What’s the best way to train? How long should I exercise for?
Should I rest between exercises or should I jump from one to
the other?
Should I stick to a routine, do sets or workout on the fly?
For me that was a question I always had on my mind when I was lifting the weights
and seems like there was a never ending supply of answers. But, I got this question nailed for
bodyweight training.
I train like I play! When I feel like it or
just when I have a moment here or there or whenever or wherever I
happen to be.
Yes, I can and do sometimes have a structured 20 minute all out
workout but for the most part I just do!
But does that get results, a few minutes here and there? It has
done for me and I’ve trained this way for over 15 years…even when I
was weight training.
You see, the reason I get results and progress is because I don’t
care about having to train Monday, Wednesday and Friday (just an
example) for 20 minutes all out or nothing. What that means is
rather than miss…which I frequently do, I still do something every
single day almost without fail…
…so yes, the person who is regimented over many years will probably
be fitter and stronger then I am, but and this is a big but, most
people are not and they end up quitting or at best training
infrequently with the odd surge of training now and again. It’s a
bit like yo yo dieting it doesn’t work and can even be
dangerous…just like training occasionally, your body is not used to
it and you end up getting injured.
I’m not stuck on that path…so I am always making strides ahead…
(By the way this works well in all areas of your life-do a little
of something positive every day and the cumulative results will
startle you! But the reverse is true too. A little something
negative every day may not be noticed but, like a tree budding its
leaves, one day you wake up and you’re fat!)
What kind of strides ahead am I making in my bodyweight strength training and fitness?
On my next post I’ll share with you the success I had going from being able to do not even one
handstand push up to over 20.
Keep Strong,
Danny
P.S. Don’t forget you can get my FREE Fitness Formula book
at www.DumpTheGymFitnessFormula.com
Wow! In 15 months of practicing bodyweight training you can certainly achieve
some pretty spectacular results. And I’m talking strength, fitness and fat loss!
Today, I’m going to share some of them with you.
I’m a big believer in “simple and get good at one thing
first”…then we can move to the next task in hand-don’t you think?
In other words if you have never done any type of push ups or pull ups,
bodyweight squats or any type of bodyweight exercise then start with the basics and
build on that foundation.
Or perhaps like me you could already do the basics so I focused in on just
one or two specific movements that I wanted to become proficient in or
in the case of handstand push ups be able to do just one.
OK let’s get started…
Do you remember last time I told you my arms ached?
Truth be told even lifting semi-heavy boxes would put stress and
pain in my elbow joints that left me with an ongoing ache-and that
began 14 years ago.
So, I began performing bodyweight exercises early on in 2006.
But, if I threw a handstand my wrists would feel like they were too
weak to hold, but wait a minute I weight trained for 20 years…
Shouldn’t they be strong enough!
I went to bed at night and my arms would ache all night…I didn’t
know what to do with them, but I had a gut feeling that what I was
doing was benefiting me so I resolved to carry on.
One of the first exercises I began with was handstand push-ups. My
first attempt was not what I had expected, I mean I’m a reasonably
strong person but I could hardly manage one push-up!!
What was very interesting was when I asked my 19 year old son if he
could do any…
…he flipped into a handstand and pumped out 5 or 6
without much difficulty at all…wow! How come he could do that?
Big clue here…please listen closely-Jamie, my son, as a pre-teen
and then into his teen years did a lot of break dancing. Aha, that’s why
he could do handstand push-ups, he was already versed and
conditioned as a bodyweight practitioner!
Me, I was an ex lifter of metal!! (I’m still not saying here that
you should not lift weights-but for now I have chosen not to).
Back to the handstands-how do you go from barely being able to do
one to over 20 full handstand push-ups in only months and not years?
Here’s what I did. Every night before and or after my shower I would do some kind
of handstand work-oh and by the way I’m not talking 20 minutes or
more, no just 2-3 minutes is all I spent-seriously.
Well, I think I”ll share with you what I did in those few minutes to improve in my
next post to you…
See you next time then and keep strong. Oh, and I’d love to hear what you think.
Danny
P.S. if handstands are your bag then turn to page 52 of the Dump The Gym Fitness Formula
if you have it, or if not you can snag it FREE by heading to the top right hand side of this page.
P.P.S. Handstand press ups not your thing? You just want to get started on a
bodyweight exercise routine or program then Dump The Gym Fitness Formula is for you too.
P.P.P.S. By the way the aches and pains completely disappeared after about a year.
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