Archive for the ‘Workout Without Weights’ Category

Proper Push Up: Do It Right Or Not At All

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

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Everyone knows how to do a proper push up.  Or do they?  Sometimes I cringe when I see men and women, or boys and girls, perform a push up.  Actually, they tell me it is a push up, but I’m not really sure!  In this article I’ll go over what you must do (and not do) in order to perform a proper push up.

But first, why should you even do push ups?

The push up is more than an upper body exercise.  It is a full body exercise requiring core stability and balance as well as strength to complete.  I’m a big fan of exercises that require the entire body because it teaches your body to function as one complete unit, instead of a bunch of unrelated parts.

So, what constitutes a proper push up?

The push up is a slow and deep lowering and raising of the body while the body remains straight and stiff.  The body has to remain stiff and straight throughout the entire lowering and raising.  The only thing that moves during the movement is the arms. The body should be straight at the top, during and at the bottom of the movement. 

This is accomplished by using your core stabilizer muscles, butt and legs to make your body as ridged as possible.  As you can see, your whole body is involved in completing a proper push up, and not just your upper body. Upper body strength and core strength must be coordinated to do a proper push up.  If either your upper body or core is weaker than the other, errors will occur and performance is reduced. If you are making any of these common mistakes, you are not performing a proper push up. 

-      Don’t sag in the middle.  Your stomach should not drop down… you must remain ridged. 

-      Don’t raise your butt.  Your butt should not be in the air in an attempt to rest or decrease the distance the proper push up must travel… remain straight. 

-      Don’t lead with the head and neck.  Don’t crane the neck and seek the ground with your nose in an attempt to shorten the push up distance… your whole body must be lowered and raised.  

-      Don’t bounce.  Your body should stop short of touching the ground… don’t hit the ground for the rebound effect. 

-      Don’t stop short.  You must complete the full range of motion to be considered a proper push up. 

-      Don’t go too fast.  Many people go fast to use elastic energy to help them complete the up movement… the tempo should be slow and steady to be considered a proper push up. 

-      Don’t rest.  If you have to stop, the set is over. If you find yourself committing any of these mistakes during the set… terminate the set. 

I would much rather you do a few great push ups than a lot of sloppy movements.  You’ll get more physical benefits by performing each repetition perfectly, than boasting high numbers of bad push ups. Now, drop and give me 20 good push ups, if you can! 

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses bodyweight exercises like push ups to improve fitness, burn fat and build an attractive physique.  No equipment necessary, so you can start today!

Bodyweight Training: How To Burn Fat And Build Muscle Without A Gym

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Bodyweight training is one of the best ways to burn fat and build muscle.  Unfortunately, most people believe (or are led to believe) they need a room full of equipment or an expensive gym membership in order to improve their physique.  They completely overlook the fat burning and muscle building potential of bodyweight exercise.  I hope this article opens your eyes to the possibilities of using the gym you were born with!

Heads up: at the end of the article I’m going to share with you one exercise that simultaneously builds muscle and burns fat.

It’s happened to all of us at one point or another (even me).  We look in the mirror one day and we notice we are softer and fatter.  While we weren’t paying attention, our muscle tone and strength has decreased, and our waist size has increased.  This is when most of say, “It’s time to hit the gym.”

But hold on a minute.  I agree, it is time to do something about your physique.  But joining a gym does not have to be the answer.  As a matter of fact, you can start burning fat and building muscle today to improve your physique.

Let me show you how bodyweight training can improve your physique in as little 15 minutes a day…

Instead of joining a gym, that you may or may not end up going to, start by adding a bodyweight training program to your daily schedule.  Come on, it is easy to find 15 minutes to exercise.  And 15 minutes is all you need to do to start feeling and looking better.  Obviously, I’d like to see you exercise even more, but let’s keep it simple at 15 minutes for now.

So, you wake up in the morning and do 15 minutes of bodyweight calisthenics.  By the way, you’ll find this more invigorating than swilling down cups of coffee.  Do this every day.  Yes, every day, and you will see great results.

Now, I can hear some of you saying, “I thought you were only supposed to exercise every other day, or 3 times a week!”

This is true, if you are on a high volume bodybuilding program!  Bodybuilders need that extra day to recover from the huge amount of training they perform.  But you are only doing 15 minutes of bodyweight exercise.  This leaves you 1,440 minutes to recover between bodyweight training sessions.  This is more than enough.

Now, if you do this every day for a week, you do 1 hour and 45 minutes of exercise.  Do you think 1 hour and 45 minutes will start to tighten your muscles and burn off extra fat?  You bet it does!

Now, for the skeptics that think bodyweight training is too “easy”, or that you can’t get a great muscle building, fat burning workout in 15 minutes, I’m going to share an exercise with you.  (Remember, I promised to do this at the beginning of the article.)

This exercise is called the Burpee – Chin Up Combo.

Here is how you do it… Stand under a chin up bar with your feet shoulders width apart and arms at your sides.  Bend your knees and squat down, placing your hands on the floor in front of you.  Kick your feet back so you are in the up position of the push up.  Perform a push up.  Jump your feet forward under your body… then explode up and grab the bar with palms facing you.  Perform a chin up.  Drop down and repeat. Do this for a few minutes and your whole body will feel it, from your muscles to your heart and lungs, and you burn a lot of fat. 

Try to do as many as you can for a full 15 minutes, and I guarantee you’ll have a new appreciation for bodyweight exercise. I hope this article has opened you eyes to the fantastic possibilities of bodyweight training.  If you need to strengthen and tone your muscles and burn fat, start changing your physique today with your own bodyweight.  Make a consistent effort every day and you’ll soon meet your goals. 

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses bodyweight calisthenics to improve fitness, burn fat and build an attractive physique.  No equipment necessary, so you can start today!

Benefits Of Bodyweight Calisthenics: See What You’ve Been Missing

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Bodyweight calisthenics are a excellent (yet often overlooked) exercise method for improving fitness, health and physique.  Just think, the very body sitting in front of the computer reading this can be used to build a strong body, burn fat, improve performance and generally improve your quality of life.If you think of all the activities you do during the day, you’ll realize how much you demand of your body.  During any given day, you squat, push, get up, sit down, twist, reach, jump, accelerate, pull and move in ways that defy description.  You ask a lot of your body.  Shouldn’t you train you body so you can get the most out of it when facing the challenges of sport, work and life?

Well, the good news is, you can easily improve the way you look, feel and perform by using bodyweight calisthenics!Let’s look at some of the benefits of bodyweight calisthenics in more detail…

-      Bodyweight calisthenics can be done anywhere, indoors or out.  This is a powerful benefit because it eliminates any excuse you could come up with.  Rain or shine, if you have a functioning body and a little floor (or ground) space, you’re ready to go! -      Bodyweight calisthenics can be done anytime.  Day or night, doesn’t matter.  You like to work out in the morning, go ahead.  You don’t even have to wait for the gym to open.  Once again, no excuses!-      You can do bodyweight calisthenics with no equipment.  Nothing to buy, you can start today.  Of course, if you wanted a pull up bar or other equipment you could use it.  (I actually recommend it).  But your body is really all you need.  Any equipment is optional.


-      Bodyweight exercises are adaptable for any fitness level.  Just getting started, great.  I recommend everyone begin their fitness journey with bodyweight calisthenics.  But, the level of difficulty and intensity can be turned up to give even elite athletes a run for their money.  So, from beginner to elite, there is a bodyweight program to challenge you!-      You can get a full body workout with bodyweight training.  And by full body I mean upper, lower, core AND the heart and lungs.  I actually believe bodyweight exercises are better for building cardiorespiratory endurance you can use in the real world than long, slow aerobic training.

-      You can simultaneously build a strong, muscular body and burn off fat.  Can you think of a better way to look your best faster than building your muscles and burning fat at the same time?  What’s left is a strong, lean body that turns heads!-      Last but not least, I think bodyweight exercise is invaluable because it trains you for all other forms of training.  Sadly, in modern society, men and women are not as naturally athletic as they once were.  Jumping into other forms of training without first getting used to the capabilities of your own body with added resistance can be unproductive and even dangerous.  Learn how to use your body first, then you’ll get more out of other training methods!

I think you’ll agree, bodyweight calisthenics should be the starting point for anyone just starting out.  But more importantly, bodyweight exercise should remain an integral part of any serious workout program.  Don’t miss out on the tremendous benefits of bodyweight calisthenics.  They really can improve your quality of life!Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses bodyweight calisthenics to improve fitness, burn fat and build an attractive physique.  No equipment necessary, so you can start today!

How To Use Bodyweight Calisthenics Instead Of Boring Cardio

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Everybody knows bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent way to get a full body workout, or at least they should know.  However, I want to explore another way you can use bodyweight exercise to improve fitness, physique and fat loss.  Try using bodyweight calisthenics instead of other “cardio” like jogging, biking, rowing, etc.

Think about your workout program.  Normally you’ll do some form of resistance training and then follow it up with some cardio work.  Most people do the “cardio” to improve endurance and burn fat.  But let me ask you a question.  What do you think is better for helping you meet your fitness, fat loss and physique goals: 20 minutes on the treadmill jogging at an easy pace, or a full body, fast paced calisthenics attack for 10-15 minutes after your resistance training?

I think the answer is obvious, but first let’s talk about cardiorespiratory endurance.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of ability your body has to gather, process, deliver and sustain oxygen to produce energy needed for the successful completion of activity.  Your respiratory system gathers and starts to process oxygen, your cardiovascular system continues to process and distributes oxygen and cardiorespiratory endurance is your respiratory and cardiovascular systems ability to work together to sustain oxygen for activity.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is characterized by healthy, effective and efficient heart and lung function needed to gather oxygen for the production and distribution of energy to the body during activity.

Having improved heart and lung function allows you to…

- Do more, longer… greatly improving performance abilities in a wide variety of sport, work and life activities.

- Perform other physical abilities better… without being winded and exhausted you will be able to produce and distribute the energy needed to perform better for a longer period of time.

- Reduce the risk of injury…  Fatigue leads to poor form and potentially dangerous movements that greatly increase the risk of injury.

- Be healthier… Healthy heart and lung function can greatly reduce the risk of disease and sickness.

- Live better… cardiorespiratory endurance carries over to every aspect of life greatly improving your quality of life.

Cardiorespiratory conditioning allows you to simultaneously keep the doctor away and improve your ability to live life to the fullest.

But did you know, improving cardiorespiratory endurance is more than just steady state aerobic activity?

Many people are brainwashed into believing the only way to positively improve cardiorespiratory conditioning is to do steady-state aerobic exercise for 20-30 minutes in your “target heart rate zone”.  But what if you used bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning by performing a 10-30 minute workout made up of bodyweight exercises without rest?

-      The bodyweight exercises (anaerobic in nature) increase your muscular endurance while bringing the heart and respiratory rates up.

-      The calisthenics exercises (aerobic in nature) lower the intensity some-what, forcing the body to lower the heart and breathing rates while still under stress… greatly improving cardiorespiratory endurance.

-      Therefore, using bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning in this fashion simultaneously improves strength endurance, heart and lung power and your body’s ability to function as one complete unit… with the added bonus of burning calories and fat even after the workout is completed! 

Don’t you agree?  Doing bodyweight calisthenics instead of steady state cardio does more to build the strong, lean, athletic body you deserve.  So, give it a try, but be forewarned.  This type of muscle blasting, heart pounding, breath taking, fat burning workout is intense, and you should work up to it progressively.  You’ll find it is much more demanding than the easy cardio workouts you are used to doing while watching TV or reading a magazine, and this is what makes it so much more effective.

If you are currently bored with your “cardio” training, or don’t feel you are getting the most out of your cardiorespiratory conditioning, try using bodyweight calisthenics for cardiorespiratory conditioning… and see what you’ve been missing!

Coach Eddie Lomax’s Workout Without Weights teaches you how to use bodyweight calisthenics to build strong, lean, well conditioned bodies that perform great and look great.

Bodyweight Training: The Biggest Problem And The Solution

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

The key to success with ANY form of physical training is PROGRESSION.  If you are not progressing, you are not improving. 

And if you’re not improving, you’re wasting your valuable training time.  Progressive training (whether it be with outside resistance like dumbbells or barbells, or with your own bodyweight) is what translates into real world physical improvements you can USE, and physique improvements you can SEE. 

So, it should go without saying that in order to get the most from your bodyweight training, you must progressively become better.  For your exercise sessions to be successful, (producing the ability and physical changes you desire), you must be making progress. 

If you are not increasing the challenge of your training on a regular basis, you are doing little more than manual labor, and you will never reach your goals. Sounds simple, but here’s the biggest problem… 

Bodyweight training is different than progression in other types of training because the weight of resistance is fixed!  Your bodyweight does not change.  So, how do you continue to progress when the weight you are using as resistance remains the same, or actually becomes less due to fat loss? 

In other forms of resistance training, there are multiple ways to progress, for example… increasing the weight you use for the exercise.  You can use heavier dumbbells.  Or you can add more weight to the bar. But these options don’t exist for bodyweight training.  And unfortunately, instead of searching for a reasonable solution to this problem, most people ONLY progress by increasing the amount of repetitions performed. 

And this is ONE way to progress. However, this SINGULAR progression approach often leads to boredom, or worse, overuse injuries.  In either case, the bodyweight training only goes so far.   So, what’s the solution? In simple terms, look to progress on multiple levels.  Be creative, and there are many ways to progress even when the weight of the resistance stays the same.  Here are a few of my favorites: 

-      Split the exercises up into Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels.  Progress by increasing the difficulty of the exercises in the program. 

-      Increase the amount of repetitions performed PER SESSION.  Don’t go for high reps per set, but increase the amount of overall reps by doing more set, circuits, rounds, etc.  In this way, you can increase the volume of your workout effectively and safely. 

-      Reduce rest periods between exercises, sets, circuits, rounds, etc.  This places greater stress on both the muscles and cardiorespiratory systems by increasing the density of the workout. 

-      Here is the most important one.  Do a combination of all three.  Simultaneously uses more difficult exercises, do more overall reps and reduce the rest periods.  Talk about a progression method that forces your body to become stronger, leaner and more fit. 

Here is the one thing you should notice.  All the above progression methods do not involve increasing the amount of resistance.  And I think these methods should be used with weighted resistance programs as well. 

As you can clearly see, bodyweight training is not limited because of the inability to add weight to the exercises.  There are many ways to progress that does not involve only adding weight. 

Multiple progression methods should be used in bodyweight exercise as well as other forms of training. 

Are you using these progression methods effectively in your training? 

Coach Eddie Lomax builds strong, lean, athletic bodies by using multiple progression methods in Workout Without Weights.  Bodyweight calisthenics are an integral part of his Athletic Body Workout.

Bodyweight Exercise For Fat Loss: Shed The Pounds!

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

Bodyweight exercise is excellent for fat loss.  That’s right, you don’t need a room full of expensive equipment or a costly gym membership to shed the extra pounds of fat keeping you from looking and performing your best.  All you need is the gym you were born with and knowledge to use it!
 

You may not realize it, but bodyweight exercise is already the number one choice for fat burning.  Just think about it.  Walking, jogging and running are all bodyweight exercises.  Even exercises that use equipment like biking, rowing or stair climbing can be considered bodyweight exercises, since the weight you are moving around is your own.  But in my opinion, other bodyweight exercises and calisthenics are even better for fat loss.

Why?

This is very important.  In most cases, looking your best takes more than just losing fat.  It really is not a question of just becoming smaller due to fat loss.  The body you reveal after the fat loss is just as important to the final outcome of looking your best.

Aerobic activity like running, biking and stair climbing are common methods for burning fat.  And while they do improve cardiorespiratory endurance, they don’t do a lot to create the strong, athletic, attractive body hiding underneath the fat.  However, bodyweight exercise works the entire body (upper, lower and core) and simultaneously builds a muscular, lean body while also improve heart and lung power.

Here are 3 reasons why bodyweight calisthenics are better than aerobic exercises for burning fat AND looking your best…

-      Bodyweight calisthenics makes you stronger, better conditioned and more coordinated.  Flexibility and balance are also greatly improved.  You overall performance improves.  Plus, burning off those unwanted pounds doesn’t only make you look better, but improves performance as well!

  -      Bodyweight exercise, done on a regular, consistent basis, invigorates and rejuvenates your body.  You feel better.  And regular exercise greatly improves health.  Not to mention, losing extra fat will do wonders for the results of your next doctors visit!
 

-      Unlike aerobic exercise, bodyweight calisthenics doesn’t only burn fat and improve cardiorespiratory function, it builds a rock solid body as well.  So, when the fat melts off, there is a strong, lean body revealed underneath.  This is really the key to creating a body you can be proud of.  You must burn fat and build an attractive physique at the same time!

 

As you can see, using bodyweight exercise to burn fat has its advantages.  The fat melts away which helps you perform, feel and look better.  But more importantly, the body that is revealed once the fat burns off is strong, muscular and attractive!

 

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses bodyweight calisthenics to improve fitness, burn fat and build an attractive physique.

Bodyweight Calisthenics: Give Your “Cardio” A Kick In The Pants

Monday, January 14th, 2008

If you are one of the people who believe steady-state aerobic exercise is the only way to improve cardiorespiratory endurance and burn fat, you’re in for a treat. Bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent way to get a full body workout that includes the heart and lungs. I’ll show you how to use bodyweight exercise in a second, but first let’s talk a little about cardiorespiratory endurance.

Cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of ability your body has to gather, process, deliver and sustain oxygen to produce energy for use in physical activity. Basically, the respiratory system gathers and starts to process the oxygen. The cardiovascular system continues to process and distributes the oxygen. So, your cardiorespiratory endurance is the level of efficiency your heart and lungs have to sustain and deliver oxygen for energy.

So, when most people want to improve their endurance they do cardiorespiratory conditioning exercises (cardio) to improve endurance by “conditioning” the heart and lungs. Unfortunately, the form of cardiorespiratory conditioning usually takes the form of aerobic exercise. And bodyweight calisthenics are completely ignored! But the fact is, any activity can improve cardiorespiratory endurance if they are done properly, and bodyweight exercises and calisthenics are an excellent choice.

There is something important I should mention. The type of cardio conditioning you do improves over-all endurance. But, the increased endurance is most closely related to the activity used. This means if you ride an exercise bike, your cardiorespiratory endurance will primarily be improved for bike riding. This is fine if you ride a bike in your normal, everyday life. But this has limited application for most people who are involved in a wide variety of activities both in and out of the gym.

If, on the other hand, you use bodyweight calisthenics for your cardio conditioning, you are using a wide variety of movements and muscles. Bodyweight exercises and calisthenics more closely represent the movements of highly random movements encountered in sport, work and life. So, you could make a case that cardiorespiratory conditioning using bodyweight calisthenics is better for endurance improvement that can be used in and out of the gym.

Plus, bodyweight calisthenics use all the muscles in your body. Compare this to the predominately lower body exercises of jogging or riding a bike. So, using bodyweight exercises allow you to build a strong, lean physique while improving cardiorespiratory endurance and burning fat!

Just think about it. Let’s say you do a fast paced bodyweight workout consisting of a circuit of bodyweight exercises and calisthenics. You’ll simultaneously build strong muscles and burn fat while improving heart and lung function. You wouldn’t even have to do a long, slow aerobic workout to supplement your training.

I hope this article has opened you eyes to the wide variety of possibilities available to improve cardiorespiratory endurance. You don’t always have to do long-slow aerobic exercise. And the truth is, using other forms of training to simultaneously improve heart and lung power can prepare you better for the challenges of sport, work and life. Bodyweight calisthenics are an excellent choice for both building a strong, lean, athletic physique and building a strong heart and lungs.

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses bodyweight calisthenics to improve fitness, burn fat and build an attractive physique.

Push Ups: Progression For Greater Strength And Endurance

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Push ups are one of the classic bodyweight exercises. Every bodyweight training program I know of uses push ups in one form or another. As a result, the ability to perform a proper push up, for high repetitions is a fitness milestone in bodyweight training.

But there is more to this classic bodyweight exercise than high repetitions and bragging rights. As a matter of fact, some people get so caught up in high repetitions that they forgo proper form, reducing the strength and endurance gains, and increasing the risk of injury. In this article I’ll reveal an alternative to high repetition push ups.

But first, what is a proper push up?

A proper push up is an incredibly demanding full body exercise, requiring both upper body strength and a strong, stable core for proper completion. This is important. It is not just an upper body exercise. It is a full body exercise.

Start by lying on the ground with you feet together and your hands on the ground by your shoulders. Your elbows are flexed and should remain close to your body throughout the entire movement. Don’t flair your elbows!

Perform a push up by pressing with your arms until your entire body leaves the ground. In the up position, only your hands and toes remain on the ground. The body has to remain stiff and straight throughout the entire lowering and raising. The only thing that should move during the movement is the arms.

This is very important. The body should be straight at the top, during and at the bottom of the movement. This is accomplished by using your core stabilizer muscles, butt and legs to make your body as ridged as possible.

As you can see, your whole body is involved in completing a proper push up, not just your upper body. Upper body strength and core strength must be coordinated to do a proper push up. If either your upper body or core is weaker than the other, errors will occur and performance will be lowered.

Ok, once you know how to perform push ups, most people try to go for high numbers. Yes, being able to do 100 push ups is a sign of great strength and endurance. But striving for high numbers is not the only way you improve!

You can also improve push ups by going from easy to difficult. Increasing the difficulty of the push up variation is an excellent way to build incredible strength. This method allows you to keep the repetition number relatively low, reducing the risk of overuse injuries. Plus, it reduces the possibility you will sacrifice quality for quantity, furthering your chance of injury!

Here is an example:

  • Start with incline push ups
  • The increase difficulty by doing the classic push up
  • Increase the difficulty again by doing decline push ups
  • And finally make it harder by doing handstand push ups

You could also throw in one armed push ups to increase difficulty. But the point is this, there are more ways to improve your strength and endurance with push ups than just increasing the number or repetitions you can do in one set.

Let this push up progression example serve as an example of other bodyweight exercise progressions. A lot of people say they get bored with bodyweight exercise because they only try to improve by doing more and more reps. Now you know, increasing repetition is not the only progression method in town. And in many cases, more strength and endurance improvements can be made by going from easy versions of an exercise to more difficult versions.

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights uses 6 different progression strategies to get the most out of bodyweight training for combined fitness, fat loss and physique building.

Basic Calisthenics: Fitness Made To Order

Monday, January 7th, 2008

Basic calisthenics, you know what I mean right? Well, if you’re old enough to remember Physical Education Class (sadly, this is dying out these days), ever played a sport or been in the Military, you know exactly what I mean. Basic calisthenics are the exercise method of choice to build strong, conditioned bodies with little or no equipment.

Unfortunately, in today’s world with expensive gyms full of shiny equipment and the fitness industry marketing “quick”, “easy” fitness gimmicks, bodyweight calisthenics are often overlooked. In my opinion, this is a big mistake.

You would think bodyweight exercise would be the most widely used form of exercise because of its accessibility, versatility and effectiveness. After all, bodyweight calisthenics can be used by complete beginners all the way up to elite athletes to improve performance, heath and physique. But, many men and women have been convinced (brainwashed) that basic calisthenics pale in comparison to other forms of training.

But I insist…

Basic calisthenics should be the starting point for any physical training program, and should remain an integral part of your exercise program.

There is a place for calisthenics exercise in everyone’s exercise program, ranging from being the full workout program to being a part of the over-all workout plan. Your body has always been, and will always be, the greatest tool for improving fitness, burning fat and building a strong, lean, athletic body. So, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can start using basic calisthenics today!

Basic Calisthenics Make An Excellent Warm Up

Before you start any physical training, a proper warm up should be performed. And, in my opinion, there is no better warm up for every type of physical activity than bodyweight calisthenics. There is no other activity that can prepare your body for the multitude of movements of sport, work and life quite like bodyweight exercise.

Basic Calisthenics Make A Great Full Body Workout.

You can use bodyweight exercise to improve upper body, lower body and core strength and endurance. Plus, the rhythmic nature of some calisthenics makes them excellent heart and lung workouts. So you can get a true full body workout which includes all muscle groups and the cardiorespiratory systems. And the best part, you don’t need any equipment!

Mix Bodyweight Exercises With Other Forms Of Training

Just because you use some other form of training, like dumbbells, barbells and machines, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t mix in some calisthenics as well. Just think about it. The challenges of sport, work and life require movingthe weight of your own body, moving other objects or moving your own bodyweight and other objects. You should train accordingly by mixing bodyweight exercise and weighted resistance.

You Can Do Bodyweight Cardio Intervals

At the end of most people’s workout, they do some “cardio”. Unfortunately, this often means zoning out on the treadmill or exercise bike while reading a magazine or watching the T.V. I suggest you pump up the intensity by throwing in some Bodyweight Intervals. Every once in a while, jump off the bike or treadmill and do some basic calisthenics. This boosts the intensity of your workout by breaking your breathing and heart rhythms, ultimately providing a better workout.

So, I’ve just given you four great ways to incorporate basic calisthenics into your workout program. Bodyweight exercise should be a part of your workout regime, or used exclusively. Start using the gym you were born with today!

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights has put together a bodyweight training program that can be used for beginners, intermediate and advanced trainees! Start today!

Stop Ignoring Bodyweight Training And Start Benefiting From It

Sunday, January 6th, 2008

There is a running argument about which is better, bodyweight training or weight training. Both training methods have their devoted followers and they butt heads constantly. Each claim a long list of benefits for their chosen training method. When you’re looking for a workout program to follow, avoid this silly argument.

Bodyweight training is beneficial.

Weight training is beneficial.

Use both training methods effectively and you’ll get more fitness, fat loss and physique building results. Avoid picking one over the other, and you’ll benefit greatly. And by all means, don’t neglect the value of bodyweight exercise!

It is this last statement I want to talk about today.

Normally, men and women start an exercise program because they finally realize they are out of shape. You know what I mean. You look in the mirror one day and suddenly see a different person staring back at you. And this person has no muscle tone and a lot of fat. It seems as if you’ve changed for the worst, almost overnight.

So, you start searching for a workout program to follow. But not just any workout will do. You want the BEST! Somehow you feel if you find that magical workout, you’ll reverse months, if not years of unhealthy eating and inactivity. And this is when you run into the bodyweight training vs. weight training debate.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there is no BEST workout program. Neither a bodyweight training program or a weight training program are going to immediately reverse the effects of prolonged periods of inactivity and a lousy diet. So, stop looking for the BEST, and start exercising with what you have. This means bodyweight training for most of you!

You see, what I don’t want you to do is prolong your lack of exercise any longer. If you wrongly believe weight training is superior to bodyweight training, you won’t do anything until you have enough money to join a gym or buy expensive equipment. You’re only prolonging your results. It is like saying you are not going to learn how to drive until you have a Formula 1 racecar. The fact is, you learn to drive with whatever car is available, and then you change cars when you can afford it.

You can start bodyweight training right away. And the faster you start, the faster you can start seeing, feeling and using the performance and appearance benefits of exercise. You know the benefits I’m talking about.

Things like:

- Stronger, bigger muscles.

- Less fat.

- Increased heart and lung power.

And that’s just for starters.

So, if you want to get in shape, my advice is DON’T WAIT! Use what you have and use a progressive exercise workout with consistency and conviction. If you don’t have a gym membership, weights or other exercise equipment, start using the gym you were born with! Start your bodyweight training program today, and start getting the results you desire to live life to the fullest!

Coach Eddie Lomax, author of Workout Without Weights has put together a bodyweight training program that can be used for beginners, intermediate and advanced trainees! Start today!


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