The Unique Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts

The Truth About My Bodyweight Workouts

On today’s episode, I’m sharing the unique benefits of bodyweight workouts and the truth about my bodyweight training.

Yes, I need to expose some misunderstandings and be 100% transparent with you.

I’ve actually been very clear on this, but it seems like I need to do an entire post on it.

Some of my most viewed episodes of Live Lean TV have been my bodyweight workout videos.

In fact, one of my 4 minute tabata workout videos is approaching two million views.

A few of my 10 minute bodyweight workouts have also done very well.

However with a lot of views, comes a lot of skepticism.

I’ve received a few comments like:

Bro, there is no way you built that amount of muscle doing just bodyweight workouts.

So here’s my response.

You’re right.

I didn’t build my physique doing only bodyweight workouts, nor have I ever claimed that.

In my opinion, I feel like I’ve been very clear that the majority of my workouts and programs are mainly focused on weight training.

If you’re confused by this, it probably means you’re not following me on Instagram because I share a lot of these videos on my Instagram stories.

 

A post shared by Brad Gouthro – Live Lean TV (@bradgouthro) on Feb 23, 2017 at 4:13pm PST

But here’s the thing, even though I train at a gym and mainly lift weights, I still do incorporate a lot of bodyweight training into my weight training workouts.

The reason is simple.

There are so many benefits to incorporating bodyweight workouts and exercises into your traditional weight lifting program.

Benefits of Bodyweight Workouts:

I like creating bodyweight workout videos because I want to make fitness accessible to everyone.

Bodyweight workouts are also a good entry point for people new to fitness because they’re:

• Inexpensive: anyone can do bodyweight workouts since there is no expensive equipment required.
• Convenience: you can do bodyweight workouts at home, outside, or on the road in a hotel.
• Great for fat loss: since you can quickly move from exercise to exercise which allows the heart rate to stay at an elevated level. This is great for beginners, because lets be real, close to 70% of the population is overweight.

However, for me personally, I have an ectomorph body type, meaning I’m predisposed to being skinnier and have to work really hard to build muscle.

Just looking at my small joints is a dead giveaway that I don’t build muscle easily.

This is why I primarily focus on weight training with a combination of bodyweight exercises strategically programmed into my workouts.

Benefits of bodyweight workouts combined with weight training workouts:

A really strategic way to add bodyweight exercises to your weight training workouts is to throw in a quick set before or after a set of weighted exercises.

For example:

Benefits of bodyweight exercises BEFORE heavy lifts:

• Target and activate specific muscles:

You can really isolate certain muscles when doing bodyweight exercises.

This is because most bodyweight exercises are considered closed kinetic chain exercises (CKCE).

This simply means your limbs are fixed and grounded in place, thus isolating the movement to one specific muscle.

For example, a push up is considered a CKCE because your feet and hands are fixed, and you’re pushing yourself against an immovable object like the ground.

With a push up you can really focus in on activating the chest muscles without having the stabilizer muscles taking away from the strain on the chest.

The opposite to this is an open kinetic chain exercise (OKCE) where the hands and feet are free to move, such as a barbell flat bench press.

This means stabilizer muscles play a bigger part in the bench press, thus taking away some of the strain on the chest.

However compound movements like the bench press are still king for overall muscle recruitment.

Try this bodyweight exercise combo:

As you know, it’s important to always initiate, contract, and feel the targeted muscle being worked.

Therefore, completing a set of push ups before a set of barbell flat bench press is a great way to activate the muscles in your chest before your next heavy set.

It would look like this:

A1. Push Up x 10 reps

A2. Barbell Flat Bench Press x 10 reps

Ensure you only do 8-10 reps though.

The goal of this strategy is to activate the muscle, not pre-exhaust the muscle.

Benefits of bodyweight exercises AFTER a heavy lift:

• Increasing your heart rate and fat Loss

Doing a bodyweight exercise after a heavy lift will help keep your heart rate elevated, thus creating a higher calorie burn, and faster fat loss.

I include bodyweight workout finishers, tabatas, and ignite it ups in most of my workout programs.

For example complete any of the following bodyweight exercises after finishing a heavy lifting set:

• Air Squats (50 reps)
• Mountain Climbers (20 reps/leg)
• Forearm Plank (30 secs)
• Jumping Jacks (35 reps)

Here’s another unique benefit of performing bodyweight exercises after heavy lifts.

• Increasing the amount of weight you can lift by stimulating your central nervous system

By performing explosive plyometric bodyweight exercises after heavy lifts, you can stimulate your central nervous system, thus leading to greater motor unit and muscle fiber recruitment for the next set.

This means you could be lifting heavier, for more reps, thanks to the explosive bodyweight set.

It can also lead to increased power, speed, and overall athleticism.

Here are a few exercise combos to try:

• A1. Barbell back squat: 90% of your 5 rep max x 3-5 reps
• A2. Jump squat x 30 seconds
• B1. Dumbbell incline bench press (or barbell incline bench press): 90% of your 5 rep max x 3-5 reps
• B2. Plyometric push up x 30 seconds
• C1. Barbell bent over row 90% of your 5 rep max x 3-5 reps
• C2. Explosive inverted row x 30 seconds

I used this workout training style in my 42 Days To Lean Strength workout program and people have been loving the results.

And most important reason why I like to include bodyweight exercises into my programs:

• It just makes a great workout:

Many of the top athletes, and most physically fit people in the world (including the Navy Seals), incorporate bodyweight workouts into their fitness routine.

Why?

Because they get results!

So there you have it.

Those are just a few of the benefits of bodyweight workouts.

If you’re used to training only with weights, it’s great to also incorporate bodyweight exercises into your workout program to maximize your time and results.

Also try incorporating a HIIT bodyweight workout once per week into your training to keep your body guessing.

Over the years, I’ve built my physique via weight training with strategic bodyweight exercises to maximize my results.

If you want to follow similar workout programs that can do the same for you, you need to join our Team Live Lean group coaching platform where you get a new workout program every month.

We just re-vamped Team Live Lean with all new:

• workout programs
• exercise demo videos
• meal plans
• cooking videos
• Facebook support group to post questions and hang out with other like minded people.

See you over at Team Live Lean.