I don't mind stealing this, Bodyweight Strength Training
Going to follow this:
Link to the original article http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/
Here is the copy pasta version
[h=1]Bodyweight Strength Training: Beginners Guide[/h] Waldo9052 March 12, 2014 Beginners, Training
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and begin strength training. Now what?
This guide is for you.
Usually when I see something written for beginners to strength training, from simple comments on up to fully developed books, I see a lot of the same; hand holding, do this plan exactly as written with perfect form and you will see results. While well intentioned for sure, there is little attempt to explain why, and when there is, it is often incomplete or overly complicated.
The goal of this article is not to provide a workout routine and set of progressions you can follow; instead the goal is to provide you with a foundation of knowledge strong enough that you will be able to set your own goals then create your own routine and progression plan to get there.
This article is from the point of view that you have little to no equipment, aren’t a member of a gym, and aren’t planning on changing either of those facts anytime soon. While some tools may make it simpler to reach your goals, the fact is that most of what is out there is unnecessary at best. Knowledge is the most powerful tool and effort is the currency of success. The general principles contained in this article pertain to all forms of strength training.
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[h=2]Part 1: The Basics of Strength Training[/h] In part 1, big picture concepts will be examined. These big picture concepts apply across all forms of strength training. When it comes time to fill in the details, part 1 will provide a foundation for those details so that we approach things the right way from the very beginning.
Progressive Overload
What is strength training?
If there is one principle that really defines what strength training is, it is the application of progressive overload, or the gradual increase of exercise stress. This means that over time, the load applied to your muscles, and the amount of work they have to do, increases. It is both a measurement that you are getting stronger and a means of prompting continuing strength gains. There are several different models/theories to explain our bodies’ response to strength training and exercise in general; progressive overload is a critical component of all of them.
Progressive overload comes in three distinct flavors; load, time under tension, and form.
- To progress via load, additional weight is added to an exercise or a more difficult variation of the exercise is performed.
- To progress via time under tension, more reps, slower reps, and/or longer hold times are done, either by counting an individual set or by the total work done in a workout.
- To progress via form, small improvements to the exercise form are made. Almost always as form improves, the apparent load of the exercise also increases. This is an oft neglected type of progression.
The application of progressive overload to our muscles will cause them to get stronger as time goes on. In the absence of progressive overload, the body will adapt to the load applied and new adaptations will cease to occur.
In practice is that you should always be looking to make progress wherever you can, whether by load, time under tension, or form. It doesn’t mean that it will always be there, bad days happen and progress slows over time, but you should always be seeking progress.
Remember, resistance is resistance, it doesn’t matter where the resistance comes from. As long as there is progressive overload of whatever resistance you are using, you are strength training, and no source of resistance is any better or worse than any other.
It All Starts With Smart Goals
This point seems to be really lost on some people. While everyone does seem to have a vague idea of what they are trying to accomplish, having well thought out and continuously refined and updated goals is a totally different story. There is no one size fits all routine, plan, or program. Heading off in the general direction of nowhere in particular is not a good way to get somewhere. To spend your time effectively, you have to work with a purpose.
What makes a good goal?
- Good goals are specific. Specific goals are not subject to interpretation and have a definite point of accomplishment. For example, I’d like to get some upper body strength is a bad goal. I’d like to be able to do 5 one arm pushups, with each arm, is a good goal.
- Good goals are measurable. You should be able to measure where you are now, and measure your progress toward your goal along the way. This is important for evaluating if the steps you are taking to meet your goal are in fact working.
- Good goals are attainable. A good goal has to be actually possible. I’d like to jump 10 feet in the air, while specific and measurable, will almost certainly be impossible for me to achieve and isn’t a very good goal.
- Good goals are relevant. If you are going to commit to achieving a goal, actually attaining something useful to you is quite important when it comes to sticking with your goal. Its easy to give up when the going gets tough, if what you are trying to achieve is pointless anyway.
- Good goals are time-bound. When would you like to accomplish this goal by? Deadlines spur action, the lack of a deadline does the opposite. Always have a time frame in mind when choosing goals.
Before you even begin to put together a workout plan; where do you want to be a month from now? Six months from now? A year? Five years? Decide where it is you’d like to go. As you put together a program for yourself, always keep a goal oriented focus, start with goals, then fill in the blanks between where you are now and where you want to be.
Bodyweight and minimal equipment/weight workouts tend to lend themselves to a very goal focused approach. For the most part you aren’t going to be adding weight to a single exercise on out to infinity with arbitrary way points along the way. You are always going to be working toward a more advanced exercise, which greatly aids with goal setting.
In Reality, Strength Training is Simple
For some reason people tend to make this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. It almost seems that there is an unwritten rule that is followed (generally without even acknowledging it, even to yourself), that says the more complicated something is, the better your results will be. This rule is very much incorrect. Complexity for complexities sake is pointless and counterproductive.
With just about everything in life, but especially diet and training, the principles of KISS (keep it simple stupid) will serve you well. Any time you add additional complexity to your routine, you should have a darn good reason to do so. As we go through this article and as you go through your training life, however far it takes you, remember that point, it will prevent a lot of unnecessary headaches and time wasting.
Things Don’t Have To Be Perfect
In fact this can be taken one step further; things will never be perfect. There is always room for improvement. This applies to all aspects of your training, from exercise form, to routine, to goals; always assume that you can do better. Commit yourself to always doing things a little better.
There is no perfect routine for you. Do something, and make it better. You cannot ever use perfect form, it doesn’t exist, do your best, and next time, do better. Your goals aren’t set in stone, if you think they can be improved, do so.
The mindset that nothing is perfect, that you should at all times be looking for ways to improve, will solve a lot of problems for you when applied with consistency over time. Things just keep getting better and better and better.
Be confident that things can and will improve, and work to do so. Don’t let perfection stand in the way of productivity. It is always better to do something. And what you learn when you do that something will help you to do that something better in the future.
Consistency is the Key
This is the not so secret secret. Forget shortcuts, tricks, super duper extra special plans, consistency is shortest path to reaching your goals. Work with a purpose, put forth the effort, put in the time, and stick with it, consistently, for however long it takes to reach those goals, then move on to the next goals. Slow and steady always wins in the end.
To be successful you have to be willing to put forth the time and effort that it takes to be successful. This doesn’t mean that you need to work for hours a day, but it does man that you need a plan, and that you need to regularly and consistently follow that plan. Little things done consistently become big things.
Experiment
Experimentation is a point not emphasized nearly enough. Nothing can take the place of experience. Make a point to try different things. This applies to all aspects of your training; reps, sets, exercises, timing, order, etc… Keep a training log and take notes. The only way to find what works best for you is to experience the different options and decide for yourself. Experimentation (within reason) is definitely always to be encouraged. As you move from beginner, to intermediate, and onward, the lessons that you learn from experimenting and trying things out will help you to make good choices and continue to improve well into the future.
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[h=2]Part 2: The Parts of a Strength Program[/h] In part 1 we examined the big picture, how to approach strength training and what it is; apply progressive overload to your muscles, set and work toward good goals, keep things simple, always improve every aspect of what you are doing, experiment, and consistently put in the time and effort to be successful. In part 2 we move on to start filling in details.
Workouts and Programs
A workout is a routine to perform when training, a group of exercises that you do in a single session. A program is a group of workouts that are put together that will help you reach one or many goals.
The most basic program that can be done is to create a workout that covers every muscle in the body and then repeat that workout two to three times a week, progressing a little bit each workout. Though simple, this is an extremely effective way to work and use your time, it will lead to rapid progress on each of the exercises chosen. This type of program should always be your starting point.
At some point, most people will want to move on from the most basic program. This doesn’t mean that you should move on or that it is necessarily better to, but as you continue to improve and get stronger often you will find a good reason to. Perhaps you’d like to do more exercises. Perhaps workouts are taking too long. Perhaps a little variety will help you stick to things better. At a more advanced level, the concept of periodization can be introduced (at first is unnecessary and likely counterproductive).
If it’s time to move on from a basic repeating workout program, different workouts can be created that fit together in a cohesive way. One way this is commonly done is to have 2 or 3 different full body workouts, switching between them in repeating pattern. This is a small step above the most basic program. Another common way is to split a single large workout that is just too much per session into a couple of smaller workouts, then repeating that pattern. An upper body and lower body split is a very common way of doing this.
Having said that, let it be reiterated, the most basic program, a repeating full body workout that covers every muscle in the body, should be your starting point. You should only move on from that when you have a good reason to, as it is the most effective way to work early on. Straying too far from that tends to lead to a lot of wasted time and disappointing results.
The Full Body Workout
What is a full body workout?
There are 4 primary exercise families: upper body push, upper body pull, legs and core. One compound exercise done in each of those families will combine together to work every muscle in the body.
Compound exercises are exercises that move each joint involved in a movement, as opposed to moving a single joint and isolating a single muscle. A pullup is a classic compound pulling exercise, a bicep curl is an isolation exercise in the pulling family, pullups will work every pulling muscle, bicep curls will not.
Compound exercises are almost always preferred over isolation exercises. Compound exercises train movements in a cohesive manner, they allow us to work more effectively, and (if weight loss is a goal) they burn more calories. Isolation exercises should only be used to correct deficient areas. At first all areas are deficient; using isolation exercises is not a good use of your time.
Most bodyweight and minimal equipment exercises are compound exercises. It is very difficult to isolate individual muscles without machines; that just isn’t how our body works. Our muscles were designed to work in teams, and generally speaking when we are doing bodyweight or minimal equipment exercises, we are moving our body in ways it was designed to be moved.
Push, Pull, Legs, and Core
Now let’s examine the four main exercise families.
Upper Body Push – Upper body push exercises feature your hands moving away from your body in front or above you, and toward your body behind you. It can also be described as movements where your elbow moves in the arc from behind you to overhead (or applies a static force in that direction). The pushup is a classic bodyweight upper body push exercise.
Push exercises primarily work the chest, shoulders, and upper arm (triceps). Most exercises will also work a few of the muscles of the upper back and forearms to some degree.
Upper Body Pull – Upper body pull exercises feature your hands moving toward your body in front or above you, and away from you behind you. In these movements the elbow moves along the arc from overhead to behind you (or a static force is applied that direction). The pullup is a classic bodyweight upper body pull exercise.
Pull exercises primarily work the upper-middle back, upper arm and forearms (biceps). The shoulders also can get some work with some exercises.
Legs – Moreso than the arms, the legs work as a whole unit. Almost every compound leg exercise uses every major muscle in the leg, plus most of the minor ones too. Different exercises shift the muscle emphasis a bit. The squat is a classic bodyweight leg exercise.
A comprehensive list of bodyweight/low equipment leg exercises can be found here.
Core – The core refers primarily to the area between the pelvis and ribcage that can generate force for or transmit force between the upper and lower body. The core is involved to some degree with almost every non-isolation movement that can be done. The core really provides the foundation for movement. The plank is a classic bodyweight core exercise.
A lot of bodyweight exercises, especially as you get stronger and more advanced, become dual exercises of sorts, working both the core and one of the other 3 movements in equal parts. Thus specialized core work isn’t necessarily required for a full body workout. However having a very strong core will do nothing but good things for you.
The core tends to get an inordinate amount of focus in some beginning programs, especially high reps of easy core exercises. The usefulness of this is questionable at best, especially since it is based around a rather misguided belief that doing ab exercises will make your abs show up; diet is much, much more important than training for having visible abs.
Frequency
How often should you work out?
The answer to this will greatly depend on your situation, but the maximum frequency that can be realistically maintained is to do a full body workout 3 times a week, with a day of rest in-between each workout.
When you see/hear people that strength train 4, 5, even 6 days a week, what you see are split routines. If the split up workouts were combined into one big workout, the frequency would only be 1-2 times a week for that workout. When you are first staring out, strength gains come fast and easy, and you recover very fast; your muscles can handle working 3 times a week, take advantage of that if you can, if you are going to spend more than 1-2 days a week strength training.
As you get stronger, workout to workout recovery begins to decline a little; working each muscle 3 times a week begins to become problematic. That is usually the point to introduce split routines and/or periodization. Chances are you won’t reach that point without several months of dedicated work.
Reps and Sets
How many reps and sets should you do?
It depends. There is no off-limits rep range you should avoid, and in fact you are better off not just sticking to one single number. It ok to do 1 rep, or negatives even, it’s ok to do lots of reps. The fewer reps it takes you to reach failure, the faster you will gain strength adaptations. The more reps it takes to reach failure, the faster you will gain strength endurance adaptations. Both are useful to have, though when starting out you are better off focusing on strength a little more than strength endurance, as strength gains will give some strength endurance, moreso than strength endurance will give strength.
I mentioned nothing about hypertrophy (muscles growing larger). While it is oft said that doing x number of reps will lead to hypertrophy, hypertrophy is almost solely a function of diet and total work performed, some rep ranges lend themselves to higher sustained work volumes, that is the only reason why it is said they are better for hypertrophy. Muscles will not get larger unless you are eating for them to get larger.
When is a set over? Some say go to failure. Some say go to when form breaks down. Some say go to when rep speed slows. There really is no answer, each have pros and cons, each are commonly done by people everywhere, as you get more and more advanced, you will learn which is right for you in which situations.
With sets, start simple and find a number you are comfortable with for each exercise. How many sets of an exercise you can do will be highly variable depending on your work capacity, how heavy the apparent load, and how close to failure you are taking each set. There is no right number, though the clock is a good indicator; if things aren’t taking long enough or are taking too long, you might want to adjust the total number of sets. A good full body workout should take about 40-60 minutes. If it is taking longer than that, you could scale back the number of sets, if it is taking less time, add a few more.
Straight Sets, Supersets, Circuits, and Order
There are several different ways that exercises and sets can be assembled in a workout.
Usually you want to order exercises from highly skilled to most taxing. If you are doing an exercise that requires balance for example, doing it first ensures that you aren’t trying to do it while tired, which can significantly harm your balance. Extremely taxing exercises are best done last since they will severely impact any exercises done afterwards.
When you focus on one exercise, do all your sets of that exercise, then move on, that is referred to as straight sets. Straight sets allow you to focus your efforts on a single exercise which will usually result in better performance on the exercise. The downside of using straight sets is that it can take a long time unless you are only doing a few exercises.
Supersetting refers to doing two unrelated exercises back to back, resting after doing the exercises. About like doing straight sets of two exercises simultaneously. The exercises have to be unrelated so that you aren’t impacting recovery of one while doing the other. Usually there is little crossover between push, pull, and legs, so supersetting the different groups can be done without issue. There can be a little more crossover with the core, try to avoid too much crossover if you are going to superset with the core. The obvious draw of supersetting is that it is a time saver. On the downside, you can’t focus quite as much on a single exercise, and general fatigue can limit you a little bit, compared to straight sets.
Circuits are the opposite of straight sets. You do one set of each exercise per circuit and repeat the circuit for however many sets you’d like to do. Circuits can be done very rapidly, for time, giving cardiovascular and extra calorie burning benefits on top of strength gains. The downside to doing circuits is that the fatigue can limit the quality of the work and thus the strength gain potential. If you are specifically looking to get stronger as a primary goal, rapid circuits should be avoided.
Exercise Progression
Lacking a bar and some plates, or machines with weight stacks, the way to add consistent load is to become proficient at one or a few exercises, then move on to a more difficult variation. Exercise progression is not something to be approached in an overly strict or dogmatic way, everyone is a little different, what works for someone might not work for someone else.
At the most basic level are straight linear progressions. Adding reps to incline pushups will eventually lead to the strength to do standard pushups. Adding reps to standard pushups will eventually lead to the strength to do diamond pushups. Really nothing more needs to be done.
At the other end of the spectrum are progressions where you need to build up a large foundation across a broad number of exercises in order to do a more difficult exercise. The tuck planche is a great example, often requiring you to first master the L-sit, planche leans, pseudo planche pushups, easier handbalancing like the frog stand, make significant progress on the back lever, and correct any wrist and finger strength/mobility issues.
It isn’t important to know the details of every possible progression for every exercise, nor even possible. What is most important is that you know where you are, that you are doing a productive exercise, and that you know what’s next, where to go once the exercise you are currently working on gets too easy. That exercise itself may be a short term goal in the midst of a longer progression to reach a more major goal.
This can sound a little overwhelming, but the crowd is a great source of information. Looking up an exercise you’d like to do on Google or YouTube should yield tutorials that show various strategies for progressing to an exercise. There is almost always going to be a few different paths, you have to figure out what works best for you. Finding your path to ever harder and more difficult exercises is part of the fun of bodyweight/low equipment work , it helps to keep your workouts entertaining, it keeps goals fresh, and makes reaching your goals that much sweeter when you get there.
Warming Up
There are two different concepts that tend to get mixed together in a confusing way with warmups, general warmups and ramping up. The goals of each are different; however there can be some crossover.
A general warmup is thought to help prevent injury (though this is subject to debate), by physically and mentally preparing you to work out. For a general warmup you want to move all of your joints a little bit and get your heart rate up. There are a number of exercises that can be used for this, from jogging a little bit to jumping jacks. While our bodies aren’t so poorly put together that they break from a little strenuous use, warming up does become a ritual of sorts that bridges the gap between your everyday life and focusing on the task at hand, the workout you are preparing for.
Ramping up is method of working your way up to high loads by doing non-fatiguing sets of increasing load for that given movement to prepare you to work very heavy. In general it isn’t necessary for higher rep movements. Ramping up is not done to prevent injury; rather the way our bodies work, your peak strength will be higher if you work up to it this way instead of going straight to peak load sets, the body supercompensates while recovering, prior to fatigue setting in (which means it recovers beyond your resting baseline).
Warmups are often a mix of general warmups, ramping up, and other useful easy exercises you might find you’d like to add such as preactivation exercises or skill maintenance exercises.
Preactivation exercises are exercises done to feel a particular muscle working, so to establish the mind muscle connection, so that it is easy for you to use later on. If you feel that you are having difficulty using a particular muscle (this is very common with the glutes and squatting), doing a preacitvation exercise can go a long way toward fixing that issue for you.
Skill maintenance exercises refer to doing an easy set of a skill you aren’t actively working on to maintain your ability to do it.
Start off easy and basic with warmups, find what works for you. Note that static stretching should not be done as part of a warmup, stretching cold muscles is more likely to cause injury than prevent it. Any stretching you might do should be more of a dynamic moving nature.
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[h=2]Part 3: Building a Routine[/h] In part 3 we are going to sew all the pieces together into an example beginning routine. Obviously this should be adjusted to fit whatever fitness level you are currently at.
The first step is to come up with goals. For a beginner the primary goal should be to build a basic level of strength in all of the major movements (push-pull-legs-core) that will act as a foundation to build on in the future. Building up to this basic level of strength is key for moving toward more advanced movements and intermediate programming, and it’s a strength level you want to reach before you attempt muscle building with a calorie surplus of significance.
Basic Strength Goals
A pullup bar is the one piece of equipment that is vital to a bodyweight strength routine. Doorway pullup bars are a cheap and effective way to get the job done. Assistance bands or an object such as a chair can be used to provide assistance if you can’t yet do a pullup.
The following is about what I consider to be a basic level of strength. Everyone is a little different, but this is about where gains slowed down for me, where recovery (both set to set and session to session) began to stretch out further and further, and about what I needed to begin more advanced movements. This isn’t isolated to me either, there is a fair bit of agreement as to what constitutes a basic level of bodyweight strength.
- 5 Pullups: Basic pullup competence where you are well beyond the question of if you can do them, and are ready to begin fine tuning your form, working on more advanced pulling exercises, adding load, and/or increasing the number you an do.
- 1 Straddle (Wide Leg) One Arm Pushup (each arm): Pushups and pushing exercises in general are a relatively simple linear progression up to this point. One arm pushups will likely be one of the first “cool” exercises that you can do. Once achieved you can continue on adding reps and improving form with them or move to doing other pushing exercises.
- 60 Second Wall Handstand: Handstands are an exercise that will receive more and more use the stronger you get; you should begin laying the foundations early. The first step though is to get comfortable being upside down and build the strength to hold yourself in a handstand with a tight core with relative ease.
- 5 Pistol Squats (each leg): Pistol squats are the most complete and balanced bodyweight leg exercise, and are the starting point for all more advanced higher load leg exercises. For most people, pistol squats will be the first non-linear progression where you will have to troubleshoot your own weak spots and pick the right path(s) for yourself.
- 15 Second Hanging Leg Raise Hold: Core strength is where all higher loads are derived from with bodyweight work. Being able to hold the L-position in the core is a key point in core strength development.
Progression Details
Working backwards from our goals, the next step is to determine how to get there. For just about every exercise out there that you want to work towards, there are many progression plans available, whether on this site, Youtube, in books, or found simply by entering the exercise in a search engine.
Here is a basic progression plan for each of those exercises:
Pullups: DB Rows or (Bent Leg Inverted Rows -> Straight Leg Inverted Rows -> Feet Elevated Inverted Rows) -> Leg Assist Chinups -> Chinup Negatives -> Chinups -> Pullups
Straddle One Arm Pushups: Incline Pushups -> Pushups -> Diamond Pushups -> Decline Pushups -> Decline Diamond Pushups -> One Arm Emphasized (Typewriter) Pushups -> Incline Straddle One Arm Pushups -> Straddle One Arm Pushups
Wall Handstand: (DB Overhead Press) -> Decline Pushups -> Wall Walkup -> Wall Handstand
Pistol Squats: Bodyweight Squats -> Rear Foot Elevated (Bulgarian) Split Squats -> Deep Step Ups -> Box Pistol Squats -> Counterweight Pistol Squats -> Pistol Squats
Hanging Leg Raise Holds: Bicycle Crunches -> Hanging Knee Raises -> Hanging Leg Raise Negatives -> Hanging Leg Raises -> Hanging Leg Raise Holds
You might find progressions that work better for you. Experimenting a bit to try out different options has to be a part of the plan. You don’t need to start out with an extremely detailed plan, you really only need to know the next step beyond where you are now.
Starting Point
Now that we know where we want to go and how we are going to get there, the next step is to figure out where we are now.
Lets hypothetically say that we can currently do:
3 Bent Leg Inverted Rows
5 Pushups
3 Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats
6 Bicycle Crunches
When starting out, the most effective workout format will always be full body workouts. This means for a basic full body workout, the starting point would be:
Bent Leg Inverted Rows (working toward straight leg inverted rows)
Pushups (working toward diamond pushups)
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats (working toward deep step ups)
Bicycle Crunches (working toward hanging knee raises)
These exercises will form the meat of your workout. Each session add reps and/or improve your form, and periodically test out the next exercise in the progression to see if you are ready to move on.
Sets
How many sets to do of each exercise? Available workout time and work capacity will largely dictate this. When starting out you are always better off erring on the side of less. You can always add another set next time; it’s a good way to progress and progress is something that we are always looking for.
In order to maintain balance, it’s a good idea to evenly balance the number of sets done between pushing, pulling, and legs. Core work is a little different and doesn’t require that balance; its fine to do a little less core work than everything else.
A good starting point is 3 work sets per push-pull-leg exercise and 2 core work sets. You should be able to finish that up in 30-45 minutes without issue, its enough to get a good workout but not too much to overdo it at first.
Order
What about order? The general framework of workout order should go:
Warmup/Prehab/Mobility
Skill Exercises (handstands, etc…, put here because fatigue seriously hurts performance and/or safety)
Focus Exercise(s)
Main Workout
Unusually Taxing Exercise(s)
Core Work
Ramp Up Sets and Supersets
Both ramping up and supersets are concepts that we can put to good use right away.
Ramping up is similar to but not truly a warmup. But it is a good idea to do a ramp up set for most exercises (core excluded). Usually that means dropping down to the previous exercise in the progression and doing an easy set, keeping the rep numbers low enough that the set is not overly difficult. In this example the only exercise that is a good candidate for a ramp up set are split squats, as both the pushups and inverted rows are close enough to the beginning of the progression that easier exercises are significantly easier. However once those exercises are progressed to the next exercise, they too would be good candidates for a ramp up set.
With our example, bent leg inverted rows and pushups are prime candidates to be superset together to save a little time. They are dissimilar movements with little crossover, so performance should not suffer by doing so. There is no need to quickly go from one to the other, recover as needed between each set.
Warmup
Finally we come to the warmup. Over time you’ll find exercises to add to your warmup that serve a purpose for your training, whether preactivation or mobility or some sort of prehab, but at first none of that is necessary at all. Instead the general warmup is done simply to tell your body and mind it is time to work out now, so we’ll start off with something very easy, the jumping jack, the classic warmup exercise. There is no need to go overboard, just enough to get the heart moving is good enough.
Frequency
At first you’ll probably be quite sore for a few days after your first workout, this is normal and nothing to worry about, you’ll only get it bad once. Once that initial soreness dies down, you can repeat your routine 2-3 times per week, always leaving a day for recovery between sessions where you do no strength training.
The Assembled Routine
Here it is, typing together everything from part 3 into our starting full body routine.
Full Body Beginner Bodyweight Strength Routine (M, W, F):
15 Jumping Jacks x 1 set
Superset:
-(max reps) Bent Leg Inverted Rows x 3 sets
-(max reps) Pushups x 3 sets
10 Bodyweight Squats x 1 set
(max reps) Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats x 3 sets each side
(max reps) Bicycle Crunches x2 sets
As you go on don’t forget to experiment with various set timings, leaving a rep or two in the tank vs. doing as many as you can, and the next exercise(s) in the progression. Keep a log of your workouts to track progress and keep notes. Always look to improve your form.
Going Beyond
As you start to make progress, and it should come very fast at first, you’ll want to evolve your routine to fit your level of strength and fitness. This likely will include adding a couple sets to each of your exercises and perhaps coming up with a slightly different full body routine so you can alternate A/B days to keep things interesting.
Good luck with your training and enjoy the ride.
Link to the original article http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/
Here is the copy pasta version
[h=1]Bodyweight Strength Training: Beginners Guide[/h] Waldo9052 March 12, 2014 Beginners, Training
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and begin strength training. Now what?
This guide is for you.
Usually when I see something written for beginners to strength training, from simple comments on up to fully developed books, I see a lot of the same; hand holding, do this plan exactly as written with perfect form and you will see results. While well intentioned for sure, there is little attempt to explain why, and when there is, it is often incomplete or overly complicated.
The goal of this article is not to provide a workout routine and set of progressions you can follow; instead the goal is to provide you with a foundation of knowledge strong enough that you will be able to set your own goals then create your own routine and progression plan to get there.
This article is from the point of view that you have little to no equipment, aren’t a member of a gym, and aren’t planning on changing either of those facts anytime soon. While some tools may make it simpler to reach your goals, the fact is that most of what is out there is unnecessary at best. Knowledge is the most powerful tool and effort is the currency of success. The general principles contained in this article pertain to all forms of strength training.
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[h=2]Part 1: The Basics of Strength Training[/h] In part 1, big picture concepts will be examined. These big picture concepts apply across all forms of strength training. When it comes time to fill in the details, part 1 will provide a foundation for those details so that we approach things the right way from the very beginning.
Progressive Overload
What is strength training?
If there is one principle that really defines what strength training is, it is the application of progressive overload, or the gradual increase of exercise stress. This means that over time, the load applied to your muscles, and the amount of work they have to do, increases. It is both a measurement that you are getting stronger and a means of prompting continuing strength gains. There are several different models/theories to explain our bodies’ response to strength training and exercise in general; progressive overload is a critical component of all of them.
Progressive overload comes in three distinct flavors; load, time under tension, and form.
- To progress via load, additional weight is added to an exercise or a more difficult variation of the exercise is performed.
- To progress via time under tension, more reps, slower reps, and/or longer hold times are done, either by counting an individual set or by the total work done in a workout.
- To progress via form, small improvements to the exercise form are made. Almost always as form improves, the apparent load of the exercise also increases. This is an oft neglected type of progression.
The application of progressive overload to our muscles will cause them to get stronger as time goes on. In the absence of progressive overload, the body will adapt to the load applied and new adaptations will cease to occur.
In practice is that you should always be looking to make progress wherever you can, whether by load, time under tension, or form. It doesn’t mean that it will always be there, bad days happen and progress slows over time, but you should always be seeking progress.
Remember, resistance is resistance, it doesn’t matter where the resistance comes from. As long as there is progressive overload of whatever resistance you are using, you are strength training, and no source of resistance is any better or worse than any other.
It All Starts With Smart Goals
This point seems to be really lost on some people. While everyone does seem to have a vague idea of what they are trying to accomplish, having well thought out and continuously refined and updated goals is a totally different story. There is no one size fits all routine, plan, or program. Heading off in the general direction of nowhere in particular is not a good way to get somewhere. To spend your time effectively, you have to work with a purpose.
What makes a good goal?
- Good goals are specific. Specific goals are not subject to interpretation and have a definite point of accomplishment. For example, I’d like to get some upper body strength is a bad goal. I’d like to be able to do 5 one arm pushups, with each arm, is a good goal.- Good goals are measurable. You should be able to measure where you are now, and measure your progress toward your goal along the way. This is important for evaluating if the steps you are taking to meet your goal are in fact working.
- Good goals are attainable. A good goal has to be actually possible. I’d like to jump 10 feet in the air, while specific and measurable, will almost certainly be impossible for me to achieve and isn’t a very good goal.
- Good goals are relevant. If you are going to commit to achieving a goal, actually attaining something useful to you is quite important when it comes to sticking with your goal. Its easy to give up when the going gets tough, if what you are trying to achieve is pointless anyway.
- Good goals are time-bound. When would you like to accomplish this goal by? Deadlines spur action, the lack of a deadline does the opposite. Always have a time frame in mind when choosing goals.
Before you even begin to put together a workout plan; where do you want to be a month from now? Six months from now? A year? Five years? Decide where it is you’d like to go. As you put together a program for yourself, always keep a goal oriented focus, start with goals, then fill in the blanks between where you are now and where you want to be.
Bodyweight and minimal equipment/weight workouts tend to lend themselves to a very goal focused approach. For the most part you aren’t going to be adding weight to a single exercise on out to infinity with arbitrary way points along the way. You are always going to be working toward a more advanced exercise, which greatly aids with goal setting.
In Reality, Strength Training is Simple
For some reason people tend to make this a lot more complicated than it needs to be. It almost seems that there is an unwritten rule that is followed (generally without even acknowledging it, even to yourself), that says the more complicated something is, the better your results will be. This rule is very much incorrect. Complexity for complexities sake is pointless and counterproductive.
With just about everything in life, but especially diet and training, the principles of KISS (keep it simple stupid) will serve you well. Any time you add additional complexity to your routine, you should have a darn good reason to do so. As we go through this article and as you go through your training life, however far it takes you, remember that point, it will prevent a lot of unnecessary headaches and time wasting.
Things Don’t Have To Be Perfect
In fact this can be taken one step further; things will never be perfect. There is always room for improvement. This applies to all aspects of your training, from exercise form, to routine, to goals; always assume that you can do better. Commit yourself to always doing things a little better.
There is no perfect routine for you. Do something, and make it better. You cannot ever use perfect form, it doesn’t exist, do your best, and next time, do better. Your goals aren’t set in stone, if you think they can be improved, do so.
The mindset that nothing is perfect, that you should at all times be looking for ways to improve, will solve a lot of problems for you when applied with consistency over time. Things just keep getting better and better and better.
Be confident that things can and will improve, and work to do so. Don’t let perfection stand in the way of productivity. It is always better to do something. And what you learn when you do that something will help you to do that something better in the future.
Consistency is the Key
This is the not so secret secret. Forget shortcuts, tricks, super duper extra special plans, consistency is shortest path to reaching your goals. Work with a purpose, put forth the effort, put in the time, and stick with it, consistently, for however long it takes to reach those goals, then move on to the next goals. Slow and steady always wins in the end.
To be successful you have to be willing to put forth the time and effort that it takes to be successful. This doesn’t mean that you need to work for hours a day, but it does man that you need a plan, and that you need to regularly and consistently follow that plan. Little things done consistently become big things.
Experiment
Experimentation is a point not emphasized nearly enough. Nothing can take the place of experience. Make a point to try different things. This applies to all aspects of your training; reps, sets, exercises, timing, order, etc… Keep a training log and take notes. The only way to find what works best for you is to experience the different options and decide for yourself. Experimentation (within reason) is definitely always to be encouraged. As you move from beginner, to intermediate, and onward, the lessons that you learn from experimenting and trying things out will help you to make good choices and continue to improve well into the future.
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[h=2]Part 2: The Parts of a Strength Program[/h] In part 1 we examined the big picture, how to approach strength training and what it is; apply progressive overload to your muscles, set and work toward good goals, keep things simple, always improve every aspect of what you are doing, experiment, and consistently put in the time and effort to be successful. In part 2 we move on to start filling in details.
Workouts and Programs
A workout is a routine to perform when training, a group of exercises that you do in a single session. A program is a group of workouts that are put together that will help you reach one or many goals.
The most basic program that can be done is to create a workout that covers every muscle in the body and then repeat that workout two to three times a week, progressing a little bit each workout. Though simple, this is an extremely effective way to work and use your time, it will lead to rapid progress on each of the exercises chosen. This type of program should always be your starting point.
At some point, most people will want to move on from the most basic program. This doesn’t mean that you should move on or that it is necessarily better to, but as you continue to improve and get stronger often you will find a good reason to. Perhaps you’d like to do more exercises. Perhaps workouts are taking too long. Perhaps a little variety will help you stick to things better. At a more advanced level, the concept of periodization can be introduced (at first is unnecessary and likely counterproductive).
If it’s time to move on from a basic repeating workout program, different workouts can be created that fit together in a cohesive way. One way this is commonly done is to have 2 or 3 different full body workouts, switching between them in repeating pattern. This is a small step above the most basic program. Another common way is to split a single large workout that is just too much per session into a couple of smaller workouts, then repeating that pattern. An upper body and lower body split is a very common way of doing this.
Having said that, let it be reiterated, the most basic program, a repeating full body workout that covers every muscle in the body, should be your starting point. You should only move on from that when you have a good reason to, as it is the most effective way to work early on. Straying too far from that tends to lead to a lot of wasted time and disappointing results.
The Full Body Workout
What is a full body workout?
There are 4 primary exercise families: upper body push, upper body pull, legs and core. One compound exercise done in each of those families will combine together to work every muscle in the body.
Compound exercises are exercises that move each joint involved in a movement, as opposed to moving a single joint and isolating a single muscle. A pullup is a classic compound pulling exercise, a bicep curl is an isolation exercise in the pulling family, pullups will work every pulling muscle, bicep curls will not.
Compound exercises are almost always preferred over isolation exercises. Compound exercises train movements in a cohesive manner, they allow us to work more effectively, and (if weight loss is a goal) they burn more calories. Isolation exercises should only be used to correct deficient areas. At first all areas are deficient; using isolation exercises is not a good use of your time.
Most bodyweight and minimal equipment exercises are compound exercises. It is very difficult to isolate individual muscles without machines; that just isn’t how our body works. Our muscles were designed to work in teams, and generally speaking when we are doing bodyweight or minimal equipment exercises, we are moving our body in ways it was designed to be moved.
Push, Pull, Legs, and Core
Now let’s examine the four main exercise families.
Upper Body Push – Upper body push exercises feature your hands moving away from your body in front or above you, and toward your body behind you. It can also be described as movements where your elbow moves in the arc from behind you to overhead (or applies a static force in that direction). The pushup is a classic bodyweight upper body push exercise.
Push exercises primarily work the chest, shoulders, and upper arm (triceps). Most exercises will also work a few of the muscles of the upper back and forearms to some degree.
Upper Body Pull – Upper body pull exercises feature your hands moving toward your body in front or above you, and away from you behind you. In these movements the elbow moves along the arc from overhead to behind you (or a static force is applied that direction). The pullup is a classic bodyweight upper body pull exercise.
Pull exercises primarily work the upper-middle back, upper arm and forearms (biceps). The shoulders also can get some work with some exercises.
Legs – Moreso than the arms, the legs work as a whole unit. Almost every compound leg exercise uses every major muscle in the leg, plus most of the minor ones too. Different exercises shift the muscle emphasis a bit. The squat is a classic bodyweight leg exercise.
A comprehensive list of bodyweight/low equipment leg exercises can be found here.
Core – The core refers primarily to the area between the pelvis and ribcage that can generate force for or transmit force between the upper and lower body. The core is involved to some degree with almost every non-isolation movement that can be done. The core really provides the foundation for movement. The plank is a classic bodyweight core exercise.
A lot of bodyweight exercises, especially as you get stronger and more advanced, become dual exercises of sorts, working both the core and one of the other 3 movements in equal parts. Thus specialized core work isn’t necessarily required for a full body workout. However having a very strong core will do nothing but good things for you.
The core tends to get an inordinate amount of focus in some beginning programs, especially high reps of easy core exercises. The usefulness of this is questionable at best, especially since it is based around a rather misguided belief that doing ab exercises will make your abs show up; diet is much, much more important than training for having visible abs.
Frequency
How often should you work out?
The answer to this will greatly depend on your situation, but the maximum frequency that can be realistically maintained is to do a full body workout 3 times a week, with a day of rest in-between each workout.
When you see/hear people that strength train 4, 5, even 6 days a week, what you see are split routines. If the split up workouts were combined into one big workout, the frequency would only be 1-2 times a week for that workout. When you are first staring out, strength gains come fast and easy, and you recover very fast; your muscles can handle working 3 times a week, take advantage of that if you can, if you are going to spend more than 1-2 days a week strength training.
As you get stronger, workout to workout recovery begins to decline a little; working each muscle 3 times a week begins to become problematic. That is usually the point to introduce split routines and/or periodization. Chances are you won’t reach that point without several months of dedicated work.
Reps and Sets
How many reps and sets should you do?
It depends. There is no off-limits rep range you should avoid, and in fact you are better off not just sticking to one single number. It ok to do 1 rep, or negatives even, it’s ok to do lots of reps. The fewer reps it takes you to reach failure, the faster you will gain strength adaptations. The more reps it takes to reach failure, the faster you will gain strength endurance adaptations. Both are useful to have, though when starting out you are better off focusing on strength a little more than strength endurance, as strength gains will give some strength endurance, moreso than strength endurance will give strength.
I mentioned nothing about hypertrophy (muscles growing larger). While it is oft said that doing x number of reps will lead to hypertrophy, hypertrophy is almost solely a function of diet and total work performed, some rep ranges lend themselves to higher sustained work volumes, that is the only reason why it is said they are better for hypertrophy. Muscles will not get larger unless you are eating for them to get larger.
When is a set over? Some say go to failure. Some say go to when form breaks down. Some say go to when rep speed slows. There really is no answer, each have pros and cons, each are commonly done by people everywhere, as you get more and more advanced, you will learn which is right for you in which situations.
With sets, start simple and find a number you are comfortable with for each exercise. How many sets of an exercise you can do will be highly variable depending on your work capacity, how heavy the apparent load, and how close to failure you are taking each set. There is no right number, though the clock is a good indicator; if things aren’t taking long enough or are taking too long, you might want to adjust the total number of sets. A good full body workout should take about 40-60 minutes. If it is taking longer than that, you could scale back the number of sets, if it is taking less time, add a few more.
Straight Sets, Supersets, Circuits, and Order
There are several different ways that exercises and sets can be assembled in a workout.
Usually you want to order exercises from highly skilled to most taxing. If you are doing an exercise that requires balance for example, doing it first ensures that you aren’t trying to do it while tired, which can significantly harm your balance. Extremely taxing exercises are best done last since they will severely impact any exercises done afterwards.
When you focus on one exercise, do all your sets of that exercise, then move on, that is referred to as straight sets. Straight sets allow you to focus your efforts on a single exercise which will usually result in better performance on the exercise. The downside of using straight sets is that it can take a long time unless you are only doing a few exercises.
Supersetting refers to doing two unrelated exercises back to back, resting after doing the exercises. About like doing straight sets of two exercises simultaneously. The exercises have to be unrelated so that you aren’t impacting recovery of one while doing the other. Usually there is little crossover between push, pull, and legs, so supersetting the different groups can be done without issue. There can be a little more crossover with the core, try to avoid too much crossover if you are going to superset with the core. The obvious draw of supersetting is that it is a time saver. On the downside, you can’t focus quite as much on a single exercise, and general fatigue can limit you a little bit, compared to straight sets.
Circuits are the opposite of straight sets. You do one set of each exercise per circuit and repeat the circuit for however many sets you’d like to do. Circuits can be done very rapidly, for time, giving cardiovascular and extra calorie burning benefits on top of strength gains. The downside to doing circuits is that the fatigue can limit the quality of the work and thus the strength gain potential. If you are specifically looking to get stronger as a primary goal, rapid circuits should be avoided.
Exercise Progression
Lacking a bar and some plates, or machines with weight stacks, the way to add consistent load is to become proficient at one or a few exercises, then move on to a more difficult variation. Exercise progression is not something to be approached in an overly strict or dogmatic way, everyone is a little different, what works for someone might not work for someone else.
At the most basic level are straight linear progressions. Adding reps to incline pushups will eventually lead to the strength to do standard pushups. Adding reps to standard pushups will eventually lead to the strength to do diamond pushups. Really nothing more needs to be done.
At the other end of the spectrum are progressions where you need to build up a large foundation across a broad number of exercises in order to do a more difficult exercise. The tuck planche is a great example, often requiring you to first master the L-sit, planche leans, pseudo planche pushups, easier handbalancing like the frog stand, make significant progress on the back lever, and correct any wrist and finger strength/mobility issues.
It isn’t important to know the details of every possible progression for every exercise, nor even possible. What is most important is that you know where you are, that you are doing a productive exercise, and that you know what’s next, where to go once the exercise you are currently working on gets too easy. That exercise itself may be a short term goal in the midst of a longer progression to reach a more major goal.
This can sound a little overwhelming, but the crowd is a great source of information. Looking up an exercise you’d like to do on Google or YouTube should yield tutorials that show various strategies for progressing to an exercise. There is almost always going to be a few different paths, you have to figure out what works best for you. Finding your path to ever harder and more difficult exercises is part of the fun of bodyweight/low equipment work , it helps to keep your workouts entertaining, it keeps goals fresh, and makes reaching your goals that much sweeter when you get there.
Warming Up
There are two different concepts that tend to get mixed together in a confusing way with warmups, general warmups and ramping up. The goals of each are different; however there can be some crossover.
A general warmup is thought to help prevent injury (though this is subject to debate), by physically and mentally preparing you to work out. For a general warmup you want to move all of your joints a little bit and get your heart rate up. There are a number of exercises that can be used for this, from jogging a little bit to jumping jacks. While our bodies aren’t so poorly put together that they break from a little strenuous use, warming up does become a ritual of sorts that bridges the gap between your everyday life and focusing on the task at hand, the workout you are preparing for.
Ramping up is method of working your way up to high loads by doing non-fatiguing sets of increasing load for that given movement to prepare you to work very heavy. In general it isn’t necessary for higher rep movements. Ramping up is not done to prevent injury; rather the way our bodies work, your peak strength will be higher if you work up to it this way instead of going straight to peak load sets, the body supercompensates while recovering, prior to fatigue setting in (which means it recovers beyond your resting baseline).
Warmups are often a mix of general warmups, ramping up, and other useful easy exercises you might find you’d like to add such as preactivation exercises or skill maintenance exercises.
Preactivation exercises are exercises done to feel a particular muscle working, so to establish the mind muscle connection, so that it is easy for you to use later on. If you feel that you are having difficulty using a particular muscle (this is very common with the glutes and squatting), doing a preacitvation exercise can go a long way toward fixing that issue for you.
Skill maintenance exercises refer to doing an easy set of a skill you aren’t actively working on to maintain your ability to do it.
Start off easy and basic with warmups, find what works for you. Note that static stretching should not be done as part of a warmup, stretching cold muscles is more likely to cause injury than prevent it. Any stretching you might do should be more of a dynamic moving nature.
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[h=2]Part 3: Building a Routine[/h] In part 3 we are going to sew all the pieces together into an example beginning routine. Obviously this should be adjusted to fit whatever fitness level you are currently at.
The first step is to come up with goals. For a beginner the primary goal should be to build a basic level of strength in all of the major movements (push-pull-legs-core) that will act as a foundation to build on in the future. Building up to this basic level of strength is key for moving toward more advanced movements and intermediate programming, and it’s a strength level you want to reach before you attempt muscle building with a calorie surplus of significance.
Basic Strength Goals
A pullup bar is the one piece of equipment that is vital to a bodyweight strength routine. Doorway pullup bars are a cheap and effective way to get the job done. Assistance bands or an object such as a chair can be used to provide assistance if you can’t yet do a pullup.
The following is about what I consider to be a basic level of strength. Everyone is a little different, but this is about where gains slowed down for me, where recovery (both set to set and session to session) began to stretch out further and further, and about what I needed to begin more advanced movements. This isn’t isolated to me either, there is a fair bit of agreement as to what constitutes a basic level of bodyweight strength.
- 5 Pullups: Basic pullup competence where you are well beyond the question of if you can do them, and are ready to begin fine tuning your form, working on more advanced pulling exercises, adding load, and/or increasing the number you an do.
- 1 Straddle (Wide Leg) One Arm Pushup (each arm): Pushups and pushing exercises in general are a relatively simple linear progression up to this point. One arm pushups will likely be one of the first “cool” exercises that you can do. Once achieved you can continue on adding reps and improving form with them or move to doing other pushing exercises.
- 60 Second Wall Handstand: Handstands are an exercise that will receive more and more use the stronger you get; you should begin laying the foundations early. The first step though is to get comfortable being upside down and build the strength to hold yourself in a handstand with a tight core with relative ease.
- 5 Pistol Squats (each leg): Pistol squats are the most complete and balanced bodyweight leg exercise, and are the starting point for all more advanced higher load leg exercises. For most people, pistol squats will be the first non-linear progression where you will have to troubleshoot your own weak spots and pick the right path(s) for yourself.
- 15 Second Hanging Leg Raise Hold: Core strength is where all higher loads are derived from with bodyweight work. Being able to hold the L-position in the core is a key point in core strength development.
Progression Details
Working backwards from our goals, the next step is to determine how to get there. For just about every exercise out there that you want to work towards, there are many progression plans available, whether on this site, Youtube, in books, or found simply by entering the exercise in a search engine.
Here is a basic progression plan for each of those exercises:
Pullups: DB Rows or (Bent Leg Inverted Rows -> Straight Leg Inverted Rows -> Feet Elevated Inverted Rows) -> Leg Assist Chinups -> Chinup Negatives -> Chinups -> Pullups
Straddle One Arm Pushups: Incline Pushups -> Pushups -> Diamond Pushups -> Decline Pushups -> Decline Diamond Pushups -> One Arm Emphasized (Typewriter) Pushups -> Incline Straddle One Arm Pushups -> Straddle One Arm Pushups
Wall Handstand: (DB Overhead Press) -> Decline Pushups -> Wall Walkup -> Wall Handstand
Pistol Squats: Bodyweight Squats -> Rear Foot Elevated (Bulgarian) Split Squats -> Deep Step Ups -> Box Pistol Squats -> Counterweight Pistol Squats -> Pistol Squats
Hanging Leg Raise Holds: Bicycle Crunches -> Hanging Knee Raises -> Hanging Leg Raise Negatives -> Hanging Leg Raises -> Hanging Leg Raise Holds
You might find progressions that work better for you. Experimenting a bit to try out different options has to be a part of the plan. You don’t need to start out with an extremely detailed plan, you really only need to know the next step beyond where you are now.
Starting Point
Now that we know where we want to go and how we are going to get there, the next step is to figure out where we are now.
Lets hypothetically say that we can currently do:
3 Bent Leg Inverted Rows
5 Pushups
3 Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats
6 Bicycle Crunches
When starting out, the most effective workout format will always be full body workouts. This means for a basic full body workout, the starting point would be:
Bent Leg Inverted Rows (working toward straight leg inverted rows)
Pushups (working toward diamond pushups)
Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats (working toward deep step ups)
Bicycle Crunches (working toward hanging knee raises)
These exercises will form the meat of your workout. Each session add reps and/or improve your form, and periodically test out the next exercise in the progression to see if you are ready to move on.
Sets
How many sets to do of each exercise? Available workout time and work capacity will largely dictate this. When starting out you are always better off erring on the side of less. You can always add another set next time; it’s a good way to progress and progress is something that we are always looking for.
In order to maintain balance, it’s a good idea to evenly balance the number of sets done between pushing, pulling, and legs. Core work is a little different and doesn’t require that balance; its fine to do a little less core work than everything else.
A good starting point is 3 work sets per push-pull-leg exercise and 2 core work sets. You should be able to finish that up in 30-45 minutes without issue, its enough to get a good workout but not too much to overdo it at first.
Order
What about order? The general framework of workout order should go:
Warmup/Prehab/Mobility
Skill Exercises (handstands, etc…, put here because fatigue seriously hurts performance and/or safety)
Focus Exercise(s)
Main Workout
Unusually Taxing Exercise(s)
Core Work
Ramp Up Sets and Supersets
Both ramping up and supersets are concepts that we can put to good use right away.
Ramping up is similar to but not truly a warmup. But it is a good idea to do a ramp up set for most exercises (core excluded). Usually that means dropping down to the previous exercise in the progression and doing an easy set, keeping the rep numbers low enough that the set is not overly difficult. In this example the only exercise that is a good candidate for a ramp up set are split squats, as both the pushups and inverted rows are close enough to the beginning of the progression that easier exercises are significantly easier. However once those exercises are progressed to the next exercise, they too would be good candidates for a ramp up set.
With our example, bent leg inverted rows and pushups are prime candidates to be superset together to save a little time. They are dissimilar movements with little crossover, so performance should not suffer by doing so. There is no need to quickly go from one to the other, recover as needed between each set.
Warmup
Finally we come to the warmup. Over time you’ll find exercises to add to your warmup that serve a purpose for your training, whether preactivation or mobility or some sort of prehab, but at first none of that is necessary at all. Instead the general warmup is done simply to tell your body and mind it is time to work out now, so we’ll start off with something very easy, the jumping jack, the classic warmup exercise. There is no need to go overboard, just enough to get the heart moving is good enough.
Frequency
At first you’ll probably be quite sore for a few days after your first workout, this is normal and nothing to worry about, you’ll only get it bad once. Once that initial soreness dies down, you can repeat your routine 2-3 times per week, always leaving a day for recovery between sessions where you do no strength training.
The Assembled Routine
Here it is, typing together everything from part 3 into our starting full body routine.
Full Body Beginner Bodyweight Strength Routine (M, W, F):
15 Jumping Jacks x 1 set
Superset:
-(max reps) Bent Leg Inverted Rows x 3 sets
-(max reps) Pushups x 3 sets
10 Bodyweight Squats x 1 set
(max reps) Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats x 3 sets each side
(max reps) Bicycle Crunches x2 sets
As you go on don’t forget to experiment with various set timings, leaving a rep or two in the tank vs. doing as many as you can, and the next exercise(s) in the progression. Keep a log of your workouts to track progress and keep notes. Always look to improve your form.
Going Beyond
As you start to make progress, and it should come very fast at first, you’ll want to evolve your routine to fit your level of strength and fitness. This likely will include adding a couple sets to each of your exercises and perhaps coming up with a slightly different full body routine so you can alternate A/B days to keep things interesting.
Good luck with your training and enjoy the ride.
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