Can You Still Be Strong At Home?
You need barbells and heavy weights to be strong… right?
What if I told you nothing except for your own bodyweight could make you strong as hell?
I Get It…
Let me preface this by saying I love throwing around barbells as much as the next guy. In fact, I would rather throw around a bar, or dumbbells, or kettlebells than do most things.
However, I know weightlifting coaches who look for gymnastics [specifically] to take under their tutelage to become high level weightlifters.
Why?
They know how to move their body in space AND they are freaking strong!
So, What Do You Actually Need to Be Strong?
You need your bodyweight…
…that’s it.
Everything else is just icing on the paleo, non-GMO, sugar-free, cage-free, free-range, Whole 30 approved cake.
How To Start…
The only way to make things more challenging with bodyweight training (calisthenics) is adding more reps, right?
You might think.
My first stop would NOT be to add a bunch more reps. Think about it this way, if I wanted to get really strong at squatting heavy weight, would I squat the same light weight 3x more?
Most likely, not.
I would make the movement more challenging and since adding weight to my body is NOT an option if we are talking about bodyweight training, what other options are there?
- Play with progressions and regressions.
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- It’s not always a race to the finish line to see how cool of a movement you can accomplish. Just acquired a strict pull-up? Don’t go straight into trying muscle-ups.
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- How about pull-up negatives for reps? How about TRX Rows or Pike TRX rows? How about bodyweight bicep curls which teach you how to control your bodyweight (I’d bet you’ll use biceps in pull-ups)?
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- Play with Tempo.
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- Have you ever tried to do 1 air squat over a 2 minute period of time? Go ahead, I’ll wait.
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- Play with single arm or single leg.
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- Take your pushup, grab a basketball or medicine ball, and perform 10 pushups with one arm out on the ball. Now switch.
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- I know what you’re saying, “that’s more volume,” to which my answer is “kind of.”
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- You’re doing the same amount of volume ON ONE SIDE.
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- Play with being explosive.
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- Bounding plyometrics are not just for box jumps. What if you did a rear foot elevated split squat JUMP?
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The Point Is This
You needn’t worry about losing your strength when you lose access to heavy lifting equipment. In fact, spend a few weeks doing bodyweight only training and you will get freaking strong.
Need help?
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