Pump Yourself Up with Bodyweight Calisthenic Exercise

Bodyweight calisthenics exercise is cheap and convenient. The only piece of equipment you might want to have is a pull-up bar. You can do a bodyweight calisthenic exercise routine at home or on the road - no need for a gym. Many people don't think you can build big muscles without weights, but those people probably haven't heard of former NFL great Herschel Walker.

It's not necessary to follow Walker's 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups a day routine to build muscle with calisthenics, however. This full-body workout uses a system of sets and reps that will pump you up without endless repetitions. You only do the workout three days a week, and it should take around 30-45 minutes per workout. For each exercise, do three sets like this:

1) Do maximum reps with perfect form. Rest one minute.

2) Do the same number of reps with perfect form as you did in set one. If you have to, pause a few seconds between reps to complete the last few. Rest one minute.

3) Do the same number of reps with perfect form as you did in set one. If you reach a point where you have to pause more than few seconds between reps, change to an easier variation of the exercise to complete the set. For example, if you were doing regular push-ups, change to push-ups from the knees to finish the set.

If you find yourself able to do three sets of maximum reps with one minute rest without having to pause or change to an easier variation of the exercise even in the third set, there are two possible explanations: you did not do maximum reps in your first set, and/or you were not using perfect form. Remember that the numbers don't mean anything in and of themselves. They're just a way of measuring progress. Effort is what counts. Don't cheat yourself by cheating.

Sample Routine
1) Hindu squats (half knee bends)
2) Wide-armed push-ups (push-ups from knees)
3) Pull-ups (negatives)
4) Dive bomber push-ups (Hindu push-ups)
5) Sit-ups (crunches)
6) Supermans (Raise only upper body.)
7) Calf raises on 4-6 inch block (calf raises on floor)

The exercise in parentheses is an example of an easier variation of the exercise.

To get a pump, you need to do some repetitions, but, when you reach sets of 30-50 repetitions for an exercise, change to a harder variation. For example, you could substitute split squats or pistols for Hindu squats, decline push-ups for regular push-ups, V-ups for sit-ups, and so on. You can then use the variation you were doing as your new easier variation.

By concentrating on doing the exercises with perfect form, you should be able to avoid pain from injury. However, you may experience an excruciating level of soreness after your first workout. The Navy SEALs say that kind of "pain is just weakness leaving the body." Nevertheless, for the first week you may want to (or need to) allow two days recovery between workouts. For example, if you planned to work out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, you may need to change to Monday, Thursday, and Sunday for the first week. The second week, try Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. By the third week, you should be on schedule and on your way to a more muscular physique.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

Double Your Pull-ups in Six Weeks or Less

The pull-up is the king of upper body exercises. Being able to pull up one's own body weight is one of the most useful tests of functional strength. Elite military units, such as Navy SEALs and Air Force Special Tactics, want their members to be able to do at least 20 pull-ups. As a freshman in high school, I watched a classmate (a heavily muscled swimmer) do 47 during lunch recess. However, the overwhelming majority of men and women (Yes, women can do pull-ups.) can't even do 10. If you would like to dramatically improve your upper body strength, here is the program I used to double my pull-up totals in only five weeks.

Major Charles Lewis Armstrong, USMC, used this routine to prepare himself for an attempt to set a world record for pull-ups. The Armstrong pull-up program consists of two workouts per day, five days a week. Before you faint at the thought of violating the "laws" of fitness that restrict exercise to 3 days a week every other day, remember that the amount of recovery time needed from exercise varies with the type, volume, and intensity. The military typically uses a Monday through Friday training schedule for calisthenics.

Monday: Do five maximum effort sets. Rest 90 seconds between each set. Make sure that each set is a maximum effort set, but don't concern yourself with numbers. You will probably increase the numbers in the last two sets before you see much improvement in the first three.

Tuesday: Pyramid Day. Start the pyramid with one repetition, the next set has two repetitions, the next has three. Rest 10 seconds for each repetition in the previous set. Continue adding reps to each set until you miss a set. That means, if your last set was five, and your next set should be six, but you could only do four, you missed a set. Then finish your workout with one more set at a maximum effort.

Wednesday: Do three “training sets” of overhand pull-ups, three sets of underhand pull-ups, and three sets of overhand pull-ups where the back of your neck touches the bar. Rest 60 seconds between sets. A training set is determined by your current level of strength. If you are advanced, it might be 5 or 6. The goal of the workout is to do the same number of repetitions per set, so start off conservatively. If you can only do one, use one. You must complete nine training sets for this workout.

Thursday: Do the maximum number of training sets that you can. Use the same number of repetitions that you used in your Wednesday sets. Rest 60 seconds between each set. Do training sets until you miss a set.

Friday: Repeat the day that you found to be the hardest in the previous four days. This may vary from week to week.

Most people who stick with this program are able to double their pull-ups in 4-6 weeks. In addition to pull-ups, Major Armstrong did three maximum effort sets of push-ups every morning, and then did his pull-up routine 3-4 hours later. That workout schedule is probably not convenient for most people, but it doesn't have to be followed exactly. Just be sure to do the pull-up routine separately from the push-ups. Though I don't recommend it, you could also skip the push-ups unless you're training for a fitness test which includes push-ups.

Unless you are facing a make-or-break fitness test, I personally wouldn't follow this program longer than 6-8 weeks even if you haven't reached your ultimate goal number. Change to a different exercise routine, while maintaining your pull-up gains by doing 5 sets of 50% of your max, five days a week, or doing your max reps at least twice a week. In other words, if you want to maintain the ability to do 20 pull-ups, do 5 sets of 10, five days a week, or do a set of 20 at least twice a week. After 1-2 months, you should be able to go back to the Armstrong pull-up program at about the same place you left off and push on to the next level.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder Workout

If you think you're in pretty good physical condition, then try this workout, which I call the "Ultimate Burpee Ladder." This workout will separate the contenders from the pretenders, and leave the pretenders puking their guts out.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder consists of one classic exercise, the "burpee." This exercise works your chest, arms, front deltoids, thighs and abs. The burpee is a six-count exercise:

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands raised over your head. Then squat down and place your palms on the floor by your feet.

2) Kick both of your legs back so that you're in push-up position.

3) Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest touches the floor.

4) Push yourself back up.

5) At the end of the push-up, quickly pull both knees into your chest while keeping your hands on the floor. You're jumping back into the squat position of step one.

6) Stand straight up by straightening your legs and throwing your hands in the air over your head. You're now in the position that you started in. You can make the burpee more advanced and increase the explosive power in your legs by jumping into the air as you stand up.

To do the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout, go to a football or soccer field, a track, or some other place where there is a clear area at least a 100 meters long. If you thought the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout was only going to be burpees, you were so, so wrong. In between sets of burpees, you will be doing 100 yard sprints.

Take 5-10 minutes to do a light warm-up. If you're going to be doing the workout on a football or soccer field, position yourself at the goal line. Sprint the length of the field to the other goal line and then immediately do 10 burpees. Then sprint back to where you started and do 12 burpees. Continue sprinting and increasing the number of burpees in each set by two until you reach 24. By the way, notice that I did not say jog or even run; I said sprint. Sprint means "to race or move at full speed." The workout ends when you can't complete a set of burpees without stopping to rest, or you can't sprint.

The Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout consists of 136 burpees and eight 100 yard sprints--not huge numbers. It's doing each set and sprint one after the other with no rest that makes this the Ultimate Burpee Ladder.

If you couldn't complete the workout on your first try, join the club. To improve, you need to do the workout once a week. If that's too scary to contemplate, try this modification to lessen the pain a little while you improve your conditioning. Do your sets of burpees and your sprints separately--even on separate days if you need to at first. Allow 15 seconds of rest between sets of burpees, and 30 seconds of rest between 100 yard sprints. The same rules apply: when you have to stop in the middle of a set of burpees, or you can't maintain a sprint, the workout is over.

Many of you will be afraid to even try this workout. Others will be afraid to try it a second time. But for those of you who believe that "pain is just weakness leaving the body," completing the Ultimate Burpee Ladder workout will be a challenge that you just can't walk away from. Oo-Rah!

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.The Ultimate Burpee Ladder Workout

Bodyweight Exercise: The Two Best Bodyweight Exercise Programs I've Found

Bodyweight exercise routines make great workouts because they can be done at home at your convenience with little or no equipment. However, most people don't know how to put together any more than one or two basic routines, which is not enough variety to challenge the body and maintain your interest. Worse, the only way most people know how to progress with bodyweight exercises is to pile on more and more repetitions.

Fortunately, Workout without Weights and Real Man Fitness Program are two programs show how to take advantage of the convenience of bodyweight exercise routines while keeping them as challenging and interesting as any weight training program could possibly be.

Workout without Weights

Coach Eddie Lomax's "Workout without Weights" Bodyweight Calisthenics Workout Progression System is a comprehensive, progressive plan to keep the improvements coming. It's a step-by step plan which allows you to systematically take your fitness, physique, and fat loss to new levels.

This is not a generic program that works for a while and then becomes useless. It's a progressive program that changes as your needs and wants change. This is what really sets this program apart: its progression system. Most bodyweight exercise programs just tell you to pile on more and more repetitions, but not "Workout without Weights." Coach Lomax also offers a free mini-course "5 Days To Successful Bodyweight Training" to help you decide if this type of training is for you. I highly recommend this program both for its unique progression system and its modest price.

To find out more about "Workout without Weights," Click Here!

Real Man Fitness Program

Coach Zach is a former bodybuilder who finally realized that he was wasting his time doing endless sets for each muscle group with weights and turned to bodyweight exercise to get the results he was looking for. His program is an exercise program that you can do in the convenience of your own home in 15 minutes or less with little or no exercise equipment. Coach Zach offers a free mini-course called the "Real Man Interrogation Files."

To find out more about the "Real Man Fitness Program," Click Here!

Don't Just Run: Sprint!

If you've been doing long, slow cardio, such as jogging, cycling, or swimming, for awhile without losing much weight or becoming much leaner even though you keep increasing your workouts, there is a simple explanation: too much cardio actually makes you fat. Excessive cardio increases stress hormones and down regulates the hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, that preserve muscle. In additon, elevated stress hormones make you insulin resistant, which leads to overeating as well as to eating foods that contribute to insulin resistance, such as sugars and starches.

Despite their appearance, many joggers and cyclists are not really lean. They may be slender because they have little muscle mass, but their body fat percentages are often surprisingly high.. In contrast, sprinters are lean and muscular with low body fat percentages. They have high human growth hormone (HGH) and testosterone levels--good for both females and males. Think back to the last track meet you saw. Who would you rather look like: the sprinters or the distance runners?

Benefits of Sprinting

1) Sprinting will reduce body fat and strengthen you far more than long, slow cardio because sprinting requires maximal recruitment of muscle. After about 8 seconds, sprinting sends acid signals to the muscles, which activates the fast twitch fibers. Fast-twitch fibers are thicker than slow twitch fibers, and it is fast twitch fibers that grow in size when activated by the right training.

2) Sprinting naturally increases human growth hormone. Human growth hormone increases muscle mass, thickens and adds flexibility to the skin, enhances the immune system, promotes weight loss through fat redistribution and loss, and increases stamina.

3) Sprinting strengthens your cardiovascular system with brief bursts of high intensity followed by long periods of recovery. You strengthen your skeletal muscles by doing heavy, low-repetition sets with long recoveries. You should strengthen your heart the same way. Sprinting doesn't cause the continuous stress on the heart that long, slow cardio does.

4) Sprint workouts are short and a lot more fun than long, boring cardio workouts.

The Definition of Sprinting

Based on the misleading articles and workouts I've seen posted all over the web, I'd better define what sprinting is. Sprinting is not just running faster than a jog. You cannot "sprint" for 30-60 second or even more with an equal recovery for 6-10 repetitions as some fitness "experts" advise. This is an anaerobic or interval workout. It's far better for you than plodding along the road or on a treadmill, but it's not sprinting and won't give you the benefits mentioned above. Sprint means "to race or move at full speed." Think playing tag or running to first base after a hit. Sprint workouts feature short, high-intensity repetitions and long, easy recoveries.

Where to Do a Sprint Workout

A track is the best place to do sprints because it's marked (in meters), and its surface is ideal for sprinting. A grass or dirt surface is next best; however, check your course for gopher holes and such before starting your sprints. Twisting an ankle will end your sprint workouts for awhile. The one place not to do your sprint workout is on concrete. Your back will thank you.

How to Do a Sprint Workout

Start your workout by warming up for about 5 minutes. Measure out a course from 50-100 yards (or meters) long. Remember that you need to sprint at least 8 seconds before your body sends the signals that produce human growth homone. Do 5-10 repetitions. The total distance of your sprints should not exceed 400-800 yards or meters. Between repetitions, walk slowly at least twice the distance that you ran. This should take from 1-2 minutes. Don't jog to "keep your heart rate up." You need to recover so that each repetition can be run at close to full speed. No matter what workout you planned, if you reach a point where you can't sprint because of fatigue, quit. Jogging to "finish" the workout won't do you any good since intensity is the objective, not volume.

If you're out of your teens and haven't been sprinting for a year or more, you will probably not be able to sprint at full speed right away. You should allow yourself at least a week for every decade you've lived to build up to full speed sprinting. In other words, if you're 40 and haven't been doing any sprinting in the past year, allow at least 4 weeks of gradually increasing the speed of your sprints before trying to go full speed in your workout. Even then, it doesn't hurt to hold back a little on the first repetition or two of each session.

How Often to Do a Sprint Workout

If you're running, cycling, swimming, etc. in addition to sprinting, limit your sprint workouts to twice a week with at least 48-72 hours between. If you're not doing anything else but strength training, you can go to 3 times a week if you want.

Sprinting is a natural and valuable human activity. If you think back to when you were a kid, how many times did you jog for miles? Almost never, right? On the other hand, you probably sprinted nearly every day on the playground, the athletic field, or just down the street. If you want to maintain a youthful body, you have to continue to do the things that youthful bodies naturally do. Sprinting is one of those things.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

The Prison Workout: A Total Body Exercise Routine

Some prison inmates have nothing but a sink, a toilet, their bed, and a few square feet of space at their disposal. They need an exercise routine that can be done in a confined space without equipment. The "Prison Workout," which was nicknamed by some people who saw prisoners without access to weights doing it, is designed to develop strength, endurance, speed, agility, and balance. It also produces gains in muscle, losses in body fat, and plenty of stamina. It is a total body and cardio workout.

The Prison Workout consists of one classic exercise, the "burpee." This exercise works your chest, arms, front deltoids, thighs and abs. The burpee is a six-count exercise:

1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands raised over your head. Then squat down and place your palms on the floor by your feet.

2) Kick both of your legs back so that you're in push-up position.

3) Bend your elbows and lower your body until your chest touches the floor.

4) Push yourself back up.

5) At the end of the push-up, quickly pull both knees into your chest while keeping your hands on the floor. You're jumping back into the squat position of step one.

6) Stand straight up by straightening your legs and throwing your hands in the air over your head. You're now in the position that you started in. You can make the burpee more advanced and increase the explosive power in your legs by jumping into the air as you stand up.

The Prison Workout is done in descending sets. For example, begin by doing 20 burpees without stopping. Rest 30 seconds, and then do 19 burpees without stopping. Rest 30 seconds and do 18 burpees. Continue doing descending sets until you get down to a final set of 1 burpee. That makes a total of 210 burpees.

For most people, 20 sets will be too much to start with. In that case, pick a lower number of sets like 15 or 10 or even fewer for your first workout. Then add a set every 1-2 weeks until you reach your goal. In prison, doing 20 descending sets without stopping is the minimum to be considered a "man." If you can do 25 sets, you're considered to be pretty tough, and, if you can do 30 sets, you're considered a "stud." If you're doing other exercises in addition to this workout, do your burpee workout 3 times per week on cardio days.

If some of you who've read this far are thinking to yourselves, "This Prison Workout is too easy. I'm looking for a man's workout," try one of these advanced variations of the basic burpee.

1) If you have access to pull-up bars, at step 6, jump up and do a pull-up. That will add 210 or more pull-ups to the workout.

2) Place dumbbells on the floor. Use the dumbbells as push-up bars for steps 1-5. At step 6, clean the dumbbells to your shoulders, press them overhead, and then set them back down for the next repetition. In other words, add an overhead press to each burpee. Be sure to use the solid, hexagonal dumbbells rather than the adjustable kind.

By itself, the Prison Workout will strip fat from your body, add muscle, and build stamina. Alternate it with a weight training routine, and you may be mistaken for a Greek god, or, at least, for an ex-convict.

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.

Cardio or Strength Training First?

Many people need to do their cardio and strength training in the same exercise session because of their schedule or need to use fitness center facilities and/or equipment. Even experienced exercisers sometimes ask the question: should I do cardio or strength training first? Unfortunately, no one answer applies to everybody. It all depends on what your goals are. Once you've set your goals, though, it's easy to decide which to do first.

If you're a runner, swimmer, or cyclist (or all three) and strength training is intended to improve your sports performance and prevent injuries, do your cardio before your strength training. If you do strength training first, you will deplete the tremendous amount of energy you need to do hard endurance training. Training for endurance sports is so taxing, in fact, that many athletes don't feel like doing strength training afterwards. Don't go to that extreme, but you do have to be realistic. Your weights and reps are going to be less than what they would be if you hadn't done cardio exercise first. As long as you're putting forth your best effort and making progress, just relax and accept it.

If you're a strength athlete, such as a weightlifter, football player, or thrower, and cardio is intended to give you more endurance for your lifting or throwing and control your weight, do your cardio after your strength training. Your goal is to lift the most weight, the most times that you can, so you need to save the cardio for after your strength training. Doing cardio before will sap your strength.

If you're preparing for a military or law enforcement physical fitness, you need to find out the order of events in the test. Are the strength exercises done before the run and/or swim, or after? Whichever it is, do your workout in exactly the same order as the test is given. If for some reason you can't find out the order of the test, do your cardio after strength training. That's the typical order.

What if you're training for all-around fitness? In that case, alternate doing cardio before strength training and doing cardio after strength training. That will ensure equal development of both cardiovascular fitness and strength; plus, it's more realistic. Primitive humans, who were always in excellent physical conition, usually walked and jogged to the hunt or battle. Then they sprinted and did strength work (spear throwing, fighting, wrestling, etc.). However, often they would have to chase game or enemies (or run from them) afterwards too. On the other hand, sometimes they were surprised by an animal or ambushed by enemies and had to do their strength work first to defend themselves, and then do some cardio afterwards to get away. To be fit the way humans were meant to be, you need to be able to do either cardio and strength training when you're partially fatigued.

I hate it when authors say you have to decide for yourself and won't give a definitive answer, but you can see that this is a question that you really do have to answer for yourself. To put it simply, decide which activity is most important to your goals: cardio or strength training. Do that one first. If it's neither, then alternate doing one before the other. Is that definitive enough?

For a free mini course on how to simultaneously improve strength and conditioning while burning fat, click here. Read my review of the two best bodyweight exercise courses you can choose.