Bodyweight Exercises

Body weight supersets are when you combine exercises that don’t require equipment. These are ideal for people who work out at home and don’t have equipment. Body weight training is growing in popularity in recent years. Many workout programs are comprised of body weight-only exercises that incorporate body weight resistance training, cardio without cardio equipment and stretching.

4 Types/Combinations of Body weight Supersets:

1. Body weight Resistance Training Supersets

Body weight resistance training supersets are when you include only resistance-type body weight exercises within the superset regimen. An example is doing push-ups followed immediately with pull-ups.

Your entire regimen is made up of body weight resistance training exercises.

As a side-note, you can incorporate body weight exercises within an equipment-based superset regimen. In fact, a popular way for ending a chest exercise is to squeeze out some push-ups.

One of the key points I want to get across in this book is there are very few rules. Instead, you can combine all different kinds of exercises within a regimen.

2. Body weight and Cardio Supersets

A body weight and cardio superset is when you combine body weight resistance exercises with cardio. You can use cardio equipment or use no equipment.

An example is doing a set of push-ups followed by 30 to 60 seconds of jumping rope followed by push-ups followed by jumping rope, etc.

List of Body weight-Only Cardio Options:

● Running on the spot

● Jumping Rope

● Jumping Jacks

● Jump Squats (very tiring - do selectively)

● Jump Squats/Jump Push Ups (do a jump squat, put hands on floor, jump feet back, jump feet  forward, jump squat – very tiring)

● Leap Frogs
● Push Up Jump Forwards (in push up position jump feet forward and backward)
● Yoga Sun Salutations
● Kicking/Punching a Bag
● Shadow boxing
● Shadow Kicking
● Step Ups/Downs
● Standing Knee Raises (side-to-side)

Full-Body vs. Split Workouts (i.e. 3-Day Split) for Bodyweight Workouts

It’s more common with bodyweight resistance training to do a regimen that works out your entire body. However, you can easily deviate from this and design a split workout where you do your upper body one day and lower body the next day. You could do each workout twice a week.

Do I do body weight-only workouts?

I have; however, I prefer using weightlifting equipment and cardio equipment. I’ve done many body weight-only workouts in the past in order to give them a try … but I really do prefer using equipment. My current exception is the fact that I continue doing yoga every week. Many yoga routines incorporate strength/resistance elements.

Body weight-only workouts, including body weight resistance training is best suited for people looking to burn fat and build toned/lean muscle. It’s not going to build massive and dense muscle. The reason for this is the progressive-loading principle is limited. You can’t add weight. You can only increase reps. At some point (usually 15 to 20 reps per set), an exercise becomes more aerobic than anaerobic which reduces muscle growth.

This isn’t good or bad. If your goal is to slim down and build some toned muscle quickly, bodyweight workouts can do the job very, very nicely.

3. Body weight and Yoga Supersets

I actually learned a great deal about the effectiveness of body weight training when I started doing yoga as part of my workout regimen. Many yoga routines incorporate resistance-training moves and build strength. Some yogis build incredibly well-developed (on the lean side) physiques.
Any body weight-only routine can easily incorporate resistance training (static and dynamic) exercises with yoga. In fact, take a sun salutation as an example. Sun salutations are dynamic in that you move from one pose to another quickly. The muscles have both resistance applied as well as stretch throughout the sun salutation.
Aside from yoga flow routines and sun salutations, yoga is largely a static regimen. By static I mean that poses/stretches are held for set duration.
Body weight resistance training is dynamic in that the exercises require you to do repetitions (reps).
Combining the dynamic body weight resistance training with static yoga poses is an excellent combination because the yoga poses provide for a little rest in between intense high-rep body weight resistance training exercises.
You can also combine dynamic resistance training exercises such as push-ups with static strength-developing yoga poses such as “plank”.
See below Chapter 12 “Three Sample Superset Workouts” (it’s the bonus workout) for a sample body weight resistance training and yoga flow workout.

4. Body weight, Cardio and Yoga Supersets

Your bodyweight-only superset regimen can include a combination of resistance-training supersets, resistance training and cardio, resistance training and yoga throughout the entire workout. You can make it as intense as you wish.