Want to Start a Bodyweight Training Program? Start here . . .

Do you want to start working out, but you don't have any weights or equipment and you don't want to go to the gym? Maybe you want to work up to going to the gym and lifting weights. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need equipment to start reaching your goals.

We are going to talk about bodyweight training in terms of strength training.

Things I will be covering:

1. What to do for your specific goals (fat loss, muscle gain, improved athletic performance, etc.)

2. Sets, repetitions & rest recommendations

3. How & when to progress

4. How often you should be working out

5. Following videos or other premade workouts

Be Goal Specific

Goals are extremely specific, so I will be talking in general terms here. If your goal is not listed here, or you aren’t sure where yours would fit, please reach out and I can clarify any questions!

• Muscle gain - you want more muscle on your body and/or larger muscles

• Fat loss - you want to lose fat (reminder you cannot spot reduce fat)

• Improved athletic performance - You want to train for a specific activity or sport

• Ability based - You are less focused on what working out will do to your body and more focused on what you will be able to do - best translates to being able to do daily activities easier (lifting, reaching, walking up stairs, twisting)

• Muscular endurance - You want to be able to workout for longer

You may even have all of these goals and they all can fit together, but try to choose one or two that will be your focus, at least for now.

Sets, Repetitions & Rest

This section is for those of you who would like to build your own workouts.

Muscle gain - you generally want more sets, but less reps for this, at a higher intensity. This translates to harder exercises.

• 3 or 4 sets with 8 or 10 repetitions.

• Rest can be as short as 30s and as long as 3 minutes, it depends entirely on how hard the exercises are and how much rest you need before you start the next set.

Fat Loss and Muscular Endurance - the recommendations for these two are fairly similar so we are just going to lump them together. You generally want more reps and less sets.

• The intensity will be lower than in muscle gain.

• 2 to 3 sets with 12-15 repetitions.

• Rest will be shorter 30s to 90s because you are training how long your muscles can work for.

Ability based and improved athletic performance - These are both directly related to the specifics. What ability or sport you are focusing on. You can follow either of the recommendations above, try them for at least a month and see how your body feels. Another recommendation related to athletic performance is power:

• Exercises divided up into supersets (2 exercise done right after one another)

• 3 sets, first exercise for 5 reps, second exercise for 10 reps.

• Second exercise is done at an explosive tempo

• Rest is at least 2 minutes between the sets/supersets

When and how to progress:

Changing up your workouts at the most every 4 weeks is important in order to introduce different movements to your body, but also so you don't get bored. If you’re using premade programs this means finding a couple different ones after 4 weeks the same goes for videos.

Within those 4 weeks if you can easily do 10 reps of an exercise, you can increase the number by 2. You can also increase the number of sets by 1, if you want or need an increase in the intensity.

How often should you be working out?

I will never recommend working out everyday. When you’re just starting out I think doing 3 days a week or working up to that is great. 4-5 days a week is a good max to have when it comes to your frequency. At least one rest day a week is essential. If you are experiencing severe muscle soreness on your day to workout I suggest instead going for a walk or stretching. Remember we are going for a sustainable change. Missing one day of a scheduled workout will not destroy all progress.

General Recommendations when using videos:

YouTube is an unlimited resource when it comes to workout videos. The trick comes in finding the right one for you. Trial and error is a key part of finding what works for you. Remember you have control over what you are doing. Don’t choose videos where you are just hating life the entire time.

Picking a video for:

Muscle gain: shorter videos focusing on specific body parts or full body workouts, Pilates and yoga is also great

Muscular endurance/fat loss: Longer videos are great for this there’s so many dance workouts that are great, Pilates and yoga

Ability based or sports performance based: Search the specific activity/ability you want to improve. Personally I am working on a handstand and there are many videos for that.

You don't have to have it all figured out to start. You can start and figure it out as you go.

I will be starting a series related to this topic also on strength training, yoga/Pilates, and cardio.