Perhaps the Toughest Workout Ever?
Despite what many gym rats think, the most simple bodyweight workouts can be extremely intense, no matter what the exercise choices are…even with just pushups and situps. You can build lean muscle with bodyweight workouts.
Building lean muscle mass is all about resistance training, strength training and overload. As long as you give your body reason enough to grow through supplying extra weight you’ll grow. Tax your body with some and/or any form of weight and you’ll build and gain lean muscle mass.
photo credit: lachicaresaka
Now the bodyweight workouts probably look easy on paper, but when you dive in, it will kick your butt if you’re not a highly-conditioned athlete.
In the end, what matters most is the execution of those exercises. If you’re going to do just a few sets of pushups and situps for 5 reps each, the workout will being easy. But if you crank out as many reps as you can until muscle failure, it might just be the most sweat-dripping workout you’ve ever done.
Don’t believe me?
Try it and prove it to yourself. I’m going to show you how to build lean muscle with this sample workout. Adjust the parameters, exercises, volume and frequency to your fitness level and liking to reap the benefits of muscle gain. Here’s one edged-in truth about building lean muscle with bodyweight workouts:
Bodyweight workouts are only as tough as you make them.
Good exercise routines are all about doing, doing, and doing. The exercises don’t have to be the best because there really isn’t any one best exercise to meet all goals. If you’re short on time or have no access to the gym, just drop to the floor and work a routine.
Take a look at the workout below. Copy it or print this article out. Now read through this workout and then stop, drop to the floor and get working. Do the workout. A reminder though: only attempt if you are fairly healthy.
The workout goes by an A1/A2 format. Do A1 exercise first. Immediately follow with A2, A3, A4, and A5 exercises. The 5 exercises done consecutively is one circuit. After one circuit, you’re done.
Routine:
A1- pushups to positive muscle failure with rest pause.
Failure means to keep doing pushups without stopping. Keep on cranking out those pushups until you can’t do another full repetition with good form. Then take 15 deep breaths for rest. Do a few more reps after resting. This is the rest pause phase. You’re allowing the body just enough time to recover muscle strength for some extra reps. Repeat rest pause until you do 20 more reps.
A2- body weight leg squats: Do 100 repetitions as fast as you can. You may rest but keep it to a minimal.
A3- high jumps
(stand in position and jump as high as you can): 20 jumps non-stop + rest pause 10 reps using A1 format.
A4- crunches: 100
total. Rest as needed but keep rest to a minimal.
A5- bench dips: 100 total. Rest as needed but keep rest to a minimal
A6- pushups: 2 sets to failure, rest no more than 1 min between each set, we start the routine with pushups and end with pushups.
End of workout. That’s it. You’re done!
Key factors:
1) Rest only a maximum of 60-90 seconds between each exercise in the
circuit.
2) The goal is to move quickly from A1 to A2 to A3, and so on until the
circuit is completed.
3) Use excellent to good exercise form for all exercises (this goes for all types of resistance/strength training with body weight, free weights, and resistance bands).
4) If you cannot complete the required reps, stop then take a 2-3 minute
break and move on to the next exercise.
Now this routine should take about about 15 minutes to finish for the average person in average physical condition. After finishing, how do you feel? Could this be the toughest workout you’ve ever done?
If you’re really inspired and pumped up with some energy left, head out to your local park and run a mile as fast as you can. Make it a sprint. If you don’t know how long a mile is, then run as fast as you can for 5 minutes. Don’t forget to drink hydrate. I bet you’re breathing extremely
fast and heavy by now.
These are the most simple body weight exercises you can do at home or
anywhere. It doesn’t require any fancy equipment.
Pushups, bodyweight squats, high
jumps, crunches, bench dips.
None of those exercises require any equipment except for a bare, sturdy floor and a chair for the bench dips. You’ll be breathing heavy and sweating much after this simple workout. Imagine what you can do with more complex body weight movements. Simple begets tough. Notice the workout also has a strong cardiovascular element by moving fast and keeping the rest time low between exercises.
Here’s another high intense workout using the most simple body weight
movements to build lean muscle for the more advanced. Strap on a weight vest to load up.
- Pushups for 45 seconds
- Pull-ups for 45 seconds
- Chinnies for 45 seconds
- Burpees for 45 seconds
Jumping jacks for 2 minutes
Mountain climbers for 2 minutes
This is a 6 exercise 10-minute drill with no rest in between exercises. In
this one you don’t even need a chair for bench dips.
Now, to gain and build muscle mass fast, you’ll need additional loading
resistance as the initial body weight workouts get easier and easier over time. You can add resistance with a weight vest, belt, or load up a backpack.
Stop doubting and start training with body-weight exercises if you don’t know where to start. Check out the Bodyweight Workouts Training Primer for a more detailed tutorial on setting up a long term bodyweight training program and routine for your physical fitness goals, be it fat loss, gaining muscle mass, or improving overall conditioning.
I also recommend you look into buying Ross Enamait’s Bodyweight training package at RossTraining.com to get started. Ross is one of the few who knows exactly what he’s talking about and he has the results to back it up. He gained over 12 pounds of mostly lean muscle mass using body weight exercises as the core of his workouts. Read his “hardcore experiment” article to see how he did it.
Use your body weight to your advantage and get training!
Train Hard. Train Safely. Train Smart.
Feel free to contact Me at ZQH245@gmail.com or ZQH250@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, or seeking additional advice.
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