Any Body Weight Trainers Here?

malehanger

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I have "been there, done that" with the whole "big guy" thing. I'm 5' 9" tall and at my best a few years ago, I weighed 215-220 depending on the time of day, or day of the week. I've trained for size and strength in the past. Back then, I could squat twice my weight for reps, shoulder press (barbell) my weight for reps, deadlift twice my weight for reps, do weighted triceps dips with half my weight around my waist, etc. Fast forward to today and really, I don't see myself getting back to that. That lifestyle got old, planning meals every day, watching my macro nutrients, getting upset if I missed a meal, etc. Not to mention how hard it is on your body over the long run.

Not to dissuade anyone from that lifestyle.

Nowadays, I'm just interested in being healthy. I plan to explore and possibly move toward a whole foods based diet. For getting back into great cardio health, I plan to mainly run a few days a week. I'm used to that, done it before and enjoyed it. For overall body health, I'm leaning toward a body weight training approach. Push ups and push up variations. Hand stand presses, amazing upper body builder. Hypers and reverse hypers for the mid and lower back. Body weight squats and lunges for lower body mobility. Hanging knee raises for the mid section. Close and wide gripped chin ups for the upper back and arms. Dips and possibly weighted dips for my triceps.

That's my list so far. Anyone else a body weight trainer with some real insight?
 
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weakling

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Not insight per se, but if you're interested in bodyweight training methods, I've found the book "Convict Conditioning" to be fairly useful. There's also a second volume, "Convict Conditioning 2", which contains even more advanced exercise instructions, plus some stretching outlines. There are clips on youtube of people doing the first book's exercises, which may or may not depict them correctly, so I suggest taking them with a grain of salt.
 

vulcan

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I have been doing bodyweight exercises & convict conditioning for about 1.5 years now & will not go back to traditional weight training.

CC has made my once terrible joints feel like new. Beware of skipping too quick through the phases - especially on the pistol squat.
 

Koh

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Well, I used to be a gymnast, so all we did was bodyweight training/harder versions of the convict conditioning I'm on a phone right now, so I'm not going in depth.

I'll just say, I prefer body weight training. It's more practical for me.
 

Padawan787

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I have been doing bodyweight exercises & convict conditioning for about 1.5 years now & will not go back to traditional weight training.

CC has made my once terrible joints feel like new. Beware of skipping too quick through the phases - especially on the pistol squat.

I just looked up the book and it looks really good, but does it really work?

I would quite like to give up my 40 euro a month gym membership! an extra 480 euros a year would go a long way, especially as a student :)
 

malehanger

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I've seen the "Matt Furey" material in the past and based on the little I read about him am semi skeptical. I won't say that I don't believe in what he teaches based on who is "is" or "is not". I know he's not the only man in the world selling something, or an idea who's history may not be what he wants you to believe it is. In fact, his hand stand training material looks very appealing. I DO believe in his notion that if we walked around on our hands, we'd all have massive forearms. Damn the impracticality of that in modern culture! ;)
 

maximus1986

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If your doing alot of push ups, use push up bars, just from experience my wrists became weak when i stopped weight lifting and started bodyweight, and they suffered from doing push ups because of the wrist position.
 

malehanger

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If your doing alot of push ups, use push up bars, just from experience my wrists became weak when i stopped weight lifting and started bodyweight, and they suffered from doing push ups because of the wrist position.

Yea I hear ya on that. When I was in the military, I quickly got into the habit of doing pushups on my fists.
 

ManWithPlan

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I just went to check out Convict conditioning. Very interesting.

I have some doubt about the author's self claiming achievements. For example, he said he stopped (or he saw a friend, I forgot) a AIRPLANE from taking off by holding it back with his HAIR. I mean REALLY?

Anyway.

Please share more first handed experience with this book's training if can.

Also, if you can easily perform push ups, do you need to start at "wall pushup" as the author suggested?

Much appreciated!
 

maximus1986

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Im gonna start this workout soon, i wanna add skipping to my bodyweight workout, because i hate runnin, problem is i cant skip, im terrible at it, can i cut the rope in half and do it like that or is that not the same.
 

vulcan

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I just went to check out Convict conditioning. Very interesting.

I have some doubt about the author's self claiming achievements. For example, he said he stopped (or he saw a friend, I forgot) a AIRPLANE from taking off by holding it back with his HAIR. I mean REALLY?

Anyway.

Please share more first handed experience with this book's training if can.

Also, if you can easily perform push ups, do you need to start at "wall pushup" as the author suggested?

Much appreciated!

Good point - & no, I skipped the wall push-ups & started with normal push-ups & fairly quickly to very close hands push-ups. With the leg work I started with feet shoulder width appart going down to a right angle. It is the pistol squat which needs care, I tried (stupidly) to do an assisted (holding onto some railings) pistol squat & it was too much.

In a nutshell, whilst you might skip one or two of the early steps - do not jump ahead too much, unless you have experience as a gymnast, in which case you'll be able to do most all of it. My body felt great when I was doing this properly, especially joints.
 

vulcan

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I just looked up the book and it looks really good, but does it really work?

I would quite like to give up my 40 euro a month gym membership! an extra 480 euros a year would go a long way, especially as a student :)

It certainly works, if you can add in some cardio outside - you could keep the 480 euros. :)
 

snipeskillz

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im going to be doing body weight stuff this week because im home on break and dont have a gym membership. ill try to remember to post workouts, runs, and meals
 

Koh

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Alright, I'm on a computer. What kind of insight were you looking for? I have some nice exercises for the core I could explain.
 

vulcan

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Alright, I'm on a computer. What kind of insight were you looking for? I have some nice exercises for the core I could explain.

I'd be interested in any exercises that I might not be aware of that could work my lower back muscles. I sometimes do the bridge work that convict conditioning recommends. I used to love using the roman chair at the gym. I might try 'good morning' exercise & just keep it light.

I should just build a roman chair or buy an old one.
 

weakling

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I just went to check out Convict conditioning. Very interesting.

I have some doubt about the author's self claiming achievements. For example, he said he stopped (or he saw a friend, I forgot) a AIRPLANE from taking off by holding it back with his HAIR. I mean REALLY?

Anyway. Please share more first handed experience with this book's training if can.

Also, if you can easily perform push ups, do you need to start at "wall pushup" as the author suggested? Much appreciated!

The book is written in a fairly entertaining and encouraging manner and it might even have a somewhat romantic outlook on things. But there's not much to support the claims made by the author. I suggest focusing on the actual exercises, because they are what counts. There's a clear method of progression laid out, which is something that many other books I've read sorely lack. Plus, the instructions are quite clear.

Personally I can see no harm in doing the earlier, easier exercises. The overall point of the author seems to be that you can stick with whatever exercise you're doing for as long as it is beneficial. There's also the common theme of finishing stronger than you started, which means you should never train to failure. One way of going about this is doing the first set or two so that you stop when you feel you could still do a few more sets and then, during the last set, work out hard enough to only leave room for one or two reps before failure. I picked this idea from the dragondoor.com discussion board.

Two of the exercises I could comment on, though:

Shoulderstand squats. I would skip this exercise as it places strain mostly on the upper body. I worked my way up to 3 sets of 30 and then gave up, feeling that, as far as squats are concerned, the exercise offered few benefits. I might get back to it some day for warm-up reasons, though.

Horizontal pulls. I have had great trouble progressing doing these and, judging from what I've read, I'm not the only one. They are more akin to rows than traditional pull-ups. That's not to say it's an unnecessary exercise, but it feels slightly out of place. I have decided to keep at it anyway. As suggested in the book, you can make the exercise easier by using something that's higher than your waist. I've found that keeping your knees at a slight angle instead of completely straight helps also.

Lastly: don't forget to download the CC super FAQ: http://www.dragondoor.com/pdf/Convict_Conditioning_SUPER_FAQ.pdf
 

Padawan787

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It certainly works, if you can add in some cardio outside - you could keep the 480 euros. :)

I have downloaded and read the ebook and will be ordering the hard-back soon, I plan on starting the programme

The plyometrics advice you gave me a few months has been working wonders so I will take your advice again :)

The only thing that I am unsure of is the volume of the workout, it seems very small. In the book he says that intensity builds strength, volume builds endurance so he favours shorter workout routines, but his workout schedules seem very very easy, he recommends doing 2-3 sets per day!? It might be that i'm used to going to the gym, and am used to the "more is better" culture but that seems to be too small to be beneficial...

Have you been following the workout schedules that he proposes in the book or have you been doing higher reps/sets?
 

maximus1986

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Downloaded the ebook, convict training. Started with wall push ups today, dam didnt realise how out of shape i was, my triceps are sore from the wall push ups, thats not good. Got a few questions though, i want perfect form on my push ups. When i go down on my push ups my arms are at a 45 degree angle from my body. Is this correct, it feels natural but i dont wanna injure my elbows. Also can i use push up bars with this programme, i have weak wrists, or will following the steps increase my wrist strengh? thanks.
 

rickthedick

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@malehanger

I have "been there, done that" with the whole "big guy" thing. I'm 5' 9" tall and at my best a few years ago, I weighed 215-220

I have done it for years, brother. I'm more into the competition look now, while it's harder to maintain, it looks and feels a hell of a lot better

but, I must admit, after my appendix surgery two months ago, I have been a little more lenient to say the least. Spring is upon us and I will be back into great shape in no time
 
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malehanger

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@malehanger



I have done it for years, brother. I'm more into the competition look now, while it's harder to maintain, it looks and feels a hell of a lot better

but, I must admit, after my appendix surgery two months ago, I have been a little more lenient to say the least. Spring is upon us and I will be back into great shape in no time

Yea I hear ya. Had mine out last year around this time.