Bodyweight Strength Training
- 1.0 Strength training
- 2.0 Tension and breathing
- 3.0 On training and its effects on your body
- 4.0 Program design
- 4.1 Greasing the groove
- 4.2 Cyclic training
- 4.2 Ladders
- 4.2 Rest
- 5.0 The moves
- 5.1 Pull-up/chin-up
- 5.1.1 One-arm pull-up
- 5.2 Push-up
- 5.2.1 One-arm push-up
- 5.3 Planche
- 5.4 Front lever
- 5.5 Janda sit-up
- 5.6 Hanging leg-raise
- 5.7 Standing abdominal wheel
- 5.8 Dragon flag
- 5.9 Pistol squat
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Every now and then, you come across a newspaper article that tells of
the poor fitness level of our youngsters; how their 12-minute runs are
getting shorter and shorter, muscles degenerating to the point where a
single pull-up becomes an impossibility, while their body mass indexes
are soaring to all-time highs, the latter applying both for young and
old alike - not because of a drastic increase in muscle mass, though.
There have been stories how the modern-day youngsters are inaccustomed
to physical exertion, some of them viewing even simple perspiration from
exercise as an alarming "symptom"!
It is clear that if we were suddenly cast a century back, most of the
populace we have would simply die off by the shock of unbearable
physical stress. We are products of our own times, and these heavily
automatized times do not demand muscle, strength or endurance not even
nearly in the same manner as farming by hand. Construction workers and
people engaged in similarly taxing labor might disagree, and it is true,
after all, that many physically able people still actually use their
muscles instead of delegating every little piece of work to the
magnificent electricity or the power of the combustion engine. Still, I am sure that
they, too, have noticed the course of our society: we do not need our
bodies' musculature like we used to, and these doers of hard work can
take pride in themselves that they do.
"Progress," as we know it, is an illusion. There are no sunny fields
awaiting us, we are not sailing towards our paradise: we are simply
conditioned by our times, and thus left weak by the lack of obviously
"unpleasant" things like physical strain, and as the years turn, we are
still becoming weaker. However, like the modern times condition us, we
can steer ourselves into another direction by enforcing an environment
of our own upon us, one that contains physical stress. It is all about
adaptation.
If one should decide to get himself in shape, it is common for him to
spend one, maybe a couple hours at the gym, exercising bodyparts with various machines that have their own fixed range of movement, running on a mat, etc. Well, running on a mat is understandable if one lives in the belly of a crowded city
where jogging wouldn't be too practical, but I would much prefer to run
outside, even on hard pavement, if at all possible. But for the Joe Normal, there are no gyms to be found beyond machine heavens, mirror-covered walls and air conditioners.
However, I fail to see why hours spent on carefully picking your body apart and training the muscles separately is necessary. First of all, in regards to
weightlifting, we are not seeking to specifically isolate muscles as our
concern is not in the size or form of a given muscle, but in its
functionality. The human body is a whole, not a catalogue of parts. Second, by the same token, I would advise against using machines that have a fixed
range of movement, and recommend using free weights simply due to the
greater stress placed upon stabilizing muscles. Third, even the
sovereign status of strength training with weights can be questioned
a bit, because bodyweight exercises can be surprisingly tough if you
apply some creativity to them. Of course, should you have a reasonable
access to weights, the basic powerlifting moves bench press, squat and
deadlift are certainly useful and especially in the case of the latter
one, they can hardly be substituted with bodyweight exercises.
Nevertheless, you will find challenge for years in the pursuit of mastering your body, and the best thing is that the definition of "your gym" suddenly became much more flexible.
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Full muscular tension is very important in bodyweight training as well
as weightlifting, as often the moves stress a large number of muscles,
and the more tension you can generate, the stronger you are. For
example, most of the power behind a martial artist's punch comes not
from the power of his hand, but his midsection, particularly his
obliques because of the twisting move. Think of the hips and core as the
seat of power in your body. There are three general parts in your body -
major muscle groups - that you wish to flex when doing a move. These are
your abdominal muscles, your glutes (gluteus, butt) and of course your
hands. When doing a push-up/bench press, you'll also want to flex your
lats (the latissumus dorsi, "wings," the large muscles connecting your back and front) and pecs (pectoralis major/minor), because rushing headlong into a
straining move with a limp body is definitely counterproductive if
anything, and thus a waste of time. There is a reason why rioters fall
limp as noodles in the hands of policemen instead of trying to struggle
with all their might.
Now, it would be a good time to test how this full-body tension affects
your performance. Grab your partner's hand in a firm handshake, and
squeeze with all your might, still leaving your other body relaxed, only
flexing your gripping hand. Then, try again, this time also flexing your
other arm, making a white-knuckle fist, and your partner should notice
an increase in the grip's power. As you are squeezing with both your
hands, flex your glutes as well as your abs for even some more power in
your grip. When you flex your glutes, think of clenching your butt
cheeks together as if you were in a hurry to the bathroom, but you
weren't exactly the first in line. This procedure is called the anal
lock. Now, your partner should've noticed a significant, or at least
some, increase in the tightness of your grip. This phenomenon could be
called muscular irradiation, recruiting all your body into one
staggering effort of muscular contraction.
Breathing is pivotal in creating appropriate tension and internal
pressure. You probably know that you feel lot weaker after expelling all
the air from your lungs, which is due to the absence of internal
pressure that keeps you intact and firm, so to speak. You don't want to
suck like a vacuum cleaner through your mouth, puffing up your chest
with air because, despite how impressively large your chest may seem,
you won't have pressure where it is needed: the core of your body.
Instead, inhale moderately fast through your nose, and imagine all the
air storing down into your hips and forming a powerful energy reserve.
When you have inhaled almost as much as you are able to, let some air
out either through your mouth or nostrils (I prefer the mouth, although
not gaping open, but simply opening lips enough for the air to exit, no
more). It depends on the individual how much they should have air left
in their lungs for optimal performance, but something from around 50 to
75 per cent is a good figure to go by.
When you lift, don't keep the pressure absolutely contained, but let
some of it be released as you struggle with the exercise; how much at
once depends on the nature of the effort. Martial artists release most
of their tightly-wound tension in a sudden explosion, where the air is
respectively expelled in a powerful blast. In a heavy bench-press this
route would probably only drop the bar on your chest, because you will
lose tension and pressure too quickly before the move is complete. In
efforts requiring grinding strength, it would be the best to slowly let
the air come out, whether by hissing, growling, or whatever your sound
of choice may be. Remember, though: try not to make the sound, but let
it form by itself, the exercise forcing you to lose some pressure.
Summary: anti-isolation is the key for overall strength, because your
body is a whole, and to perform the best, it must function as a whole.
Do the anal lock, flex especially your abs and glutes, squeeze the bar
dry, build on internal pressure and function as a coherent unit instead
of a collection of body parts.
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Some general information first: a move has three phases, which are the
concentric, isometric and eccentric phases. Concentric is the positive,
lifting, stage; isometric is the static stage, and eccentric is the
negative, or lowering, stage. Keep in mind that the latter has to be done
in a controlled fashion! You will be able to use much more weight in the
eccentric phase as opposed to the positive phase, and thus generate more
muscular tension, and that makes it a viable training method. Use
caution with it, though. Not only do you have to take safety with the
weights into account, but you must also keep the threat of overtraining
in your mind. Per the three phases, there are three different kinds of
failure: first, you cannot lift the weight; second, you fail to hold the
weight static at a given position; third, you are so tired that your
muscles cannot even lower the weight controllably. The last one is also
called an absolute failure.
I would recommend against regular training to failure, as that only sets you
back because of the time you need for recovery, and has no benefit from
the viewpoint of gaining strength: strength is developed through tension
rather than muscle fatigue. Also, why train to failure when you can
train to success?
Frequent training to failure, as well as too much training in general, leads to overtraining, a condition where
your body cannot recuperate from the rigors of training. You can train
hard, or you can train often, but not both. This state, also called the
catabolic state, happens when more nitrogen exits the body released from
dead cells than is transported by albumens. Thus, to uphold a positive
nitrogen balance (anabolic, or growth state), you have to have enough
proteins in your food and a sufficient insulin level, rest well (8-9
hours) and train smart. Remember, muscle soreness is not a sign of
progress.
A back-off week from training is advised if you notice any of the following signs of overtraining:
- decreased performance,
- muscle fatigue,
- bad mood and general tiredness,
- susceptibility to illness such as the common flu,
- elevated resting heartrate (best measured right after waking up)
In training you destroy your muscle and send it into a catabolic state.
In the aftermath of training, supposing that the necessary nutritional
and physiological requirements are met (i.e. your body is in an anabolic
state), the muscle "goes crazy" and synthetizes the protein it receives.
If the training was fatiguing (high volume) and left a large amount of lactic acid in
your muscles - causing the "burn" - the hypertrophy, or muscle growth,
will be of the sarcoplasmic kind. If, on the other hand, your training
consisted of high amounts of tension, you will veer towards myofibrillar
hypertrophy. The former sports larger growth and the latter density and
hardness, when speaking in layman's terms. The functional difference
between these two forms of muscle growth is that myofibrillar
hypertrophy increases the number of contractile proteins in your muscles
without doing as much for size as sarcoplasmic hypertrophy does, which
then again isn't exactly a maximum strength booster because it basically
increases the volume of sarcoplasmic fluid within your muscle cells.
Pure strength training also reinforces and enhances the power of your
nervous system, an effect that does diminish as the number of reps rises
- eight to twelve reps and over is a common number for mass-increasing
training, while one to five, at most, is what powerlifters and other
devotees of strength utilize. Of course, the numbers are not set in
stone and carry overlap in terms of effect, but you surely won't build
strength doing pushups in sets of fifty reps. In essence, strength
training hardly is "bulking up."
To avoid muscle fatigue and speed up your recovery time, it is a good
idea to be one or two reps shy of maximum, allowing you to train more
frequently. You also have to remember that even though you were already
taking three to five minute breaks between sets - minute-long breaks
enhance your testosterone production, but will invite the fatigue into
your muscles - muscle fatigue will eventually set in as you battle
through the sets. So, in your quest of strength, it is good to keep the
sets low: two is a nice number. Should you want to add mass, add more sets and/or decrease the time between them to compress the workload. Also, to be able to lift the second set in good form
and still keeping a rep or two shy of max, you have to lessen the
weight. For example, the first set of five is done with 100% of your
seven rep maximum; cut it down to 90% for the second set. For the following sets, you could decrease the load to 80% to allow yourself several more sets with good form without compromising the tension. Remember to listen your body and pay attention - focus! - on your performance.
Summary: low reps and low intensity allow for the use of heavy weights -
the tool for building strength.
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Because of the low intensity, in terms of muscle fatigue, you are able
to keep up a higher weekly volume than otherwise, staying safe and clear
of overtraining and its catabolic pit even with huge weekly lifting
totals. The reason why successful training begets strength gains is that
your body has an incentive to adapt to the new, heavier environment
imposed on it. The strong survive and get stronger through strife, but
even they have their limits, and thus too much of a challenge will
defeat them. This is why you should be fresh at the beginning of your
workout and sets, and as fresh when you conclude your training for the
day.
To be able to work hard you must counter-balance them with lighter workouts.
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"Greasing the groove" (GTG) is one such program design, in which you do
a set of a move, say, a pull-up, several times a day for 50% to 75% of
your maximum repetitions. The amount of sets through the day is solely based
on the speed of your recovery. If you can manage ten pull-ups, you
would do from three to seven in each set, averaging at five - they have
to be done in perfect form every time, as muscular tension is what you
are after, not just chunking out the reps and being done with it
already. Even though you are not supposed to feel tired after a strength
workout, exercises done in the GTG manner stack on with each other, so
you might be in for an unpleasant surprise should you do several
exercises in this low rep-high frequency manner. Usually two moves is
appropriate, but you can add a couple more provided you don't burn
yourself, or some muscle of yours out. Usually, though, you'd want to do the other exercises in
another, less frequent manner to let you focus on the grooves you have
to grease.
Pure strength training means five or less repetitions, but certainly you
can grease the groove for more repetitions with a fixed weight. Even
though training without weights leaves you with only one weight - your
body - that bulk can be lifted in many variations of leverage, speed,
number of reps, general technique emphasizing either the concentric,
isometric or the eccentric phases of the move.
One important advice is based on that knowledge: use variation in your
workouts, do not just grind the moves in the same fashion for months,
years. Using pull-up as an example, someday you could try doing them
with a baseball grip; while doing a L-seat; holding the move at some
point for a few seconds; doing them super slow altogether, etc.
Variation makes it both fun and rewarding, as you can wave the load in
this way, which is preferrable to dull grinding through the same old
rut. Remember to listen to your body, as some variations are simply more
taxing than others, and do not regard the number of reps as writ in
stone here: heed to your gut feeling instead, and stop rather than burn
yourself attempting to reach the number you could in a different manner.
Should you choose to peak in a given exercise, remember to taper down
for a week by cutting the intensity down further, peak, and then start
again slowly. Maxing out shouldn't be done every other weekend, but favorably every four weeks - the less frequently the more developed an athlete you are: powerlifters peak only a couple times a year by saving their shots for the meets - to allow your body some rest, and make the best out of your training for ever higher peaks.
Summary: as frequently, flawlessly and fresh as possible.
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For some exercises that are out of your reach to be trained daily you would want to consider a different program. Five times a week is recommended, but you can go with three times as well. As you know, you cannot train balls-to-wall all the time, but having spoonfuls instead of bucketfuls every now and then is necessary in any strength training program, so you must cycle your loads. Working with your bodyweight does not sound like it would offer plenty of choice in resistance, but you do have the option of engaging in one of the numerous variations bodyweight exercises have, and maybe even using additional weight you have salvaged from some garage sale, or spotted and hauled from the local junkyard. Compared to the precision of a 5 lb. plate, however, doing variations is very rough adjustment, which is why you have to tamper with the numbers of repetitions or sets, the lengths of static holds or timed sets or whatever you measure the drill with of the exercises in your program.
Let us assume you consider five sets of twenty a hard workout with pushups. Of course, doing this three times a week would not bode well, so in order to have that tough workout you would have to have two less difficult training sessions. Monday/Wednesday/Friday for light/medium/hard is a common division of load in a week. Time-proven and tested in trenches, this method lets you have days of rest inbetween the training days and light sessions prepare you for the hard workout. Light could be described as 50% of your peak effort, medium 75%, and hard of course giving all you've got, but not slipping to failure, or jumping off the highest cliff you just climbed on to.
Using that example of pushups as our base for a basic three-day program, we will estimate the sufficient training loads for each day. Hundred repetitions in five sets is the maximum, so ~50% could be 10x5; 12x4; 18x3. It wouldn't be sensible to go much past the 20-rep figure if that is difficult and try doing 50 continuous repetitions, so in order to have a truly light day, you would break the number in sets. The simplest solution is the true one in this case: 10x5 is the most fitting choice.
To advance to more difficult variations, it is advisable to gradually ease into them by dedicating your high-intensity day (friday) for practicing the difficult variation in low repetitions. Sometimes you just can't advance by simply grinding the easier drills with astounding volume, so practice the harder skill and leave the easier days for less demanding exercises.
If you choose to have more days in your training week, follow the guidelines and don't make it too tiring. If, for example, you mainly practice drills A and B, but are also eager to invest some time on drills C and D, you set the first two exercises in the L/M/H scheme, and practice the two latter ones in the days inbetween. Keep it light, though, so that the heart of your training program does not get compromised.
Sometimes, you might want to save a test day for Saturday instead of facing the challenge on Friday for the sake of having two days of rest.
Summary: You can't work at hundred per cent all the time, so devote one day a week to max effort, and the others for medium and light workouts, which are basically practice for the heavy day. Heavier days can also be used for training the more difficult variations instead of high volume with the easier ones. The basic three-day scheme fits perfectly with this. If you train other skills, do them on the days inbetween, and keep it light.
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The above text has discussed how to spread the volume of your training across the week, but as is with every cycle, there are innumerable other, smaller cycles within. During a workout, you might notice that a hard, long set can wear you out too much and bar you the way of completing the remaining sets as intended. You want to have as much volume as possible, but too big of a block at once leads to premature termination of the set, and going close to failure just drains you further.
Ladders are very handy in stuffing more work in allowable time. If you wanted to gain more strength-endurance you would keep the sets longer, of course, but with the aid of ladders you can have those few extra reps you otherwise could not possibly reach in an ordinary set. Ladders have rungs, and a rung in this ladder represents the number of repetitions. On the first rung you will do one repetition, two on the second and so on. The total number of repetitions grows rapidly as you climb up the rungs, which is the primary reason why rest is paramount with ladders. You do not need much rest between rungs, usually something like ten to fifteen seconds, but don't be afraid to have more if it enables you to squeeze out that last rung with clean form.
After the third rung you have a total of six reps; after five rungs you have attained fifteen reps, which is quite impressive since you can do that if you can do eight repetitions straight. If you can do three to five reps of a given exercise, it is feasible to try ladders out.
Summary: More volume and less fatigue by dividing a set into rungs, which gradually increases the difficulty, spreading it with healing time and softening the impact the load would have otherwise.
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When training for strength, you can safely consider a set to reach across the whole day if you will, because it all adds up to the total, and the fresher you are the more you can lift. There is no absolute, iron-clad rule about the appropriate length of rest between sets other than that you should not be afraid to rest if your body demands it. Pay attention to how you feel after heavy exertion. Because rest mends some of the fatigue caused by exertion, enabling you to push yourself again, it is clear that to lift the heaviest weights you have to rest well, and to test your endurance, muscular or cardiovascular, you should keep rest to the minimum.
Nevertheless, there are some general numbers acknowledged useful as rest periods. Usually three to five minutes of resting is enough between sets in strength-focused training, and the minutes dwindle as you phase more towards endurance. Five minutes is not too much of rest if attempting maximum lifts - seven and ten minutes are more worth the while. Two minutes, one minute, or even just a half are used in the other end.
Keep in mind that fatigue will set in finally, and that you are going to need more and more rest if you were to perpetually continue with the sets. One approach to have the necessary rest for cushioning the gradual impact of the number of sets on your fatigue is to have as many minutes of rest between sets as there are sets. Three sets would equal three minutes of rest between the sets, five sets would have five: six minutes between the first and the last set with three minute breaks; twenty minutes with five minute pauses. This, of course, greatly prolongs the workout, but is sometimes necessary if the loads just are too laborious to handle. You will witness the aid of the "extra" rest in the beginning as you are ready to hit the last sets.
Summary: No absolute figures, but only recommendations: three to five and sometimes over for strength training, at least under two for endurance. Off-time from working out is also resting time for staving fatigue away, enabling you to lift more the next time you do, so you might want to have a 1:1 ratio of minutes of rest between sets to the number of sets.
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Now, introducing some moves might be in order. I'll explain some
bodyweight moves, which have the intrinsic characteristic of being
very undemanding of equipment, except for a pull-up bar (or a tree
branch, rafter, a set of gymnastic rings; generally something you can
hang on to). Well, doorframe-mounted bars shouldn't be too expensive,
but take care that the mounting will be trusty enough to hold your
weight and any extra weight you might bring along.
I have not explained indepth training progressions for all moves because
that would be rather redundant, and I hope that you will be able to form
a functional and rewarding exercise routine yourself, having read the
above sections on the philosophy of strength training. Have a go at the
various progressions and advanced techniques, and see for yourself what
fits you. Do not grind one alternative to the death: instead, vary them
so that you will remain fresh and vigorous in both mind and body, and
your exercising efforts will not stagnate and accrue staleness. And keep
in mind that while I've suggested negatives and isometrics as a means of
progression and adding difficulty, it is easy to overtax your nervous
system with them. Use those otherwise very useful tools with this in
mind. Your body will notify you when you've gone past the limit, if do not turn a deaf ear to it.
For the sake of orderliness, the moves will be in a top-down order of
the human body, so upper body moves first, then abdominal moves and leg
moves last.
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This is one of the staple moves in the army and for a good reason,
since it stresses both your arms and your upper back, making for a great
upper-body exercise. Despite of it being a bodyweight exercise -
although adding weight is simply done by using either ankle weights,
weight vest or hanging a plate from a weightlifting belt - it is a very
versatile move, and the difficulty is easily adjustable. Some rough
numbers for measuring your ability against the average man would be: 6 is
alright; 12 is good; 18 is very good; 25 is excellent.
The mechanics: start from a dead-hang, unshrug your shoulders, grip the
bar hard and tense your whole body. In one continuous movement, lift
your chin over the bar, hold for a moment, and descend in a controlled
fashion: one rep. Do not swing or kick the air while struggling, just
keep your legs straight. They may slightly veer towards the front during
the move, but that is alright as long as you don't try to generate
momentum to aid your quest upwards. You may notice from the following pictures how far above the branch my chin is. Don't stint the range of movement and aim just for tapping the bar with the tip of your chin, but instead pull your upper arms in line with the body, as can be seen from the side.
 
There are three different kinds of gripping the bar: in a chin-up, palms
are facing you; in a pull-up, palms are facing outward from you, and
then there's the baseball grip, or mixed grip. You can also adjust the
width of grip, but a shoulder-wide grip functions well enough for most
cases. The wider the grip, the more emphasis there is on lats, and vice versa for arms. The various grips differ in what muscles they veer towards and generally, while chin-ups emphasis on the bicep (out of these two, they are easier for most people), pull-ups seem to wear on the forearms.
Progressions: If you cannot do a chin-up or pull-up, you should,
depending on your strength, try either doing isometrics (holding) at the
top, the middle, and just before the bottom for a few seconds, or simply
lower yourself from the top position controllably. Be wary that it is
easy to overwork yourself with the negatives, and stop the descent
before you end up falling uncontrollably due to failure. That might be
tricky with pull-ups, as you would have to put something underneath the
bar so you could use your feet to control it, or just position the bar
low enough if possible.
Advanced techniques: as you get more proficient with this basic skill,
there are ways to make it harder. Try
- frenchies, which are like a pull-up, but you hold yourself at the top
position, lower yourself to a 45° angle, hold for five seconds, pull
back up, then lower to 90°, hold for five and pull up, and then repeat
the same for 135° and finally lower yourself all the way down. These are
rather grueling at first, but after a while you could you use more
weight.
- holding a L-seat during the move (lift your legs straight and
parallel with the floor, thus forming an L). This puts more stress on
your midsection, as well as your lats, and also makes kipping harder.
- wrapping a towel or a rope around the bar, and doing pull-ups by
hanging from them. Your grip is challenged quite a bit, and this also
enables you to do the move if the surface wouldn't be suitable
otherwise. Other ways to make this move tougher would be doing them from
the backside of stairs (that is, if you live in an apartment with stairs
you can hang from) because they are most likely slippery stone; gripping
a doorframe! Depending on the width of the frame, this is either
extremely hard on your fingers or just medium. Usually, though, you
won't have more than half an inch of room to poke your digits in - try
gripping both sides of the frame to make it a bit easier.
- speed pull-ups. Try to pull yourself up as fast as you can while not
sacrificing form.
- ballistic pull-ups. After you have gained enough speed, you can try
pulling yourself up quickly, and then letting go of the bar at the top,
grabbing it again as you come down. Be patient and master speed pull-ups
first.
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After mastering the regular pull-up, the next progression would be a
pull/chin using only one arm: a mighty challenge indeed. Not many can do
these, so it has show value if you wish to impress your friends and
demonstrate how far iron will and sensible training can take you. In
addition to the double load on one arm versus the regular pull-up, you
also have to contend with the corkscrew motion, or rotation by the
hanging arm. The direction of the move depends on the grip: in chin-up
your turn into the bar, and in pull-up you turn into the bar. You
simply have to counter-balance the rotation with your free arm to
control it, and that is done by twisting in. Hold your free arm extended
in front of you, and twist your body towards your working arm. Remember
to watch for any pains in your elbow, because tendonitis is possible for
all that torque in your elbow. Even if you were doing well, be rational
and stop training if you experience pains.
The mechanics: Since this move is demanding of power, you have to focus
on it. Don't make the mistake of just hanging limply from the bar; crush
the bar with your grip, keep your shoulders down and flex them alongside
other primary muscles doing the work, like lats, biceps, and of course
your mid-section. I've found it helps the balancing to lift your legs to
a tucked L-seat, particularly in the pull-up. Then, when you are ready,
just pull as much as you can, and more, all the while you are twisting
in and keeping your free arm in front of you: a tight, solid package
instead of a heap of flailing limbs. Chances are you won't make it much
past the dead-hang, or above 90°, because that phase is the toughest due
to the poor leverage for your muscles.
Progressions: The same basic steps of the progressing towards the
pull-up apply to this feat as well, but since the move uses only one
arm, the other one being free opens up a world of variations to pick
from for one's training scheme. You can, in addition to focusing on the
isometric and negative phases,
A word of caution: when doing negatives, be absolutely sure that you are
doing them in controlled fashion! Because of the high load that your
poor arm has to handle there, muscle failure is especially dangerous.
One way to abort the move is to simply let go of the bar, but I would
rather quickly grip the bar with my other hand, and lower myself down,
because the former method is too unreliable from my personal experience.
I'd presume the reason to be that to loosen your grip, you have to relax
your muscles, and that is not a very rapid action when under the tension
that performing negatives/isometrics creates. It is the easiest to start
with holding yourself in the top position with one arm, and then begin
lowering yourself down with the above precautions in mind. Naturally
you'll want to stop and hold at the tough points when you are able to.
Advanced techniques: many would have no need for making this already
challenging skill even harder, but in essence the variations of the
normal pull-up can be done with only one arm, too.
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Push-up is a move many of us are familiar with, and like the pull-up, it
is a default exercise in the army. By itself the push-up isn't much of a
strength drill for most men because the repetitions often get so
numerous that strength gains become nonexistent.
 
The mechanics: there are two main variations in leg placement. In the 'boy'
push-up you hold your weight on your hands and the balls of your feet,
and in the 'girl' push-up you reduce the load by putting your knees
against the ground. Keep your legs at about shoulder-wide stance, and
pinch your scapulae together. Position arms so that your forearms are
perpendicular to ground when your elbows are at the right angle, and
longitudinally put them to where your chest is, fingers facing forward.
Keep your back and legs straight, don't let it sag. You can do this by
tensing your glutes and pushing hips up a bit. Then, as you now hold your
weight on your locked arms, descend until your chest or chin gently
touches the floor, and rise back up.
Progressions: Like mentioned above, boys hold their bodyweight on hands
and the balls of their feet, which causes that version to be more
strenuous than the 'girl' version. To do the latter, keep your knees on
the ground in an otherwise normal stance. Other methods are
- doing negatives or isometrics. Simply lower yourself from the top
position to the bottom, and optionally stop at various points in the
movement. You can begin from deck level, too, and just push enough to
get your chest off it, and hold it there.
- putting something under your chest to reduce the range of movement,
although I would rather simply stick with negatives as that would
exercise throughout the necessary range. Nevertheless, this would be a
way to train the concentric part.
- elevating your upper body higher than your legs. Speaking in practical
terms, using tables, stools, slightly elevated platforms etc. as a base
to push off from.
Advanced techniques: once you can handle the normal push-up reasonably
well, you can try to increase the difficulty with following tricks:
- elevate your feet higher than your upper body.
- do a 'diamond push-up': leg positioning is the standard, but your
hands are directly under your chest so that their index fingers and
thumbs meet each other, thus forming a diamond. This close stance places
extra stress on triceps.
- hold one leg off the ground,
- add some ballistics to the drill by pushing yourself up quickly enough
to be able to clap your hands and then return them to their original
position. Do this first on a soft surface or place a pillow under yourself to
prevent any enthusiasm-related injuries.
- have something to support both your feet and hands at the same level,
while allowing your body go past that level. An example would be two
blocks for hands and one for feet. The ballistic option is to start with
your hands on the blocks, jump with them and land between the blocks,
descend, and jump back up again. Another option is to have one block;
start with one hand on it, the other on ground, and push off hard enough
so you can move to the side and switch hands.
- crushing pushup: have a block, a ball or some item with sides to crush with your palms underneath your chest. Assume normal pushup position, but place your hands on the sides of the object - fingers either forward or downward, doesn't matter, so pick the position that suits your wrists the best. Start crushing before putting any weight on your arms, and then descend until the chest touches the object. If you are using a ball, refrain from cheating by placing your hands more on the top than sides!
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Push-ups can increase your strength only so much - unless you start using
heavy weights, but that is beyond bodyweight training - and the next step
from doing push-ups with two arms would be, simply enough, doing them
with only one arm. Read the above section about push-ups, because the
moves are very similar to each other in regard to progressions, for
example.
The mechanics: The difference between the standard push-up is that balancing
is harder: you have only one arm to stay on, plus the balls of your feet,
and the arm is positioned slightly off the center - otherwise you
wouldn't be able to do the move correctly. The key to correct execution
is staying tight, especially at your midsection and legs, and of course,
your working arm and the respective musculature of your upper body should
not be flabby and limp, either.
Assume the normal push-up position, feet placed a bit wider apart than
your shoulders for better balance. First, you could seek the fitting hand
placement by putting both of them about shoulder-width and under your
chest, fingers spread out (middle finger pointing forward) and then try
it out by doing a push-up. Naturally, the position should have felt
stable. Then, in the top of the push-up stance, move your other hand in the small of
your back. Along with the rest of your body, tighten your major working
muscle groups: the arm, shoulders, lats and pectorals. You can recruit
the lats by twisting the working arm inside (clockwise if left), or
"screwing the shoulder into its socket." Just do this while you are
descending, and imagine actually pulling yourself down with your lats: do
not resist the weight! Well, don't just collapse in a heap, either: pull
with them, and thus generate tension as if you were pushing a coil
together. When you reach the bottom, push off the "shelf" your lat creates, keeping your shoulder level even; usually the non-working shoulder tends to rise higher than the other, which is bad form. 
Progressions: This is not the easiest of drills, so some advice on
progression methods might be in place. Many of the methods to work
towards the 'boy' push-up work with the one-arm version, as well, so have
a look at the above section on the push-up, and apply those techniques
with this move.
There is one option, however, that you won't find there, and it is the
assisted one-arm push-up. By using your other arm you can greatly reduce
the load, and the adjustment is done by first pushing off the ground
on the tips of the assisting hand's fingers, and then gradually using less and less fingers,
thus lessening the help you receive. You won't work your balance with
this method, though.
Advanced techniques: Once you get the basic one-arm push-up and are able
to knock off rep after rep without breaking a sweat, you can move onto
more demanding variations, which are, again, about the same as with the
regular push-up:
- hold the opposite leg off the ground, thus doing a one-arm one-leg push-up. It presents a stability challenge, and is somewhat more demanding than the normal one armed pushup, as you can see from the photo below. The right leg is off the floor, but just a bit, as it doesn't need to be high up in the air.
- keep feet higher than your shoulders.
- ballistics, namely jumping up with one arm.
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The planche is a basic gymnastics move, but like we know, something
"simple enough" in gymnastic terms is not so for us mere mortals who are
still so tightly tied to earth by gravity that usually it is the legs that
support our bodyweight instead of arms. In a planche, you hold your body
parallel to ground while your arms bear all the load - they are
straight, too. In the lack of an illustrative picture, I will attempt to
shed light on the form via a simple measure: ""/"º (from feet to head).
As you can see in the - rather vivid - illustration, the arms are not
supposed to be vertical, but leaning forward to balance the weight. This
move is very intense on your triceps, shoulders and lats, and also
wrists if you do it palms flat on the floor.
The mechanics: to do a full planche, you will probably want to point your
fingers somewhat to the side, because otherwise you likely won't be able
to lean forward due to wrists' limited range of motion if you were to
keep fingers pointing straight forward. Another option is to have a pair
of hex dumbbells or maybe some kind of parallettes, and grip them
instead of flexing wrists on the floor: it may prove to be quite a
relief for your wrists. If your tendons can handle it, do it on your
fingertips.
Kneel down, position your hands on the floor - lock your elbows! - about
shoulder-width apart from each other, lean slightly forward while
maintaining the tension, lift your legs in a tuck, keep your back
straight, and gradually lean forward as you extend your legs back,
finally straightening them. You have to keep your elbows straight and hips level with shoulders, because it will ease the move greatly if you do not.
Progressions: Since the move itself is quite difficult, the progressions
aren't too effortless either; all of them require holding your
bodyweight with your hands, or doing pushups with nearly your whole
weight. It might be the best to gain general strength with the modified
push-ups first, and then move on to the actual planche variations, or
then just alternate them in your workout.
However, I would stick to practicing one variation at a time and aiming
for a certain duration, like a minute or so for a daily total in small enough portions. Note that the difficulty varies greatly between the variations, which is equivalent to making large leaps in weightlifting, so you'll want to totally master one version before moving on to the next one. Training would be done by greasing the groove, doing comfortably long static holds (reps in the case of dynamic moves) until you've developed enough strength to tackle harder versions.
- Normal push-ups might seem easy, but this variation - called pseudo
planche push-up - is especially taxing on your triceps. Almost like a
diamond push-up, you hold your hands close to each other, but
shoulder-width in this case. Because in a planche you have to balance
your body on your arms, they are held in an angle to the floor, hands
approximately at the level of your hips, you are working towards
achieving a push-up with hands placed far beyond your shoulder line. Naturally it becomes harder the closer your hands are to your hips, or
the center of your weight. It is easy to let your back sag, but don't;
keep it straight and tense, like your whole body. At some point you
would be lifting yourself completely off the ground, but I wouldn't use
this as the sole training method.
You can, however, make this drill more akin to planche push-ups (and consequently harder) by setting your feet against the wall and while doing the push-ups, trying to assist as little as possible with the feet. Keep them shuffling along the wall.
- A major part of the difficulty of the planche is caused by the weight of
your legs, which acts as a lever pulling you down, so it is easier to
tuck your legs first. The very first of these progressions is somewhat
different from the others, because here you will not be holding your
bodyweight on your arms, but rather on the forearms. In the frog stand,
as this is named, you keep your arms inside your legs, which are tucked with the
knees resting on your elbows, so they have to be bent as opposed to the
more advanced versions. Squat down, place your hands in front of your
feet, and position your knees behind your elbows. You have to turn your
legs slightly to the sides to be able to hold them on your elbows,
though. Then, when you are ready, just lean forward until your feet rise
from the floor and you are supporting your whole bodyweight on your
hands.
- The tuck planche is a lot harder than the frog stand, because your elbows
will be locked here and arms have to handle almost all your bodyweight.
Incongruous with the frog stand, you will begin with your feet between
your hands that are placed just beside them, and naturally you start
from a full squat. When you have leaned into the planche, hold your
knees tucked to your chest and try to keep hips at level with shoulders.
- In the next version your legs are still tucked, but not against the
chest; you are more in a sitting position, just doing a planche. The
main difference here is that you straighten your back, which results in
a surprisingly heavy disadvantage in leverage compared to keeping the
back arched. It is easy to let your hips sink too low: pay attention
that your back is indeed straight and your hips aren't below shoulder
level!
- Once you can hold the planche with your legs semi-tucked, back
straight, for a reasonable amount of time, more challenge can be added,
which is again done by adjusting your legs. This time they are not
tucked at all, but held straight instead. The trick is to straddle your
legs, pointing them to the sides and of course having a straight back.
Difficulty can be adjusted by moving the legs closer to each other, but
do not try to increase both the duration of your holds and have legs
closer to each other; proceed in small steps.
- After you have reached a stable straddle planche, it would be good to
try out push-ups in the tuck position. Parallettes would be easier on
your wrists than hard floor, and you could also dip deeper with them
when your strength allows it. Due to the dynamic element in this
variation, it will require extra focus on your form to keep the hips at
shoulder level, as well as to lock your elbows at the top.
Eventually, straddle planche push-ups could be attempted to increase the
difficulty.
Advanced techniques: Not many advanced techniques for a skill that is
already rated 'B' in gymnastics on the scale of A to E, except for of
course a push-up in the planche position - rated appropriately 'C.'
It is fairly self-explanatory, but it is good to remember to focus on
strict form. To train for it, I'd recommend lots of planche holds
(isometrics) as well as lowering yourself to the floor from a planche.
Allow yourself a pat on your back when you can achieve this marvellous
feat; not many can, especially outside gymnastics.
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Front lever is a basic gymnastics skill, and the only equipment you need
is a sturdy bar to grip on, or maybe a rafter, which is more demanding
of finger strength, though. A primitive visualization of the move: ___\o
(hanging from a bar, arms not vertical but slightly tilted towards your
feet, body horizontal). As you can probably surmise, lifting, and then
holding the whole bulk of your body as a straight lever puts great
stress on the pivot point: namely the shoulders and the stabilizing
muscles, like those of your upper back. Naturally this move is more
difficult the taller you are, because the length of your body increases
the torque at the fulcrum. However, alike many bodyweight exercises, the
resistance is easy to adjust; shorten the length of the lever and thus
reduce the torque.
The mechanics: Start from a dead-hang with a shoulder-width overhand grip
(palms facing away from you) on the bar, keep your body rigid and stiff with
tension - especially the abs, because jack-knifing at the waist is not
proper form - and remember to unshrug your shoulders. Then, simply lift
your body to the horizontal level, keeping your arms straight but
allowing your shoulders to move from under the bar. This is accomplished by
pressing down with your arms. Remember to activate your lats for further
stabilization. However, you shouldn't attempt peering at your feet,
because the alignment of the neck affects the spine, and tucking your
chin would curve your back. It is the best to look slightly upwards and
tilt the head accordingly.
Another way of reaching the lever position is to first tuck your legs
against your chest, for example, and the lift your body parallel to
ground, keeping the back straight. As you tense and push the bar down,
slowly extend your legs until they point straight forward.
Progressions: Many cannot achieve a front lever at the first attempt, so
progressive training is required to reach that goal. The difficulty can
be adjusted in a wide range, so almost everyone can begin training for
this move. Most of the adjustments deal with leg position, while
"pull-ups" (is more resemblant of a row) can also be incorporated to further strengthen the lats and arms in a given position. When you are You can
- tuck your legs to your chest. This is the easiest of the variations,
because here you don't have to maintain a straight back; it is just
slightly arched. See the picture below for the straight-backed version.
- keep a straight back, but still hold your legs tucked together. Here
you will be holding your thighs perpendicular to your body, which will
increase the load somewhat due to the shift in the weight's position.
- hold your legs in a straddle, or spread wide apart. I've found it to
be the easiest to lift your legs sideways while still just hanging from
the bar, as opposed to flailing your legs while in the front lever
position.
Advanced techniques: Since this is already a demanding skill, there
aren't many variations to it, albeit a few:
- weighted levers. Wear ankle weights or something similar, but start
slowly and with very small weights, because the torque tends to increase
surprisingly fast.
- full-range levers: from dead-hang, rise up to the front lever and
upward until you reach the inverted hang, and then slowly come down
again.
- pull-ups in the front lever position.
- one-arm front lever. Here it would be extremely difficult to hold your
shoulder line parallel to the floor, so it is acceptable to do it turned
a bit sideways. The normal progressions apply here, as well.
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Surely everyone has done sit-ups at some point of their life; most
likely during their school PE classes. While sit-ups are a reasonable exercise
for most people, the numbers eventually reach such levels that cranking
endless reps of them is not doing as much for strength as it is for
muscular endurance, and so those in search of strength ask: "What now?"
Many of them end up doing weighted sit-ups, sit-ups while hanging
upside-down, etc. even though they can be made considerably tougher by
eliminating use of certain muscles in the move: hip flexors.
There is a physiological phenomenon called the 'reciprocal inhibition,
which basically means that when a muscle contracts,
the opposing muscle relaxes. In other words, it releases the brake when
you press the gas pedal, which is a rather sound thing to do. In the
case of sit-ups, hip flexors do play quite a part in getting your body
up, thus assisting your abdominal muscles in this task. The move is
quite different when you contract your hamstrings and glutes,
eliminating hip flexors, and leave the bulk of the weight for your
abdominal muscles to handle. This only requires you to push your calves
against something ideally static, but partner's hands will do. You could
create a portable support of your own from just some rope and about a
foot's length of pipe by slipping the rope through the pipe and then
tying it around a tree or something. Make sure that your rope is long
enough to allow your feet enough room to stay unanchored.
The mechanics: Let us assume you are now in the bottom position of a sit-up with your
calves firmly resting against some kind of support like your friend's
hands. Press the calves against the support, contracting hamstrings and
glutes, inhale through your nose, and then slowly rise up. Do not jerk,
and keep your hands against the sides of your neck - it is a short step
from clenching them behind your neck to attempting to pull yourself up.
The first few inches are the hardest, and trying to speed past that
inconvenience will both detract from the effectiveness of the drill and
cause you to lose tension. Remember to push against the support! After
you've gotten up, lower yourself down in some 2-4 seconds, exhaling
slowly and constantly through the mouth as if you were attempting to
bend a candle's flame.
Progressions: Since this abdominal move is somewhat demanding if done
correctly, some progressions are in order:
- Negatives are one of the first stepping stones to mastering many
exercises, and coupled with isometric holds and patient work, one won't
have to spend too much time until they can complete the drill. The first
few inches are the hardest part of the exercise, so doing isometrics at
that phase is a functional part of your progression.
- You can ease the move some by decreasing the weight that your
abdominal muscles have exert up, which with pure bodyweight can be done
by shifting the position of your arms. Reaching forward with your arms
provides the least resistance, and from that, you can progress to
holding your arms on the chest and eventually by your neck. This
adjustment coupled with the use of negatives and isometrics makes for a
powerful array of tools for development.
Advanced techniques: After dedicated training you find yourself cranking
up and down, rep after rep, and lacking challenge in which case move onto variations:
- add weight by keeping a plate, dumbbell etc. on your chest, behind the
neck or overhead, or just keep your arms overhead. Progress very
lightly, because the burden adds up rapidly.
- try doing the sit-up using only one leg. This variation seems to add
more stress on your obliques due to the unbalanced inhibition of your
hip flexors, and so it is good to alternate each side between reps.
- also dynamic isometrics and slow repetitions are a working way to
notch up the difficulty. Dynamic isometrics means that while you
complete the normal concentric and eccentric phases of the move, you
stick and hold to a few tough points in the move for some moments, and
then resume. Then, doing a slow rep is exactly what one'd guess it would
be: a slowly (over 5s) completed repetition.
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For this move you need something to hang from and the optional support
for your shoulders, like a helpful partner or a bar behind them. Like
many other skills in this little guide, this exercise is wonderful in
its simplicity and effectiveness: hanging from a bar, lift your legs up
to the bar. The only catch is that you shouldn't bend your knees, which
means that your abdominals have to deal with all the weight your
extended legs impose on them.
The mechanics: Hanging from a bar with a normal overhand grip, screw your
shoulders into their sockets in order to stabilize yourself. Twist your
hands outwards to tense your lats, lock out your knees and point your
toes. Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes, and don't push your hips
forward; rather back, assuming a so called "hollow position." Then lift
your legs until they touch the bar, and controllably lower them back
down.
Note that you shouldn't let your lats assist you in performing this
move. This is why a friend or a trusty bar (in a power rack) to support
your shoulders and keeping them from straying too far back is helpful.
Otherwise, if you could go back enough, the angle between your arms and
trunk would decrease, and you would also lift your torso instead of just
legs. To ensure that you will keep your arms straight you could try
slipping your toes underneath the bar - you're allowed to keep your feet
normal instead of sharply pointed.
Progressions: There are a few sticking points in the move, and probably
the most notable of them is in the middle, a spot which has its own
name: the L-sit (holding the top position of leg raise is called a
V-sit). Mastering the L-sit is most likely necessary, as it will train
your abs to handle the burden your legs have in the proper position.
- to do the L-sit, hang and keep your legs completely straight, pointing
toes to ensure they are not bent, and then lift them both up to your
waist level, but slowly enough to prevent swinging. If you cannot do this, keep
your knees bent at a degree anything from 90 to 180, and progressively
bend them less and less.
- if you can hold an L-sit but the leg raise itself isn't coming yet,
cheat your way up to a V-sit by lifting up with bent legs,
straightening, and then coming down slowly. Heavy shoes, like big rubber
boots, work well as a budget weight.
Advanced techniques: This move does not offer that many options for
variation in difficulty, especially if you have already mastered the
move. Only a few:
- using ankle weights or heavy shoes (rubber boots, steel-capped work
shoes) is obvious, but don't try to go too crazy with the extra load: it
adds up quickly due to the leverage it has through your extended legs.
- extra slow repetitions, for some reason, are rather gruelling in this
exercise, so you might want to try them out, interspersing a couple
holds midway.
- attempting them one-armed adds some twist to the move, and you have to
struggle to keep your body alignment at least somewhat straight. Quite a
bit more difficult than the regular raise due to the usage of obliques
and increased stress for the working shoulder.
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Often called as the "most difficult ab exercise," this modification of
the move advertised with the ab wheel puts your tension skills and core
muscles under heavy stress. Note that if you have problems with your
lower back, exercise caution with this drill, and preferably begin with
the kneeling version, as that will not stress your lower back as much.
The mechanics: The technique is rather simple. Begin with the wheel (an actual ab
wheel, an adjustable dumbbell with only one plate in the middle, or maybe a loaded
barbell) in front of your toes, reach down for it while keeping your
legs straight, grip crushingly, tense abs, tense glutes and tense quads,
and only then begin rolling the weight ahead. You could imagine your
body opening up from a pocket knife into a V, and you should pay
attention to maintaining your arms and legs straight, thus bending only
at the hips and shoulders. The wheel should not be under your shoulders,
but rather ahead of your head. Note that your back has to be flat, which
means that you have to push your hips slightly back; pushing them
forward would cause an arch in your back. Also remember that spine
follows the neck, so keeping your chin tucked in helps with maintaining
the correct posture. You must tense your glutes and abdominals, or
otherwise your lower back will remind you with some post-exercise aches.
Soon after a ninety-degree V, you will notice controlling the descent is
much harder, which is most likely because of the rapid increase of load
on the middle of your body. "Armpits" have to be tight, meaning your
lats and shoulders, since they also bear a part of the burden.
Before you go too far, start clasping back together to prevent an
embarrasing and painful fall on your face. If you have the strength, go
for it and kiss the floor with your chin, and rise. Be cautious in the
first few attempts, though, as this exercise certainly humbled me. You
might go far, but might also pass the "magic point" and thus lack the
strength to rise up, forcing you to go down or risk shifting the burden
on your lower back due to the abdominal muscles' fatigue, chancing an
injury especially if you don't possess the greatest flexibility in
backbends.
Progressions: The standard way to gradually master this drill is to
reduce the load on your core by having your knees on the floor.
Otherwise, the drill is the same. You might have to combine some
advanced techniques with this variation, since kneeling makes the move
so much easier.
 
- A good way to begin working with the ab wheel is to use something like
a wall to stop yourself from extending beyond the point of no return.
You can memorize the placement of your feet, and execute the move
further away from the wall as you develop. The only drawback with this
method is that you won't have to tense when leaning against the wall,
thus making it easy for tension to vanish from your body and leave it
limp for gravity to bring down.
- Another trick, which does allow the full range of motion, is to roll
the wheel up an incline, like a wide board leaning against steps, a
ladder etc.; many options are available. The reason why this is easier
is because your abdominals and shoulders do not have to support such a
large load as your fully extended body provides, but it is distributed
more to your legs. Not only does this allow the
full range, it also presents an opportunity for stable progression if
you can adjust the height of the board, or bench.
- A whole new exercise: jackknife pushups. This is basically the same
move but without a wheel, thus lacking the instability of the wheel yet
providing a good load on your supporting muscles. The range of movement
obviously isn't as great as in the wheeled version, but as far as
isometric contraction is concerned, this works well.
If you were apt in these, you would start doing them by laying on the
floor face down, the bases of your feet and your palms well planted,
tensing your body and keeping your pelvis from sagging. Position the hands "overhead" so that they aren't fully extended at the bottom; the closer they are to your chest (normal pushup stance), the easier. When the core is
framed with tension, you can "close" yourself by pushing up with the hands. If unsure of your abilities, you certainly can work to the
jackknife pushup stance from the standard one. The leverage adjustments
of the wheel also work here, naturally, plus you can change the position
of your hands. Kneel, or place your elbows on the floor, or combine.
Advanced techniques: The next techniques can certainly be applied with
the assisting exercise as well as the kneeling wheel, creating more
steps for you to get comfortable with before finally mastering the
standing abdominal wheel.
- Grip the wheel with only one arm. The wheel should have detachable
rollers, so you can fit your hand between them, or just use a dumbbell
with moving plates. This obviously greatly intensifies the stress on
your shoulder, and also adds the element of balancing to the already
difficult move.
With the jackknife pushup, you would begin with a normal two-handed
stance and then place your other kaden on the small of your back, and
then just go on with the drill as usual. It is considerably easier than
with the wheel because of the lack of unstable surface, and also easier
than the one-armed pushup, if you were doubting your ability in this
variation.
- You might even go as far as to lift the leg opposite to your free arm
and be surprised at how unstable things suddenly got. While being
extremely difficult with the wheel, this is a great variation to try out
with the jackknife pushups. You do have to balance yourself, but not
nearly to the degree that the wheel would demand of you. Be sure to lift
your leg parallel to the floor so you wouldn't have the chance of
touching it with your toes.
- A special version of jackknife pushups: lay down flat on the floor,
form a "candle" - legs straight and arms straight overhead - push the bases of your feet and fingertips firmly to the surface, tense as told above, and lift
yourself off the deck the little distance you can with your extended
limbs. Due to the leverage points being so distant from each other, your
abdominal muscles have to fight to keep your hips up and lower back
safe. Shoulders are also stressed somewhat, since you can't really aid
them with locked-out elbows. Try to keep your wrists straight for that
extra reach - that is what the fingertip hold is for.
By the way, these are called "Jack LaLanne pushups," and he was able to
do these with ease. You might not be, but notwithstanding, this is
magnificent for core strength development before you can do the wheel
itself, the bottom lock-out of which is fundamentally the same as a
lock-out here: hard.
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This has also been named as the "hardest ab exercise," although
personally I feel the previous move is much more difficult. Unlike most
of the moves in this guide, you need equipment for this: a bench to lay
on and something to hold on to. More on the specific requirements later.
Bruce Lee supposedly loved this drill (named in honor of him, and also
to avoid confusion with a gymnastics move: the flag), and it surely is
worthy of praise how it demands absolute tension and tightness in your
body, forging an unyielding object. Gravity has been our friend in
physical training on many occasions, and in the dragon flags it's
pulling your legs down. Whereas the abdominal wheel required your core
muscles to keep your hips from sagging down and arching your back, the
dragon flag functions by having you keep your body straight, not
jackknifing at the waist. People with back problems shouldn't be
attempting this drill, however, since the lower back is subject to more
and more pulling load as you go through the move.
The mechanics: You begin by laying on a bench of a comfortable width - a tad wider than
your shoulders to accommodate your hands you use to grip the sides of
the platform slightly behind, or at your ear level. In my experience a
good enough grip is achieved without any bars just by holding onto the
sides, but since your success depends somewhat from the overall
stability, you might find the need to work your way around this.
However, this is already an advanced exercise, so trainees ready to
tackle this should have the necessary upper body strength.
An option for DIY-people, which may be more demanding in regard to the
pulling strength needed in this move, is to use heavy weights as
counterbalance. The problem is that the weight needs to have handles or
comparable shape for efficient grip should it be held beside the head,
or even when held overhead. The counterbalancing weight has more
leverage the further away from the shoulders it is, but requires more
from your arms. Dumbbells and kettlebells work great, of course, but
something like using a rope tied around a tree and pulling from the ends
did not work too well for me due to the instability. On the other hand,
putting two kettlebells of 32 and 16 kilos next to each other and then
inserting a bar through the handles worked marvellously as an overhead
counterweight for my 70 kilos.
This series of photos illustrates the move. I am holding there onto
a handle slipped through a pair of kettlebells to the left, and I have a
thin pillow underneath my shoulders, since the rug would bruise my
shoulders under the pressure. The form is otherwise fine in the
pictures, but you can see one very common flaw in it: my hips are
slightly bent. This happens because of a lack of tension in glutes, and
is promptly corrected by pushing until your body is as straight as
possible. Knees, too, are bent in the pictures, but letting them "hang"
like that does help a bit in aligning your spine correctly, for some reason.
So, now imagine yourself laying flat on a bench, holding the sides.
Then, to get your legs up, form a steadfast base by pulling the bench
towards your shoulders, tuck your legs close to your chest and then kick
them upwards. If all went as expected, you should now be almost in an
J-stance instead of wondering what happened on the floor in front of the
bench, having tipped over: hands firmly on the edges, body standing
balanced on shoulders, not the neck, and legs pushed upwards with the
toes pointed to help you keep them in line. Now, adjust your hips by
thrusting them forwards and so hollowing your spine. Prior to lowering,
create some extra tension by pressing your legs together like scissors,
and take a quick breath of air in your abdomen. Now that you got this
far, just let the lever that your body is descend down calmly to
horizontal level and come back up. You need to pull hard on the bench
and to keep those hips unbent!
Oh, and do take your shoes off, since they get surprisingly heavy.
Progressions: Because of not being the easiest exercise in the world,
some progressions are obligatory for most people. The nature of the
exercise does not allow many variations of the definite kind, however,
meaning that you may not have clear steps for progressing towards the
final goal:
Advanced techniques: Once levering your body in this manner becomes easy
- five repetitions are only moderately difficult - you might consider
adding variations and difficulty to the exercise.
- Use a platform that allows you to lower your legs under your
shoulders. Even though it is the 180 degree angle that is the most
murderous for your midsection, increased range of movement is always
good, and you don't run the risk of losing tension by hitting the
bottom.
- Losing tension can work to your advantage, however: begin this drill
from the bottom, and after a full rep, rest for a second at the bottom,
tense and repeat.
- Adding weight is difficult in this exercise unless you have ankle
weights, but I've found heavy rubber boots work well like with the
hanging leg-raise. You could also attempt to squeeze some appropriately
light and small-sized weight between your ankles, but be careful if you
don't want that weight smashing into your face.
Top
Squatting is a somewhat controversial exercise, because there are mixed
opinions about its effects on your knees: some say that one shouldn't
ever go past parallel (the level of thighs to the floor) since full
squatting causes extra pressure on your knee joints, thus wearing the
cartilage out faster; some praise the full squat to the disfavor of
parallel squat, because it is the stopping motion that causes damage to
your cartilage and they have been deep squatting perfectly fine for
decades, in which case those of the former position spout nothing but
hogwash. I will assume the middle camp and say that you can do them as
long as your knees feel fine, because this exercise is rather fantastic
in terms of both muscle control and power. Some people's knees cannot
handle the load, and some aren't bothered even from jumping up and down
with just one leg. But, be humble enough to stop if your knees give you
any problems, and see your doctor.
The mechanics: You need some balance to do a clean pistol squat, so you
should pay attention to the smoothness of the move to avoid any
injuries. Especially your working knee is in danger when you lower
yourself because of the risk of too much lateral shifting, so keep tight
while descending. The drill begins by standing upright and lifting one
leg straight and parallel to the floor. Flex your glutes, hamstrings,
abs and if you are wearing only socks or nothing at all (recommended),
grip the floor with your toes and begin the negative part of the squat.
As with the one-arm push-up, you don't - shouldn't - try to resist the
weight of your body as you are descending, but instead you should use
your hamstrings to pull yourself down, so you will have a solid, tense base
from which to squat back up. This is done by pushing your butt back
somewhat. You will notice that you have to lean forward, and I recommend
to keep your arms straight in front of you to keep the balance. Note,
though, that it is the best to keep your shin as vertical as possible,
so don't let the knee travel way past your toes.
Once you are in the bottom position, glute resting against calf and
potential bounce safely eliminated, it is time to spring back up! Make
sure that your glutes and abs are flexed, and your seat of power
correctly pressurized, and begin pushing through the floor with your
heel - keep the weight on it. When your working thigh is at the same
level with your hips, push them forward; you will lean back a tad in the
process.
Progressions: Some can knock off a pistol right away with perhaps only
slight problems in keeping the balance, and for others it seems nearly
impossible to even go down without falling to their bottoms, not to
speak of coming back up with that one leg. If you belong to the
latter group, do not yet lose hope, because there are many ways to
train for the drill, including:
- deep squat. If you have any doubts about your knees, make sure that
they are able to handle a normal deep squat. You don't want to lower
yourself down on only one leg, and a moment later, writhing in pain on
the floor because your knee cartilage wasn't quite up to the task, but
decided to crack and pop instead. To be sure, just squat as down as
possible with a normal, about shoulder-wide stance, feet pointed forward
and shins kept (nearly) vertical. Descent is done primarily by flexing your hips, or bringing your butt back as if you were sitting into a chair. Lean slightly forward with your body - keeping weight firmly on your heels - if you feel you're falling backwards.
- box squat with one leg. You probably do
this move a lot, at least with two legs, because it is like getting up
from a chair. Naturally, for this exercise to be any good for you, you
should brace yourself before attempting to get up; especially flex your
glutes, and try not to jerk yourself up to put all that tension into
use. Another advantage for the box squat is that it's difficulty is
easily adjustable: you might start with a low table, then a normal
chair, progress onwards to a little stool and finally achieve a full
pistol. The mechanics of one-legged box squat are similar to the regular
pistol squat.
To gain some more strength at a fixed height, try lowering yourself on
the chair as normal, but instead of rising right back up, hold yourself
just an inch above the chair for a few seconds. You can add more
"sticking points" to the move if you want. Certainly, you don't need a
chair to do isometrics with squats, but they are a good safety measure
in case you lose balance; just drop onto the chair.
- lunges with one leg. These have the advantage of being equipment-free,
but since you are descending with only one leg, you of course want to be
sure that nothing unexpected happens, as these don't have safety factor
that box squats do. Another difference is that you make these harder by
putting your working leg higher from the ground, or by lifting your assisting knee. Unlike in the box
squat, you are not supposed to hold the free leg in front of you, but
rather you should bend it behind you as in a quadricep (front thigh)
stretch, perhaps heel to butt. So, the factor limiting the length of your
descent is your knee, which you don't want to smash into the floor: more
motivation for controlling, one could say. What should also be
considered is that you cannot keep both your shin and back upright, so
one has to compensate for the other. Seek for a compromise, though, and
let them both lean forward.
Begin with either holding your non-working leg in your hand as if
stretching the quadriceps or just bending the leg behind you, and extend
your free arm in front of you. Make sure you are well in balance, and
slightly leaning forward but keeping a straight back. Pay attention to
not let your knee travel past your toes. Then squat down until your knee
touches the floor, and squat back up. If you are not holding your leg up
with hand, make sure that your foot won't touch the floor, as that
provides a chance to cheat.
- balance training. Since the one-legged squat requires a fair
share of balance, it should be specifically trained for if you
aren't that stable on one foot. When descending on one leg, the last
thing you'll want to occur is to trip sideways, or even merely sway like
a reed in the wind, because that doesn't spell a healthy future for
your knee.
There are a few different methods to exercise for the required balance:
the most demanding of them would be just doing negatives, which I find
effective because at least for me, the negative phase of the pistol
squat is the hardest regarding balance issues; full pistols, but taking
support from a doorframe, do not force you to learn balancing per se,
but rather build strength throughout the whole movement, which certainly
helps with balancing - and with some pulling up you can do assisted
pistols, too; exercises dedicated for balance, which would be standing
on one leg and staying in a deep squat on one leg, the other in front of
you. The doorframe-method has one caveat: you should discard the crutch
as soon as possible, as you don't want to grease the groove of assisted
pistols once you get them down, but instead that of normal, unassisted
ones. You can also hold a very light weight in front of you, which acts
as a counter-balance, once your strength is up to it.
Advanced techniques: Like squats have their more demanding versions,
using one leg less does not make it an exception.
- Holding more weight is an obvious way of increasing difficulty,
although it tends to help with balancing. If applicable, try holding the weight closer to your center of gravity to make things less stable. Another variation is to hold weight on the other side of your body, straining your supportive musculature especially if the weight is held on the side opposite to the working leg.
- Rocking pistols present the challenge of relaxation in the bottom of
the move. Once you are down in deep squat, rock back onto your bottom keeping the heel on
to floor, thus losing tension, and then rock back up, pause, and rise.
- An even harder variation would be to add isometrics to the sticking
points, like stopping when your thigh is parallel to the floor. You
could insert three points where to stop; a few inches off deep squat,
parallel and a few inches from lock-out.
- Cossack pistols require good balance and explosive strength, as well
as healthy knees. Alike to the two above variations, this is executed in
the bottom position. From a comfortable deep squat, jump up with your
heel - not just with the tips of your toes! - and rapidly change legs,
extending the jumping leg in front of you and completing the rest of the
squat with the other.
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