The Complexity of Bodyweight Training

Bodyweight training as a methodology has experienced little innovation as far as the general public is concerned. Most people see it simply as a combination of push ups, pull ups, and un-weighted squats. But bodyweight training can be much more than that.

There is a dynamic world of unique ways to manipulate an exercise to make it much more challenging and effective. Bodyweight exercise is not just a “finisher” exercise after the “real” weight lifting exercises are completed.

Push ups are a bodyweight exercise staple, but there are many variations of a single movement.

Why do so many people see bodyweight training as limited? Because the only variable they know how to adjust is number of repetitions. For example, at first a person’s goal might be to perform fifty push ups in a row. Once the person achieves that, then what’s next? Eighty, ninety, or 100 push ups?

This type of thinking is linear and limited. When, in fact, bodyweight exercises are extremely versatile and can help anyone build lean muscle and increase strength.

How to Manipulate Bodyweight Training

In this article, I’m going to teach you three methods I have been using for years. These methods will help you make bodyweight training more effective:

1. Adjust the angle of the exercise
2. Manipulate your body weight distribution
3. Decrease speed during the eccentric

By applying each of the above techniques, you will be able to make any bodyweight exercise more challenging – and transform it from an endurance exercise (high reps) into a strength exercise (low reps). Let’s cover each one individually.

1. Adjust the Angle of the Exercise

In traditional lifting, angles are adjusted constantly to target different muscle fibers within the same muscle group. For example, flat bench press targets the middle portion of the chest, incline bench press targets the upper portion, and decline bench press targets the lower portion.

When you perform bodyweight exercises, angles can also be manipulated to target different regions of the same muscle group. For example, if you perform the normal push up, you target mostly the middle portion of the chest.

Traditional push ups target the middle portion of the chest.

When you place your feet on a chair or desk, therefore performing a decline push up, you target your upper chest.

Decline push ups shift the bodyweight burdon toward your upper chest.

If you elevate your upper body by placing your hands on a desk while doing a push up or (for those of you more advanced) use a dip bar or rings to perform dips, you will target the lower pecs.

Here are some more examples:

Shoulders:

• Pike Push Up – Targets Front Delts
• Handstand Push Up – Targets Middle Delts
• Bridge Push Up – Targets Rear Delt

Back:

• Traditional Pull Up – Targets Lats
• Narrow Grip Pull Up or Arching Pull Up – Targets Rhomboids

2. Manipulate Your Body Weight Distribution

As I said before, most people look at bodyweight-based training as linear. They simply try to increase the number of reps. But the distribution of your bodyweight while performing an exercise is another factor you can manipulate to make an exercise more challenging.

For every exercise you perform, think of how you can manipulate the distribution of your body weight to make the exercise harder.

For example, in a traditional push up, you typically distribute your weight evenly across both arms. Fifty percent of your upper body weight is in your right arm and fifty percent in your left.

But what if you were to shift more of your weight into one arm? Would it make the exercise harder? You bet.

By shifting more to one arm, you force the chest muscles to recruit more muscle fibers and thereby making the exercise harder – and more effective.

Uneven push ups recruit more muscle fibers in the chest than traditional push ups.

Doing push ups this way will allow you to fatigue within a lower rep range and help you build more lean tissue.

There are other body parts where distribution of body weight can be manipulated to your advantage, as well:

• While doing a pull up or chin up, you can put more weight into one arm to make the exercise more challenging.
• While doing dips, you can shift your weight and put more stress on one tricep.
• While doing bodyweight squats, you can shift your weight to one side and even eventually be able to perform a one-legged pistol squat.

For every exercise you perform, think of how you can manipulate the distribution of your body weight to make the exercise harder.

3. Decrease Speed During the Eccentric

This is one of the most effective ways of building lean muscle using only bodyweight exercises. Eccentric training is an extremely effective technique for causing micro trauma (the repair of which is what builds our muscles).

Part of the reason for this is because the muscle is stronger during the eccentric portion of a movement. So, if you are only focusing on the concentric (the part of the movement where the muscle is shortening) than you’re not fully fatiguing the muscle.

When you perform bodyweight exercises, angles can also be manipulated to target different regions of the same muscle group.

The other benefit to focusing on the eccentric is that it increases the time under tension. By increasing time under tension, you fatigue more motor units.

There are several methods to performing eccentric training. Here are three I have found effective:

1. Inter-Rep Eccentric Training – Here, you focus on performing a slow eccentric (5-10 seconds) during every rep. For example, if you are doing chin ups, you pull yourself up for the concentric portion, then slowly lower yourself down (the eccentric portion) for 5-10 seconds.
2. Eccentric-Only Training – In this method, you don’t work the concentric at all. If you are doing pull ups, you will need a chair to help you with this. You simply lower yourself down during the eccentric for somewhere between 5-30 seconds, then use the chair to come back up. Since you are “resting” during the concentric by using your leg muscles to come back up, you are able to increase total set volume, which increases demand on the muscle.
3. Post-Set Eccentric Training – Here, you only focus on the eccentric as a finisher. If you are performing pull ups, you do as many as you can at a normal cadence (1-0-1-0 or 1 second concentric, 0 second rest at top, 1 second eccentric, 0 second rest at bottom). Then, when you can’t perform any more reps, you jump straight into eccentric reps. Lower yourself down for 20-30 seconds. Once you hit the bottom, use a chair to come back to starting position and lower yourself down again. Once you can’t perform even a 5-second eccentric, then you’re done.

Eccentric training (also called negative training) helps recruit maximum motor units by adding time under tension.

Challenge Yourself With Bodyweight Training

As you can see, bodyweight training can be much more challenging than simply increasing total reps. Using the approaches outlined here turns bodyweight exercise into something much more dynamic. It makes you consider many more components of training, including the angle of the exercise, how your weight is distributed, and the speed of your reps.

Try one of these techniques during your workout today. You’ll notice the difficulty of your workout will increase dramatically. As time goes on, you can even begin to combine multiple techniques to further boost the effectiveness of your workouts.

By using these techniques you can transform any bodyweight exercise into a muscle-building, strength-improving, physique-enhancing exercise.

Check out these related articles:

• For the Push Up Pros – Can You Do All These?
• 5 Killer Push Up Variations for Greater Gains
• Dear Coach – Can I Increase Muscle With Bodyweight Exercises?
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

The post 3 Ways to Build Lean Muscle With Bodyweight Exercise appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Here are three explanations of why warm ups improve your performance, followed by three mobility-boosting exercises to ease you into your workouts.

Icy Temperatures, Frozen Performance

Cold tightens. Cold slows. It freezes you up, making your muscles sluggish and unprepared. This has two major implications for your strength-training routine:

1. Cold, tight muscles are more prone to injury. Constricted into limited mobility, muscles tend to strain and pull under stress. Imagine trying to stretch a rubber band over a very big box. If you pull it hard and fast, it’ll snap in half. Slowly warm it up, and it will stretch to take the force of your pull. Now imagine putting that rubber band in the freezer for a while first. That’s your muscles in the winter. Flash-frozen rubber bands.
2. Cold muscles don’t perform as well. They don’t operate at maximum range of motion, they don’t access their full potential strength, and they’re generally less ready for action. Consider your warm up a gentle awakening for your sleepy muscles, followed by a slow cup of coffee, chased by a jolt of espresso. Warming up muscles is the wake-up call that lets you get the most out of your workout.

Turn Up the Heat

Much of the power of the warm up, especially in the winter, lies in the “warm” part. Increasing muscle temperature loosens muscles for injury-preventing flexibility and mobility. It also eases them into movement so they can access their full range of motion. Properly warmed up muscles can execute exercises with proper form, for better results and fewer injuries. Warm muscles are also more responsive. They contract and relax more quickly, allowing for better performance.

“[I]magine putting that rubber band in the freezer for a while first. That’s your muscles in the winter. Flash-frozen rubber bands.”

Proper warm ups also increase all-over body temperature, so your body can work according to its amazing integrated design. If you’re the tin man, a good warm up is your oil can, getting the joints and muscles flowing so they can work together at maximum efficiency. Not only is this key for building functional, full-body strength, but it’s also vital for injury prevention. Nothing in the body works in isolation, and one unresponsive link in the chain can cause a major malfunction. A good warm up keeps your body running like a well-oiled machine.

Light a Bonfire, Not a Match

Warming up only works if you do it right. I hate to break it to you, but a couple static stretches and a five-minute jaunt on the treadmill isn’t going to cut it. In fact, static stretching can actually decrease the efficacy of your strength-training workout, though to what degree is up for debate. Some studies conclude that while static stretching doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t help either. Others, however, fall firmly in the anti-static stretching camp, concluding it’s actually detrimental to power output and prevents maximum performance.^1,2 Either way, sitting and doing a couple half-hearted attempts at touching your toes isn’t going to cut it.

Neither is that just-enough-to-break-a-sweat treadmill run. A recent study found that as far as performance is concerned, a five-minute cardio warm up had the same effect as no warm up at all.³ A high-intensity, fifteen-minute warm up reduced strength. The lower intensity fifteen-minute workout, however, created a strength increase. Long and mellow trumps quick and intense, bringing the desired increased body temperature without the pre-routine fatigue.

Bodyweight Is Best

Bodyweight mobility exercises make the ideal warm up. As dynamic stretches, they provide the kind of movement proven to enhance muscular performance. They increase heart rate, but are of adjustable intensity, so you can craft the kind of longer, lower-intensity warm up found to be most effective. Best yet, bodyweight exercises are inherently focused on functional strength and mobility, making for an excellent full-body warm up.

For a fun and effective warm up, start your workout with these three mobility-boosting exercises. These enjoyable sequences of movements will help you gently ease into your workout and give you a pleasant start on even the chilliest winter days. Start slow, gradually picking up speed as you build heat. The sequences grow more active as the warm up progresses, so moving through them in the listed order is recommended.

1. The Morning Stretch:

Being lying on your back with your knees bent and feet hip width apart.

1. Bridge lift: Inhale to lift your hips as high as possible, then exhale to drop them back down. Repeat three times.
2. Seedling Stretch: Inhale to draw your knees to your chest, bringing your forehead to meet your knees. Exhale to extend the legs all the way out, engaging the abdominal muscles and bringing your legs over your head. Repeat three times.
3. Roll-up: Roll up to seated on an inhale, then roll back down on an exhale. Repeat three times, finishing in seated.
4. Cat Spine Stretch: Come to hands and knees. Exhale to drop your tailbone, arching your back like a cat. Inhale to lift it, rolling the shoulders back as the chest opens. Repeat three times.
5. Cat Paw Stretch: Exhale to walk your hands forward, keeping your hips stationary as your chest drops towards the ground. Inhale to walk back. Repeat three times.

Come back to your back and repeat the sequence three to five times. You’ll move right from your last Cat Paw Stretch to the next sequence.

2. The Warm up Wave:

1. Walk the Dog: Curl your toes under and lift your hips, straightening your legs as much possible in a “down dog” position. Shift your weight from foot to foot, curling through your toes and shifting your hips for around five breaths.
2. Back-and-forth Lunges: Return to hands and knees. Inhale to lift your right leg, exhaling to bring the right foot between the hands into a lunge position. Inhale to bring your hands straight up as you sink into the lunge. Exhale to sink back, bringing the hands to the floor as you straighten the front leg. Repeat three times, then do the left side. Return to the first position. Bending your knees as much as necessary, walk the hands to the feet. Roll up slowly to standing.
3. Shoulder-Squat Sync-Up: Stand feet slightly more than shoulder width apart, toes pointing out. Exhale into a low squat, reaching the arms out in front of you, extending through the low back so that the shoulder blades move apart (external rotation). Inhale back to standing, reaching the arms straight up. Exhale to interlace your fingers behind your back. Inhale to lift the chest, reaching the hands down as you pull the shoulder blades together. Exhale back into the squat. Repeat three times.

Place your hands on the floor and walk back to downward facing dog to begin again. Repeat the sequence three to five times. You’ll move from standing into the next sequence.

3. The Sun Salute:

This is a variation on a yoga sun salutation. It’s a traditional dynamic exercise designed to effectively and efficiently build heat throughout the body, making it a perfect wintertime warm up. Repeat five to ten times.

• Inhale. Reach your arms straight overhead, bringing palms together if possible. Look up.
• Exhale. Fold down, placing hands on the floor if possible, or on your shins. Bend your knees as necessary.
• Inhale. Lift to a half bend, looking forward as you straighten your back.
• Exhale. Step back to plank and lower through a push up.
• Inhale. Upward Facing Dog. Move your chest forward and up, rolling your shoulders down and back. Engage your thighs.
• Exhale. Curl back, lifting the hips into Downward Facing Dog.

LEFT: Upward facing dog; RIGHT: Downward dog

• Inhale. Warrior 1. Bring the right foot between the hands in a lunge. Turn your left foot to seal it to the ground. Come upright, raising your arms overhead.
• Exhale. Step back to plank and lower through a push up.
• Inhale. Come forward to Upward Facing Dog, as before.
• Exhale. Curl back to Downward Facing Dog, as before.
• Inhale. Repeat Warrior 1 on the left side.

Warrior 1

• Exhale. Step back to plank and lower through a push up.
• Inhale. Come forward to Upward Facing Dog, as before.
• Exhale. Curl back to Downward Facing Dog, as before.
• Inhale to jump both feet forward between the hands.
• Exhale. Fold forward, bending the knees as necessary.
• Inhale. Come to standing, arms overhead as in the first position.

While all this might seem like a lot of effort for a warm up, it’s worth spending some time preparing your body for your workout. Whatever warm up you choose this winter, treat it with the importance it deserves. After all, without this vital part of your workout, you might quickly find your results frozen solid all winter long.

More Like This:

• 3 Ways to Build Lean Muscle With Bodyweight Exercise
• 4 Tips for Acclimating to Winter Training
• Joint Pain and Weather: 4 Tips to Ease Discomfort
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Cramer, JT, Housh, TJ, Weir, JP, Johnson, GO, Coburn, JW, and Beck TW. “The acute effects of static stretching on peak torque, mean power output, electromyography, and mechanomyography.” European Journal of Applied Physiology. 93, no. 5 (2005): 530-9.

2. Kay, AD and Blazevich, AJ. “Effect of acute static stretch on maximal muscle performance: a systematic review.” Medical Science Sports Exercise. 44, no. 1 (2012): 154-64.

3. Dupont, Doug. ” Light Cardio Warm Up Best Before Strength Work.” Breaking Muscle. Accessed October 1, 2015.

4. Yamaguchi, T and Ishii, K. “Effect of acute static stretch on maximal muscle performance: a systematic review.” Journal of Strength Conditioning Research. 19, no. 3 (2005): 677-83.

5. Yamaguchi, T and Ishii, K. “Effects of static stretching for 30 seconds and dynamic stretching on leg extension power.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 19, no. 3 (2005).

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Other photos courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

The post Winter Is Coming: Time to Up Your Warm-Up Game appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I’m a female bull rider looking to tweak my training routine. I’ve been lifting for a couple of years, but getting into bull riding now I know I need to focus more on a combination of bodyweight strength and flexibility (yoga type stuff). Can you give me an idea of how I should program my training for maximum relative strength, and explosive flexibility? I’m 5’4 at 135 pounds and roughly 18% body fat. I can do 5 strict chin-ups, 15 pushups, hold a handstand for over a minute – nothing crazy, but a good foundation. How do I work progressing to one arm push ups/pull ups, handstand pushups, front levers etc. into a routine?

Well, that’s one I hadn’t heard before! But while this question catches the eye with its uniqueness, the issues it addresses are far more universal – and often ignored.

Breaking the Question Down

There are two questions involved in this reader’s email:

1. How to build combined bodyweight strength and flexibility
2. How to work more advanced bodyweight exercises into your routine

The answer to the second is about time and practice. As you build strength, you can move toward modifications of more advanced exercises, eventually evolving them to their full realization. Try using a wall to help with stabilization, or find a workout buddy and spot each other as you move forward. Be careful, be patient, and have fun.

The first question, on building combined bodyweight strength and flexibility, invites more discussion. There’s a series of thoughts in the reader’s question, all heading in the right direction, but not quite reaching their logical conclusion. “Training for maximum relative strength and explosive flexibility” and doing “yoga type stuff” are in the realm of a concept that many tend to have selective hearing about in the strength-training world – adaptability.

Adaptability Versus Strength

Adaptability and strength are not necessarily the same. The fact that our bull rider friend is asking this question indicates she’s well aware of this fact. We like to think that if we bulk up our muscles we’ll be strong enough for any task, but that’s not necessarily true. For optimum performance in athletic activities, as well as day-to-day living, we need functional strength. Strength that integrates our muscles while maintaining mobility allows us to adapt to situations as they come, leading to optimum performance under changing conditions.

Bull riding is almost too perfect an example of this. When you’re being thrown every which way, with minimal predictability, your main goal is being able to adapt to the rapidly changing conditions. Our questioner has the right idea in using bodyweight exercises to train for this kind of adaptability. Because bodyweight exercises demand the body to work as an integrated whole, rather than breaking it into isolated parts, they train it to be strong in a functional, adaptable way.

“The idea of using ‘yoga type stuff’ to train for adaptability is spot on. Yoga is all about adaptability, mentally and physically.”

When it comes to training for adaptability, though, not all bodyweight exercises are created equal. The idea of using “yoga type stuff” to train for adaptability is spot on. Yoga is all about adaptability, mentally and physically. The following yoga-inspired guidelines can help you develop a training program to enhance functional strength and adaptability, so you can take on whatever life throws at you (or, in the case of our bull riding friend, whatever way you find yourself thrown).

1. Choose Integration Over Isolation

One area where yoga practice excels is in integrative strength training. Isolating muscles in split training programs is a popular strength-training method, and with good reason. It allows you to absolutely fatigue muscle groups, knowing they’ll have time to recover the next day. There is a major downside to this, though. Isolating muscles often means they don’t learn how to work together, leading to astounding strength in individual muscles, but a lack of functional, full-body strength.

Strength training for adaptability means training the body to work together as the well-oiled machine it is so beautifully built to be. Cohesive, integrated muscle movement creates functional strength. One 2013 study published in the Journal of Strength and Condition Research suggested that integrated training may provide a larger increase in performance than isolated strength training. This is because “activities of daily living, as well as recreation and sport, involve a combination of attributes including strength, speed, balance, and coordination through multiple planes.” Isolation exercise doesn’t offer these benefits. Integrated training does.

“You can reap the benefits of this integrated strength training through bodyweight exercises that require the whole body to work as a whole.”

Integration exercises have also been shown to be key to increasing core strength, which is vital to improving stability, reducing injury, and maintaining mobility. In one recent study, integration core exercises resulted in greater core activation than isolation exercises.

You can reap the benefits of this integrated strength training through bodyweight exercises that require the whole body to work as a whole. Variations on planks and push ups, inversions such handstands or headstands, and yoga-style arm balances are all great places to start. Anything that challenges balance, such as one-armed push ups or pistol squats, will also have a similar effect.

2. Stretch and Strengthen at the Same Time

When we’re discussing adaptability, it’s better to think of flexibility as “mobility” and strength as “stability.” While maximum performance means cultivating both, it also means keeping the two in balance. Too much mobility without any stability is a recipe for disaster. To picture this, imagine a toddler stumbling about. She has enviable mobility, touching her toes or putting her legs behind her head like its nothing. But she tends to tumble and fall all over herself, displaying a notable lack of stability.

Too much stability with little mobility is the other extreme. It’s one you may be more familiar with in your own body, especially if you frequently weight train. Those who are extremely muscular, but have neglected mobility training tend to get tight muscles and ligaments. They are extremely stable, but if they come under stress in the wrong direction, they tend to break rather than bend.

“A 1991 study of female collegiate athletes across eight weight-bearing sports showed that those with strength and flexibility imbalances were more prone to injury.”

Balance between mobility and stability (flexibility and strength), then, is key, both for adaptability and injury prevention. In fact, you could say adaptability is injury prevention. The ability to respond to changing conditions means the body can accommodate stress, rather than strain under it. Science backs this up. A 1991 study of female collegiate athletes across eight weight-bearing sports showed that those with strength and flexibility imbalances were more prone to injury.

Yoga practitioners consciously cultivate this balance by bringing strength and flexibility together. They deliberately support flexibility exercises with strength and imbue strength-based movements with flexibility. You can find this same sense of balance through intentional, concentrated stretching, and mobility training.

Try this basic hamstring stretch as an example:

1. Sitting on the floor with your legs extended, reach forward to try to touch your toes.
2. Make sure your pelvis isn’t tilted backward, keeping your spine long and extended from your tailbone through your neck. Sitting on the edge of a folded towel can help with this. If necessary, bend your knees.
3. Exhale to engage your lower abdominals, finding support as you pull the navel toward the spine.
4. Inhale to fill the rib cage, scooping the navel forward and up to draw you further into the stretch.
5. Notice how this almost-isometric contraction brings a strength element into this common flexibility exercise.

3. Train Your Brain

Adaptability is mental as well as physical. Take a hint from the yogis, and bring some mindfulness into your bodyweight workout. The result will be a calmer, steadier mind that deals better with stresses and stimuli – including careening about on a bull.

While it may seem like pure hippie stuff, mindfulness practice is getting a lot of attention in the always-skeptical scientific community. Your brain can be trained just like a muscle. An article published in the May 2012 issue of the Medical Hypotheses Journal postulated that yoga practices help increase vagal tone. The vagus nerve is the largest cranial nerve in the body, and is responsible for regulating major bodily functions, including breath, heart rate, and digestion. It also determines our ability to process our experiences, helping us manage whatever life throws at us.

“Try pairing your movements with long, even inhales and exhales. Move slowly and consciously, placing all of your attention on the task at hand, rather than letting your mind wander.”

Low vagal tone leads to poor digestion, increased heart rate, and messy moods. It’s associated with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain. Yoga has been shown to improve all these conditions. It pays to exercise your brain.

You don’t need to sign up for a yoga class to tone up your vagus, though. Bringing the yogic mindset into your bodyweight training can work wonders. It’s a simple as drawing your attention to your breath, keeping it calm, slow, and steady as you work. Try pairing your movements with long, even inhales and exhales. Move slowly and consciously, placing all of your attention on the task at hand, rather than letting your mind wander.

Don’t Get Thrown

Adaptability is worth the effort. Build your program with these guidelines and avoid getting thrown, whether you’re riding a bull or just moving through life.

Finally, to our bull-riding hero: Good luck! Hope this helps!

More Like This:

• Understanding and Analyzing Your Movement Environment
• Don’t Be a Specialist: Your Routine Needs Variety
• Create Muscular Balance With Unilateral Training
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1.DiCarrado, Stefanie. “Research Review: Effects of Integrated vs Isolated Training on Performance and Neuromuscular Control.” Brent Brookbush. 2014. Accessed September 1, 2015.

2. DiStefano, L., DiStefano, M., Frank, B., Clark, M., and Padua, D. “Comparison of integrated and isolated training on performance measures and neuromuscular control.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research/National Strength & Conditioning Association 27, no. 4 (2013): 1083-1090.

3. Knapik, JJ, CL Bauman, BH Jones, JM Harris, and L. Vaughan. “Preseason Strength and Flexibility Imbalances Associated with Athletic Injuries in Female Collegiate Athletes.” American Journal of Sports Medicine 19, no. 1 (1991): 76-81. Accessed September 1, 2015.

4. Streeter, C.C., P.l. Gerbarg, R.B. Saper, D.A. Ciraulo, and R.P. Brown. “Effects of Yoga on the Autonomic Nervous System, Gamma-aminobutyric-acid, and Allostasis in Epilepsy, Depression, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.” Medical Hypotheses 78, no. 5 (2012): 571-79. Accessed September 1, 2015.

5. Wilson, Angela. “Scientific Research: How Yoga Works.” Yoga International. October 9, 2014. Accessed September 1, 2015.

6. Wortman, Joshua. “Science Says “Integration” Exercises Activate Muscle More Than Isolation Exercises.” Breaking Muscle. Accessed September 1, 2015.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Lessons From Bull Riders: How to Train Strength and Flexibility appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Seeing as Miss Brown had only trained her right hand, the authors of the report could only conclude that somehow the training of the right hand had created strength gains in the left. 

Miss Brown, though she was probably unaware of it at the time, was doing what we now call unilateral training. Training limbs individually, rather than engaging both sides together, is a popular and highly beneficial technique. Unilateral exercises are now widely recognized as an important part of any strength-training routine. Read on to learn why.

Reduce Your Bilateral Deficit

When it comes to strength, the whole is usually less than the sum of its parts. In most cases, the total strength of both of your limbs used together is actually less than the sum of the strength of the individual limbs.

While this seems strange – logic says two working together should be stronger than one – myriad studies have confirmed this phenomenon of “bilateral deficit.” No one knows why this is true. What we do know is that working the individual limbs through unilateral exercise can reduce bilateral deficit .

Train Away Imbalances

Everyone has a weak side. In fact, studies have shown that strength differences between limbs can be as high as 25%. Bilateral training allows your dominant side to compensate for your weaker side, hiding imbalances that could later cause injury.

Unilateral exercises allow you to train away these asymmetries. When doing these exercises, start with the weaker side. After working that side to fatigue, do the same number of reps on the stronger side. While you won’t be working to fatigue on the stronger side, you’ll be bringing the weaker side up to meet it, enabling you to strengthen both sides equally as you go forward.

“When doing these exercises, start with the weaker side. After working that side to fatigue, do the same number of reps on the stronger side.” 

Part of this is thanks to the phenomenon discovered by Miss Emily Brown and her rubber ball. The authors of the 2004 study reached a similar conclusion to the 1984 study, discovering that when one limb is trained unilaterally, the untrained side experiences strength gains amounting to around half of those on the trained side. Other studies have found strength increases in the untrained limb ranging from 8% to as high as 22%.

So even as you strengthen your weaker side, your stronger side benefits. Meaning, you won’t lose out despite the fact you’re not bringing the stronger side to full fatigue. This concept also comes in handy in the event of injury. Even if one side is out of commission, unilaterally training the other can help improve strength in the injured limb. Just don’t overdo it to the point of causing major imbalances.

Improve Core Strength and Stability

Unilateral exercises knock you off balance, recruiting the deep stabilizing muscles of the body to engage and pull you back to center. One 2005 study on unstable and unilateral exercises found that:

[U]nilateral shoulder press produced greater activation of the back stabilizers, and unilateral chest press resulted in higher activation of all trunk stabilizers, when compared with bilateral presses.

The researchers concluded that “trunk strengthening” can be a side benefit of performing exercises unilaterally. Another study on core muscle activity in various types of resistance exercises definitively concluded that for those seeking to strengthen their core, unilateral exercises were superior to bilateral exercises. Developing these core muscles is important for developing balance and stability, protecting your spine, and cultivating integrated, functional strength.

Build Functional Strength

Our athletic and day-to-day activities rarely require bilateral movement. Kicking a soccer ball is a unilateral movement – balancing on one leg while the other applies force. Carrying a grocery bag is typically a one-handed operation. Even walking and running are, at their core, unilateral movements – one foot and then the other.

In fact, when looking to simulate functional muscle recruitment patterns required for athletics and daily living, professionals often prescribe unilateral exercises. Cultivating unilateral strength translates into our other activities, increasing adaptability and building functional strength.

Ready to Try Unilateral Training?

Try working these unique unilateral bodyweight exercises into your program. Remember: work your weaker side to fatigue, then do the same number of reps on the other side. Repeat for 2-3 sets on each side.

Missing Arm Hold

Holding up the weight of your body through one-side of your upper body engages the muscles of the chest, shoulder, and arm in new and dynamic ways. Be sure to keep your body parallel with the floor to engage the core muscles. Your breathing should be steady, slow, and even throughout the exercise. If you’re losing your breath, you’ve gone too far.

Leaning Tower Push Up

By altering a normal push up by placing one arm on the ground, you’ll shift the focus to the pec, dramatically increasing the difficulty for one pec muscle. Inhale to lower and exhale to push back up.

One-Legged Squat

Balancing on one leg turns a squat into a killer experiment in stability. You’ll cultivate core strength and balance while totally burning out your legs. Don’t worry about going all the way down at first. Start at halfway and then go lower as you build strength and balance. Inhale to lower and exhale to rise.

One-Legged Bridge on Sun

Because you have to recruit extra muscle fibers to maintain your position on the stability ball, this exercise creates serious strength through the glutes. As with any balancing exercise, focus is key. Keep the breath steady, even, and calm.

If you have questions about any of these exercises, please post them to the comments below. Give them a try and let us know how it goes!

Check out these related articles:

• Unilateral Exercise Improves Endurance on Both Sides
• Big Gains in Balance and Strength With Unilateral Training
• A 3-Part Perspective on Unilateral Training
• What’s New On Breaking Muscle Today

References:

1. Timothy J. Carroll, et. al., “Contralateral effects of unilateral strength training: Evidence and possible mechanisms,” Journal of Applied Physiology 101 (2006). Accessed August 8, 2015. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00531.2006.

2. André Luiz S. Teixeira, et. al., “Bilateral Deficit in Maximal Isometric Knee Extension in

Trained Men,” Journal of Physiology Online 16 (2013). Accessed August 8, 2015.

3. Cresswel and Ovendal, “Muscle activation and torque development during maximal unilateral and bilateral isokinetic knee extensions,” J Sports Med Phys Fitness 41 (2002): 19-25, accessed August 8, 2015.

4. Christianne Pereira Giesbrecht Chaves, et. al., “Bilateral deficit in leg flexion and extension and elbow flexion movements,” Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte 10 (2004). Accessed August 8, 2015. doi: 10.1590/S1517-86922004000600007.

5. “Unilateral v. Bilateral Movements,” HL Strength (2014). Accessed August 8, 2015.

6. DG Behm, et. al., “Trunk muscle electromyographic activity with unstable and unilateral exercises,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 19 (2005). Accessed August 8, 2015.

7. Atle Hole Saeterbakken and Marius Fimland, “Muscle activity of the core during bilateral, unilateral, seated and standing resistance,” European Journal of Applied Physiology (2011). Accessed August 8, 2015. doi: 10.1007/s00421-011-2141-7.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Certainly there is a time and place for split workout plans, such as working your chest/tris on Monday, back/bis on Tues, legs on Wed, and so on. But from a functional perspective, it makes more sense to exercise your body as a unit. Think about it this way. When you isolate your body into parts, you miss out on developing whole body strength or strengthening your body as a unit.

Today, I’m going to teach you five of my favorite advanced bodyweight exercises to help you build whole body strength. These exercises will recruit your arms, shoulders, chest/back, core, and leg all at once. These are challenging exercises, so if you are a beginner, I recommend not starting off with them.

1. Wall Walks

Wall walks are an incredible exercise for developing strength throughout your body and even targeting the muscles in your spine. You’ll develop great mobility and whole body strength when you perform this movement. The further you go down, the harder it will be.

How to do it:

1. Start facing away from the wall, with your feet about two feet away from it.
2. Begin to arch backward and place your hands on the wall.
3. Walk down the wall while arching deeper and deeper into the exercise.
4. If you can get your hands on the floor, great. If not, don’t worry – you have something to work toward.
5. Use your legs and core to come back to starting position.

Tips:

• It’s important to warm up before doing this exercise. If you go too far, too soon, you can injure your back, hips or shoulders. Do some mobility work beforehand such as cat stretches and spinal twists.
• Go slowly. This is exercise develops great strength and you want to control the movement as you come down.

2. Spider Crawl Exercise

This is a unique whole body exercise and is especially great for developing mobility in your shoulders. It may look a little funny, but who cares? Besides, that’s one of the benefits to bodyweight exercises – you can do them privately in your own home.

How to do it:

1. Get down on the ground in a push up position.
2. Lower yourself all the way to the ground so your torso is about two or three inches from the ground. Your goal during the entire duration of the exercise will be to keep your torso as low as you can without touching the ground.
3. Begin to crawl forward by rotating your hips and reaching forward. You will look like a spider as you crawl.

Tips:

• If you can’t keep your body low the entire time, that’s okay. Start off higher. Keep your body one or two feet from the ground and work on getting lower over time.
• While you perform this exercise, notice how much mobility you get in your hips and shoulders. If you are stiff, the exercise will be harder to perform. As your mobility improves you’ll be able to perform this exercise much easier.

3. Full Bridge Exercise

This exercise is popular in the wrestling community and develops incredible strength in the spinal erector muscles in your back. However, I must place a huge warning on this exercise: if you have neck injuries it can cause them to get worse. You must warm up fully and have a relatively strong neck to begin with before you perform this exercise.

How to do it:

1. Get down on the ground with your back on the floor.
2. Bring your heels up close to your butt and then roll up onto your head.
3. Arch up as high as you can and hold it for a length of time. The longer you hold it, the harder it will be.

Tips:

• Again, make sure to warm up your neck before beginning this exercise. If you notice any pain in your neck while performing this exercise, stop immediately.
• This exercise will also engage your hamstrings, so consciously tightening them and giving a good squeeze will help engage them even more during the exercise.
• If you are a beginner, you can start off with the normal bridge where you are not resting on your head. You rest on your upper back.

4. Bridge Push Up

This exercise is similar to the full bridge, but it also engages your arms and shoulders. If you have poor mobility in your shoulders it will give you a run for your money.

How to do it:

1. As with the full bridge, you’ll start off with your back on the ground.
2. Place your heels up into your butt.
3. Then place your hands by your head and lift up off the ground. Get as high as you possibly can.
4. Lower yourself down until your head touches the floor then press back up.
5. Do as many reps as you can, then lower yourself completely to the ground.

Tips:

• This exercise can cause a lot of strain on your wrists. Make sure you perform mobility work on your wrists before doing the exercise.
• Try to keep your pelvis as high as you can while performing this movement. It will engage the back more effectively and make the exercise more challenging.

5. X Push Up

This is one of my favorite exercises because it is challenging and strengthens your arms, shoulders, chest, back, core, legs, and even calves.

How to do it:

1. Start off in a normal push up position.
2. Spread your legs out wide so they are 1.5 times your shoulder width (or wider).
3. Do the same with your hands but make sure they are also elevated superior to your head.
4. While keeping your back straight, lower down to the ground.
5. Press back up and repeat as many times as you can.

Tips:

• Keep your back straight the entire time. As you get tired you’ll want to either slump your pelvis down or stick it in the air. Resist both of these urges and tighten your core.
• Bring your hands and feet out wider to make the exercise more challenging and bring them in closer to your midline to make the exercise easier.

Whole Body Is Functional

Whole body exercises allow you to strengthen your body as a unit. This type of strength translates into functional strength that can be used in our everyday lives: picking up groceries, playing with children, and enjoying sports.

Very few tasks in our daily lives call for isolating muscles so why do we workout that way? Try these whole body exercises and you’ll notice more strength translating into your everyday life.

More Like This:

• 3 Ways to Build Lean Muscle With Bodyweight Exercise
• 4 Tips for Building Your Own Bodyweight Training Programs
• The Ultimate 90-Day Bodyweight Training Plan
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post 5 Advanced Bodyweight Exercises to Build Whole Body Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

I, on the other hand, was skinny. I didn’t have much confidence all through elementary and high school. I think that’s one of the reasons I was drawn to the martial arts. I joined a local Kenpo Karate class and quickly realized the emotional and mental benefits of knowing how to defend myself.

When I was a young man, I struggled with my self-image. My brother was a “hulk” and played varsity college basketball all four years.

I, on the other hand, was skinny. I didn’t have much confidence all through elementary and high school. I think that’s one of the reasons I was drawn to the martial arts. I joined a local Kenpo Karate class and quickly realized the emotional and mental benefits of knowing how to defend myself.

But that wasn’t actually the greatest benefit from my martial arts training.

You can build an impressive amount of muscle with a program that is entirely bodyweight based.

Bodyweight Conditioning

The karate classes were set up into two parts: conditioning and technique. The primary goal of the conditioning portion was to make us so fatigued we couldn’t rely upon our strength during the second part of the class. Instead, we were forced to rely upon proper technique in order to beat an opponent.

Yes, the conditioning was that brutal.

And the workouts we performed were entirely bodyweight based. But I remember looking into the mirror with my shirt off after a couple months of training and thinking, “Dang! You look like a Navy Seal!” That bodyweight training delivered results.

A Karate-Based Conditioning Program

The program laid out below is based on the same style of training I did in Kenpo Karate and will help you get ripped. Why? Because it combines three important components:

1. No Rest Between Each Exercise: Below, you will see a series of exercises. After you complete one exercise, you’ll move immediately to the next. You won’t take any rest. If you have to get a brief sip of water, that’s fine, but the goal is to take as little rest between sets as possible. Why is this important? Because you are conditioning. The workouts mimic a fight. In a fight, you don’t get to take rests.
2. Keeping Track of Your Reps: Click here for a downloadable workout sheet. Print it out, and after each set, write down your number of reps. Every time you perform an exercise, you will strive to get as many reps as you can. For example, if you did 26 Hindu push ups on Monday, then you’ll strive to get 27 or 28 on Wednesday. Will you be able to increase your reps every workout for every exercise? No. But it’s important to strive to achieve it.
3. Getting in the Right Mental Framework: I kid you not, this workout plan is tough. It may look easy on paper, but it is hard. Most workouts allow you to take sixty to ninety seconds between sets. Other plans don’t require you to go to full fatigue. This plan requires you to not rest and go to full fatigue with each set. You’ll need to get in the right mental framework to get through. So realize beforehand that it’s going to be challenging. This plan delivers amazing results in terms of fat loss, conditioning, and muscle development – but it is not for the faint of heart.

Program Details

Each workout is comprised of upper-body, lower-body, core, and whole-body exercises. So, you get a full body workout every time you train. Many of these exercises will be new to you. If you need help with them, please post your questions to the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

How to do the workouts:

1. Start off with the first exercise listed under upper body.
2. Do as many reps as you possibly can with good form.
3. Quickly write down the number of reps you achieve.
4. Move on to the next exercise.
5. Repeat until you get through all the exercises listed, to the end of the whole-body section.

There are a couple of variables in the plan that change over the ninety days in order to achieve a progressive overload. The first variable is the amount of exercises. After each month, you’ll be doing a greater number of exercises during each workout.

“By the time you get to the third month, your body will be well conditioned and much stronger than when you started.”

The other variable is the difficulty of exercises. During the first month, the exercises will be more intermediate. As you get into the third month, they will be more advanced and this will challenge your body tremendously.

After each three weeks of training, you will have an active rest week. This means you can take off a week from the training plan and perform other activities such as hiking, kayaking, biking, or running. Can you do other forms of strength training during the active rest week? Sure, but don’t go overboard. Remember, your body needs rest in order to recover.

This plan delivers amazing results in terms of fat loss, conditioning, and muscle development – but it is not for the faint of heart.

Month 1: El Diablo Month

I call this month “The Devil” because you’ll realize these workouts really are challenging and hellish. That said, this month is also designed to give you results quickly so you can see the effectiveness of these exercises.

Exercise Schedule:

• Week 1: 3 X Per Week
• Week 2: 3 X Per Week
• Week 3: 3 X Per Week
• Week 4: Active Rest Period

Upper Body:

• Spider Push Up
• Leaping Frog Exercise (video below)
• Hindu Push Up
• Helicopter Exercise
• Heart Push Up

Lower Body:

• Wide Bodyweight Squat
• Karate Squat
• Hindu Squat
• Bear Squat
• Catcher’s Squat (video below)

Core Exercises:

• Side Plank (Left Side)
• Side Plank (Right Side)
• Flutter Kicks

Whole Body Exercises:

• Grass Hoppers
• Gracie Drill

Month 2: The Shredder Month

In this second month, you’ll start to see your body burning off fat and building lean muscle. The structure is set up the same as last month. You’ll do workouts three times per week. However, you’ll be doing more exercises per session.

Exercise Schedule:

• Week 1: 3 X Per Week
• Week 2: 3 X Per Week
• Week 3: 3 X Per Week
• Week 4: Active Rest Period

Upper Body:

• X Push Up
• Spider Push Up
• Leaping Frog Exercise
• Stretch Walk Push Up
• Wide Arm Push Up
• Helicopter Exercise

Lower Body:

• Pistol Squat
• Duck Walks (Max Time)
• Wide Bodyweight Squat
• Karate Squat
• Hindu Squat
• Catcher’s Squat

Core Exercises:

• V Up
• Lunge Sit Up
• Jackknife Exercise (Left)
• Jackknife Exercise (Right)

Whole Body Exercises:

• Grass Hoppers
• Gracie Drill
• Spider Push Up on Chair

Month 3: The Total Annihilator Month

By the time you get to the third month, your body will be well conditioned and much stronger than when you started. To continue the progressive overload, you’ll be changing up two variables. The first one is the amount of exercises – you’ll again be doing more. The second variable is that you’ll be doing the workouts four times per week.

Exercise Schedule:

• Week 1: 4 X Per Week
• Week 2: 4 X Per Week
• Week 3: 4 X Per Week
• Week 4: Active Rest Period

Upper Body:

• Stretch Push Up
• Decline Push Up
• Diamond Kiss Push Up
• Deep Push Up
• Barbwire Push Up
• Three Pronged Push Up
• X Push Up

Lower Body:

• Wide Bodyweight Squat
• Karate Squat
• Hindu Squat
• Bear Squat
• Catcher’s Squat
• Karate Squat
• Duck Walks (Max Time)

Core Exercises:

• Static V Pulses
• V Up
• Side Plank with Leg Lift (Right)
• Side Plank with Leg Lift (Left)
• Flutter Kicks

Whole Body Exercises:

• Wall Walks
• Spider Crawl
• Full Bridge
• Bridge Push Ups

More Like This:

• The 16 Weeks Ultimate Bodyweight Challenge
• 3 Ways to Build Lean Muscle With Bodyweight Exercise
• 36 Weeks of Bodyweight Workouts (108 Workouts!)
• The 8-Minute Bodyweight Circuit: Does It Really Work?
• New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo 1 courtesy of Daniel Kaiser [CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo 2 courtesy of Breaking Muscle.

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