I was wondering is it possible to get sufficient hypertrophy from just doing bodyweight exercises?
After all, your body builds muscle to adapt to the amount of stress you put on it.
So if you did 80 push-ups and 10 1 arm push-ups per week, then on weeks 3-4 I do 95 push-ups and 12 1 arm push-ups. Then you would be progressively adding more stress.
Too me I don’t see why that wouldn’t be able to promote muscle growth, what do you guys think?
The only way to find out for sure is to try it.
I do almost exclusively bodyweight exercises and have made good gains. You are correct that the key is progressive resistance. I attack that two ways. The first being increased volume/less time, the second being adding weight.
For example, I first started one arm pushups in a 5x5 fashion with 2-3 minutes rest. I eventually worked down to 1 minute rest and then upped the rep scheme to 10x3, then 10x4, 10x5 with 30-45 sec rest. After that I switched to 8x8 with 20 second rest working up to 10 x 10. In hindsight, working over the 8x8 was more conditioning than hypertrophy and I should have added weight instead. This is true for doing 100 regular pushups. You won’t get much hypertrophy except using it as a finisher.
At that point I had two options, I could either add weight with a vest (buy a vest if you want to do bodyweight exercises) or do 1 arm - 1 leg pushups. I chose the latter as it was tougher on the rest of my body.
You can follow the same progression for one-legged squats and handstand pushups. For pullups just add weight or start working toward one arm pullups as I am now.
Bottom line, progress through either increased volume/time and or adding weight and most of all EAT.
I prefer bodyweight exercise because I
don’t need a gym membership or equipment beyond a doorway pullup bar and weighted vest.
The one movement I am lacking is a deadlift type movement. I have compensated for that with dumbell snatches.
Well not to be a dick or anything but when you add in that weighted vest I don’t think you can really claim to be doing bodyweight exercises. For what it’s worth.
Bodyweight exercises usually refer to the movement of your bodyweight as resistance. Adding a vest adds to your bodyweight much as adding 40 lbs of fat does. Though artificially increased, you are still moving your bodyweight.
I have just begun training with bodyweight, and so far so good. I have not done it enough to report on hypertrophy, but I enjoy it as it is something different from what I have been doing. Progressive resistance is key. I like the fact that I can train at home with little to no equipment. There are lots of articles at rosstraining.com and dragondoor.com on the subject.
[quote]tinman915 wrote:
Well not to be a dick or anything but when you add in that weighted vest I don’t think you can really claim to be doing bodyweight exercises. For what it’s worth.[/quote]
Bro, bodyweight exercises can use added weight, you are still using your bodyweight but since you don’t want to get fatter to make them challenging, you buy a vest.
I find the biomechanics of a dip, pushups, chin- or pull-up, much better for hypertrophy than most barbell and dumbells eaxercises, except for direct shoulder work, as well as forearms, and of course, legs, altough try loading a backpack with sand and tell me what you feel like.
I liked the idea of doing 10 x 3, 10 x5 and such and shorten the rest periods. I have seen such a strategy in boxing and also by this Vandal Savage guy on the 1000 reps for bgger muscles thread which also addresses such exercises, prescribed like this for lean mass gains plans:
You basically start with a weight, whether you can do it with your bodyweight alone, or you put on a vest, that won’t let you go past 15 reps on the first set.
Now you just rep out to reach the maximum, rest as little as possible and go back at it again…it’s like this: you start fresh, get 15 reps rest 30 seconds as a minimum,45-seconds tops, and you go try another time, getting less reps, and taking more to rest, not because the program says that you must increase the rest periods, but because your body makes you without even thinking about it.
You start at a maximum of 15 reps and a rest period of 30 seconds at the minimal time needed, and end up with rest periods of 2 minutes and you won’t be getting more than a double, and that’s the moment to rest for real. You get a set to have 57 reps,a nd to last
The idea is that you do this one time for dips, one for pushups, and that’s that, only use it on two movement planes, and sepparatred, this is, you would do dips, chins, shoulder work, leg work and then go back to chest and back, but with pushups, and inverted chins or lazy man pullups as I have seen them called, a secondary movement for the shoulder in another angle of motion (or simply change military press for upright row) and such.
Now, the plan is to be done between 2 times a week and 4. Do it for 3-4 weeks, rest completely for one. Tempo is around 1 second or slightly less on the eccentric, almost non-existant (just see any Ronnie Coleman training routine), the idea is to move big weghts, but of course, you do not to drop the weights either and/or bounce up and down like a piston with bad form, they have got to be perfect reps, just not eccentric accentuated, the idea being saving energy to et more reps, simply just to try and get as many reps while your surge of strengt last when you start the set, using “neural system momentum” to make the body work hard.
I don’t know if this has helped you in any way, but I hope you find it useful.
[quote]Pump_Daddy wrote:
tinman915 wrote:
Well not to be a dick or anything but when you add in that weighted vest I don’t think you can really claim to be doing bodyweight exercises. For what it’s worth.
Bro, bodyweight exercises can use added weight, you are still using your bodyweight but since you don’t want to get fatter to make them challenging, you buy a vest.
quote]
Bro, think about the ignorance of your statement for a minute. Bodyweight from the Latin meaning weight of the body. With your logic the back squat with bar is simply a body weight squat but since you don’t want to get fatter you put weight on your back in the form of a bar. They call bodyweight exercises bodyweight for a reason. Putting a weight vest on is simply an easier way to externally load, negating the definition of bodyweight.
The progressions for bodyweight exercises are limited to volume, tempo, and unilateral application if possible.
[quote]74 wrote:
Bro, think about the ignorance of your statement for a minute. Bodyweight from the Latin meaning weight of the body. With your logic the back squat with bar is simply a body weight squat but since you don’t want to get fatter you put weight on your back in the form of a bar. They call bodyweight exercises bodyweight for a reason. Putting a weight vest on is simply an easier way to externally load, negating the definition of bodyweight.
The progressions for bodyweight exercises are limited to volume, tempo, and unilateral application if possible.
[/quote]
I was about to use the same squat example. A 40lb weighted vest isn’t any different from a 40lb db/bar/etc…Bodyweight is just that, bodyweight.
So while you will see some hypertrophy at first, eventually you will need to add weight, otherwise it will become an endurance activity. Running 10 miles with your bodyweight doesn’t build big legs.
I do agree, though, that weighted exercises like dips and pullups are great for hypertrophy. You just need enough weight to keep your reps down.
[quote]74 wrote:
Bro, think about the ignorance of your statement for a minute. Bodyweight from the Latin meaning weight of the body. With your logic the back squat with bar is simply a body weight squat but since you don’t want to get fatter you put weight on your back in the form of a bar. They call bodyweight exercises bodyweight for a reason. Putting a weight vest on is simply an easier way to externally load, negating the definition of bodyweight.
[/quote]
You can argue over semantics and whether the tomato is a vegetable or a fruit, the OP is using bodyweight exercises in a sense of moving his body in relation to an immovable object as opposed to moving an external object as resistance. Therefore adding weight still makes it a bodyweight exercise the same as getting fatter. The vest is attached to you and for all practical purposes is part of you. When you find an exercise such as squatting with a bar that could be construed as a bodyweight exercise by a tortured reading of my definition, apply common sense which will tell you it is not.
False. Leverages.
The vest or even weights strapped to you is for all practical purposes, part of you. It is not an external object that a db/bar/etc is.
[quote]uberswank wrote:
I was about to use the same squat example. A 40lb weighted vest isn’t any different from a 40lb db/bar/etc…Bodyweight is just that, bodyweight.
The vest or even weights strapped to you is for all practical purposes, part of you. It is not an external object that a db/bar/etc is. [/quote]
You have got to be kidding me.
The original poster was looking for bodyweight exercise information but unfortunately is getting "answers’ from people who have no grasp of the English language.
According to your practical purposes, if I put on 10 weighted vests that weighed 400# it would still be a bodyweight exercise but a bar with 4 wheels is externally loaded?
Here is some homework for you…look up the definitions of bodyweight and external then apply your new wisdom to intelligent forum answers.
I use bodyweight exercises a lot and am really good at them. A couple of comments
why are you doing them aside from convenience?
why are you mimicking other weightlifting exercises?
What I mean is that agility = ability to move your own bodyweight, so approaching your training from that perspective is, I have found, a more fruitful way. [FWIW I’ve done jujutsu for 20+ years, so my goal is to get better at grappling. Having a clear goal really helps.] Now, you might want to read up on yet another approach to exercise (my website):
in particular, read the bit of philosophy here:
http://jqhome.net/taiso/the-problem.html#introduction
the section on movements in the large is the keystone.
Disclaimer: What is on the site is an exercise protocol for martial artists. It will get you ripped and powerful in ways you didn’t think possible, but it will not get you much larger. It is a specific tool for a specific activity. Maybe it will help you and there are tons of exercises listed there. YMMV
[quote]uberswank wrote:
74 wrote:
Bro, think about the ignorance of your statement for a minute. Bodyweight from the Latin meaning weight of the body. With your logic the back squat with bar is simply a body weight squat but since you don’t want to get fatter you put weight on your back in the form of a bar. They call bodyweight exercises bodyweight for a reason. Putting a weight vest on is simply an easier way to externally load, negating the definition of bodyweight.
You can argue over semantics and whether the tomato is a vegetable or a fruit, the OP is using bodyweight exercises in a sense of moving his body in relation to an immovable object as opposed to moving an external object as resistance. Therefore adding weight still makes it a bodyweight exercise the same as getting fatter. The vest is attached to you and for all practical purposes is part of you. When you find an exercise such as squatting with a bar that could be construed as a bodyweight exercise by a tortured reading of my definition, apply common sense which will tell you it is not.
The progressions for bodyweight exercises are limited to volume, tempo, and unilateral application if possible.
False. Leverages. [/quote]
A question for you…If you were alone in the desert with nothing but the clothes on your back (which by the way are external) and you were to complete exercises what would you call them?
Progressions…
volume…do more reps
tempo…slow, fast, plyometric
unilateral
Please explain your “leverages” response.
[quote]uberswank wrote:
I was about to use the same squat example. A 40lb weighted vest isn’t any different from a 40lb db/bar/etc…Bodyweight is just that, bodyweight.
The vest or even weights strapped to you is for all practical purposes, part of you. It is not an external object that a db/bar/etc is. [/quote]
Final question…Does it hurt to be this stupid?
Gymnasts do BW and they are awesome! While at my kids’ gymnastic school, I watched 9 and 10 year old kids go from a split, to a handstand, back down, repeat, w/o a quiver! These kids, mostly girls, had SERIOUS muscle for such little kids. IMHO, they also looked way better than just about any bodybuilder I’ve ever seen — and what most of our kids should look like!
Just for fun: try doing dips on the rings. You’ll then see how BW EXERCISE ROCKS!!
[quote]jj-dude wrote:
I use bodyweight exercises a lot and am really good at them. A couple of comments
why are you doing them aside from convenience?
why are you mimicking other weightlifting exercises?
What I mean is that agility = ability to move your own bodyweight, so approaching your training from that perspective is, I have found, a more fruitful way. [FWIW I’ve done jujutsu for 20+ years, so my goal is to get better at grappling. Having a clear goal really helps.] Now, you might want to read up on yet another approach to exercise (my website):
in particular, read the bit of philosophy here:
http://jqhome.net/taiso/the-problem.html#introduction
the section on movements in the large is the keystone.
Disclaimer: What is on the site is an exercise protocol for martial artists. It will get you ripped and powerful in ways you didn’t think possible, but it will not get you much larger. It is a specific tool for a specific activity. Maybe it will help you and there are tons of exercises listed there. YMMV
[/quote]
Excellent links! Good stuff!
To change leverage, would be like doing pushups with feet elevated, or doing front lever pull ups or something like that. The less leverage you have, is more resistance to overcome.
I imagine if you did lots of planche pushups, muscle-ups, handstand pushups, jump squats and pistols, you’d probably gain some muscle.
[quote]74 wrote:
The original poster was looking for bodyweight exercise information but unfortunately is getting "answers’ from people who have no grasp of the English language.
[/quote]
I’ve provided more information than your semantic argument has.
Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit. I’ve explained my definition clearly.