Bodweight exercise versus weightlifting and bodybuilding

Am I against weight lifting and body building?

In short the answer is no, I’m not.

But hands-down, I believe bodyweight exercises
are the way to go and lifting weights in what ever form should be complementary

I weight trained (mainly with free weights) from my early 20s to
about 4 and a half years ago…and I’ll be 49 this year!

I loved training with weights. But around 35  I started to
notice aches and pains in my joints-particularly my arms, shoulders
and neck.

Just getting older I hypothesized…

And then a few years later my son got interested in arm
wrestling and we got training with a Canadian ex world champion
for a while…even got an arm wrestling table made ’specially for
the job!

Actually I wasn’t too bad (and my son had some real potential) I
even beat the ex champ a couple of times.

Here’s the kicker…I had to quit and fast. My arms suffered so
badly-my tendons and joints, and I was in literal pain for well
over 12 months!

But I carried on with the weights.

Then a few summers back  just before going back to the home country
(brought up on a farm in England…another story here for another
time) I learnt about functional strength exercises or body weight
exercise.

Thought I’d give it a try.

Truth is 20 years ago I would have shunned the very notion…please
don’t fall into the same trap.

Bodyweight exercise programs are great for every level of fitness and strength
because they challenge you to a degree that you would be hard pressed to receive from
regular old weight training or bodybuilding type movements.

So whether you are new to the body weight exercise movement or already a pro
you can always make improvements in your strength and power, fitness and  agility
and if you need, fat loss too all by using only your body weight as resistance.

Next time, I’ll share with you how my first 15 months shaped
up in the bodyweight, functional fitness arena…see you then.

Keep strong.

Danny
P.S. in the meantime if you want to know more and the secrets I share then check
out my new book Dump The Gym Fitness Formula over on the top right of this page.
P.P.S. Have an opinion about this article? Your comments are most welcome.