As you might be aware the theme of this blog is "Lift Heavy, Eat Healthy, Live Longer." I want to go into what I think is an underutilized part of fitness and lifting heavy...using your body weight. I believe that before you worry about how much you can bench or squat, you should be able to move your own body efficiently. If you are struggling to lose weight and decide to go to the gym and do some curls, triceps extensions, and maybe spend a little time on the elliptical, you are never going to get into great shape. My methodology when it comes to lifting is probably not going to benefit someone who wants to become the next Mr. Olympia. That being said what I practice and preach s lifting heavy (which includes your body) in order to be as strong and fit as possible.
The reasoning behind this, and I am sure most of you would agree, is to be able to enjoy life, while remaining strong and healthy. If you love to ski, hike, hunt, surf, travel, play sports, or just play with your kids, you should be able to do this well into old age. This means possessing strength, power, health, flexibility, mobility, endurance, and balance.
The cornerstone for this type of health and athleticism involves using your body weight.
Why Body Weight?
Our Bodies are Heavy:
This means that relative to what you would be doing in a gym our own weight is heavy, especially when it comes to our upper bodies. Sure you could do some 25 Lbs curls, but is that really going to help you move your body efficiently. The answer is NO. I would venture a guess that most of us could eek out 10 curls at that weight, but how many of us can do 10 strict pull-ups?
We Move Dynamically:
Every body weight exercise performed is a dynamic movement. Meaning all exercises use multiple muscles in different capacities. Doing something as simple as a push-up involves the contraction of muscles groups all over the body. This has a two-fold effect. The first being that we burn more calories by recruiting more muscles. The second is that your body is learning how to move dynamically. This will greatly reduce your chance of injury if you are the weekend warrior type who enjoys getting out and participating in whatever sport you enjoy.
Increased athleticism:
Our bodies are designed to move in a dynamic fashion with multiple muscles working throughout in order to support the various structures of the body. Isolation exercises which are what most people end up doing at their gym's. Something like an Iso curl or leg extension are perfect examples of this type of movement. Only the muscles in the immediate area are being activated and nothing is having to work to counteract the forces being applied. Now picture something as simple as bending over to pick something up off the floor. Even though this motion is mostly in your legs, your entire body must work in order to complete this simple act. The muscles of your feet and calves are working to support your entire body weight. Your hips and back are working in unison to pivot so that your arms can reach out and grab the item. Now you still have to stand which not only involves the intrinsic strength to move the object but the wiring of certain motor patterns which tell your body to move more efficiently the more this type of task is repeated.
They Can be Done Anywhere:
Another major advantage to working with body weight is that you can really do it anywhere. If you have ever played football or maybe tried any of the recent cross-fit style workouts you should be intimately familiar with the burpee. If you think bodyweight workouts aren't that difficult, stop what you are doing right now and do 10 burpees. I guarantee you your heart will be racing. Not to mention you will be training new motor patterns that will give you much more athleticism. Athleticism that will transfer into your daily life much more than doing 3 sets of 10 on the leg extension machine. Don't get me wrong, I am not hating on machines completely, they do have their uses. They are much more suited for a body builder who is looking for that extra bit of definition in their quads, not the person who is trying to lose a bit a weight and be healthier.
Increased Mobility:
I would describe this as the ability for your body to more effectively in the end ranges of motion. Being stronger in these outer limits will make you much more athletic and really reduce the risk of injury.
Types of movements:
Obviously there are a millions ways in which the body can move but I believe there are few fundamental movements that everyone should practice and become strong and efficient at. These movements will build a solid base and allow you to do the things you want in life without any struggle.
Squats – A useful and simple human movement. The basic idea is to get your butt down to your heels then stand up. You can turn this into all kinds of variations, but just have fun with it.
Pulling – A prime example of this movement would be the pull-up. Since pull-ups are so intimidating I recommend going and doing something that involves this movement but is fun like indoor bouldering.
Walking/Jogging/Sprinting – Now this is as basic as it gets. Our bodies were meant to move! Just get out there and move. Don’t forget that we move in a 3 dimensional world, mix it up in your workouts. Practice running backwards, or doing side shuffle, maybe some cone drills, move that body in different directions and have fun.
Pressing – The good old fashioned push-up. Make things more dynamic and do burpees to really get your heart rate up. Hell, maybe be a Good Samaritan and help someone push their car out of the road when they break down.
Advanced:
Above is just a basic introduction to some movements that I am sure all of you are familiar with. The point I want to make is that things can always be challenging and you can get a killer workout from combining amny movements into a routine.
If you want to go freak status and really get Lumberjacked then work your way into pistol squats, hand-stand push-ups, muscle-ups, and planches.
Check out this video of Frank Medrano if you want to have your mind blown at some of the bodyweight exercises this guy can do!
Final Thoughts:
Are bodyweight movements the be-all end-all of the fitness world, no, but anyone who shuns these type of workouts is doing themselves a great disservice by not using at least some of the foundational movements discussed above. If you are a typical gym rat like most try throwing some of these movements into the mix. I think you will be surprised at the athleticism you build. Not to mention the intensity of the workouts when you are throwing your bodyweight around.
Try incorporating some bodyweight movements into your routine and let me know how it goes!
Go Do work,
Tony D