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I've been doing Bodyweight Fitness for 16 months and I moved a barbell around for the first time last night. Here's what I thought. (self.bodyweightfitness)

ImChrisBrown が 投稿

I post occasionally here and I'm a huge supporter of the recommended routine to everyone. For a bit more on me here's my 1-year progress post.

Here's my latest shirtless selfie I took yesterday. The lighting's not that good. I'm 26, 168lbs and 6'

I usually deload every 4th week as I seem to accumulate fatigue and my work ethic drops off. Yesterdays workout started my 6th week of this mesocycle which I intended for hypertrophy (lots more volume than I normally do). I likely have acquired more fatigue than I am normally used to and my performance during yesterdays lifting session was probably affected.

I never move iron around. My life is crazy and hectic and I move often and travel often. The reason I've been so adament about BWF training is that I can do it anywhere and that its scale-able for everyone. On top of that I've acquired some really sweet skills and I'm able to workout anywhere I like. This summer I ran my program outside in the forest and got two friends to join me to workout in the woods. On Friday (sept 18th) I fly to Bangkok and I'll be in South East Asia til Nov 24th. I'll be traveling the region for 69 days. I'm taking my olympic rings and plan on increasing my strength as I travel half a dozen countries. Gym's and iron just don't work for me unfortunately.

I hung out with a friend last night and asked him to run me through his barbell programming. He has a simple rack in his garage with a barbell, some bumper plates (45lbs, 25lbs and 10lbs) and a couple 10 and 25lb iron plates. He started lifting again two months ago after a long hiatus. He's lifting beginner numbers and is seeing linear progress in all his lefts every session (or nearly every session)

It was his "A" day and we were just doing three compounds. Squat, Benchpress & Row. He's looking for more volume than just 5x5 so he just moved his programming to 4x8. Rows he only does 3x5.

I've never squatted before. I snowboard often in the winter and hike a fair bit during the summer. I can do 3x8 pistol squats on each leg.

I squatted 135 for 8 reps and it felt light. I did 3x8x135 and on my 4th set i squatted 155lbs for 8 reps. Barspeed slowed down considerably my last couple reps and it felt heavy. It was really, really freaking nice to feel quad, hamstring and glute activation. Holy crap, squats are fantastic. I wish it was more reasonable to squat more often. I really enjoyed it.

I bench pressed in Highschool and remember when I started just the bar was heavy. I couldnt believe that the bar was only 45lbs and I was having trouble lifting it. Through absolutely terrible programming I somehow was able to 1rm 135lbs before the end of my highschool career. I stopped lifting shortly after I graduated and I lost most my strength.

I thought 135 would be too light to start out so I benched 155lbs for 8 reps for my first set. No warmup. No practice with the bar. It felt heavy the last couple reps and my bar speed slowed down. I continued to finish with 3x8x135lbs. exrx.net puts my 1rm benchpress at 192lbs, which I'm happy with.

The bar felt weird. It wobbled around a bit. Stabilizing it was interesting. My pec's werent firing at the same time and sometimes one side would come down or go up quicker. It moved around laterally in space a fair bit. It felt so obscure to have a loaded bar above me.

The most significant thing I remember thinking while I was working through the benchpress sets is that the bar stays loaded. A lot of time in BWF the degree in difficulty comes from the angle or the leverage we choose to do the exercise at, thus, its pretty damn easy to cheat ourselves. It's easy to decrease lean while in PPPU for the last couple of reps. It's easy to not RTO dips when intending to do RTO dips. A lot of times you can change the load as a matter of preference/lack of will. With a loaded bar the load never changes. That 155 that I moved for the first rep was the same 155 I moved for my 8th rep. It was an interesting aspect I hadn't thought about.

I thought since I can hold RTO Support for 45 seconds, do 3 freestanding HeSPU's, do 4x8 RTO dips, 6 ring muscle ups, and several bar muscle ups that my 'stabilizer' muscles would be fine when in bench press. That the bar would stay still and solid and that I'd only be moving it vertically. I was wrong. I don't think it's due to a weakness I think it's due to the SAID Principle (Specific Adapation to Implied Demand). We get good at what we train and I hadn't trained this lift in 7 years.

We did rows at 110lbs for 3sets of 5reps. My pullups are dope. I was just recently working 4x10+30lbs in a backpack for pullups. Before we started lifting I showed my buddy my progress on my front lever. Having to ground the feet into the earth to do a pull was such a weird freaking sensation. I'm so used to have my feet be a nonissue in pull but I nearly made myself fall over the first couple of reps because I wasn't grounding down. Rows were pretty easy and the only noticeable thing I got out of them was that I had to ground my feet. My back felt great. I really liked the activation going on.

All in all I enjoyed it. There's value in doing things you never do. You become less ignorant by learning more and last night I learned more. I learned about myself and I learned about the barbell. During the winter it may become more accessible for me to utilize the barbell consistently. I'd like to squat but I'll probably save my legs for snowboarding. I'll probably benchpress since I feel my chest is always lacking and I'd like to see what other benefits barbell training could offer.

Have you introduced barbell training into your bwf routine?

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[–]abcde13Sprinting 80ポイント81ポイント  (0子コメント)

Beautiful write-up. Great acknowledgement of weaknesses and strengths. Respect.

[–]bulllee 32ポイント33ポイント  (0子コメント)

I've pretty much done only combined off and on for the past year or so. Legs especially are just something that bodyweight is simply less effective than barbell.

I'm going to be the person to say here too though that you got lucky. Jumping into the weights you did can be dangerous. The fact that you weren't lifting at the same speed on both sides as you benched is bad. If you plan to incorporate barbell training in the future, start light, get your form down solid, and then you can jump up the weight to where you need to be over a couple of weeks.

[–]DREADLOCKSSGymnastics 17ポイント18ポイント  (0子コメント)

I love squatting too. Deadlifts and sled pushes are also great exercises you can't really reproduce with bw. I generally prefer weights for lower body.

[–]blackbootz 12ポイント13ポイント  (4子コメント)

So I checked out your year's update post, and I feel like we have a lot in common. I found the BWF starter guide the middle of 2014, was pretty consistent with it though took a break between December and February. In the early summer of 2015, I was more or less peaking with my bodyweight fitness routine.

Here's my V-sit though I always support myself on my thumbs rather than the flat palm. I don't know what the consensus is on whether or not this is cheating.

This is a handstand into a yoga move into a handstand pushup in February or so. And I don't know what my record handstand hold is, that's a great idea.

My point in mentioning all this is that I was using exclusively bodyweight in training. Until the middle of July. I got a roommate who's a college football player and who lifts religiously. I never really liked the gym, I thought (a tad unfairly) that it was the domain of meatheads and that I was doing plenty fine without it.

But man, I love weights! You just can't get the same workout using bodyweight as you can using a loaded barbell and squatting, deadlifting, and pressing. Or all the myriad different exercises. The exact same thing can be said about bodyweight fitness of course, that you can't learn a handstand pushup with a barbell, or all the other cool things you can learn. But I just had to comment to tell you that I highly encourage you to continue augmenting your calisthenics and bodyweight exercises with weights. And if you like muscle popping, just wait to see the pecs after 4 to 6 weeks of religious lifting.

[–]AznSparks 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

I think once I get to the point where I'm out of exercises to progress to, I'll get some plates and a dip belt (probably a good million years - planche and FL rows are insanely fucking hard, Dominik Sky could only do one FL row in his video https://youtu.be/_Qwqqyj4jkk)

[–]TerenzILL 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

How the hell do you work up to something as beautiful as this? :) Nowhere near it, cannot even properly hold a freestanding HS. Stuck at 10s maximum. :( Congrats

[–]ReverendBizarre 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Here's my V-sit though I always support myself on my thumbs rather than the flat palm. I don't know what the consensus is on whether or not this is cheating.

A nice test for this is the following:

  • Could you do that hold with your palms flat on the ground? If yes, then you're not cheating. If no, then you are cheating.

That is, if the elevation of getting up on your thumb is what allows you to lift your butt off the floor, your shoulders are too weak. You could keep doing V-sits on your thumb, but say... L-sits on your palms until you can do V-sits on your palms.

Some people have the shoulder strength to stay up with palms flat but still prefer to do it on their thumbs, probably something to do with wrists. However, seeing as the V-sit and related exercises are largely about shoulder strength, you're cheating your shoulders out of their full potential if you get up on the thumbs to clear the floor.

[–]InkognitoV 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I can hold an Lsit for 40 seconds, how can I progress to a Vsit? Also I really want to be able to do what you did in the handstand video, but I can't do a handstand (balance), and advice on how you got there?

[–]Doctor_Fritz 7ポイント8ポイント  (1子コメント)

I follow one of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do filosophies when it comes to personal training. If it works then use it. If it doesn't, then cut it out. Eventually you'll end up with a set of different things which, when put together, will make up for a complete set.

[–]darrensurreyClimbing 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Agreed. Ever since reading his philosophy (taking what is useful, rejecting what is useless etc) as a teenager, I've generally gone for that approach. That's why I wouldn't say I'm a bodyweight fitness person or a barbell person. I use everything.

notatthesametime

My back day includes barbell rows, front levers and pull ups.

[–]dssssd 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

You're gonna be soooore

[–]ImChrisBrown[S] 7ポイント8ポイント  (1子コメント)

I've been training for 16 months now. To think that adding in some barbell elements that I haven't targeted via bodyweight and and there's a major deficit there are a tad foolish. I'm sore, The rows targeted a fantastic element inbetween my scapula, not something i'm used to (typically I feel more on the 'far' side of my lats via pullups/lever work). My chest is sore, but no more so than a proper horizontal push session. My legs are sore, but less sore than an intense day of riding powder. Also they're all new elements. I would love to work them more but it's not likely to a part of my life.

[–]indoninja 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I would have thought lower back would be sore from the rows. Try doing a deadlift day with him.

I like the BW program here but without deads it leaves a serious hole in lower back and traps.

[–]elektrolytz 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks for doing this, very interesting! You should deadlift as well, once you get comfortable enough to pull your max it's a feeling like no other.

[–]TerenzILL 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

You should really consider writing more and blogging. People would follow you. Always cool to read, inspiring and motivating. Keep it up and good luck.

[–]orealy 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Weights are awesome for the lower body. Deadlifts (regular, deficit, snatch grip, RDL) and squats (FS, high bar, low bar, split) make me happy.

[–]kayetechBeard Mod 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

I'm getting back into OHP so I can add more volume. Also, going to start doing C&J and getting back to DL and FS after being on the road without weights all summer. Still doing levers, HSPU, and RTO dips as well.

[–]ImChrisBrown[S] 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Would love to augment OHP for my HeSPU's since I can only ever get a few in my sessions before I'm whiped out.

[–]mystriddlery 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

This is pretty cool seeing the skills transfer so well, I have a feeling your lifts will go up (especially with bench) once you get used to it and get rid of the wobbles.

[–]prince_muishkin 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Dammit Chris, always ahead of me. This month I got a free gym membership which I've been using to see what PBs that I can get with weights. I experienced similar things the first few sessions, stabilisation of a barbell is way harder than it looks and weighted squats feel like they are hitting more muscles harder.

It's really nice that you can see how strong you are with weights so easily. I'm pretty happy with my numbers as well and I haven't worked not nearly half as hard as you.

I'm going to test everything next week, but at the moment I have 65kgx5x5 squat, 80kgx5x1 deadlift, 52.5x5x5 bench which I'm pretty happy with.

Awesome and motivational post as always Chris!

[–]Bujutsu 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

Great post. I could have done without those butt pics, but your observations and experience were enlightening. Thank you.

[–]Lilah_Rose 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I loved the butt pics!

[–]jivetones 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

Happy you dug your session in weight room!

I come from the weight room and only recently started flirting with BWF stuffs, so I'll give you props for your BWF skillz upfront. Props.

The thing that jumped out at me in your write up were your bench and squat numbers; namely that they were same (1x8 at 155 and 3x8 at 135). You said your chest is always lacking, but I see more opportunity on the squat horizon.

To give you a sense of what I mean, I'll tell you that many lifters put their lifts in terms of their body weight. An intermediate lifter can squat 2.0 times his/her body weight and can bench 1.5 times his/her body weight. 168x2 = 336 ~ 181 lbs to goal 168x1.5 = 252 ~ 97 lbs to goal

If you enjoyed your weight room session with your friend, I'd really recommend full barbell program like your friend's adjusted StrongLifts 5x5 or a close variation called StartingStrength.

[–]Devvils 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I have a "garage" routine - whatever I can scrounge & fits around the garage; I use the garage wall too. I do fitball squats. Also [goblet squats]http://bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/goblet-squat-II.jpg). For step ups I use some old pieces of wood.

(You look far better than your 2014 pic. You've gone from nerdy weakling to athlete!)

[–]KingBR1 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thanks for the post, well written. As for barbell/gym lifts, I do these for actually 40-50% of my workout while bwf I'd the other 50% or so. I think this gives me the perfect balance between the two.

[–]teeo 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

what do you do for work that has you travelling around so much?

[–]Pandanimal 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Great piece. I've always enjoyed your posts and your Sunday Show-offs.

I've been doing BWF for nearly two years and I have always incorporated free weights/resistance machine lower body resistance training (barbell back squats, deadlifts, cossacks, split squats, overhead lunges/squats, isolations on resistance machines). To be honestly, I love leg days, it is the only reason why I have a gym membership, all the other stuff I can do at home. I would suggest anyone to include a lower body resistance session into their weekly schedule (on top of the BWF recommended routine).

The positions (leverage) we imposed on ourselves is very subjective to the individual. Daniel from FitnessFAQs mentioned in his one arm pull up progression/tutorial video that we have to use a method so we don't "cheat" ourselves to progress with the exercise. Using the OAPU as an example, a lot of other tutorials suggest progressing through Archer Pull Up. In reality, the person executing the exercise determines on the amount of load applied to each arm. Daniel recommends using a weighted "pulley" system to progress which makes more sense. A balanced BWF and free weights is the way forward.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Keep up with the good work, really looking forward to your next post.

[–]RanDoMEz 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Singapore represent ! If you're around I can drag you for good food :))

[–]Tom_The_HumanBodybuilding 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I started with barbell training and (once I return from injury) am looking to incorporate more bodyweight training.

It's probably the most fun mix, can give you great gains, and is the best for all of you wanting "functional strength" as you mix moving your own body around with moving external objects.

[–]Phil_Dakuchi 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

You look great for tall and not even at 170... Damn! Can you tell me how big are your biceps cold,rested?

[–]ImChrisBrown[S] 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

15" arms at the biggest point

[–]Duffbear 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

I went to the gym 2 months ago to squat, deadlift and try out the bench press. I haven't been since I hurt my shoulder on the bench press. Squating and deadlift numbers were poor, something like 50 kg, but boy did they feel great. The next day I was crippled however, couldn't move. I think I benched 55kg with relative ease after doing it for the first time, could have went up to 60kg at the time. This was after doing bw exercises for around 2 1/2 months and my strength has increased a lot since.

All together a good experience, apart from fucking up my shoulder with poor form (I presume) on the bench. I'm back tomorrow for squats and deadlifts, but want to focus on bw work for my upper body. Good post Chris.

[–]darrensurreyClimbing 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I've done similar. The trick is to pull your shoulders "back" and "down" into the bench. I was using dumbbells so even more unstable.

Live and learn. <rubs shoulders>

[–]wanderer779 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

From what I have heard Mark Rippetoe who is an authority on weightlifting says the squat is the most important lift. I wish I could do them but I can't afford all the equipment to do it safely right now. The deadlift is also one with a lot of bang for your buck.

[–]musicistheanswer4 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Damn, those abs. Just, wow.

[–]299152595 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

It kinda goes the other way around too. I used to barbell row 315lbs for 5, but couldn't do a muscle up. When I was able to pump out 10 bar muscle ups, there was no way I was going to do 315lbs 5x on a barbell row.

It's exactly as you say, the SAID principle is a major factor in this.

[–]elasee 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

"With a loaded bar the load never changes"

With bodyweight the load never changes either. You can cheat the load with a barbell just like with bodyweight. Change form, change the load. It applies to both iron and bodyweight.