Bodyweight Exercises

Training Bodybuilding
21

You won’t get very big, but my friend looks better than a lot of people who do bodybuilding routines and all he does is pushup variations, pullup variations, and bodyweight squats.

He uses a 25lb weight for pullups and does all sorts of pushups with different grips and feet up at different heights. He does chins and pull ups with different grips and bodyweight squats as fast as possible to failure.

He has maybe 15-16 inch arms, but I swear I’ve never met a leaner kid.
You won’t get very big, but you’ll get well above average and look pretty good. Not good for bodybuilding, but good for looking good overall.

22

Sort of on the topic:

Can anyone here do pistols for reps? If so what is your 5-10rep weight for deep squats?

I’m trying to work up to doing them, and they are HARD!!! Total leg workout though.

Basically most of my leg strength for my squat is coming from my right leg so I’m trying to even them out without so much of a lean to the right by doing single leg exersizes, pistols, lunges, etc.

23

I’m not convinced that there is that much of a strength carry over from pistols to barbell squats.

The reason being that your ability to do pistols will be affected by your level balance/ stabilisation: I can do at least four more reps doing weighted pistols vs. unweighted (in theory the weighted variation should be harder, so obviously balance and stabilisation are factors in being able to do them at high reps and with good form).

You’ve also got to consider the additional stress that a heavy barbell is going to place on your entire body during the squat.

If someone has made pistols the focus of their leg training, I doubt that they will be able to put up serious numbers on the squat, simply because they will not be conditioned to the stress of the barbell (even if they have enough leg strength).

Then again, if you train regularly with both, it’s going to be a different story…

24

[quote]roybot wrote:
I’m not convinced that there is that much of a strength carry over from pistols to barbell squats.
[/quote]

Agreed. I can do pistols for reps (unweighted, weighted, and jumping) and have been able to do them for a while. The only thing that really got my squat number up was, wait for it…wait for it…doing BB squats and other heavily weighted leg exercises (like leg press, machine hacks, and other squat variations).

Agreed again. Pistols can help with stabilization, and balance issues. They could also be beneficial if one has severe strength imbalances between their right and left side, or if someone has suffered an injury that won’t allow them to put heavy loads on their spine. Other than that, I don’t see much benefit in them (and this coming from someone who once prioritized them in their training).

You can develop plenty of mobility, stability, and strength just by doing the basic squat exercises. And if you really want to challenge those qualities, you could always start training the olympic lifts (pistols have nothing on a heavy clean, snatch or overhead squat).

25

the only way you can get big doing pushups is if they are done prof.x breakdance style. the dvd will be hitting shelves this xmas! - YouTube

26

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
roybot wrote:
I’m not convinced that there is that much of a strength carry over from pistols to barbell squats.

Agreed. I can do pistols for reps (unweighted, weighted, and jumping) and have been able to do them for a while. The only thing that really got my squat number up was, wait for it…wait for it…doing BB squats and other heavily weighted leg exercises (like leg press, machine hacks, and other squat variations).

The reason being that your ability to do pistols will be affected by your level balance/ stabilisation: I can do at least four more reps doing weighted pistols vs. unweighted (in theory the weighted variation should be harder, so obviously balance and stabilisation are factors in being able to do them at high reps and with good form).

You’ve also got to consider the additional stress that a heavy barbell is going to place on your entire body during the squat.

If someone has made pistols the focus of their leg training, I doubt that they will be able to put up serious numbers on the squat, simply because they will not be conditioned to the stress of the barbell (even if they have enough leg strength).

Then again, if you train regularly with both, it’s going to be a different story…

Agreed again. Pistols can help with stabilization, and balance issues. They could also be beneficial if one has severe strength imbalances between their right and left side, or if someone has suffered an injury that won’t allow them to put heavy loads on their spine. Other than that, I don’t see much benefit in them (and this coming from someone who once prioritized them in their training).

You can develop plenty of mobility, stability, and strength just by doing the basic squat exercises. And if you really want to challenge those qualities, you could always start training the olympic lifts (pistols have nothing on a heavy clean, snatch or overhead squat).[/quote]

You’ve raised some excellent points there, Sentoguy. The one advantage to pistols that I forgot to mention is that they can help to improve vertical leg drive for squat movements (in individual legs if necessary). Especially if somebody has a problem similar to Skohcl’s.