Bodyweight Training Manual

Forest Vance Training, Inc.http://nogymnoexcuse.com

The No Gym? No Excuse! Bodyweight Training Manual

Disclaimer

Strenuous physical exercise can be a dangerous activity. There are inherentrisks in any physical activity, intense fitness training is no exception. Theuse of professional instruction is recommended before entering into anytype of sport or physical exercise. You should become knowledgeable aboutthe risks involved and assume personal responsibility for your actions. Theinformation contained within this manual may or may not be accurate andis open to interpretation.

2011 Forest Vance Training, Inc. http://nogymnoexcuse.com2


Contents

About Forest Vance & The NGNE Bodyweight Training Manual 4

The Best Way To Warm Up 5

Bodyweight Workouts 7

Conclusion 16

Additional Resources 17



About Forest Vance & The No Gym? No Excuse! Bodyweight Training Manual

Forest Vance is a Master of Science in Human Movement and a certified personal trainer based out of Sacramento, CA.

Using your own body weight to work out is a powerful stimulus to supplement or even completely replace exercise selection in your current training program. Whether your gym membership is getting too expensive, youre hitting the road and have nowhere to work out, or you just want to spice up your routine, bodyweight training can help you reach your goals faster and more effectively. I know that back when I played competitive sports and wasnt yet a fitness professional, I always thought of bodyweight training as conditioning and never something you could use to actually build size and strength.

When I started my personal training career and learned more about the science of program design, I realized that I was quite wrong!

Bodyweight exercises can be used to take your conditioning levels through the roof as well as to build size and strength.

In this guide, I'm going to give you new ideas for both bodyweight exercises and some killer bodyweight workouts. Enjoy!

Also, once you finish this report, be sure to check out my complete bodyweight training program at http://nogymnoexcuse.com

Good luck and train hard!

Forest Vance, Master of Science in Human Movement and Certified Personal Trainer



Preface: The Best Way To Warm Up

The days of running a couple of laps around the track and circling up for a 15 minute stretching session are over. In fact, research has actually shown that type of half-hazard warm-up routine to decrease performance! It's time to integrate a dynamic warm-up into your exercise plan.

What exactly is a 'dynamic warm-up'? Here is a definition from www.cmcrossroads.com:

"Dynamic stretching, according to Kurz, "involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both." Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching! Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion. In dynamic stretches, there are no bounces or "jerky" movements. An example of dynamic stretching would be slow, controlled leg swings, arm swings, or torso twists."

I like to define a dynamic warm-up as moving your body through a full, functional range of motion at speed. Specific dynamic stretches, like hand walks, could be included in this definition, in addition to things like low intensity calisthenics: push-ups, sit-ups, and body weight squats.



Here's a sample of what you could do before a strength training session:

Bodyweight Squat x15

Push-Up with Rotation x10

Plank :30 Hold

Repeat 2x

We're moving our upper and lower body through a full range of motion, at speed, and most importantly, through a range of motion we can control.

Or before going for a run, we might:

High Knee 25 yds

Butt Kick 25 yds

Carioca 25 yds

Backpedal 25 yds

Same idea, this warm-up is just a little more specific to our run.

If you want to static stretch, limit it to tight muscles only pre-workout. Post workout, you can static stretch to your heart's content. Actually, this is the best time to increase flexibility.

Now if you're just starting out, this may not be the way to go. You need to have a decent base of core strength and flexibility first. I usually start clients out with a lower intensity static stretch focusing on tight muscle groups and some core activation drills in the beginning. This might sound a bit contradictory to the rest of this post, but if we have areas of our body that are super tight or weak, stretching those areas prior to exercise can be a good thing if it improves our movement.



Bodyweight Workouts

Interval Training With Your Own Bodyweight

We already know that interval training is thesuperior way to train your cardiovascular system. In an interview I've done with Scott Salwasser, MS, CSCS for the new No Gym? No Excuse! book and DVD, Scott reveals an amazingly effective interval protocol he's used with his athletes to produce some phenomenal results. Scott has worked at both the NFL and Division 1 Level as a strength and conditioning coach and is currently the Director of Performance at Results Training Center in Sacramento, CA. Here's a piece of the interview detailing the workout we're describing here:

"... the fact is that I believe you can get incredibly strong aerobic power development through interval training and what I call tempo runs, which are basically 100 meter repeats with a short walk in between for recovery.

Once you get in better shape, rather than walking for recovery you can do some light calisthenics like push ups or sit ups, and then run another 100.

You want to remember to keep it at about 75% (of maximum speed) or slightly below because we are trying to train aerobically - that means we are trying to get the heart rate up but prevent getting it from getting too high. So were going to stay at 75% or below."



Scott goes on to talk about the best way to structure this workout; starting with 8-10 repeats and moving up from there as your endurance increases. So a workout might look like:

1. Run 100m2. Walk 50m3. Repeat 7-15 times

You could progress to:

1. Run 100m2. 10 push ups, 10 sit ups, etc.3. Repeat 7-15 times

Give this workout a try for yourself ... you'll be pleasantly surprised.



The 100 Burpee Challenge

Are you looking for a way to get a quick full body workout on a daily basis for the next 100 days? How about getting in spectacular condition in the process with nothing but your own bodyweight? You need the 100 burpee challenge.

The rules are simple: start with one burpee on day one, two burpees on day two, and keep going 'till you hit 100 burpees on day 100. If you miss a day, you can make it up, but you've gotta double up the next day. Not so fun, because burpees pretty much suck. Also, you don't have to do them all at once - you can break your daily total up into manageable chunks if you have to.

Take the 100 burpee challenge and in just over three months you'll be in great shape, probably have a little less body fat and a little more muscle, but most importantly, you'll be in the elite company of those who've completed the 100 burpee challenge.



15 Minute Body Weight and Cardio Beach Workout

1. Run 400m (about 1/4 mile)2. 15 burpees (if you can't do burpees, you can substitute full or knee push-ups)3. Run 400m4. 20 V-ups (you could also do regular sit-ups or crunches)5. Run 400m6. 25 Split Squat Jumps (regular lunges if the split squat jumps are too tough for you)7. Run 400m8. Rest and repeat



Killer Push Up And Sit Up Workout

Maybe you're stuck in a hotel without a workout room. Maybe your car broke down and you can't get to the gym. Maybe you're trying to increase your Push Up or Sit Up numbers and you just need a shock to your system to catapult you back into progress mode.

In any case, here's a great workout based on two of the most rudimentary, 'no equipment required' exercises around - the Push Up and the Sit Up:

10 Feet Elevated Push Ups

10 Super Slow Sit Ups (5 seconds up, 5 seconds down)10 Hindu Push Ups

10 Bicycle Crunches

10 Close-Grip Push Ups

10 Sit Ups - feet unanchored

10 Push Ups With Twist

10 Sit Ups - Feet Anchored

10 Regular Push Ups

10 Floor Crunches

Rookie Version - repeat sequence 1 time - 100 reps totalVet Version - repeat sequence 3 times - 300 reps totalExtreme Version - repeat sequence 5 times - 500 reps total



The 100 Pushups Challenge

Doing 100 consecutive pushups seems to be a benchmark of sorts; I've even heard trainers say that if you can do 100 pushups in a row, everything else will kind of 'take care of itself' fitness-wise. While I'm not convinced this is entirely true, I do agree that taking the 100 pushup challenge is well worth your time - even if it's just to say 'ya did it. Here are the details:

The basis of the program is five sets of pushups three times a week for a six week period. The number of pushups you do in each workout is based on a max pushup test done at the beginning of the program. The goal of the program is, obviously, to get you to 100 consecutive pushups in six weeks.

One thing is for sure: there's been a lot of buzz about the challenge in the online community over the last year or so. At minimum, you'll end up fitter, stronger, and in better shape at the end - and you'll be in the small percentage of folks who can claim 100 consecutive pushups!



'5 Minute Abs' Workout

One of the biggest 'problem areas' for the vast majority people is the midsection. To get you started, here's an ab workout you can do in just five minutes (or even less) anywhere with nothing but your own body weight:

Reverse Sit Ups :30 Plank Hold

Move from the Sit Up to the Plank without rest. Upon completing the Plank hold, rest about 30 seconds and repeat the sequence two more times for a total of three sets of each exercise.



5 Minute Push Up Workout

Burn out your chest, shoulders and triceps with this Push Up workout you can do in five minutes or less:

1. Incline Push Ups - Max Reps

Elevate your feet on a bench or chair. Keep your abs nice and tight and body in a strait line. Do as many reps as possible.

Immediately followed by:

2. Regular Push Ups - Max Reps

Same form checkpoints apply - try starting the movement on the ground and pushing yourself up to get into proper alignment.

Immediately followed by:

3. Decline Push Ups - Max Reps

Do this set of Push Ups with your hands on the chair or bench and your feet on the ground.



'No Equipment Needed' Leg Workout

Imagine this:

You're on a business trip. You try to book a place with a workout facility, but you simply don't always have control over the places you stay. You're gone on your favorite - or least favorite, depending on how you look at it - day of the week - leg day!!

Good news: working your legs hard without any equipment, if you know what you're doing, is actually pretty easy. You can blast those pins without added weight of any kind. Try this workout:

Warm up first with 5-10 mins of light activity, then:

Start with 20 body weight squats

Do 15 step ups per leg

Do 10 lunges per leg

Finish with 10 squat jumps

Repeat this circuit 2-3 times as fast as you can



Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed the No Gym? No Excuse! Bodyweight training manual. Incorporate the workouts in this manual into your existing routine to turbo-charge your results today.

This manual is by no means meant to be an exhaustive guide to bodyweight training; it's just meant to serve as a starting point and to get the ideas moving in your head about what is really possible. If you have additional questions about how to perform any of the exercises properly, if you'd like more workout ideas you'll love my complete bodyweight-based training program learn more about it at http://nogymnoexcuse.com.

Thanks for reading and talk to you soon!

Forest Vance, MS, CPT, RKC



Additional Resources

BodyWeightStrengthTraining.com My blog about bodyweight training; articles and videos with bodyweight exercises, workouts, training tips and much more

KettlebellBasics.net My site about the basics of kettlebell training great compliment to your bodyweight workouts!

ForestVanceTrianing.com Website for my personal training and fitness boot camp business based out of Sacramento, CA


Bodyweight Training Manual

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