Lately I have been experimenting with more bodyweight based workouts. I’ve shied away from them in the past because, speaking frankly, most of them are far more ineffective than using the tools that a gym provides. However, I try to be open minded, and after sorting through a lot of junk I have found some great body weight resources, gymnastic coaches in particular.
One in particular that stands above the rest is Christopher Sommers. He has been on the Tim Ferris podcast and runs GymnasticsBodies.com. I have no paid for a subscription there as its a bit pricey but I have been listening to his podcasts, philosophy around gymnastics, and managed to pick up an old book of his before he went completely online.
I’ve combined that with a lot of calisthetic guys, and more. You don’t need much equipment for this workout. You can easily fit it in a truck bed or the back of a car if you wanted to workout on the road, at a park, or wanted to take somewhere else for a workout. And it consists of a few basic things.
You’re going to do 3-5 reps for 3-5 sets for 3-5 days a week and cycle every 4 weeks.
You’re going to pick a push, a pull, legs, and abs and pair it with a static hold.
I use a A/B split so it looks like this.
Workout A
Russian Dips 3 x 3 (and I try to add one each week until week four where I’ll do the 3×3 again before trying to progress to a harder move)
paired with Frog Squat for 3 x 20 seconds
Ring Muscle Ups 3×1 (working on these right now so reps are lower)
paired with Tucked Back Lever holds 3 x 15 seconds
Deck Squats With Vertical Jump 5×1
Paired with L-Sits for 30 seconds
V Up 3 x 5
Tucked Front Lever hold 3 x 20 seconds
A few notes.
Get yourself a good gymnastics book to start understanding what these are. Gymnastic Bodies also has a free YouTube channel that has tons of stuff on there so you can understand what each is and what it does. This is just an example workout.
How To Progress With A More Gymnastics Based Programming
So one thing with bodyweight, that shied me away from it. Was that to increase resistance most programs have you just adding in reps until you’re doing such high reps that strength or even hypertrophy is not being developed in the best way. However with gymnastics there are limitless variations on moves. In Gymnastic Bodies Sommer’s highlights progressions from each to each. So once you are hitting 5 sets of 5 reps or even 3 sets of 5 reps on one variation you try to harder variation.
This also helps break up movements, gives you something new to work towards, and see progress. Instead of infinitely adding to your bench or trying different set and rep schemes for your bench you can try different movements, more natural movements that I think translate better to both relative strength and athleticism. So once you hit a regular dip then you can start trying Russian dips and so on and so forth. You don’t have to keep doing the same thing ad infinitum.
There’s also something to be said for core strength, and by core strength I mean true core strength. The kind high level gymnasts, wrestlers, and any great athlete has. That whole body “hardness” that comes from using your body as a unit. Dan John talks about this a lot in his stuff and recommends the overhead squat for this. I remember he talks about a boy who was started overhead squatting and who’s athletic performance skyrocketed because of it.
Beyond the powerlifts there was something about it that adds to athleticism like nothing else. And I think gymnastics does this as well. It makes the body a unit that performs and functions together as it is supposed to. Something that almost all high level athletes have. Also with gymnastic based training you simultaneously work on flexibility, mobility, strength, power, and more all at once. Making it a very effective and efficient form of working out.
At least when done properly.
Best Resources To Set Something Like This Up
I know on Christopher Sommer’s website, GymnasticBodies, he has an entire progression system set out. I think it’s like 300+ a year through (USD). So if you have the cash and really want to do it then that’s a good option. I can’t find Sommer’s book anywhere cheap now so the website is the best option for most people. There is also a book called Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low that’s very good. Check of Gymnastic Bodies YouTube channel for proper demonstrations of movements as well.
This is a new field for me and one that I am finding rich in reward and wanted to pass on to you. I have a friend from Russia who was a wrestler and explained to me how most Russian children start with gymnastics as their base as it is fundamental to nearly all athletic and strength based endeavors. I think there’s a lot to be said for proper bodyweight training and am looking forward to learning more about it.
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-Charles Sledge
