• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workout
      • Best BCAAs
      • Best Testosterone Boosters
      • Best Bodybuilding Supplements
      • Best Creatine
      • Best Supplements for Weight Loss
      • Best Multivitamins
      • Best Collagen Supplement
      • Best Probiotic
      • Best Non-Stim Pre-Workout
      • Best Greens Powder
      • Best Magnesium Supplements
    • Protein
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Protein Powders for Muscle Gain
      • Best Tasting Protein Powder
      • Best Vegan Protein
      • Best Mass Gainer
      • Best Protein Shakes
      • Best Organic Protein Powder
      • Best Pea Protein Powder
      • Best Protein Bars
    • Strength Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Equipment
      • Best Squat Racks
      • Best Barbells
      • Best Weightlifting Belts
      • Best Weight Benches
      • Best Functional Trainers
      • Best Dumbbells
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Kettlebells
      • Best Resistance Bands
      • Best Trap Bars
    • Cardio Equipment
      • Best Cardio Machines
      • Best Rowing Machines
      • Best Treadmills
      • Best Weighted Vests
      • Concept2 RowErg Review
      • Hydrow Wave Review
      • Best Jump Ropes
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

How to Maximize Strength and Size With Bodyweight Exercise

Today we’re going to look at a few of the easiest ways to add difficulty to your bodyweight training in order to maximize strength and size. You just might be surprised at how effective these are.

Andrew Read

Written by Andrew Read Last updated on Nov 22, 2021

One of the biggest debates in strength and hypertrophy training has always been about whether or not you can get strong and swole from bodyweight training only. Perhaps the reason this question even comes up is that for many their only understanding of bodyweight training comes from circuit classes or military PT, where high reps are the order of the day. While there are factors that influence muscle growth, such as calorie surplus and ample recovery, there are others such as tension and leverage that also come into play when trying to maximize strength and size.

Today we’re going to look at a few of the easiest ways to add difficulty to your bodyweight training in order to maximize strength and size. Who knows, you may even find that you can replace a majority of your resistance training simply by adopting a few of these principles and using bodyweight exercises. The great advantage is that your training can then be done anywhere, anytime, allowing you to have a far more flexible schedule.

Time Under Tension

The first principle I want you to use is an age-old trick for hypertrophy training – increasing time under tension. There is actually some science to this for those who are interested. Once a muscle contracts beyond 50%, blood flow is occluded, meaning that waste products build up within the muscle. Higher levels of lactate form, which in turn pushes growth hormone production up.

To take advantage of this method Convict Conditioning author Paul Wade suggests taking a full five seconds to perform every rep of an exercise. Do this by lowering to a two count, pausing at the bottom position for a full second, and then slowly raising yourself back to the start for another two count. Taking out the momentum and bouncing from the movement is a great way to develop control and end range strength too.

You can use a step system for exercises that need reps to track progress. For example, let’s say you begin with a 1-1-1 tempo, that is a second to lower, a one second pause, and then a second to ascend. The next step would be to go to Paul Wade’s suggestion and go for 2-1-2. From there I would suggest increasing time on the concentric. In Engineering the Alpha, by John Romaniello, he notes that a slow concentric leads to higher levels of lactate formation. So a tempo of 2-1-5 would be ideal to create high levels of hormone production as well as tension, which is necessary for high levels of strength.

Foundation One creator Coach Sommer takes this a step further by reducing rest periods between exercises. He advocates performing the main exercise then immediately going to the subsequent mobility exercise, before again immediately going back to the main exercise until all sets are done. Limiting rest periods is another way to drive up lactate and growth hormone production and when combined with slowing down our movement speed packs a solid one-two punch to help with boosting muscle size.

Leverage

One of the biggest roadblocks for people when looking to gain strength and size with body weight is that they lack imagination. For many they get to a point where they can do ten push-ups, or twenty or more, but at that point, unless they start to slow down their training like I mentioned above, their progress will halt. At that point it’s necessary to start playing around with leverage. Using push-ups as an example, you can make them harder by placing your feet on a box behind you so that you’re on an incline. Taken a few steps further, if we keep elevating the feet you’ll end up in a handstand where push-ups are far harder.

Asymmetry

We can also use leverage to our advantage by doing exercises asymmetrically. Using push-ups again as our example, you could go straight to one-arm push-ups. There’s no denying that the level of total body strength needed for one-arm push-ups is well beyond that needed for regular push-ups, but what if you can’t jump straight from regular push-ups to one-armed?

We can begin working on asymmetry by doing an archer push-up. The start position is just like a regular push-up except that your hands will be much wider than usual – well outside shoulder width. The difference being that instead of dropping down evenly between your hands you will slide your weight over all the way to one hand. The other hand will end up out stretched so that in the bottom position you look like an archer pulling back a bowstring. As you come up you’ll return to top center and then drop to the other side. While still challenging these are a good step between full one-arm push-ups and regular push-ups. This same technique can also be used for both pull-ups and squats as you transition from bilateral work to unilateral.

One caveat: in bilateral exercises you start to work asymmetrically to add difficulty, but when you are working one-arm variations you need to change your leverage to make them harder. For example, in one-arm push-ups you’ll probably start with your feet wider apart for stability, but as you get stronger you’ll need to start getting your feet closer together. This change in leverage will make things far more challenging. I’ve yet to see someone do a rock solid snake push up – that is a feet-together, one-arm push-up.

So take those three concepts and play around with them, as there is enough mileage there to give you a few years worth of training if you are diligent. Don’t be surprised if you wind up far stronger than you are now with a body that is supple yet resilient. Personally, nearly all of my hard strength work is bodyweight at the moment and my body feels the best it has in a few years.

Andrew Read

About Andrew Read

Andrew Read is like that old guy in the Rocky movies - he has a funny accent, hates everyone, and no one ever knows if he's happy or sad. But just like Mickey, he knows training.

Even back in grade school his teachers would complain he was spending too much time reading bodybuilding magazines or trying new exercises in the gym. These days nothing has changed and even after a lifetime of competitive martial arts and some time spent in special forces he still maintains that same passion for increasing human performance, especially that go all day, out run a zombie, live in an apocalyptic wasteland kind of fitness.

Having been a Master RKC, Andrew is recognised as one of the best kettlebell trainers in the world.His specialty is elite performance and he has been involved with training three world BJJ champions.

View All Articles

Related Posts

Man performing a push-up in the gym.
What Muscles Do Push-Ups Work? Get More Out of This Timeless Exercise
Fergus Crawley 5K Run Tips Photo
Fergus Crawley Shares 5 Tips For Running a Better 5K
Actor Chris Hemsworth in gym performing dumbbell row
Chris Hemsworth Diagrams a Killer Upper Body Workout Fit For an Action Star
Long-haired person on floor doing bicycle crunch
How to Do the Bicycle Crunch for Sharp Abs and Obliques

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

New Year’s Fitness Sales (2025)

XWERKS Motion BCAA Review (2025): A Registered Dietitian’s Honest Thoughts

Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X Review (2025): Assault’s Best Bike Yet?

13 Best Exercise Bikes for Home Gyms (2025)

Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine Review (2025): The Key to Post-Workout Recovery?

Latest Reviews

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt Review (2025)

Omre NMN + Resveratrol, Lifeforce Peak NMN, and partiQlar NMN on a red background

Best NMN Supplement: Fountain of Youth in a Bottle? (2025)

The Titan Series Adjustable Bench on a red background

Titan Series Adjustable Bench Review (2025)

A photo of the NordicTrack Select-a-Weight Dumbbells on a red background

NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbell Review (2025): Are These Value Dumbbells Worth It?

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2025 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About