The BEST Bodyweight Exercises
by Zach Even-Esh, Underground Strength Coach
Bodyweight training is often given only 2 schools of thoughts.
1) High rep training only to be used for conditioning or muscular endurance
2) High skill work like the Bar-Barians
Many forget that Bodyweight Training can be used for ANY goal you want.
- Add resistance for strength development and added size
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Add speed to develop explosive power, agility and speed
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Slow down the movement and hold positions to develop isometric strength and muscular endurance
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Vary your body positions to improve your athleticism and body kinesthetics
In this video I demonstrate 5 of the most effective bodyweight exercise movement patterns:
1) Squats
2) Lunges
3) Pushing
4) Pulling
5) Leg Raises
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The variations can be taken up a notch as you continually get stronger.
Squats become squat jumps. Squat jumps can have weight added or the jumps can be varied.
Lunge Jumps can also be intensified with added weight such as a light sandbag on your back.
Upper body pushing can be the basic push up or intensified with plyo push up variations and my personal favorite, hand walking variations.
Pull Ups can be regressed into recline row or intensified with added weight and progressed to rope climbs without leg assistance
For abs, if the leg raises aren’t tough enough you can add ankle weights or add higher reps.
Note from SGPT –
We really like doing leg raises and completely agree with Zach on adding ankle weights and more reps. If you want to build a strong core this is a great exercise.
Where can I learn more about Zach Even-Esh? Check out his website here:
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