bodyweight movements to failure all the time.
This will actually decease results.
When you go to failure, you fatigue your body down to the point where it can be a huge stress on the body.
When you do this set after set after set, your body begins to get highly over trained.
This is no good.
You body only gets stronger at rest and only grows muscle when at rest.
The more you train to failure, the more rest and recovery time you take away from you body.
A good rule of thumb is to "leave a few reps in the tank".
Go until your movement slows down and when you have to start grinding out reps, stop.
Stay a little bit fresh.
This will be hard at first because so many people are used to training to failure on everything they train for on every set.
Give it a try and your results will prosper! 5) Go Solo - Use single arm and single leg variations to blow through plateaus and increase strength and muscle even more.
When you basic two arm, two leg movements get easy, why not take it to the next level and hit single arm and leg variations of the same movements? You're results will only go up! For example, when you hit a plateau with your push ups, try hitting single arm variations for about 3-4 weeks.
Yeah, your reps won't be anywhere close to your two arm reps, but trust me when I say your strength will go up for sure! You can do the same with pull ups too! Another way to go is with your two legged bodyweight movements.
take your normal squats and do your single leg squat or pistol squat variation for 3-4 weeks.
You'll come back and each leg singly will be stronger and you'll pack on more muscle faster.
Challenge yourself with single arm and leg movements and variations for extreme gains in strength and muscle.
Well, there you have it! 5 ways to take your bodyweight training to new heights! Give them a try and you'll see your muscle building and strength go through the roof in no time at all!
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