Body weight workouts, when mixed with free weights, offers so much training variety it would fill up several thousand plus pages textbook volumes. Your training will never be stale or boring. In a fundamental sense, body weight exercises are still resistance movements requiring no additional exercise equipment. The body weight itself serves as resistance when the muscles contract and relax from the movement's execution.
Take a look at the simple pushup. You can make the pushup more difficult by wearing a weight vest loaded with 40 lbs of weight plates or just wear a filled backpack. For another degree of difficulty, do weighted pushups on rings. Do them elevated on a chair. Do one-arm pushups, finger pushups, hindu pushups with the weight vest, or any of the dozens of variety of pushup variations. It's still resistance training.
Now mix it with free weight movements for a more dynamic workout for strength and conditioning. The combination of body weight and free weights training has a dual effect of elevating heart rate (when combined using a density, circuit, or alternating set approach), improving work capacity (methed of GPP General Physical Preparedness to improve recovery capabilities), and stressing the aerobic and anaerobic conditioning energy systems for faster and more efficient permanent fat loss.
To get an idea of how you can mix body weight movements and free weight exercises into a combination training routine, here are 3 sample full body routines each lasting under 30 minutes,
Routine 1, 10/10 circuit
burpees 10 reps
pullups 10 reps
weighted v-ups 10 reps (use a weight plate or dumbbell)
dumbbell clean and press 10 reps each arm
lunges with weight vest 10 reps each leg
plank hold for 1 minute
The above routine alternates a full body, upper body, abdominal, and lower body movements. Burpees is full body exercise followed by pullups as upper body, v-ups for abdominals, clean and press as full body again, lunges as lower body movement, and the abs are worked again with a plank hold for 1 minute.
Repeat the circuit 3 more times for a total of 4 times. Take 2 minute rest in between each circuit and 20-30 seconds rest between each exercise within the circuit. Noticed the workout consists of 3 body weight exercises and 3 free weights movements.
Routine 2, 8 minutes Tabata blitz
The tabata blitz is based off of Dr. Tabata's 4 minute study on anaerobic conditioning,
barbell rows 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, repeat 4 times, do as many barbell rows in 20 seconds, then rest 10 seconds and repeat for a total of 4 times
pushups 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, repeat 4 times
dumbbell squat thrusters 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, repeat 4 times
jumping jacks 20 seconds, rest 10 seconds, repeat 4 times, this serves as the "wind down" movement as it's the least strenuous of the movements in this circuit
The above routine could be completed in 8 minutes as you're combining several tabata intervals using 4 movements
Routine 3, Basic Ladder
The basic ladder is based off of a Navy SEAL preparatory training program. You ramp the number of repetitions done for each exercise up and then go back down.
pushups 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
situps 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5
pullups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
dips or bench press 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2
chinups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
crunches 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5
Do one exercise for one set after another exercise. For example, do 2 reps of pushups, then 5 reps of situps, 1 rep of pullup, 2 reps of bench press, 1 rep of chinup, and 5 reps of crunches. That completes 1 circuit. Rest 30-60 seconds between circuits and continue going up the ladder of reps and down until all circuits are done.
This is the lengthiest workout of the week. Shorten it and set your own workout parameters using the ladder framework. The ladder framework is also a great way to get a lot of training volume without taking up too much time.
The above routines blend body weight movements with free weight compound lifts for a multi-dimensional workout that builds strength, strength endurance, and aerobic/anaerobic conditioning.
Train Hard. Train Safely. Train Smart.
If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to leave a comment below or email me at ZQH245@gmail.com or ZQH250@gmail.com
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