Where do pushups (and other staple bodyweight exercises) fit into a 3 day full body powerlifting program. I’ve heard that some do it during their warm-up or on off-days. Is this a good idea?
[quote]Jo Jo the Loner wrote:
Where do pushups (and other staple bodyweight exercises) fit into a 3 day full body powerlifting program. I’ve heard that some do it during their warm-up or on off-days. Is this a good idea?[/quote]
I am not sure why I do not see many responses. If you are doing a 3 day PL program your muscles need 48 hour recovery time. Try doing bodyweight exercises at the end of your routine or an exercise. For instance, push-ups after your last set of bench press, wide grip pull-up after DL
I tend to do BW exercises within the warm-up. Warm-ups are quite … hmmm… what would I call it . . . “warming-up” 
but they do the job.
3-4 movements or combines like burpees or others, performed using different protocales
4 exercises x 30 sec each no rest… 1 min rest and repeat 3-4 times in circuit fashion.
or 3 x 3 min for combines with a min rest inbetween
that gives you anything from (depaending from your level of fintess) 6 - 9 minutes of solid exercise.
you could also try (if times permits) do 1-2 session/week of BW routines - they do not have to be long, anything from 30-45 min MAX.
Sometimes, just for a weight control, some 15 min intensive bodyweight routine a couple of times a week makes you freakishly fit and lean (just a little perk on the side).
I always treat it as a Active Recovery… or … getting back to shape - both in terms of vanity as well as cardio-vascular fitness.
good way of doing cardio … without actually doing cardio - if you know what I mean.
- you keep your muscles on… unlike while doing “standard” cardio sessions where you waste your hard work and muscle mass.
that’s how I utilise BW exercises.
Useful tool, however, the way I see it… quite flexible! Make it work for you! you will NOT easily overdo bodyweight.
you can only gain here!
maybe some people have different ways of using BW exercises . . . I’d be happy to learn
I was kind of surprised to see this thread pop up since it went 3 months w/out any replys but I figured it out myself anyway. Since I posted, I’ve started doing a bw circuit at the end of my full-body workouts.
I’ll do some bodyweight exercises on my “off” days to get some blood flowing and speed recovery. Or I’ll do them circuit style for conditioning. If I do them after heavy lifting I usually do plyometrics. For example after bench presses I might do a set of 10 behind the back clap pushups or after heavy squats I’ll do 10 jump squats.
I think they fit in very well. Though it depends on your goal, if you are trying to be the next dave tate, it might not be the best route, however for those interested in much better overall fitness and a leaner physique, i say do them alot.
Id say you would be best served doing them after your lifting as a sort of hypertrophy booster, muscle conditioner, etc…if your goal is mass. Ie on bench days do a hundred or so pushups at the end of your workout. On a pull day do about 50-60 pullups at the end. On a leg day a few hundred bodyweight squats.
I personally like to do a little every morning though to help wake me up and get a little extra training in. 100 pushups and 50-100 leg raises or so doesnt take no more than 5-10 minutes and is a great way to start the day, and it will add up in results over the week. I personally have found my abdominals never to be stronger, thicker, and more defined by the addition of unweighted abwork to my normal routine of weighted abwork.
If you would like to get in steller shape and not lose muscle mass, then i would recommend burpee conditioning on your off days in circuit or round based fashion. It will help your anaerobic endurance and GPP a great deal. So I am a very pro bodyweight guy in additoin to weight training, cuz like Alwyn Cosgrove says, master your own bodyweight before external resistance.
It depends … if you can only do 3 pushups or 3 chinups then they obviously are a maximum effort, NOT a warmup. If you can do 50 of each then they are a warmup or almost aerobics. It depends on so much that most people couldn’t bother responding.
Bodyweight might be a good morning warmup. You get up, do some pushups say, then go about your day, then that night do bench. Then next day, more pushups, perhaps. Just to get blood flowing.