Topic: Some of the best bodweight training you can get

[kettlebellcrazy]

I've been involved with this one sight that is focused on a "cult-like" following of people that use kettlebells. If you don't know what they are, go here. But aside from that, the guy who brought them to the US from Russia is also an amazing trainer. I've used his "Naked Warrior" book of bodyweight training to help rehab my knee after I tore my ACL last year. He uses two main exercises; one called the "Pistol," which is a form of a one legged squat, and the One-Arm Pushup. I was surprised how good my legs and whole body felt afterwards. They require great stability which builds your core and definitely builds functional strength.

He uses this formula called "Grease the Groove" which is basically doing sets of about 5 many times throughout the day. Proper form and tension is an aboslute must and focus is necessary. My legs are more stable now than before my injury. If anyone is interested further I'd be more than happy to get into it a little deeper.


*I am not affiliated with any of these companies, just trying to help ppl out b/c it sure as hell helped me out a lot.

[Steven Low]

Some of my favorites are from Coach Sommer's front lever and planche progression article. I'm sure most of us have seen it, but I'll post the link anyway.

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/

And yes, grease the groove is an awesome method of training especially for increasing strength and endurance quickly on particular exercises.

[Gearsighted]

Yep, I link to their bodyweight stuff all the time! Thanks for the link

[PrincessPK]

Word.

Pavel is an excellent trainer.

[kettlebellcrazy]

Finally! Another place besides dragondoor which knows of and likes the kind of training they talk about there. I just joined and already I'm liking this place, lol.

[Steven Low]

Finally! Another place besides dragondoor which knows of and likes the kind of training they talk about there. I just joined and already I'm liking this place, lol.

On the internet, you will find that the most knowledgable people are those who advocate bodyweight training, oly lifting as well as weightlifting. In this regard, it is mainly only at sites that emphasize bodyweight exercises that you can find most of these people with a few notable exceptions like programs for football players as well as programs like CrossFit. Most of us who are concerned about increasing strength (and strength to bodyweight ratio) as well as staying functional are the ones who know about different methods of training for different goals. Unfortunately the largest "fitness" group, the weightlifting/bodybuilding communty, sees a lot of pretty much everything except weights useless including oly lifting. If they only knew that by gaining strength it is easier to gain mass in the long run as mass is mainly a function of diet.

[PrincessPK]

Bodybuilders would really benefit from including some oly lifts in their program. Personally I have not implemented these in my progams so far but it's the first thing I'll do in september. I wanted to build some general strenght through other exercises before tackling these. I remember reading somewhere that the olympic lifters were some of the most complete athletes out there... It totally makes sense to me. You gotta say though that you CAN build functional strenght through weight lifting alone, you just need to know how to train. I have to agree that your average trainee is not building functional strenght but rather getting ready to show some skin at the beach. It's weird that so many people work out with the only motivation to "look good".